Kamala Harris’ failure in North Carolina was a tough pill for the state’s Democrats to swallow on Tuesday night. It was also an anomaly for them.
Not only did North Carolina Democrats successfully block Mark Robinson, the GOP’s scandal-plagued nominee for governor, but Democrats broke the Republican supermajority in the state’s General Assembly. They also secured the major executive branch seats in North Carolina, electing Democrats for lieutenant governor, attorney general, superintendent and secretary of state. And, in perhaps their toughest bout beyond the presidential race, Democrats won one of the most closely contested seats in Congress.
As Democrats across the country begin to reckon what went so horribly wrong for their campaign strategy and messaging — and begin to point fingers internally — North Carolina was a more complicated story.