Biden wants to win North Carolina. Improving turnout among Black voters is key

In North Carolina, a potential battleground state this year, Democrat Kimberly Hardy is chasing the answer to one question: “Why are Black folks not voting right now in this county?"

As the second vice chair of North Carolina’s Democratic Party, Hardy is traveling through Eastern North Carolina, to rural counties with large Black populations, working hard at earning votes for Democrats up and down the ballot.

Black voters have traditionally been a critical part of the Democratic Party’s coalition. But polls this year show a softening of that support, which the Biden campaign is acutely aware of. This week as it launches “Black Voters for Biden-Harris,” which the campaign describes as a summer of mobilization, to earn votes and not take them for granted.

Hardy's 30-county tour has taken her to a community college, a gas station, a kindergarten graduation and a barbershop in the community of Rocky Mount called Head Changerz.

What she’s hearing is a lot of people who feel like their votes don’t really matter — that the system doesn’t work for them. And she’s trying to convince them that there is great power in their votes.

At Head Changerz, Hardy started off with that question about why people aren’t voting.

“There’s no wrong answer,” Hardy said. “I want to hear anything.”

And after a little hesitation, the floodgates opened. Barber Cherita Evans told Hardy elections come and go and not much changes, even the historic election of former President Barack Obama.

“I just was happy we had a Black president,” said Evans. “He had swag. He looked good.”

But beyond that, she said, her life didn’t really change for the better.

“Once the emotionalism is gone, you still feel stuck,” said Evans. “You still feel like this is hard.”

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