On June 28, less than 24 hours after the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle, President Joe Biden held a Biden-Harris campaign rally in Raleigh.
The rally was held at the N.C. State Fairgrounds. Prior to Biden’s speech, there were musical performances by hip hop artists Fat Joe and E-40, as well as The Deep River Singers, a choral group from North Carolina.
Speeches were delivered by Harry Davis, the regional organizing director of the N.C. Democratic Party; Josh Stein, the current state attorney general and Democratic candidate for the N.C. gubernatorial race; N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper; first lady Jill Biden; Wake County Public Schools administrator, Eric Fitts; and Biden himself.
“Joe is fighting for the families here in North Carolina and across America, who are working hard to find a secure place in the middle class, the moms who worry that their daughters will grow up in a country with fewer rights than we have,” Jill Biden said.
The rally came in the wake of concerns about the president’s performance at the June 27 debate against Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump, with The New York Times Editorial Board and other publications calling for Biden to leave the 2024 presidential race.
“I think there was a little stumble, but you cannot judge a man’s worth based upon one night,” Elvin Sadler, the general secretary for the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Charlotte, said. “You have to look at his body of work.”
Prior to the rally, community member Tayah Butler said she was hoping to get reinvigorated again.
