Biden campaign ramps up NC staff amid multimillion-dollar ad buy

Between the lines: North Carolina has proven to be an elusive target for Democratic presidential candidates since former President Barack Obama won the state in 2008. Obama lost here by about 2 percentage points in 2012, and Trump won it in both 2016 and 2020.

• But some national Democrats believe they have a better chance in North Carolina this year than they do in Georgia, which Biden won in 2020, the New York Times reports.

Driving the news: Biden's North Carolina team, which is based in Raleigh, said Thursday it is bringing on Gov. Roy Cooper staffer Dory MacMillan as communications director and George Adames-Diaz, who worked on Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont's re-election team, as data director.

• Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will also visit Raleigh on March 26, in what is expected to be the first of several visits to the state over the next six months.

State of play: Democrats are planning a $25 million push into boosting voter registration in what they consider the key battleground states of North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Texas.

• In addition to visiting, Biden's team recently launched a $30 million ad campaign that targets 13 metro areas, including Raleigh, and Biden has done media appearances in the past few weeks on radio shows in Charlotte and Fayetteville.

The other side: Heading into March, Trump had raised the most money from large donations from North Carolina. A WRAL poll released this week showed Trump leading among likely voters.