U.S. President Joe Biden made his way to the Tar Heel state last Thursday, January 18, to announce millions of dollars in funds for broadband expansion across rural communities in North Carolina. The announcement of $3 billion allocated to North Carolina is a part of a nationwide effort to provide high speed internet access in rural areas to 300,000 state residents by 2026.
“High-speed internet isn’t a luxury anymore. It’s an absolute necessity,” he said in Raleigh, where Biden’s visit took place. “The investment in high-speed internet means something else as well: good-paying jobs.”
Biden is running for re-election this year, and according to reporting from The Associated Press, the president is hoping to swing North Carolina from red to blue, something that hasn’t been done since Barack Obama’s election in 2008. Biden only lost North Carolina’s 16 electoral votes by a margin of 1.34 percentage points to Trump. Many experts anticipate a “rematch” between the two in November.
The Raleigh visit served as a way for Biden to pitch himself to North Carolina voters, showing he is committed to addressing the needs of the state’s residents and beyond.
“What we’re doing here in North Carolina is one piece of a much bigger story,” he said.
Biden also talked extensively about improvements to infrastructure across the country, including the bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which secured billions of dollars in funds to help update and upgrade roads, internet, electric grids and more across the nation. However, a lot of voters in North Carolina have expressed concern about the state of the economy, which has proven to be a weak point in Biden’s campaign for reelection.
Biden addressed inflation during his address in Raleigh, saying his policies are working to create factory and construction jobs with higher wages taking inflation rates into account.
“When jobs grow, everything grows,” Biden said.
North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper also spoke during the president’s visit, warning what a second Trump presidency could mean for North Carolinains.
“I want a president who wakes up every morning thinking about the American people instead of a president who wakes up every morning thinking about himself,” Cooper said.
