North Carolina is at the center of national politics over the weekend as the current president and his predecessor travel to the state.
What you need to know
Biden visits Rocky Mount and Fort Liberty on official visits to the White House Friday Trump, Pence and DeSantis attend the NCGOP Convention in Greensboro, North Carolina, which is expected to be a swing state in the 2024 presidential race
President Joe Biden will travel to Rocky Mount and Fort Liberty in North Carolina on Friday on official visits to the White House.
The North Carolina GOP Convention is also underway, with several 2024 Republican presidential candidates in attendance.
Former President Donald Trump will address Republicans Saturday evening in Greensboro.
The last time Trump attended the convention, he shook up the world of politics by throwing a surprise endorsement of a little-known congressman-turned-Senator Ted Budd.
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While he might choose to make an endorsement in the North Carolina governor’s race this year, more eyes will be on what he has to say about his own election bid.
“He can say, ‘The last time I came here, I supported Ted Budd.’ I endorsed him early,” said former RNC communications director Doug Heye. “It’s going to be a way for him to make a distinction between what he does and everybody else in the crowd.”
Also speaking at the event will be Florida Republican presidential candidates Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday evening and former Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday afternoon.
Trump is undefeated in the state. He won the 2016 Republican primary and carried North Carolina in the 2016 and 2020 general elections.
And national polls show him well ahead of his nearly dozen Republican opponents this time around.
“You have to go after it, and you can’t depend on other people to do it for you, or hope that by talking vaguely around it you’re going to get some benefit … you have to take it on directly,” Heye said.
North Carolina’s primary is relatively early next year, before the field thins out in a big way, so expect several Republican candidates to make numerous stops.
No Democrat has carried the state in a presidential race since Barack Obama in 2008.
But Biden’s re-election campaign is putting the state on his list of targets.
“We think it’s going to be a battleground state in 2024. Trump only won it by 1 percent. You have a Democratic governor and we’ve made early investments in North Carolina,” said Elizabeth Alexander, senior communications adviser to the Biden campaign. .
The Biden campaign named Gov. Roy Cooper and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles to its national advisory board and made an early ad buy in the state.
“We’re putting our money where our mouth is and investing early in North Carolina,” Alexander said.
And while they aren’t official campaign stops, Biden has made several recent trips to the state. His visit to North Carolina is the second in less than three months. In March, he traveled to Durham to talk about investments in the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the CHIPS and Science Act and the American Rescue Plan.
