An upbeat Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a forceful speech in Fayetteville on Thursday, even as President Joe Biden struggles to assuage concerns among Democrats about his fitness and ability to defeat Donald Trump in the fall election.   

This marks the vice president’s 15th trip to North Carolina, a crucial battleground state where Democrats are intensifying efforts to win.  

In her address to a crowd of several hundred at Westover High School, Harris laid out a stark choice for the nation’s future.  

“The question we face is what kind of country do we want to live in,” Harris said. “Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and rule of law? Or a country of chaos, fear and hate? We each have the power to answer this question.” 

Her visit came a day after President Biden tested positive for COVID-19. The White House said on Thursday that the president is experiencing mild symptoms. 

At the rally, some expressed concern that it was too late to replace Biden, but after hearing her speech, many felt reassured that Harris could effectively step into his place if necessary.   

“I think she could if she had to step in tomorrow, that she could do the job,” said Marvin Keller, a retired veteran and former school counselor. “But I am concerned because it’s so late in the political year, and the election is like 110 days away, that will make a big difference in trying to get whoever will replace President Biden get his face out there and to resonate with the public.” 

Others echoed the same sentiment.  

Franklin County resident Jesse Goslen, who is running for North Carolina House District 7, said Vice President Kamala Harris’ speech reassured him that she could take over if President Biden steps down as the Democratic nominee.   

“I think if he does decide to step aside, she’s the obvious person to take the reins,” said Goslen. “I kind of just wanted to see her in person and see how she does. I thought it was a good, I thought she did great, I think she could step up to the plate, if that’s what Biden decides.”  

Harris’s speech in Fayetteville came as Trump prepared to deliver a speech Thursday at the Republican National Convention, formally accepting the party’s nomination.  

In a statement, the GOP dismissed the Thursday event.  

“Republicans from across the country stand united behind President Trump in Milwaukee, while Democrats in North Carolina don’t even know if Kamala Harris will be their party’s nominee for Vice President or President,” North Carolina GOP spokesman Matt Mercer said. “There should be lots of questions for her in Fayetteville today about her party’s effort to drive their sitting presidential nominee from the ballot.” 

Harris used part of her talk to criticize GOP vice presidential nominee, Senator J.D. Vance, by linking him to the controversial Heritage Foundation agenda known as Project 2025. “He talked about his life story about growing up in southwest Ohio and it was compelling,” Harris said of Vance’s speech at the convention in Milwaukee.

“What is very telling is what he did not talk about on that stage. He did not talk about Project 2025…[a] 900 Page blueprint for a second Trump term. He did not talk about it, because their plans are extreme, and they are divisive.”    

Project 2025 proposes significant overhauls to the federal workforce, an expansion of presidential power, and a range of conservative policy priorities. These include plans for a mass deportation operation, widespread tariffs on imported goods, and revocation of FDA approval for mifepristone, an abortion medication.

Though the plan was crafted by a group that included numerous former staffers from his first administration, Trump recently denied any connection to Project 2025, writing on his social media platform Truth Social last week that he knows ‘nothing’ about the plan. 

“I have no idea who is behind it,” Trump wrote. “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.” 

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Another chancellor in North Carolina’s public university system has announced plans to step down — this time at the state’s largest university by enrollment.

North Carolina State University Chancellor Randy Woodson declared his retirement plans at the university’s trustees meeting Thursday, capping off nearly 15 years in his role. His term will officially end June 30, 2025, Woodson said.

His departure marks yet another chancellor vacancy in the University of North Carolina system that is in the process of filling three other openings, including the state’s flagship campus, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Seventeen schools are members of the system.

“I feel good about leaving the institution better than I found it, but I also feel good that the next leader has plenty to do at NC State,” Woodson said during the meeting. “This is a great place.”

With his contract ending next June, Woodson told reporters it was “just a good time” for him to step away from being chancellor. Retirement was something the 67-year-old said he considered for a while.

Woodson received a two-year contract extension in 2021 that allowed him to serve until 2025 — something UNC System President Peter Hans said he “twisted his arm at the time to stay.”

“When I think about where NC State was 15 years and where NC State is now, it’s an extraordinary testament to this man’s leadership and the team he has built around him,” Hans told reporters after the meeting.

Woodson started in his role as NC State chancellor in 2010. He previously came from Purdue University, where he served as provost, dean of the agriculture college and in various other leadership positions.

Under his long tenure at NC State, Woodson led the university in increasing graduation and retention rates and research funding. The university’s enrollment also has grown to more than 37,000 students as of Fall 2023.

His term included radical changes in the college athletics landscape, including the Atlantic Coast Conference adding the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University in all sports, adding the University of Notre Dame in all non-football league sports, as well as the league’s move to add Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Southern Methodist University this year.

He is the university’s third longest-serving chancellor and one of the longest currently serving in the university system.

Although he doesn’t have immediate plans for what’s next after his chancellorship, Woodson said he intends to stay in Raleigh.

Woodson’s announcement means yet another chancellor search for the UNC system to embark on after filling four openings in the last year. Those new chancellors now lead four universities: James Martin at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Karrie Dixon at North Carolina Central University, Bonita Brown at Winston-Salem State University and Kimberly van Noort at UNC-Asheville.

