A political arm of Planned Parenthood is launching a $10 million voter engagement campaign in North Carolina to elect candidates in favor of abortion rights this year as reproductive rights surge further into the 2024 spotlight.
Organizers will be knocking on more than a million doors this cycle as part of the $10 million push from Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic, Planned Parenthood Votes and Planned Parenthood Action PAC NC.
The New York Times first reported that the new campaign marks the “largest-ever investment in a single state” from the group, and that the funds will also go to digital ads and new field offices.
As strict abortion bans crop up in states such as Arizona and Florida — and as organizers push to get abortion-related measures on state ballots this fall — Democrats are hoping that the issue of abortion energizes voters and gives a boost to blue candidates up and down the ballot.
The Biden-Harris campaign has also been leaning in on abortion to knock former President Trump, blaming the 45th president for the fall of Roe v. Wade and the state-level restrictions that have followed.
Abortion is legal in North Carolina up to 12 weeks and six days of pregnancy, according to Planned Parenthood, and the issue isn’t directly on the ballot in the Tar Heel State this November — but Democrats are sounding alarms about future threats to access under anti-abortion Republicans.
Meanwhile, President Biden’s reelection bid is vying to flip the state, which Trump won in 2016 and 2020.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said last week that he thinks Biden can win the state — though a Mason-Dixon North Carolina poll released last week found Trump 6 points ahead of his Democratic rival. The campaign has acknowledged it will “take relentless effort” to reach the voters it needs by November.