Vice President Kamala Harris visited Greensboro on Thursday evening for a rally that included more than 17,000 attendees at the Greensboro Coliseum.
When Harris took to the stage, she shared her plans to increase affordable housing, support abortion rights and cut taxes for the middle class.
Speaking about Trump’s plans, “It was the same old show, same old tired playbook we’ve heard for years, with no plan for how he would address the needs of the American people,” Harris said. “Well, folks, look, it’s time to turn the page.”
“Your voice is your vote, North Carolina,” Harris said. “And you are going to make all the difference in the outcome of this race.”
Other speakers including Gov. Roy Cooper, Attorney General Josh Stein and Congresswoman Kathy Manning also highlighted the importance of the state in the presidential race.
Harris told supporters it was time to turn the page from Donald Trump while again challenging the former president to a second debate, which she did earlier in the day at her rally in Charlotte.
“We owe it to the voters. Because here’s the thing: In this election, what’s at stake could not be more important,” she said.
In her remarks, Harris made the case that Trump would not respect the U.S. Constitution if he were re-elected, pointing to his assertion that he would be a dictator on Day One. She also noted that some of the highest-placed officials in his administration have since warned against Trump’s gaining access to the White House again.
Trump won the state by about 75,000 votes in 2020, a margin of about 1.3 percentage points, his closest winning state, before losing the election. Biden won the four states with closer margins – Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia. But, this year, Biden’s withdrawal and Harris’ ascent has scrambled the math.
North Carolina can deliver 16 electoral votes to the victor. A candidate must have 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. Only Pennsylvania has more electors among the remaining battleground states.
The large audiences for Harris are positive signs for Democrats as they seek to turn North Carolina blue for the first time since Barack Obama won in 2008.