Voting is underway in Georgia and North Carolina, two pivotal southeastern battlegrounds that will play an outsized role in determining who wins the White House.
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Georgia is seeing incredible early returns, with more than 600,000 people having already cast ballots.
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Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling said on X that votes are coming in at a “record setting pace.”
Voting got underway Thursday in North Carolina under the shadow of Hurricane Helene.
- There are concerns that the humanitarian crisis in the western part of the state may dampen turnout. Dozens are still missing, and search-and-rescue operations continue. Some residents have been without power, water, internet and cell service for weeks.
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The Hill’s Lauren Irwin reports: Only four of the 80 sites in western North Carolina hit hardest by the flooding will not be open.
The polls are tight in both states, which have traditionally been conservative-leaning but have become more competitive for Democrats in recent elections.
- In 2020, President Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win in Georgia since 1992. He squeaked out a victory by 0.2 points.
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Former President Obama carried North Carolina in 2008, but he’s the only Democratic presidential candidate to win there in the past 44 years. Trump carried the state by only 1.3 points in 2020.
Here’s where the polling averages stand, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ:
GA: Trump +1.9
NC: Trump +1.0
While voters cast ballots down south, Trump and Vice President Harris are waging a majority of their campaigns in the northern “Blue Wall” states.
- Harris is campaigning Thursday across Wisconsin. She’ll return to Michigan on Friday and Saturday. The Harris campaign will dispatch Obama to Michigan and Wisconsin next week.
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Trump will hold a rally Friday in Detroit before campaigning in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Many Democrats can’t shake the feeling that the race is shifting against Harris, whose likeliest path to the White House would involve a sweep of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Via The Hill’s Amie Parnes: “In recent weeks, some Democrats who have been watching the ever-so-slight changes in the polling have grown concerned that the election could go sideways for them.”
Here are the latest averages in the “Blue Wall” states:
MI: Trump +0.7
PA: Harris +0.3
WI: Trump +0.5
Election analyst Nate Silver, whose model gives Trump and Harris each a 50 percent chance of winning, described the political terrain like this:
“Harris probably faces a tougher environment than Clinton ’16 or Biden ’20. Incumbent parties around the world are struggling, cultural pendulum swinging conservative, inflation and immigration are big deals to voters, plus Biden…should have quit sooner.”
Harris’s campaign is taking some big swings, most notably having her sit with Fox News for a contentious interview with anchor Bret Baier.
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Political watchers were split on the outcome. More than 7 million people tuned in to watch Harris explain her views on immigration, Biden’s fitness for office, and past left-wing positions she took while a candidate for president in 2020.
Trump, meanwhile, has offered up plenty of fodder for the Harris campaign over the past 24 hours.
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At a town hall event Wednesday night with Univision night, Trump stood by his claims about Haitian migrants eating pets, and he called Jan. 6 a “day of love.”
💡 Perspectives:
The Liberal Patriot: Another stalemate election.
MSNBC: Welcome to the uncanny valley of the 2024 election.
The Nation: Harris needs more Obama, less Cheney.
The Wall Street Journal: This former Dem stumped for Trump at Coachella.
Vox: Harris ceded the immigration argument to Fox News.
The Hill: Young black men could swing election to Trump.
The Hill: Harris must stay strong on Biden-era corporate enforcement.
Intelligencer: Whitmer’s Doritos ‘communion’ shows dangers of being too online.
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