A top non-partisan political handicapper is shifting three key states toward Vice President Kamala Harris in her 2024 election showdown with former President Donald Trump.
The Cook Political Report is moving North Carolina from leans Republican to toss up. The Tar Heel State is one of seven battlegrounds across the country that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential election.
Former President Barack Obama was the last Democrat to carry the state in the race for the White House, in the 2008 election.
Four years ago, Trump narrowly edged President Biden in the state. However, following Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump in late June, the former president saw his lead in North Carolina grow to the mid single digits.
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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence on the Scott Northern Wake Campus of Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Aug. 16, 2024. (ALLISON JOYCE/AFP via Getty Images)
After Biden ended his 2024 re-election bid on July 21, and Harris replaced her boss at the top of the Democrats’ national ticket, the race in North Carolina tightened to a margin-of-error contest.
“Trump hasn’t lost political ground since July; instead it’s that Harris has improved on Biden’s vote share by seven points,” Cook Political Report publisher and editor-in-chief Amy Walter wrote in explaining her ratings shift.
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“In other words, the race is tightening, not because Harris…
