VP Kamala Harris, Gov. Tim Walz to make stops in North Carolina amid early voting

The Harris-Walz campaign is holding a multi-city tour called the Economic Freedom Talks. On Friday evening, the event will be in Durham.

This tour aims to engage entrepreneurs and small business owners in key battleground states to discuss the challenges small business owners face and offer insights into the campaign's plans to support and expand access to opportunities for these businesses.

In Durham, Mayor Leonardo Williams, business leader Farad Ali as well as Alexsis Rodgers, Political Director of Black to the Future Action Fund and Doug Speight, CEO of AxNano will join in a panel discussion on "Empowering Small Businesses and Community Advocacy for Long-Term Impact."

The event starts at 6 p.m. and will be held at American Underground, 201 W Main St, Suite 100.

Other stops include Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Macon

As part of the Economic Freedom Talks, the Harris-Walz campaign will award $10,000 "Foundation Grants" to select small businesses in each city.

Get more information at economicfreedomtalks.com.

Today in North Carolina former president Barack Obama will campaign for Kamala Harris in Charlotte.

Donald Trump's running mate, JD Vance, returns to the state for events in Raeford and Monroe.

Dr. Jill Biden is coming to Cary and Fayetteville to speak with voters there.

The first lady also plans to visit Asheville to meet with Hurricane Helene relief workers and volunteers.

With 12 days to go until Election Day, both presidential campaigns are making a big push for North Carolina.

It's a state Democrats have been hoping to flip for the first time since 2008, and they believe young voters and college students are a key part of that equation.

On Thursday, cheered on by a sea of Blue Devils, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was betting on a blue North Carolina.

On Thursday, cheered on by a sea of Blue Devils, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was betting on a blue North Carolina.

"What's gonna win is each and every one of you encouraging somebody to their better angels," the Democratic vice presidential nominee told the crowd gathered at the Duke University student union.

With an early voting site on campus, Walz hoped hoping students would go straight from the rally to the polls.

Walz's speech hit some of the Democrats' main points, such as change and reproductive rights.

Walz also weighed in on recent comments made by former President Donald Trump's former chief of staff John Kelly.

"(Trump's) tendencies toward leaning toward dictatorship is un-American," Walz said. "it is absolutely horrific the things they're proposing, but here's what I say is you know what's great about that he is never going to be president again, he is never going to be president."

But before he left, Walz, a former high school assistant football coach, had to go where he felt right at home.

"It really does have a high school gym feel to it, that's great," he said entering Cameron Indoor Stadium.

He got a quick tour of the court and met Duke men's basketball head coach Jon Scheyer.

And while that photo op might help lock up Duke voters, the campaign is also making sure to be equal opportunity. Doug Emhoff appeared in Tar Heel country this week.

Ending with some basketball bipartisanship, Emhoff posted on X "UNC and Duke students will always be rivals - but they both agree on one thing: voting for Kamala"

After leaving from Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Walz headed for events in Greenville followed by Wilmington where he was set to appear with music artist James Taylor.

More than 2 million votes have been cast in North Carolina's Early Voting period, according to the state board of elections.

The ballots cast represents a turnout of about 26% of North Carolina's nearly 7.8 million registered voters.

The ballots cast represents a turnout of about 26% of North Carolina's nearly 7.8 million registered voters.

The 2,015,754 ballots cast can be broken down into the following voting methods:

In-person early voting: 1,895,314
Absentee (civilian): 103,945
Absentee (overseas): 12,974
Absentee (military): 3,521