President Biden is set to travel on Tuesday to North Carolina to argue that he has delivered for the South on issues from jobs, lowering costs, and reproductive rights.
The president’s visit comes as the campaign has focused on North Carolina as a battleground state former President Trump won in 2020 that they are eying to flip in 2024. Biden plans to communicate how Trump failed the South during his presidency, according to a memo from campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.
“Our campaign will engage voters across these states, from urban centers to the suburbs and rural areas, where there are more Democratic voters than any other region in the country,” Rodriguez said. “President Biden and Vice President Harris have delivered for the South after four years of failure under Trump, and our campaign will continue to highlight the stark contrast between their agenda and the MAGA extremism taking hold of the GOP in these states under Trump.”
He will be in Raleigh to deliver remarks and participate in a campaign reception alongside Vice President Harris.
Rodriguez said North Carolina and Georgia are southern battleground states critical for the pathways to 270 in November. The trip on Tuesday is the last of Biden’s March visits to every battleground state following his State of the Union address. A visit to Georgia kicked off that tour.
“In 2020, Georgia was the closest state in the country won by President Biden, and North Carolina was the closest state in the country won by Donald Trump, making them both extremely competitive states where early investment makes a difference,” she said.
Trump barely beat Biden in North Carolina by less than 1 percentage point. An aggregation of polls shows that Trump has a 6.2-point lead over Biden in the state. North Carolina hasn’t gone to a Democrat since 2008 and went to Trump in his last two White House bids.
Rodriguez, in the memo, also argued that Republicans in states like North Carolina and Georgia are too extreme. She said that “MAGA Republicans” want to limit voting rights in both North Carolina and Georgia but that Democrats are fighting back.
The Biden campaign said it is investing in Black and Spanish media and working with surrogates on the ground, like Gov. Roy Cooper (D-N.C.) among others. Meanwhile, Rodriguez noted, Trump allies on the ground include gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson (R) in North Carolina and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) in Georgia.
North Carolina was targeted in the Biden campaign’s six-week $30 million spring ad buy that kicked off in March. One of the ads from the buy included a local voice, Patrick Brown, a North Carolina farmer who touted Biden’s support for rural communities in the South.
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