Three other universities currently have chancellor openings: Appalachian State University, Elizabeth City State University and UNC-Chapel Hill. Appalachian State’s former Chancellor Sheri Everts was the most recent chancellor to step down in April.

The search for UNC-Chapel Hill’s new chancellor — a position opened after former Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz left in January — progressed further on Wednesday when search committee members started considering candidates. The chancellorship is currently held by Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts, who GOP legislative leaders have signaled support in becoming the next chancellor.

The search committee has been “aggressively in the market” for several weeks to find suitable candidates, but competition with other universities conducting chancellor searches has presented challenges, said Laurie Wilder, head of search firm Parker Executive Search, during the meeting.

Hans told reporters after the meeting that he thought the high turnover of chancellors could be partly attributed to university leaders postponing their departures to ensure administrations ran smoothly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Associated Press writer Aaron Beard in Raleigh contributed to this report.

A new state-by-state scorecard of women’s health released this week by the Commonwealth Fund raises concerns over the care women receive and the ripple effects of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The “2024 State Scorecard on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care” is based on 32 measures of state health systems and examines how state policy actions are changing the way women can access and use health care.

“Based on the evidence and data, one thing is absolutely clear, women’s health is in a very fragile state,” said Dr. Joseph Betancourt, president of the Commonwealth Fund, during a briefing with reporters on Wednesday. “There are stark disparities in women’s access to quality health care among states across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines. Those inequities are longstanding, no doubt, but recent policy choices and judicial decisions restricting access to reproductive care have and may continue to exacerbate them.”

Rates of maternal deaths were highest in the Mississippi Delta region, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. North Carolina’s rates for maternal deaths while pregnant and for infant mortality were both above the national average.

Eighteen percent of North Carolina women aged 18-64 reported being in fair or poor health based on the data from 2022.

More than 1 in 5 women in our state (21%) reported having 14 of more poor mental health days in the past month.

North Carolina performed best on women who were up to date on colon cancer screenings.

Such screenings are critically important as deaths from breast and cervical cancer are considered preventable and treatable for women who receive timely screening and follow-up health care.

Researchers found that Black women experienced higher breast cancer mortality than white women due to a variety of factors, including poorer quality of care after an abnormal test, or a diagnosis made at a more advanced stage.

The scorecard also found deaths among women of reproductive age are highest in southeastern states. Causes of death included pregnancy related complications and other preventable causes such as substance use, COVID-19, and treatable chronic conditions.

The uninsured rates among women in the U.S. ranged from 2.5% to over 20% with the highest uninsured rates in states that have not expanded their Medicaid programs.

North Carolina expanded its Medicaid coverage on December 1, 2023. Just last week the NC Department of Health and Human Services announced the enrollment of more than 500,000 North Carolinians in the seven months since the program was launched.

“Each of those 500,000 who now have the peace of mind to be able to face some of the greatest challenges that they ever thought they could face and know that they are not alone,” said North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley in marking the milestone.

But while North Carolina has made progress in expanding health care access, 10 states have yet to expand eligibility for Medicaid. That leaves nearly 800,000 women uninsured.

A maternity care desert made worse by Dobbs ruling

The Commonwealth Fund experts said access to care isn’t just about having coverage, it’s also about being able to get to a service provider when care is needed.

“It’s estimated that over five million women (nationwide) already live in a county that’s considered a maternity care desert, meaning there’s no hospital or birth center offering obstetric care and there are no obstetric providers,” explained David Radley, Ph.D., a senior scientist for the Commonwealth Fund.

Twenty percent of women in North Carolina age 18-44 said they did not have a person who was their personal or primary health care provider.

Abortion bans are also having an impact on the care that women receive, said Sara Collins, the Commonwealth Fund’s vice president for health care coverage and tracking health system performance.

“A clear pattern in the study is states that have had abortion restrictions prior to Dobbs rank lower and a lot of our measures, including having adequate numbers of maternal health care providers,” Collins shared. “We’re seeing post-Dobbs the effect that decision is having on states delivery systems. We’re seeing lower residency applications in states with abortion bans from new medical students.”

So, is there going to be a growing divide across the states between those that have left abortion legal and those that have enacted the tightest restrictions?

“I think that time will tell,” Collins said.

North Carolina’s legislature enacted a 12-week abortion ban in 2023 and could move toward a six-week ban in 2025.

What researchers do know now is that states in which a large share of residents are living in rural areas, there tend to be the fewest obstetric providers.

Fewer providers means that patients face barriers in receiving the full continuum of prenatal and postnatal care.

Elections will shape future health access

How women’s health fares in the future could very well depend on the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) not only expanded Medicaid and provided subsidies the help lower-income families, but it also banned insurers in the individual market from charging young women higher premiums than young men. The ACA also required insurers to cover maternity care –something that was not guaranteed prior to the law.

After more than 60 failed Republican-led votes to repeal Obamacare, experts believe a scenario could emerge if the GOP takes control of Congress and the White House in 2025 that would involve passage of legislation requiring slimmed down plans and fewer guaranteed benefits. It remains unclear if insurers would be allowed to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.

“While some states undoubtedly are championing women’s continued access to vital health and reproductive services, many others are failing to ensure that women can get and afford the health care they need. The failure is having a disproportionate impact on women of color and women with low incomes,” said Betancourt.

Click here to read the 2024 State Scorecard on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care for North Carolina.