North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said on Sunday that he thinks Vice President Kamala Harris would have a clear path to the White House if she wins his state in November. This is because Harris often visits the area.
Cooper told CBS’s Margaret Brennan on Sunday, “There’s no doubt about it, it’s close here in North Carolina.” She has been to North Carolina 17 times as vice president of the United States, which shows that she cares about our state.
He then said, “She knows that we are playing.” Trump has no other way to become president after North Carolina, so she knows she will be the next president.
Of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House, 16 would come from North Carolina. This would help either candidate get to 270.
Cooper was governor of North Carolina for two terms. North Carolina is a swing state that will be very important in November. He can’t serve another term, and while he was on Harris’ shortlist for vice president, he took his name out of the running before she chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
According to the most recent polls, Harris and former President Donald Trump are pretty evenly matched across the country. A recent poll by the New York Times and Siena College showed that Trump had a 1% lead over the vice president. However, those results were very close to the true number.
Harris has a small lead over Trump or is tied with him in all seven swing states. North Carolina is one of them.
In 2020, Trump won the state by just over 100,000 votes. For Democrats, though, the state has only gone blue once since 1976, for Barack Obama in 2008.
Harris, on the other hand, has become more well-known since she joined the race. Late last month, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report changed its prediction for the state from “lean Republican” to “toss up.”
Cooper said on Sunday that he thought Harris’s message would still appeal to many people in his state who aren’t sure what to do as they learn more about her in the coming weeks.
At the end of the day, the governor said, “I think that’s what will work here: getting the word out to the American people and to people here in North Carolina that Kamala Harris has an economic plan that will help lower costs for everyday people, help families thrive, and protect women’s reproductive freedom.”