Vice President Harris has become the Biden campaign’s secret weapon in North Carolina, a battleground state where Biden’s campaign is expected to win the November presidential election.
Harris visited the state this week for her fifth time this year and has spent much of her time speaking directly to the state’s Black community, particularly Black men whom Biden has struggled to woo, and touting her administration’s accomplishments as part of a broader national economic tour.
“I believe strongly that the accomplishments of our administration — the creation of 15 million new jobs, the creation of more than 800,000 new manufacturing jobs, historically low unemployment, particularly in Black communities — are incredibly important, critically important,” Harris said during a moderated panel in Charlotte on Wednesday with actor Michael Ealy and television commentator Bakari Sellers, both of whom are Black.
“I know we can do a lot of good things in Washington, D.C., but it doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t get out onto the streets,” Harris said.
Democrats say Harris’s trips mark an investment in North Carolina as the campaign seeks to retake the state from former President Donald Trump’s victory in 2020. People close to the campaign say Harris is a central figure in that strategy.
“She’s one of the administration’s best spokespeople for the black community,” said Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist who served as Harris’ communications director until last year. “The president has appealed to the black community, but the vice president clearly has a different kind of appeal.”
Democratic strategist Joel Payne said Harris could be an effective surrogate for Biden among Democratic voters, including African-Americans.
“I think there’s a relationship between having her more out in the open and more on the offensive and her being perceived more favorably on the campaign trail,” Payne said.
Still, even Biden’s supporters acknowledge that even with Harris’ visit, it could be an uphill battle to win North Carolina, the first time a Democrat has won the state since Barack Obama was elected president in 2008.
And with less than five months until Election Day, polls show Trump holding a large lead in the state.
A poll released last week by East Carolina University’s Survey Research Center gives Trump a five-point lead over Biden in the state, with 48% approval rating to 43% disapproval rating.
A combination of major polls from Decision Desk HQ and The Hill show Trump holding a 5.4-point lead over Biden.
“I guess we’re dreaming,” a Democratic strategist acknowledged. “It’s great that the vice president is spending time there. This is what we need to be doing in all these battleground states.”
“This is not an indictment on the vice president. I think she’s doing everything she can to sway the support of black voters,” the strategist added. “I just think it’s working against us.”
Harris’ approval rating also remains low among voters overall.
A Politico/Morning Consult poll released this week found that VP Harris has a 42 percent approval rating. There are problems with her overall perception among voters who feel she would be a strong leader for the Democratic Party. In the same poll, 42 percent of voters rated her as a strong leader. Also, 57 percent of those surveyed said they thought Harris could win the presidential election.
But the same survey found Harris especially growing among black voters, with 67 percent of voters supporting her, even though she consistently trailed Biden among black voters when they faced off in the 2020 Democratic primary and after Harris was selected as the nominee, compared with 63 percent for Biden.
Dorie McMillan, the Biden campaign’s communications director in North Carolina, said in a memo this week that Democrats in the state were “hitting the ground running faster than ever” and running a campaign to ensure no vote was wasted.
McMillan said that while the Biden campaign has opened a field office in the state, the Trump campaign “will not have an office or any dedicated campaign staff in North Carolina.”
Harris, who visited Charlotte in April to open Biden’s first field office, has appeared on Charlotte’s black media, including Power 98 FM, a Biden aide said.
During two visits in March, Ms. Harris helped launch a Biden-Harris Students organization, announced investments to strengthen Black Wall Street small businesses in Durham, and spoke with Mr. Biden in Raleigh about the administration’s efforts to reduce health care costs.
Political observers say the investments made by the Biden campaign, including Harris’ visit, could pay off in a state that is expected to be won by a narrow margin.
“There are so few voters who can be persuaded, so a lot of it will depend on who turns out to vote,” said Michael Bitzer, chair of the political science department at Catawba College in North Carolina.
“We know that Black voter turnout has been below the state average over the last few elections, so any time that core constituency of the coalition is recognized — courted — it’s beneficial to be here.”
