If Harris Wins North Carolina, This County Will Be the Tipping Point - The New York Times

For 16 years, the state has been a heartbreaker for Democrats, and so has Mecklenburg County — a reliably blue area that just hasn’t been blue enough. By Maya King Maya King traveled to five cities in North Carolina and spoke to more than 30 elected officials, party leaders, activists and voters. Ask any Democrat knocking doors, hosting debate watch parties or making phone calls in the blue pockets of North Carolina over the last several weeks, and they’ll say 2024 feels a lot like 2008. That was the year Barack Obama became the first Democrat to win the state in more than three decades. No presidential candidate for the Democrats has managed it since, but an outpouring of excitement for Vice President Kamala Harris has gotten their hopes up. Democrats eager to avoid another disappointment point to the state’s biggest metropolitan area — and the source of the party’s biggest recent heartbreaks — as the key. Mecklenburg County, home to Charlotte and its suburbs, is a reliably blue regio

For 16 years, the state has been a heartbreaker for Democrats, and so has Mecklenburg County — a reliably blue area that just hasn’t been blue enough. By Maya King Maya King traveled to five cities in North Carolina and spoke to more than 30 elected officials, party leaders, activists and voters. Ask any Democrat knocking doors, hosting debate watch parties or making phone calls in the blue pockets of North Carolina over the last several weeks, and they’ll say 2024 feels a lot like 2008. That was the year Barack Obama became the first Democrat to win the state in more than three decades. No pr