As early voting begins in NC, Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg set to visit state
With early voting in North Carolina set to begin Thursday, presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders and billionaire Michael Bloomberg have announced visits to the state this week.
Building on growing momentum in the polls, Bloomberg will visit Raleigh, Greensboro and Winston-Salem Thursday to make his pitch to Democratic voters.
Sanders, who is leading in a recent national poll, will visit Durham and Charlotte on Friday.
The national poll released Monday by Quinnipiac University shows Bloomberg neck-and-neck with Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren for second place in the Democratic primary. Sanders was leading with 25% support, followed by Biden at 17%, Bloomberg at 15%, Warren with 14% and Pete Buttigieg with 10%, according to the poll.
Only one state, Iowa, has voted so far. Buttigieg narrowly edged out Sanders in error-filled caucuses that both campaigns are now questioning, CNN reported Monday.
North Carolina is one of the “Super Tuesday” primary states that Bloomberg’s campaign has decided to focus on. Sanders and most of the other Democrats, however, have been targeting the earlier primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire.
But with the Iowa caucuses over and the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, states like North Carolina will soon start receiving more attention. North Carolina’s primary is March 3.
This won’t be Bloomberg’s first trip to Raleigh. He visited in January and has been to Charlotte and Fayetteville. Sanders held a rally at UNC-Chapel Hill in September 2019.
How to see Bloomberg in North Carolina
He plans to visit Winston-Salem at 7:30 a.m. and then his campaign’s Greensboro office at 300 S. Elm St. at 9:30 a.m. He will be in Raleigh about 12:15 p.m.
The locations for the Winston-Salem and Raleigh stops haven’t been announced. All of Bloomberg’s stops are open to the public.
How to see Sanders in North Carolina
Sanders will visit Durham Friday at 11:30 a.m., at the Durham Convention Center. At 3:30 p.m., Sanders will hold another rally at Charlotte’s Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. Both are open to the public.
Bloomberg and Sanders are the only presidential candidates so far to report airing TV ads on any of the major channels in the Triangle television market, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Bloomberg has spent $250 million on TV ads nationwide as of Feb. 10, as well as an additional $50 million on radio ads, according to CNBC.
Both candidates have proposed tax hikes on the ultra-wealthy, although their approach is not the same.
Sanders told The New York Times last year that “I don’t think that billionaires should exist.”
Meanwhile, Bloomberg’s net worth is an estimated is $61.5 billion, according to Forbes, making him one of the 10 richest Americans.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
