The Presidential candidates are fighting tooth and nail in the battleground states.
But the latest news for Democrats wasn’t what they expected.
And a battleground Republican had one update for Donald Trump that wrecked Democrats.
Early voting and polling look good for Trump in North Carolina
North Carolina is one of the seven swing states that will determine who wins the Presidential election.
Former President Donald Trump won the state in 2016 and 2020, but Vice President Kamala Harris has made a major play for the state.
According to the Real Clear Politics polling average, Trump holds an extremely slim .8% advantage in North Carolina.
But there are promising signs from early voting that have Republicans feeling good about the former President’s chance in the state.
Republicans have a slight lead in turnout in early voting, and black turnout – a heavily Democrat demographic – is down in the state.
This is a drastic change from the 2020 election when Republicans lagged far behind in early voting heading into Election Day.
A prominent Republican told Politico that “the ground has shifted here in North Carolina” after good returns in early voting.
North Carolina Republican Lieutenant Governor candidate Hal Weatherman had decades of experience with campaigns in the state – he previously served as Chief of Staff and top advisor to former Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest after years as a campaign strategist.
“He’s trying to put the nail in the coffin,” Weatherman said of Trump. “I’ve run 15 campaigns in North Carolina over a 27-year career. I can tell when a man is trying to drive a nail in the coffin.”
Trump and Republicans have made it a point to emphasize early voting this election, and North Carolina Republicans are responding.
A strong performance in early voting would allow the former President to shift his focus to other swing states in the closing days of the race.
Democrats are increasingly worried about North Carolina
North Carolina Republican Party chair Jason Simmons noted that Republicans “have out voted, out performed” Democrats in early voting.
“When you’re looking at just the early voting data,” Simmons said. “It continues to show that Republicans are overperforming and Democrats are underperforming.”
The decline in black turnout in the state has Democrats worried.
North Carolina Democrat consultant Thomas Mills called it “a huge deficit that Democrats should be scrambling to address.”
Even Kamala’s campaign doesn’t feel good about their chances in the state.
Four sources told NBC News that her campaign is pessimistic about her chances in North Carolina.
“Of all of the seven [battleground states], that one seems to be a little bit slipping away,” a Kamala campaign official told NBC News.
One of the fears for Republicans in North Carolina was that turnout could be affected in the western part of the state by the flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.
Western North Carolina is home to some of the most Republican counties in the state but is also home to one of the most radical left-wing cities in the country, Asheville.
Early voting sites have been added in the counties damaged by the storm and it appears the hurricane won’t depress turnout.
North Carolina is key to Trump’s path to 270 Electoral votes.
A sweep of North Carolina, Georgia, and Arizona would leave him knocking on the door.
Trump would only have to win one of the Rust Belt swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to become the next President.