(The Center Square) – As pressure grows for President Joe Biden to drop out of this year’s election, North Carolina is one of seven swing states drawing attention.
And any potential changes are friendly to the last two weeks’ developments. Parties have until 75 days before the election, which is Aug. 22, to give North Carolina its nominees.
Biden is expected to accept the nomination at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.
After that point, according to state election law, a vacancy would be filled by “appointment of national executive committee” by the party of the nominee.
This would be allowed for a broad range of reasons, including death, resignation, or “any reason.”
Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada are the other chief battlegrounds, each with unique nominee deadlines and rules for vacancies of candidates.
For example, Wisconsin only allows for death as a valid reason for vacancy after Sept. 3, while in Georgia the Democrats have until Sept. 6 to decide on Biden.
Biden’s poll numbers in North Carolina have former President Donald Trump leading the 81-year-old by almost six points, a number that has remained largely consistent for the last few months.
With its 16 electoral votes, North Carolina is a critical state for any nominee to win.
Yet, though labeled a swing state, the state has consistently voted Republican in the presidential election since incumbent Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson won in 1964. In 14 elections since, the only outliers are Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Barack Obama in 2008 carrying the state.
Neither man repeated the feat four years later.
Despite the growing calls for Biden to drop out, it is unclear how practical those calls are as any move by Democrats to replace Biden will be faced with considerable legal and political challenges.
Republican congressmen from North Carolina have been quick to pile on Biden’s many missteps of the last few weeks.
U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson responded on social media to one of Biden’s latest gaffes.
“Joe Biden just introduced President Zelenskyy as ‘President Putin.’ This is NOT a cheap fake. This really happened on the world stage,” Hudson said.
Hudson called for a different national leader.
“Americans deserve a commander-in-chief who can demonstrate strength on the world stage – not one who forgets who his own vice president is,” he said, referring also to Biden on Thursday night mixing names when in saying his vice president was Donald Trump.
U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis called into question the president’s ability to serve currently, much less for another term.
“We all saw Biden’s debate performance,” Tillis said on social media. “The American people deserve to know the truth from President Biden’s own cabinet members if he is fit to serve.”