After months of losses, North Carolina Democrats see voter registrations rise with Kamala Harris as a possible candidate

Since Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee following President Biden’s departure, polls have shown the race for the presidency to be tightening.

In North Carolina, the closest race is playing out in another way: new Democratic voter registrations.

In the summer of a presidential election year, both parties typically gain new voters each week as people become involved in the upcoming election.

But as Biden was running for reelection, the North Carolina Democratic Party struggled in terms of new voter registrations. The number of registered Democrats was declining each week by about 700 people, a result of more Democrats moving to another state or leaving the party than new members.

In the week after the party united behind Harris, the number of registered Democrats in North Carolina increased by 441.

And over the past week, that number has risen again, by nearly 700.

It’s possible that would have happened if Biden were still running for reelection. It’s also possible that Harris has reenergized voters, making more people want to join the Democratic Party.

Republicans continue to have a better long-term presidential election cycle. Since August 2020, the North Carolina Republican Party has added 161,000 new registered voters. The North Carolina Democratic Party has lost 135,000 registered voters.

Only six of North Carolina’s 100 counties have more registered Democrats than they did four years ago: Brunswick, Cabarrus, Chatham, Wake, Franklin and Johnston.

Harris’s campaign believes it can make up for those losses because of the growing group of voters who register as unaffiliated. Their number has increased by nearly 500,000.

The current makeup of North Carolina voters is: 37.5% unaffiliated, 31.7% Democrats, 29.9% Republicans, and the remaining 1%, less than 1%, members of third parties.