We don’t get presidential attention often, but when we do, it’s during campaign season.
President Joe Biden is expected to arrive in Wilmington later this afternoon, though the White House hasn’t publicly disclosed what exactly he’ll be talking about. All we know is that he is coming to discuss infrastructure and his “Investing in America” agenda.
Biden is expected to highlight Cape Fear Public Utility Authority’s efforts to remove lead and copper pipes, and possibly work on limiting a group of chemicals known as PFAS in drinking water. Either topic–certainly PFAS–would be salient here.
Sitting presidents don’t visit often. The last time it happened, in 2020, President Donald Trump arrived to designate Wilmington the nation’s first American World War II Heritage City. That was an official presidential visit–not a campaign stop–amid a heated political race, in which Trump relatives and associates showered the area with attention among four separate appearances in the span of several weeks.
Before then, the last sitting president to officially visit Wilmington (we aren’t counting former President Bill Clinton’s 2000 breeze through the airport on his way to Whiteville), was William Howard Taft.
In 1909. Radios were barely a thing.
A legal distinction separates campaign visits from presidential ones, namely, who pays for it: taxpayers or donors. But politically, “the distinction lies somewhere between blurry and nonexistent,” said Chris Cooper, Western Carolina University professor of political science and public affairs.
In an analysis last month, Cooper pinpointed New Hanover as the state’s most competitive county to watch this election– “as close to a bellwether as we’ve got.”
National political observers closely watch the state at large, which tends to choose Democratic governors and Republican presidents. In a forthcoming book, Cooper dissects this purpleness–that is, the state’s mix of Republican and Democratic leanings. And he told The Dive, “there’s no place more purple in North Carolina than New Hanover County.”
This far into the campaign season, Cooper said presidents behave strategically, “visiting where they think they will get the most bang for their buck.”
Cooper said sometimes the choice relates to a recent event. Before coming to Wilmington, Biden is stopping in Charlotte to visit the families of four federal law enforcement officers who were killed serving a warrant earlier this week. Sometimes the choice relates to a policy the president may want to highlight, like infrastructure investments.
New Hanover swung Democratic in the 2020 presidential race, for the first time since 1976.
Voters also managed to accurately pick every 2020 Council of State race, representing a mix of the parties. “They certainly know where their campaign won big, where they lost big, and where margins were close,” Cooper said of the Biden team. “Given these strategic considerations, [visiting] New Hanover County makes a lot of sense.”
– Johanna F. Still
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Around the Region
Barstow’s Back: State transportation officials just reinstalled the Barstow, California Interstate 40 sign on the way west from Wilmington, the News & Observer reports. The sign that references the finish line for the interstate more than 5,200 miles away has been stolen several times.
‘Irreversible’: The Washington Post published a special project on the threat of sea level rise. While it doesn’t specifically detail Wilmington’s vulnerability, it shows the city ranks fourth among 127 tidal gauges for sea level rise, at 7 inches.
Sand Switcheroo: Local beach towns have been forced to look offshore for renourishment sand under a Biden-era decision, Coastal Review Online reports. But a bill from U.S. Rep. David Rouzer (R) that would give beaches clearance to use nearby inlet sand again just passed the House.
Build the Wall: Chemours missed state deadlines to construct a barrier wall to prevent PFAS contaminants from reaching the river. WHQR reports on the difficulty it encountered in obtaining records about why the state let Chemours off the hook.
Around the State
United Methodist Church Ends Ban on Gay Clergy
Divisions over gay clergy and marriage had split the denomination in two.
The Making of Michele Morrow
Michele Morrow’s primary win took many by surprise. But the candidate for state superintendent is following Steve Bannon’s playbook.
UNC-Chapel Hill Secretly Recorded Professor’s Classes
An associate dean at the business school said the professor’s permission wasn’t necessary, but IT policy indicates otherwise.
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