We talked about politics at the fair
Jakai, a canvasser from Down Home North Carolina, and the impact of down-ballot candidates in Nash County, North Carolina
Jakai was not going to cast a ballot. When a group of door knockers came to his neighborhood, he wasn’t planning on having a conversation, either. But in a matter of minutes, he agreed to both.
A canvasser from Down Home North Carolina approached the car of a non-affiliated voter in Nash County, North Carolina, as he was pulling out of his driveway in a black SUV.
Alex Cook asked if he could get five minutes of his time. Her request for five minutes was turned into a request for two minutes. Cook made her case for why she should vote for the down-ballot candidates that the organization endorsed, from the passenger side window. She focused on the way the local races would impact healthcare, an issue that resonated with Britton.
Door knocking, doors, and the campaign of North Carolina’s governor: Tennessee’s Jacobi Haynes, a state canvasser, and a presidential hopeful
There are possible obstacles to getting those votes. Some of the most extreme maps in the nation were drawn in North Carolina. The state’s governor, Roy Cooper, is a Democrat, but Republicans hold a supermajority in the statehouse.
In the small town of Nashville, where the group canvassed that day, it did not feel evenly divided. There were Trump signs everywhere, and plenty of MAGA flags. Still, Down Home found plenty of Democratic and non-affiliated doors to knock on.
Down Home helped poor and working class people get their basic needs like housing and education, Bermudez-Bey said. In an election season like this one, the organization is mostly focused on local races, but they endorse candidates up and down the ticket, usually Democrats. Most of their time is spent urging residents — especially residents of color — to get out and vote.
North Carolina’s state Democratic chair, Anderson Clayton, is also focused on turnout this election. The youngest state party chair in the country is a 26 year old from Person County.
“Joe Biden lost the state by 74,000 votes in 2020, which we know is a field margin, and that can come from all of our counties across the state,” Clayton told NPR in October.
She made reaching out to rural Democrats a key part of her strategy. The Tarheel State has more rural voters than any other swing state.
Down Home door knockers are in Nashville. Sean Jones says he plans on voting, though in the presidential race, he hasn’t made up his mind. He said he’s leaning toward Vice President Kamala Harris.
Jones went to see his brother in jail this weekend and he was on his head about voting. Even though he wanted me to vote for Trump, I still wanted to vote for Kamala. I’m still trying to find out what’s going on and who’s who.
Finding undecided voters before Election Day can be hard. Down Home encounters them often, even within their own ranks. Adon Bermudez-Bey, speaking only for himself and not for the organization, told NPR he’s also undecided on the presidential race — even as he led a group of canvassers for an organization that has endorsed Harris.
Bermudez-Bey has concerns about Harris, including her support for Israel during the ongoing war in the Middle East. He set a deadline for himself to make a decision by the last day of early voting in North Carolina.
“I just feel like Donald Trump is for billionaires and not for working class people,” said voter Lynn Jones, who spoke to NPR after casting her ballot for Harris.
Donnell Jones was by her side. He had voted in his first election. Lynn said the two of them had been having a lot of discussions about going to the polls.
“I just thought, you know, he was at an age where this just should have happened a lot sooner,” Lynn said. I did not pressure him because sometimes people are stuck in their ways. Just say ‘Hey, let’s vote together’.
If Democrats win Nash County, and win North Carolina, it will be through thousands of interactions like what Down Home is doing — and on a more casual level, what Lynn Jones did with her neighbor Donnell. The key will be nudging others to show up and vote, regardless of how disengaged or skeptical they were at the beginning of those conversations.
There’s one more factor that Harris is not campaigning on directly, but it’s top of mind to many voters. “To be honest with you,” said Deja Boston, “it’s just historical for me as a Black woman.”
The topic of inflation is raw and politically potent for conservatives despite the fact that it has leveled out over the past year. Derek Nipper, who was working the state Republican Party’s booth, said for him, the election is about “my wallet. I remember when Trump was in office, I was able to put up not a lot, but maybe $200 a paycheck.” He said he was struggling to make it to the end of the day with money in his pocket.
Dr. Bill Pincus is a Republican who sees the race differently. Right To Life’s booth at the fair. Pincus spoke passionately about how he believes life begins at conception, and that to him, opposing abortion rights is about protecting life. But when we asked him what the election was about, he said the economy. “I think the real thing is everybody’s hurting, because prices have gone up so much,” he said.
Following the Dobbs decision, North Carolina’s legislature passed a twelve week abortion ban. It’s a major theme of Democratic campaign ads, and Harris is campaigning on signing a federal law restoring protections previously granted by Roe V. Wade.
“Don’t make me start crying over the abortion thing. Lew said it tears his heart out. “If they’re pregnant, that’s why.” she said, trailing off. “I need to have the right to decide.”
One of the issues that came up was reproductive rights and the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in favour of abortion rights.
North Carolina’s political importance is clear. It’s not clear what the purposes of the 2024 presidential race are. We spoke with every voter who responded to our question and got a wide range of answers.
North Carolina crashed the swing state party in 2024, especially after Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden atop the Democratic presidential ticket.
Political watchers had expected six states to vote on whether or not Donald Trump would return to the White House: Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Georgia.
But North Carolina was the state Trump won by the smallest margin in 2020, and as this year’s presidential contest has entered its final stretch, both parties are pouring resources, time and energy into the Tarheel State. There are polls that show a close race.
The most remarkable thing about our time in North Carolina was how inundated we were by the election. The start to the finish of every commercial break on the TV channels is filled with campaign ads. Pre-roll advertisements are on the radio and on social media feeds.
Vendors at the fair were selling t-shirts with the caption “You missed!”, in reference to President-elect Trump’s post-assassination attempt fist pump. A beef jerky stand converted its tip jar into a straw poll, with one cup featuring an image of Harris and the other of Trump. Trump had a 12- to-$0 win in the poll.
The state’s Republican lieutenant governor, who’s running for governor, is playing a starring role in many of the ads blanketing North Carolina. Not necessarily his own campaign’s ads, but rather, Democratic attack ads trying to link Republicans up and down the ballot to Robinson’s controversial statements and policy stances, especially his strict opposition to abortion rights.
The Trump campaign and other Republicans have distanced themselves from Robinson, especially in the wake of a CNN report Robinson denies that ties him to racist and offensive comments made on a pornographic website. But he still has his supporters.
“He’s very outspoken, he’s very aggressive,” said New. They have taken some things he said out of context. The entire paragraph isn’t told. They see one line and think, “Ok, that sounds nasty, let’s put it in there.”
New is a Republican. We approach her because of her outfit which reads, “I’m voting for the convicted felon,” and a bright pink WOMEN FOR ROBINSON cap. A jury in New York found Trump guilty of a crime earlier in the year. He’s facing felony charges in three additional cases, as well.)
She is quick with an answer on everything, except for the outcome of the race in North Carolina. Both the Trump and Harris campaigns have spent millions of dollars in the state, and have returned week after week for campaign events. A close race in a state that hasn’t voted Democrat for president since 2008 is shown in the polls. It is tighter than New likes. “You never know until it’s all said and done.”
We came across Lew and Deborah Love, who were wearing homemade hats supporting Harris, which had a red cursive LA, blue commas and a homemade hat made of homemade hats. They voted earlier that day, and likely don’t share many opinions with New, except that same anxiety about the result. “My gut starts churning at 2 a.m., and I can’t get it off my mind,” Debbie Love said. I pray about it.