North Carolina
Biden-Harris campaign planning a flurry of activity in NC during debate week • NC Newsline
Since their advent in 1960, modern televised presidential debates have always taken place in the latter days of the campaign — usually in October.
This year, things will be very different. The first of two debates between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will take place this Thursday, June 27 in Atlanta — in the heat of summer and prior even to the formal party nominations that each man will receive in July (Trump) and August (Biden). A second earlier-than-usual debate is currently scheduled for Tuesday, September 10.
And in keeping with what has clearly been an all-out effort by the Biden-Harris campaign to capitalize on the momentum it senses it has gathered in the aftermath of Trump’s conviction in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payoff to a porn star, North Carolina — a state that Trump won handily in 2016 and narrowly in 2020 — has risen to become priority for the Democratic ticket in 2024.
It’s already been widely reported that President and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to the Raleigh area on Friday as one of their first stops after the debate, but Newsline has learned that the Friday appearance will actually serve as the culmination of a week of intense campaign activity in the state — one that commenced last Friday with an event highlighting the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling that ended the constitutional right to abortion and continued on Sunday with the opening of a Raleigh campaign office.
Among the events scheduled in the coming days, according to a campaign representative:
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Monday, June 24: Dobbs Anniversary Press Conference with U.S. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, Congresswoman Alma Adams, and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles: On the day of the anniversary of the Dobbs decision, U.S. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, Congresswoman Alma Adams, and State Representative Diamond Staton-Williams will join local leaders, health care providers and storytellers to campaign for President Biden and Vice President Harris and underscore the threat a second Donald Trump term poses to North Carolinians’ reproductive freedoms.
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Tuesday, June 25: Dobbs Anniversary Roundtable with State Representative Lindsay Prather, former State Senator Terry Van Duyn, storytellers, advocates and providers: North Carolina elected officials, providers, and advocates will hold a roundtable discussion to underscore the importance of this election in determining our reproductive freedoms.
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Tuesday, June 25: Campaign Reception in Charlotte with First Lady Jill Biden: Ahead of the debate and a rally in Raleigh with President Joe Biden, the First Lady will attend a campaign reception in Charlotte.
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Wednesday, June 26: Pre-debate press call with economists and business leaders about Trump’s threat to our economy: Economists and business leaders from across the state will hold a press call focused on the contrast between President Biden’s delivering for working and middle class families across North Carolina, ushering in the strongest economy in the world and bringing unemployment to historic lows, with Donald Trump’s push to slash taxes for his billionaire friends and large corporations.
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Thursday, June 27: Debate Watch Parties across North Carolina: The campaign will host 24 watch parties across the state with over 1000 attendees – with countless other North Carolinians hosting watch parties in their homes. Watch parties will serve as a way to fire up volunteers and demonstrate to voters the stark contrast between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
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Friday, June 28: Immediately following the debate, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will travel to North Carolina for a rally in the Raleigh area.
The representative told Newsline the campaign will also host more than 150 events across the state next weekend — canvass launches, phonebanks, volunteer trainings, and other events — leading up to Friday’s presidential visit.
CBS reports that Donald Trump, who has not campaigned in North Carolina since severe weather scuttled a planned Wilmington rally in April, has announced that his first post-debate campaign event will take place somewhere in the Virginia Beach-Hampton Roads region of Virginia — an area that is accessible to many residents of northeastern North Carolina.
HAMPTON, Tenn. (WVLT) – The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said its wardens are investigating the eighth boating death of the year following an incident on Watauga Lake.
At around 7 p.m. on Friday, the TWRA was dispatched to a boating incident at Rat Branch boat ramp after the caller said the operator had fallen overboard in the no-wake zone and did not resurface.
The victim, identified as 36-year-old Alexander Luster, of Boone, North Carolina, was participating in a bass tournament and fell overboard prior to the start of the event, TWRA officials said. First responders recovered his body shortly after 11:30 p.m.
TWRA said an autopsy has been ordered, and the incident, which is the eighth boating death in Tennessee this year, remains under investigation.
Copyright 2026 WVLT. All rights reserved.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — A graduation ceremony for NC State University’s Department of Biological Sciences at Reynolds Coliseum on Friday night left hundreds of family members outside, frustrated and emotional after they were not allowed into the building.
Inside, graduates were met with pomp and circumstance as they walked across the stage to accept their degrees.
Outside, people shouted in confusion as they realized they would not be permitted to enter.
“I’m hurt. She’s hurting. We’re hurt,” said Dr. Darlene Jackson, a grandmother from Winston-Salem. “They’re asking, can’t we get here? But this is ridiculous. Ridiculous.”
We get here, and we are turned away. That’s BS. It shouldn’t be happening like this. They did not plan this well,
– Sally Charlet, NCSU grandparent
Families said they arrived about an hour before the 7:30 p.m. ceremony, only to find a line wrapped around the building. Many said they were eventually told the venue had reached capacity.
“They are saying the fire marshal shut it down because it’s too crowded,” Jackson said. “They should have known how many occupy this. They should have had it in a different place.”
Sally Charlet said she flew in from Florida earlier in the day to watch her granddaughter graduate.
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“We get here, and we are turned away,” she said. “That’s BS. It shouldn’t be happening like this. They did not plan this well, and they should have tickets. That would have made a lot of sense.”
According to GoPack.com, Reynolds Coliseum seats about 5,500 people.
Some families said they were especially devastated after years of supporting their students’ work.
This is awful, and it needs to be made right.
– Eddie McFall, NCSU parent
“It’s very disheartening,” said Rhonda Bartone, whose son earned his Ph.D. In toxicology. “He did a five-year program getting his Ph.D., and we have no family. And they’re seeing him get his Ph.D. right now. We had to text his professor and ask him to please take some pictures of him. It’s hard not to cry.”
Several people outside shared photos sent by students inside showing empty seats.
“There was unfortunately not better planning for the hundreds of students, maybe even thousands of students, and, of course, thousands of students, even more people, parents, siblings, loved ones,” said Julia Norton, whose fiancé earned his Ph.D.
One father, Eddie McFall, who is also an alumnus of NC State, said he has three children at the university, including a senior graduating Friday.
“His mother was five feet from the door when they shut it down,” he said. “Won’t let anybody in there.”
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About 45 minutes after the ceremony began, someone came outside to address the remaining crowd. Families were told their only option was to watch a livestream from the student union or on their phones.
“I can go to my house and watch the livestream,” McFall said. “Who’s the event coordinator? Who from the school did this? This is awful, and it needs to be made right.”
NC State did not respond to questions about how the situation unfolded or why the event was not ticketed. The university said it provided a livestream for those unable to attend in person and had posted earlier in the week advising visitors to expect delays around the coliseum.
Copyright © 2026 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.
NORTH CAROLINA — Fifteen lineworkers from North Carolina’s electric cooperatives recently traveled to Guatemala to help bring first-time access to electricity to a rural village.
The group spent three weeks working in El Plan Nuevo Amanecer.
Crews constructed three miles of line, bringing power to more than 50 homes, a school, two churches and the community’s only health clinic.
Photo: North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives
Without access to bucket trucks or heavy machinery, volunteers worked by hand across rugged terrain.
The project helped bring light to the village, creating new opportunities for education, economic growth and safer everyday life for the community.
The effort was done alongside NRECA International.
Volunteer lineworkers represented several North Carolina electric cooperatives, including EnergyUnited, Union Power Cooperative, Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative, Jones-Onslow EMC, Edgecombe-Martin County EMC, South River EMC, Surry-Yadkin Electric Membership Corporation and Rutherford EMC.
Photo: North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives
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