Trailing in polls, Biden and Harris talk health care and seek donations in NC
Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris promoted their positions on health care and reproductive rights in a rare joint visit here Tuesday, then raised more than $2 million in a private fundraiser before zooming back to Washington, a political whirlwind that illustrated the importance of North Carolina to the 2024 presidential election.
The rare joint visit, combined with the campaign fundraising push that will also help benefit the state Democratic Party, are the latest — and perhaps strongest — indication of how badly Democrats want to win the swing state Biden narrowly lost in the 2020 presidential election.
Health care and reproductive rights are among the top issues seen as key to driving turnout among Democratic voters — and possibly convincing swing voters to back their campaign instead of the presumptive Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, whom Biden beat in 2020. Trump is now polling ahead of Biden in early stages of their electoral rematch.
During a speech at Chavis Community Center in Raleigh, Biden focused heavily on the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The ACA passed into law 14 years ago this week — a critical cornerstone to North Carolina’s expansion of Medicaid late last year, a move that gave health care to hundreds of thousands of uninsured North Carolinians.
“Just think back before the ACA,” Biden told the 300 in attendance, noting that until it became law, insurance companies had been allowed to deny coverage to people with diabetes, or who were pregnant, or had other preexisting medical conditions.
North Carolina was the only swing state Biden lost in 2020. But he lost by just 1.5% of the vote, a significantly better showing than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's 4.5% loss in North Carolina in 2016.
And the state's booming population growth since then has concentrated in the deep-blue urban centers, giving Democrats hope they can stop Trump from winning the state for a third straight time. Republicans, meanwhile, will be looking to the strength of their support in rural areas to defend what's seen as a must-win state for Trump.
A recent WRAL News poll showed Trump leading Biden 50% to 45%, with 5% of likely voters undecided. Biden has largely wound down his campaign since taking office in 2021, whereas Trump has been campaigning non-stop. Now that the Biden campaign is ramping up again, the margins are expected to tighten, pollsters say.
"There’s no question that North Carolina is one of the must-win states in the path to the White House, and it will be hotly contested," U.S. Sen. Thom TIllis, R-NC, said Tuesday at an event for Durham semiconductor company Wolfspeed. "... You ignore North Carolina and you reduce your chances of winning the White House."
Focus on health care
Biden spoke at length Tuesday about Republicans' unsuccessful but years-long efforts to repeal the ACA. Trump made repealing it a key part of his winning 2016 presidential campaign, and Congressional Republicans fell just one vote short of repealing it in 2017. Biden noted those stakes in his speech Tuesday. He also criticized Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“He told Americans, all they had to do is to inject bleach in themselves,” Biden said. “Remember that? Not a joke.”
Trump's national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, called the comment “misinformation and lies.”
While introducing Biden, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper called Medicaid expansion under the ACA "a dream a decade in the making." The federal government paid North Carolina $1.6 billion in a sort of signing bonus for expanding Medicaid late last year, after holding out for years — a payment Biden pushed to create after becoming president, and which Cooper said was key in convincing GOP legislative leaders to sign off on expansion.
If Trump were to retake the White House and sign off on repealing the ACA, Biden said, 45 million Americans would lose their health insurance "including 1.4 million right here in North Carolina."
Leavitt said that even though Trump made repealing Obamacare a key part of his 2016 campaign — and continued to call for a repeal-and-replace plan as recently as November — he no longer supports that.
"We're in a different time now in 2024," she said, adding that Trump "is not running for president to terminate Obamacare, he is running for president to make the Affordable Care Act actually affordable for everyday Americans. To make it less expensive, to increase coverage options, to increase competition in the healthcare marketplace, and to ultimately make it a better system that works."
In November, Trump wrote on social media that the 2017 failure to repeal Obamacare during his presidency "was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!”
2024 stakes
The Raleigh visit comes as the Biden and Trump campaigns shift focus from the now-settled presidential primaries to the general election in November. Trump, who won the state in 2016 and 2020 after making many trips to North Carolina during those elections, has remained a frequent local presence recently; he also personally backed the former leader of the state GOP, Michael Whatley, to take over the national Republican Party.
Since Jimmy Carter in 1976, only one Democratic presidential candidate has won North Carolina: Barack Obama in 2008. Biden was on the ticket then, as Obama’s running mate.
Biden's fundraiser Tuesday evening — which was held for a joint fundraising PAC that split proceeds between his campaign as well as the Democratic Party's state and national chapters — raised more than $2 million, Cooper told the crowd of about 120 donors in attendance.
“For first time since 2008 we have to make sure in this presidential race, North Carolina turns blue," Cooper said.
The two campaigns and other outside groups are likely to spend tens of millions of dollars in North Carolina in the next several months buying ads, hiring staff and conducting other get-out-the-vote efforts.
"There’s no question that North Carolina is one of the must-win states in the path to the White House, and it will be hotly contested," U.S. Sen. Thom TIllis, R-NC, said Tuesday at an event for Durham semiconductor company Wolfspeed. "... You ignore North Carolina and you reduce your chances of winning the White House."
