Both Harris and Trump make final push for NC voters | Live Blog

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Last updated: Tuesday, November 5, 2024 9:43AM GMT
Race for the White House 2024
Early Wednesday morning, Trump secured enough Electoral College votes to set himself up for a second presidency, including by flipping the key swing states of Georgia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Click here for the latest blog.

It's no secret that North Carolina is one of several key battleground states. That's not lost on the presidential candidates, who along with their surrogates have been constant presences in the state for months leading up to the 2024 general election.

Democrats think they can flip North Carolina for the first time since 2008. Republicans are out to deliver the state for Trump yet again.

In the updates below, you'll find the latest information on when the major party candidates plan campaign stops in the state during these final few days counting down to Nov. 5, Election Day. You'll also find other relevant updates, quick hits and links for statewide and local races.

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Oct 29, 2024, 9:13 AM GMT

Gov. Cooper heads to polls to cast his ballot

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper will cast his vote Tuesday for the 2024 election.

Cooper, a Democrat, said he would vote for Harris and other Democrats on the ballot.

After the vote, according to the governor's office, he will speak about early voting in NC and the Harris-Walz campaign.

Oct 28, 2024, 5:48 PM GMT

Trump and Harris visiting central NC on Wednesday

The two top candidates for the highest office in America will both be in central North Carolina on Wednesday.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have rallies scheduled in Rocky Mount and Raleigh respectively.

Both candidates are fighting hard for North Carolina's 16 electoral college votes. The winner of the Tar Heel state gives themself a leg up to be the ultimate winner of the race.

ByGARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press
Oct 28, 2024, 1:53 PM GMT

2 US House members seek to become North Carolina's attorney general

North Carolina's next attorney general will be one of two outgoing members of Congress who have represented the Charlotte area on Capitol Hill and previously at the state legislature.

Both Democratic U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson and Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop are lawyers and prolific fundraisers. Each has argued that his rival is too radical to become the state's top law enforcement official on Nov. 5.

The winner succeeds two-term Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic nominee for governor. Democrats have dominated the position - a Republican hasn't been elected as attorney general since 1896 - even as the GOP has performed well for decades in other statewide races. In both 2016 and 2020, Stein won by fewer than 25,000 votes over his Republican opponent.

This fall's campaign has focused largely on who is best able to represent the nation's ninth-largest state in court and keep its communities safe. While State Bureau of Investigation figures show the North Carolina violent crime rate was higher in 2023 compared to a decade ago, it was essentially flat compared to 2022.

The two candidates and their allied PACs were on track to spend at least $31 million combined on television and online advertising during the general election campaign, according to data from AdImpact, which monitors campaign spending. The North Carolina race is among the most closely watched of the 10 attorney general elections taking place across the U.S. next month.

The attorney general is charged with representing the state in court and defending the work of locally elected district attorneys in appeals of criminal cases. AGs also make legislative recommendations to the General Assembly, and in the past have sued specific industries for damages, including tobacco, drug and social media companies.

That two members of the U.S. Congress are seeking a state government post reflects the position's growing influence and the increasingly partisan role state attorneys general are playing when it comes to going to court to support or oppose federal government policies.

Jackson is an Afghan war veteran and National Guard attorney who has gained a large following on social media and was elected to Congress in 2022. He has said his experience as a prosecutor - he worked as an assistant district attorney in Gaston County handling different types of cases - and his commitment to performing his duties in a nonpartisan matter make him the most qualified candidate.

"The job is fundamentally about being a shield for people against those who mean them harm," Jackson said in a recent interview. "I've spent my entire career doing that as a soldier, as a prosecutor. That's why I want to be attorney general."

Bishop, a longtime commercial litigation attorney, former Mecklenburg County commissioner and state legislator, joined Congress in 2019 and is a strong supporter of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump.

Bishop downplayed Jackson's legal history as an assistant prosecutor and highlighted what he calculates as his own 400-plus appearances in state and federal courts.

"What I have had is extensive and complex experience with the judicial system in North Carolina," Bishop said in an interview. "He has not had anything like that career."

Jackson said that if he's elected, he will work to counter the fentanyl overdose epidemic and combat scammers now using artificial intelligence techniques to fool consumers.

Bishop accused Jackson of having an "extensive record of being soft on crime and antagonistic to police." He said what North Carolina needs is the "restoration of law and order," and that he would work to reel in what he considers liberal-leaning district attorneys who aren't doing so.

The position has been a stepping stone for gubernatorial bids - outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper was attorney general for 16 years. In recent years, Cooper and Stein stopped defending state laws pushed by Republicans that they have determined are unconstitutional.

Jackson said in a recent interview that Stein was right to decline to defend provisions of state laws restricting medication abortions and mandating what a physician must do before prescribing abortion pills.

But Bishop contends that Stein's motive for not defending state laws enacted by the GOP-controlled General Assembly is to advance his political career - and he alleged that Jackson would do the same thing if he's elected.

Jackson and Bishop served together in the state legislature, where Bishop shepherded a 2016 law that banned cities from enacting new anti-discrimination ordinances and required transgender people to use public restrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificate.

Jackson didn't seek reelection to Congress this fall after the General Assembly redrew legislative maps and placed him in a heavily GOP district.

Jackson and his allies have also pointed out Bishop's endorsement of Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson for governor, especially after a CNN report alleging that Robinson made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornography website's message board. Robinson has denied the allegation.

Asked whether he remains comfortable endorsing Robinson, Bishop said he's focused on winning the attorney general's race and that "whatever issues involve the governor's race are between Mark and the voters." But Jackson said it's "absurd" that Bishop "can't bring himself to say a single critical word" about Robinson.

Earlier this month, Bishop filed a defamation lawsuit against Jackson's campaign and others, alleging that at least some of them are to blame for a political survey asking if a voter would be more or less likely to vote for Bishop if he "represented people who stole money from the elderly." Bishop says he has never represented such people. Jackson's campaign has suggested the lawsuit will be unsuccessful.

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Oct 28, 2024, 4:21 PM GMT

Election Day nearly a week away; over 2 million NC voters cast their ballots

Election Day is a little over a week away.

As early voting continues, the Tar Heel state is seeing record turnout. Over two million North Carolinians have already cast their ballots for the 2024 election.

According to the latest ABC News IPSOS Poll, the race for the White House remains extremely tight. Vice President Kamala Harris is showing a slight lead nationally over former President Donald Trump.

Just 2 percentage points divide the two among all registered voters, 49-47%. According to the poll, Harris has a slight advantage among likely voters, 51-47%.

With just eight days to go in the 2024 Election Season, North Carolinians are turning out to the polls in record numbers.

NC State Political Science Professor Steven Greene said it's important to understand the role of polls in our election process.

"When it's a close race, asking it to predict the winner is honestly asking too much of what polls are really capable of giving us," he told ABC11. "And what they've told us is this race is really close nationally, and here in North Carolina."

Over 2.8 million North Carolinians have cast ballots in the 2024 election.

Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will be back in North Carolina on Wednesday.

The vice president will hold a campaign event at 9 a.m. in Raleigh, meanwhile Walz will spend the day in Charlotte and Asheville. No other details have been released.

Last Friday, former President Barack Obama, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and First Lady Jill Biden visited NC.