The Biden-Harris campaign is running an ad in Raleigh, Charlotte, and five other cities focused on Black maternal health and reproductive rights. 

The ad features an Atlanta women’s health nurse practitioner, Shawana Moore, who says “Overturning Roe was just the beginning.”

The ad is running in a seven cities in five battleground states with a focus on reaching voters of color, according to the campaign. 

“I think there’s fear and uncertainty,” Moore says in the ad. “My heart ached for patients needing care.”

Black women are more than three times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Abortion bans and restrictions are predicted to hit Black women hardest by increasing the mortality gap and exacerbating the problem of maternity care deserts. 

Black women in the NC Senate argued during last year’s debate over North Carolina’s 12-week ban that the law will increase the death rate for pregnant Black women in the state. 

A University of Colorado research calculated that a nationwide abortion ban would result in an overall 21% increase in maternal mortality, and increase Black maternal deaths by 33%. 

A national survey of OBGYNs conducted by KFF last year found that 64% believed that the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade worsened pregnancy-related deaths, 70% believed it made racial and ethnic inequalities worse, and 55% believed it made it harder to attract new OBGYNs to the field.

The Biden-Harris campaign has made abortion rights a central issue. Former President Donald Trump has bragged about overturning Roe v. Wade, while voters in six states, including Republican states, have approved constitutional amendments favoring abortion access, according to KFF. 

Democrats this week have zeroed in on GOP vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance’s comments on abortion. 

When Vance was running for Senate in 2022, he said he supported a national abortion ban, CNN reported. In a 2023 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Vance equated abortion to murder. 

Last year, Vance told the US Department of Justice in a letter to enforce the Comstock Act to stop the mailing of abortion pills, the Washington Post reported.

More recently, Vance has expressed different views. He told NBC News in a Meet the Press interview earlier this month that he supported the Supreme Court opinion allowing continued access to abortion pills and Trump’s position that abortion laws should be left to the states.

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.