MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — Vice President Kamala Harris formally conceded to President-Elect Donald Trump Wednesday.
Democrats hoped battleground states like North Carolina would have brought Harris a win, but their push to boost turnout fell flat.
While Mecklenburg County, a reliably blue area, did vote for Harris, voting data shows the Vice President received fewer votes than President Joe Biden when he ran in 2020, while President-Elect Trump gained voters in the area.
"There is something fundamental shifting in the electorate that we need to better understand, that we need to, kind of, dig into the data to really see where the dynamics were," Michael Bitzer, a political science professor at Catawba College, said.
The results were a major blow for a party that made record investments, increasing volunteers by the thousands and raising roughly $2.7 million in Mecklenburg County alone.
"The outcome of this election is not what we wanted. Not what we fought for," Harris said in her concession speech. "Don’t ever give up. Don’t ever give up. Don’t ever stop trying to make the world a better place."
Their efforts were not a total loss with the governor's race, the race for Attorney General, and contest for state superintendent of education all won by Democrats.
“I think what we saw was a fairly tight bandwidth of, basically, the winners getting 51 maybe 52% of the vote," Bitzer said. "In my read, about 5%, 6% potentially of North Carolina voters are that classic split ticket voters if you will, but the vast majority of North Carolina voters are probably, solidly locked into one party over the other.”
Despite the outcome, Democrats say they've created a structure for campaigning in North Carolina that can be used and built upon in the years ahead.
Contact Kayland Hagwood at khagwood@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.