Biden bets big on NC with visits and new campaign offices

March saw multiple visits to the state from senior administration officials, including President Biden and Vice President Harris. 

There’s still seven months to go until the presidential election, but President Joe Biden’s campaign is kicking into a higher gear in North Carolina, where the president and his campaign held several events in March. 

Biden made a joint appearance with Vice President Kamala Harris on March 26th in Raleigh to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and to highlight the work their administration has done to lower healthcare costs. This marked Harris’ second trip to the state in the month after a previous visit to Durham, where she announced funding for small businesses and entrepreneurship in underserved communities.

First Lady Jill Biden also traveled to the Bull City in March to discuss the administration’s efforts in women’s health research, for which the administration has allocated $200 million dollars in the 2025 fiscal year.

“Together we can write a new future for healthcare. A future where women leave doctor’s offices with more answers than questions,” Dr. Biden told attendees.

Biden’s campaign ramped up their efforts as well, holding press conferences in Raleigh, Greensboro, and Charlotte on March 21 to denounce Donald Trump’s attacks on the ACA. In Raleigh, Gov. Roy Cooper, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kody Kinsley, Democratic House Leader Robert Reives, and healthcare advocates in North Carolina discussed how devastating an ACA repeal would be for residents.

“More than a million North Carolinians now getting federal subsidies to help pay for their premiums would have to pay more for their coverage, if they could even afford it at all. A middle class family could face $13,000 more in annual premiums,” Cooper said.

Repealing the ACA repeal would take health insurance coverage away from over 1 million North Carolinians, including the 400,000 residents who’ve received coverage thanks to North Carolina’s Medicaid Expansion program which launched in December.

In addition to these visits and events, the campaign opened 10 field offices across the state in some of the key counties that could decide whether Biden or Trump receive the state’s 16 electoral votes, including Forsyth, Guilford, New Hanover, and Mecklenburg.

North Carolina is also included in the campaign’s $30 million dollar national advertising campaign, designed to amplify Biden’s message to voters.

The Tar Heel State had the closest results in a state that the president lost in 2020, with Trump defeating Biden by just under 75,000 votes (1.35%).