With the stakes high, NC Dems and GOP make Election Day eve push

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- In this 11th hour before voters walk into North Carolina polling places to decide what party will control the state legislature, we found Democrats and Republicans not campaigning, but mobilizing.

In the basement of the state's Republican Party headquarters, a small army of GOP 20-somethings worked the phones.

NCGOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse was leading the troops in what's been a months-long effort to hold onto Republican supermajorities in the state House and Senate.

But to keep that power to override any vetoes by Gov. Roy Cooper, Woodhouse has to tend to the more mundane details: do Republican voters know what time the polls open and close, do they need a ride, and what about the weather?

"The earlier (they vote) the better, the earlier the better," Woodhouse said to the young volunteers. "Weather will be better earlier, so just keep pounding that in."

The night before Election Day is about making sure your voters show up.

"At this point (the name of the game is) to make sure that the people that want to vote, can vote," Woodhouse told us. "We don't see indication of some big blue wave. But we do have some close races and we need a good Republican Election Day turnout."

Across town in southeast Raleigh on Election Day eve, Democratic Raleigh state reps. Yvonne Lewis Holley and Rosa Gill were going over last-minute logistics with campaign volunteers.

"Get out to vote tomorrow, we're telling everyone to get out to vote tomorrow," Holley said.

The two are rallying the troops with optimism that Democrats can wrest back the balance of power on Jones Street.

"Our No. 1 goal is to take over the majority," said Gill. "Our short-term goal is to break the supermajority."

Holley takes her optimism one step further: "I hope that the enthusiasm is such that we will take back the House. That's what my hopes and dreams are and I'm sticking with that."

Both Democratic and Republican party leaders see a "Trump Effect" at play across the state; voters gravitating to this midterm election to voice their approval or opposition to the president. The two sides diverged on which party it would benefit or hurt.