Biden campaign tries to flip North Carolina ahead of tight November contest

The Biden campaign is now pushing to win North Carolina, a state in which Republicans have won 10 of the last 11 presidential elections.

Then-senator Barack Obama won the state in 2008. Before that, the last Democratic presidential candidate to win the Tar Heel state was Jimmy Carter in 1976. But with less than five months to go, Biden is making a play for its 16 electoral votes, which could be decisive in what appears to be a tight 2024 contest.

As of June 18, former President Donald Trump, who won North Carolina twice, is 0.6 percentage points ahead of Biden in FiveThirtyEight’s average of national polls, with 40.8 percent to Biden’s 40.2 percent.

Trump won North Carolina by 1.34 percent – fewer than 75,000 votes – in 2020. While the state has mostly voted for Republicans on the presidential level, the party has only managed to win one gubernatorial election since 1988.

The Biden campaign now appears to believe the state is winnable for Democrats, including for Biden atop the ticket.

The campaign is working to put together a rally in the capital of Raleigh following the first presidential debate on June 27, according to McClatchy News.

A Brookings Institution analysis found in May those who have recently moved to North Carolina have come mostly from Democratic states and that the number of residents in the state who have at least a bachelor’s degree is on the rise. The college-educated demographic has grown increasingly Democratic following Trump’s entrance on the national political stage.

According to research from the University of Pennsylvania, the Biden campaign has launched micro-targeted ads in North Carolina, focusing on the economy, abortion rights and Trump’s threat to democracy.

North Carolina is the