GOP response
The Raleigh visit comes as the Biden and Trump campaigns shift focus from the now-settled presidential primaries to the general election in November. Trump, who won the state in 2016 and 2020 after making many trips to North Carolina during those elections, has remained a frequent local presence recently; he also personally backed the former leader of the state GOP, Michael Whatley, to take over the national Republican Party.
Since Jimmy Carter in 1976, only one Democratic presidential candidate has won North Carolina: Barack Obama in 2008. Biden was on the ticket then, as Obama’s running mate.
After the speech Tuesday, Biden and Harris briefly attended a private fundraiser that organizers said raised $2.3 million for a joint fundraising political action committee that split proceeds between Biden’s campaign and the Democratic Party's state and national chapters.
“For first time since 2008 we have to make sure in this presidential race, North Carolina turns blue," Cooper told a crowd of about 120 donors, who paid as much as $100,000 to attend.
The two campaigns and other outside groups are likely to spend tens of millions of dollars in North Carolina in the next several months buying ads, hiring staff and conducting other get-out-the-vote efforts.
WRAL polling shows health care tied with the economy as the top issue for voters of any political persuasion this year. Biden and Harris both spoke Tuesday of Republicans' efforts to further restrict abortion, in addition to the attempts to repeal the ACA.
In written statements before the speech, state and national GOP leaders avoided discussion of health care issues. They instead focused on inflation and immigration, saying both are on the rise because of Biden.
"A visit by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will not change the fact that North Carolina families are suffering from out of control inflation, our border is wide open and the world is a more dangerous place than it was under President Trump," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement.
North Carolina Republican Party spokesman Matt Mercer said Republicans welcome Biden’s visit as an opportunity to “highlight the threat the Biden-Harris-Stein agenda poses to our families who want government that acts on their behalf instead of the wishes of the Democratic donor class.”
That’s a reference to Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic nominee for governor this year to replace Cooper, who is term-limited. The Republican gubernatorial nominee is Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. Robinson has said he favors fully repealing Obamacare, rather than the repeal-and-replace plan some Republicans have proposed.
“It is a concentrated effort to enslave everybody,” Robinson said of the Affordable Care Act during a 2018 appearance on a podcast called Politics and Prophecy.
‘Out of the ordinary’
The Biden-Harris campaign has been increasing its focus on North Carolina. This is the president’s second visit to the Triangle this year after holding an event in Cary in January. It’s the second stop in the Triangle this month for Harris, who campaigned in Durham March 1. First Lady Jill Biden also appeared in Durham last week.
Harris spoke about what the Biden administration has already done for health care — she claimed credit for the biggest expansion of youth mental health services in U.S. history — as well as what she sees at stake in this year’s elections. And she slammed the abortion restrictions that Republican-led states including North Carolina have passed since 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Polling shows Biden faces significant challenges with voters in North Carolina. In addition to Trump's head-to-head lead in the recent WRAL News poll, Biden also held lower favorability scores than Trump.
Mercer said the increased attention won’t help.
"As North Carolina families realize their paychecks don’t go as far as they did four years ago thanks to Bidenomics, as crime and unchecked illegal immigration threaten our communities, and as today’s Democratic Party embraces radical left-wing ideologies, it's clear our state and nation was safer and more prosperous with President Donald Trump," he said.
It wasn’t just Republicans criticizing Biden in Raleigh Tuesday; pro-Palestinian protesters lined up outside his speech holding signs criticizing the U.S. government’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians. Three protesters were removed from Biden's speech after interrupting with chants about health care for Gaza. As they were being escorted out, Biden called for patience in the crowd, adding: "They have a point. We need to get a lot more care into Gaza."
Others were happy to see the president in person, after facing questions over his age and energy levels.
“It’s really important for us to hear straight from the source what’s being done, what the plans are for the future, and how the next four years could go,” said Josahandy Avila, an 18-year-old UNC-Chapel Hill student who traveled to Raleigh for the speech.
Meredith College political scientist David McLennan said the rare joint-visit approach could help Biden with women voters and voters of color, while also reassuring voters concerned about his age that Harris is ready to step into the role if needed. Harris is the first woman, the first Black person and the first person of Asian descent to hold the office.
"To win North Carolina he needs women, he needs people of color, he needs young voters. And it's much more difficult for him individually to get those," McLennan said of Biden. "I think it's a very strategic decision on the part of the Biden-Harris campaign."
At least one Wake County resident at the Chavis event agreed: “As a Black female, it’s nice to be in the same room with our first Black female vice president,” Estherine King Davis said in an interview. “And for them to show that much attention to this state, it says that they are not just interested in us, but that they are willing to do what it takes to win this.”
McLennan said the joint visit also sends a message about Biden’s commitment to Harris.
"Because of this constant chatter about 'Should Biden keep Harris or take her off the ticket,' I think we'll probably see them not only in North Carolina, but elsewhere together — a very powerful message that 'We are a team and we will be a team until November,'" McLennan said.
WRAL reporters Matt Talhelm and Aaron Thomas contributed to this article.
