Biden lost the Tar Heel state to Donald Trump by just 1.4 percentage points in 2020, and a Democrat at the top of the ticket hasn’t managed to turn North Carolina blue since Barack Obama did in 2008. Now Biden’s team sees opportunity in 2024 amid a fresh abortion ban, a contentious, expensive gubernatorial race and steady population growth that has ballooned urban and suburban areas.
NC has perhaps the most stark contrast between rural and urban population of any southern state, and I’m not just talking about major urban areas. You can go from MAGA county to the hippiest shit in the blink of an eye. I think the state would be solidly blue if not for gerrymandering.
Much of the South would be. Black people make up over 1/3 of the population.
Moved here 3 years ago… you’re very correct. It’s very quick you see a confederate flag or “go Brandon yard flag” to rainbow pride yard flags.
Most of my experience is in the Asheville area and mountain towns in general, which can be… interesting places. The rest of the state seems like college town after college town, other than the greater Fayetteville area. Even there it’s mostly military, so the politics should be as diverse as the greater population.
But man, when they go Red, they really go all out. Bunch of Mayberry wannabes.
I don’t know man, Oregon is like that as well.
Not exactly southern, but I definitely get similar vibes.
I live in the suburbs of Portland, and one of my neighbors has a “Let’s go Brandon” banner in front of his house.
He’s such a pleasant fellow, he likes to talk about how the War of Northern aggression unfairly targeted independent business owners that just happened to own slaves in the south and how the world would be a better place if the South had won.
I’m not confident that the state would go solidly blue if it wasn’t for gerrymandering.
While gubernatorial and council of state elections have had a decent amount of Dems, republicans have enjoyed more success at the national level in the Senate. The last dem was Kay Hagan, in 2008 and got the voter turnout from Obama… plus running against Elizabeth dole who wasn’t even someone anyone recognized as a North Carolinan.
At the state level, in the house of reps, the 120 districts do show gerrymandering, but the effect is limited, since the districts are smaller than the US House, where they basically lump Raleigh and Durham in as one. There’s a hell of a lot of red out there.
Sounds like Texas.
Thats the west. Texas wishes they were the south 😉
As a person who has lived in NC for 40+ years this is completely true. I just bought a house maybe 30 min from where I used to live and it seems like I’m in a completely different state. The former was jokingly called a concentrated area of relocated yankees (Cary) so lots of liberals and mid to upper class folks, lots of diversity. Where I moved to is lots of farms, white people, Jesus billboards, and Let’s Go Brandon yard signs.
Not sure I’d agree about the solidly blue part though. In the races that gerrymandering doesn’t affect the state went for Trump both times but voted for a Democratic governor. Seems awfully purple.
My NC experiences are (thankfully) limited to the bluer parts, so my view is admittedly skewed. Probably tipped a little too far into hyperbole with the “solid” comment.
I wish it were more solidly blue. I’ve lived mostly closer to large urban areas (Raleigh) so I’m basically in the same boat as you.