Harris hits the campaign trail under spotlight as Biden faces mounting pressure to drop out

• Vice President Kamala Harris hit the campaign train in North Carolina, where the intense media interest reflected her status as the Democratic Party's most likely presidential nominee in the event that Biden drops his reelection bid.
• The vice president's remarks on Thursday come amid intense pressure from top Democrats for Biden to drop out of the presidential race.
• The Biden campaign has quietly begun assessing the viability of a Harris-led ticket against Trump, a source told NBC News last week.

Vice President Kamala Harris touted the nation's domestic manufacturing resurgence under President Joe Biden on Thursday at a campaign stop in North Carolina, where the intense media interest reflected her status as the Democratic Party's most likely presidential nominee in the event that Biden drops his reelection bid.

"The fact is, under Donald Trump, America lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs. And more than 1,000 factories closed under his watch," Harris said in Fayetteville. "Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and I have created nearly 800,000 new manufacturing jobs — so much so it's been described as a manufacturing boom."

The vice president's remarks come amid intense pressure from top Democrats for Biden to drop out of the presidential race.

According to media reports, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have both told Biden that his bid for reelection could endanger the party's electoral chances in both chambers of Congress.

Two sources familiar with former President Barack's Obama's thinking told NBC News that while he has "concerns" about Biden's ability to stay at the top of the Democratic ticket, he also continues to see his main role as a sounding board and counselor to