Harris’ Fate in North Carolina Rests With Young Voters
Millennials and Gen Zers have the potential to deliver big. The key is motivating them to show up and vote.
If they vote, she wins.
Photographer: Allison Joyce/Bloomberg
At nearly every campaign appearance she makes, Vice President Kamala Harris shouts out Gen Z voters, saying they are impatient for change and ready to take the baton. Polls consistently show that she leads former President Donald Trump among younger voters by double digits, powered by her strength among young women. But, for Harris, who at 60 is running on the idea that she represents a new generation of leadership, a routine Democratic win among young voters isn’t enough. She needs a statement win, particularly in swing states, that will decide the election and shape her party’s future. North Carolina, a state that then-candidate Barack Obama narrowly won on the strength of young voters in 2008, provides one of Harris’ best opportunities to do just that.
When Anderson Clayton, who at 26 is the youngest Democratic state party chair in the country, looks at Joe Biden's 75,000 vote loss in the Tar Heel state in 2020, she sees a missed opportunity among Gen Z voters, who voted for Biden over Trump by 17 points, 57% to 40%.