In Guilford County, North Carolina, home to Greensboro and High Point, it was difficult to get Democrats involved or excited about the presidential race.
“It used to be like pulling teeth to get people to volunteer,” recalled county Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathy Kirkpatrick.
People didn’t want to go out and knock on doors when President Biden was at the top of the ticket. They didn’t want to make phone calls or write postcards. She called it “‘a depression.
But as soon as Biden dropped out and endorsed Kamala Harris, everything changed.
“Oh my gosh, we’re signing up new volunteers 20 to 30 times a day right now,” Kirkpatrick said. “We signed up a couple hundred volunteers the first week after she announced it.”
Wake County Democrats Executive Director Wesley Knott talks to volunteers before they went door-knocking on Saturday, Aug. 17. More than two dozen volunteers showed up to canvass. Wake County Democrats had been working since before the reorganization and encouraging people to vote on all ballots, but with the number of new faces, the party asked for veteran volunteers, so newcomers would have people to go with.
In Wake County, home to Raleigh, Democratic Party Chairman Kevyn Creech said people were working hard for Biden as a candidate but there was a sense of fear about preserving democracy.
Now, she believes the campaign is more about hope. Democrats have been “rejuvenated, renewed, revitalized,” she said.
“It really changed the whole attitude and maybe even the trajectory of how this race will play out,” Creed said. “In about two weeks, between the time he announced he was running, we got hundreds of volunteers to sign up.”
“The change from Sunday to Monday was so stark that I was surprised by the level of enthusiasm,” added Jenny Marshall, Democratic chairwoman of Forsyth County, which includes Winston-Salem.
Democrats and Harris’ campaign see North Carolina as a state where they have a chance to win the blue vote in November. Local party officials believe it’s much more viable now than it was a month ago.
The last Democratic presidential candidate to win in North Carolina was Barack Obama in 2008.
Since then, Mitt Romney won in 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 by less than 75,000 votes.
But the state has also twice elected Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, even though Trump won at the top of the ticket.
North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said Friday he had “that 2008 feeling.” The last Democratic presidential candidate to win the state was President Obama in 2008.
“I have that 2008 feeling,” Cooper told the crowd at a Kamala Harris event Friday in Raleigh, alluding to Obama’s victory 16 years ago. “In North Carolina, we know what that means.”
A new poll shows Harris has largely erased Trump’s five- to six-point lead over Biden in the state.
A new New York Times/Siena College poll of likely North Carolina voters showed Harris at 49 percent and Trump at 47 percent.
Last week’s Cook Political Report poll put Harris and Trump in a statistical tie, with Harris at 48 percent among likely voters, compared to Trump’s 47 percent.
Both campaigns are treating North Carolina as a deep purple state.
Trump has been there several times in recent weeks alone, including last Wednesday during a speech in Asheville that was billed as remarks on the economy.
Former President Trump delivers a speech billed as an economic address in Asheville, North Carolina, on August 14, 2024
Kamala Harris during her stop in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday to unveil her economic plan
Harris has appeared eight times this year, including Friday to give her own speech on economic policy.
When it comes to putting the state in play, it probably comes down to turnout and that means a strong ground game, said Professor Michael Bitzer, chair of the Department of Politics at Catawba College.
‘“Democrats have been doing what they were supposed to do and haven’t been doing since 2008, and that is making a significant investment in ground operations rather than air war operations,” he said.
He pointed to a growing number of Democratic field offices and renewed motivation with Harris at the top of the ticket.
Volunteers left flyers on doors for Democrats who were not in the party.
“It’s an uphill climb, but they’re doing everything they can to get to the top of the mountain,” he said.
Republicans had been outpacing Democrats in the state in voter registration, but that, too, has changed in recent weeks.
“What we’ve seen since July 21 has been a small but noticeable increase in Democratic registration, so it’s probably due to the Harris effect,” Bitzer said.
“Overall, Democrats have been losing registrations, Republicans have been pretty stable (adding more than they lose) and unaffiliated (voters) are just outperforming everyone,” he said.
North Carolina now has more registered unaffiliated voters than Democrats or Republicans. driven primarily by voters under 45, including Gen Z and millennials, who dislike party registration.
While these young people tend to vote more for Democrats, they have not participated in elections as frequently as necessary. turnout levels for Democrats to overcome the GOP’s built-in advantage.
Some Democratic Party officials believe the commitment has changed in recent weeks.
Liz Purvis is the Democratic Party chairwoman in Granville County, north of Raleigh. It is a minority-majority county that Obama won but went Republican for Trump in 2016 and 2020.
Purvis said there has been an increase in volunteer numbers and enthusiasm there, as in Democratic strongholds, and something he hadn’t seen before.
“We’ve had some new repeat campaigners in the last few weeks who are young voters, not just from Granville, but young people from Wake County,” he said.
They live in a safe blue district and believe they can make a bigger difference by going to Granville.
“I think in Granville we’ll see how this county evolves and how North Carolina evolves,” Purvis said. “We’re going to act like we’re down 10 points, but there’s a real sense that it could turn blue that didn’t exist a month ago.”
Volunteers prepare to knock on doors on behalf of the Democratic Party in Raleigh, North Carolina
At a campaign event held on a Saturday morning in Raleigh, there were more than two dozen volunteers.
Organizers said the number was consistent with what they had been seeing at volunteer events throughout the summer, but nearly half of the volunteers on Aug. 17 were new.
When organizers saw all the new names, they also put out a call for “veteran” volunteers, so new attendees could team up with someone who had gone door-to-door before.
Abby Burton, 74, was one of the “old-timers” who showed up early. She said enthusiasm for Democrats has changed dramatically heading into November.
“What I keep saying is this is not a moment, this is a movement,” Burton said of the move with Harris.
“What I’ve seen since the change is not just the people I talk to when I go door to door, but people are talking about their younger children and their grandchildren who now want to get involved.”