Otherwise uninterested Democratic North Carolinian voters are now feeling a jolt of enthusiasm to head to the polls in November in the days after Kamala Harris entered the presidential race.
The must-win state is one of the seven vital to winning the White House in 2024 – and Democrats think they can flip the right-leaning North Carolina blue this election cycle for the first time since 1976.
After President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid on Sunday and endorsed Vice President Harris, the North Carolina Democratic Party saw its volunteer force increase by 20 percent, the campaign told DailyMail.com.
Kimberly, a rideshare driver and student in Charlotte, said that she might come out to vote now that a woman is leading the ticket.
‘I wasn’t voting for Joe or the other guy,’ the 36-year-old told DailyMail.com on Wednesday. ‘But if Kamala or Michelle [Obama] are running, I might.’
Vice President Kamala Harris is injecting enthusiasm in North Carolina Democratic voters – but some are still concerned about her chances in November
‘The country needs to be nurtured back together. And women are nurturing,’ she added.
To underscore the importance of North Carolina to Democrats, the Party started mobilizing a staff to the southern state in January, which is a full six months earlier than in previous presidential election cycles.
Additionally, the campaign pointed to the fact that their 18 offices in North Carolina plan to increase their staff of 100 by double in the next two weeks.
But there is also a sense of nervousness among some voters that a black woman might not be able to win.
‘For most of the people I know, we were a little anxious when the announcement first came out,’ Charlotte-area voter LaKesha Womack, 46, told DailyMail.com. ‘Combining black and woman into one person, it was like how is the country going to react?’
Donald Trump held a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina on July 24 – his first since VP Kamala Harris entered the presidential race
The chief strategy officer for a business education and lending service, Womack said she’s ‘more nervous’ having Harris on the ticket.
‘I felt pretty confident that people would vote for President Biden, even if they didn’t like it, just because I think a lot of people knew what was at stake,’ she said. ‘But, you know, just understanding the racial undertones in the country, I think I’m a little – and the sexism that exists in this country. I think I’m a little anxious, but I’m definitely hopeful.’
But she said her 18-year-old son who is voting for the first time in November is ‘most definitely’ feeling more emboldened to vote for Harris even though he was planning to cast his ballot for Biden anyway.
