Posted
March 5, 2024 at 10:46 AM EST
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nicole Sidman walked up a long driveway in a hilly suburban neighborhood of Charlotte, campaign flyers in hand, ready to talk about an issue that prompted her to run in the Democratic primary for the state legislature this year.
A chubby white Chihuahua named Frankie came running when she rang the bell. Rebekah Rubenstein opened her door.
“I know who you are!” Rubenstein told Sidman. Rubenstein, who has three daughters, quickly told Sidman she plans to vote for her and will bring her 8-year-old daughter to the polls to be part of a moment she described as critical.
“For my children to be able to have the right — now, in the future, any time — to make the choices about their own bodies is essential,” Rubenstein said. “So that’s 100% in the forefront of my vote.”
Concerns about new restrictions on abortion are motivating voters and candidates alike in North Carolina primary races. It’s an issue that the Biden campaign hopes will energize voters not just on Super Tuesday, but also in November’s presidential election.
Only one Democratic presidential candidate has won this state in modern times — former President Barack Obama, in 2008, by the narrowest of margins.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said he believes this issue will put North Carolina in play. He isn’t running this time — the state has term limits — but the race to replace him is shaping up to be a barn burner, and the Republican supermajority in the state legislature is on the line, too.
“When you add issues like reproductive freedom, when you add the biggest governor’s race in the country — those things, I think, come together to make North Carolina ground zero in 2024,” Cooper told NPR in an interview at the governor’s mansion in Raleigh.
“You can care about more than one issue, but this is one where we need to make clear about the stark difference between Republicans and Democrats. Women’s reproductive freedom depends on getting Democrats elected across this country and particularly in North Carolina,” Cooper said.
You can read the full story and listen to it here.
This story originally appeared on NPR
