North Carolina has voted for a Democratic president only once since the 1970s. But the party’s dream to flip the state never dies—and in fact, could be realized this year. Polls show the presidential race in North Carolina is dead even, and Democrats are making a massive effort to reach more rural voters. “Doug Emhoff should just get a pied-à-terre here, at this point,” says David Graham, an Atlantic political writer who lives in Durham, North Carolina. Donald Trump can’t win without the state. And if Vice President Harris loses Wisconsin, Michigan, or Pennsylvania, she’ll need North Carolina’s 16 electoral votes. In this week’s Radio Atlantic, we do a deep dive into North Carolina politics, culture, and scandals with Graham and Atlantic senior editor Vann Newkirk, who grew up in Rocky Mount. If the state goes for Harris, will it feel more solidly new South? And could our national election really turn on a local scandal and a tragic flood? Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/podsub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
There's a direction to American presidential elections.
We spend months thinking about the big topics.
Democracy, the economy, immigration, wars abroad, culture wars at home.
But as the election gets closer, our focus starts to narrow.
We wonder less about what Americans are thinking
and more about what Pennsylvanians and Arizonans are thinking.
And then we start to wonder about what people in Allegheny county or Maricopa county are thinking.
And the tighter the polls are, the further down we go.
And it is tight.
Right now.
It's close.
Over about half a dozen swing states, but the closest of all of them,
and one that has a very good chance of being what pollsters call the tipping point,
meaning the state that could decide the election is North Carolina.
And this will give you an understanding of just how close the presidential race is
in the great state of North Carolina,
in the Tar Heel state.
Look at this.
It's Trump, but by less than a point.
We're talking, like, 0.2 percentage points.