National Democrats, Republicans stump for candidates in close races across NC

With Election Day fast approaching, national Democrats and Republicans spent the past week traveling across North Carolina to campaign for House and Senate candidates they’re hoping will deliver critical victories in the struggle for control of Congress.

Both parties have pumped millions of dollars in political ads into the U.S. Senate contest between Cheri Beasley and Ted Budd, and competitive U.S. House races in Charlotte and the outskirts of the Triangle. With early voting underway, candidates are eager to have their party’s top surrogates join them on the campaign trail and help boost excitement and turnout.

Democrats campaigned across the Triangle on Wednesday as Rep. Jim Clyburn, the House majority whip, and Debbie Stabenow, a senator from Michigan, joined Beasley and U.S. House candidate Wiley Nickel at an event in Smithfield, in the heart of Johnston County.

“This country is really teetering on edge, because a lot of people have lost faith in their representatives,” Clyburn told a room full of Johnston County Democrats. “We have people who seem not to respect the Constitution anymore. There’s no such thing as alternative facts. There’s no such things — either it’s a fact, or it’s not. And this whole notion that there are alternative facts is to accept that there’s an alternative to the Constitution.”

A day later, at a rally in Greensboro, Budd was joined by Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican from Florida and chair of the GOP’s Senate campaign arm, as well as Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee.

And on Friday, Clyburn campaigned in Charlotte at a rally with Beasley and Jeff Jackson, a Democratic state senator running for Congress from the 14th district, which covers parts of Mecklenburg and Gaston counties.

Democrats campaign on inflation and abortion

Conservative Johnston County voted for Donald Trump by more than 60% in 2016 and 2020, but also has pockets of Democratic and unaffiliated voters. It’s part of the tossup 13th district, where Nickel, a state senator and Cary-based criminal defense attorney, is running against Trump-endorsed political newcomer Bo Hines.

Budd and Hines campaigned together in Johnston on Wednesday, holding a meet-and-greet event with voters.

The same day, Nickel and Beasley, flanked by their potential future colleagues, told voters in the county that their victories could help ensure Democratic control of Congress for the remaining two years of President Joe Biden’s current term in office. They highlighted a number of bills Democrats have managed to pass relying only on their majorities in both chambers, and said they would focus on issues at the top of voters’ minds, particularly the high cost of living.

“I hear every day how North Carolinians are struggling with rising costs, whether it’s buying food for their families, filling up their tanks, or buying clothes for their kids,” Nickel said. “Higher prices are cutting deep.”

Beasley also attacked Republicans, including her opponent, for their positions on abortion.

“There could not have been any forethought by the U.S. Supreme Court. Nobody thought about the fact that there are women who have been sexually abused and would otherwise be forced to carry these pregnancies to term,” Beasley said. “Nobody thought about the fact that women have ectopic pregnancies, septic uteruses, miscarriages that their bodies won’t release. We don’t always call them an abortion, but the life-saving treatment for these women is an abortion.”

A few hours later, at another campaign event at Shaw University in Raleigh, Nickel and Clyburn were joined by Democratic members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation, including Deborah Ross and G.K. Butterfield.

There, Ross told the crowd how important each congressional race was for Democratic hopes of keeping control of the House. With Democrats currently controlling the House by only a four-seat margin, she said, the two seats she and U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning flipped in 2020 turned out to be crucial pickups.

“We need him to have an easier time whipping bigger margins,” Ross said, referring to Clyburn.

GOP senators campaign for Budd

On Tuesday, Budd addressed supporters at the Durham County GOP headquarters, where he spoke about issues including inflation, crime, and illegal immigration that he said the Biden administration has neglected or made worse.

“They’re not talking about it like the econ professor would over at Duke University,” Budd said, of voters he had met who are concerned about inflation. “They’re not talking about it in pie charts and bar graphs — they’re talking about it in very real terms.”

In addition to inflation, Budd said the other issue voters have brought up on the campaign trail in Durham and “all other 99 counties” is crime.

“They say, you’re talking about local crime here, well, what about the border? Well, folks, it’s all connected, because what happened 72 hours from crossing that border? It happens right here in Durham County,” Budd said.

Budd outlined some policies Republicans may pursue if they take back control of Congress.

“We can win, we can make ourselves energy independent again, we can encourage work, we can stop over-spending, and we can stop over-regulating our businesses,” Budd said. “And we can win, and get this country back on the right track.”

Earlier, both Beasley and Budd were joined by potential future Senate colleagues at campaign stops in Raleigh and Charlotte.

Joining Budd at an event in uptown Charlotte on Monday, Sen. Lindsey Graham told voters that winning the Senate race in North Carolina is essential to the Republican Party’s plan to take control of Congress and shape a narrative leading up to the 2024 election that could help them win the presidency.

“Ted is a guy who’s going to drive change,” Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said about Budd. “He is ready to go on day one. He understands the world, he understands business and he will be a fabulous senator.”

Over the weekend, meanwhile, Beasley was joined at get-out-the-vote rallies in Charlotte and Chapel Hill by Cory Booker and Jon Ossoff, Democratic senators from New Jersey and Georgia, respectively.

It’s not just politicians on the campaign trail. On Tuesday, the North Carolina Democratic Party hosts singer-songwriter Dave Matthews for a get-out-the-vote concert in Raleigh in support of Beasley and other Democratic candidates.

Charlotte Observer reporter Will Wright and News & Observer reporter Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi contributed to this story.

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