Professor McCorkle has been quoted in The New York Times on the North Carolina Senate race along with his and Rachel Salzberg’s (MPP ’20) paper “The Democrats’ Countrypolitan Problem in North Carolina: Progressive Challenge and Opportunity.”
In the report, Professor McCorkle and Salzberg describe “countrypolitan” counties as the biggest challenge for North Carolina Democrats to turn the state blue. They describe “countrypolitan” counties as those with geographic and economic proximity to bigger metropolitan areas but still “retain significant rural and/or small-town legacies.” These counties have prevented metropolitan areas from becoming as diverse and politically fluid as the suburbs of Atlanta have been for Georgia.
However, Professor McCorkle tells The New York Times not to rule out Democrat Cheri Beasley from the NC Senate race entirely. Abortion will be a main deciding factor in the election results, and North Carolina has leaned more liberal on the issue over other Southern states.
Read McCorkle and Salzberg’s full paper on the Polis website here
Also, click here to read his full remarks in the New York Times