Column: The Democratic Party has a barbecue problem. It could lose them the election.

As 17,000 people filed into Greensboro Coliseum for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, many netizens were frenzying over North Carolina’s electoral possibilities. Republicans have won the deep fuchsia state in 10 out of the 11 past presidential elections. But with strong enthusiasm for Harris among previously undecided voters, plus the slow-moving firebomb consuming the North Carolina Republican Party, N.C. is now fully in play. 

What might just put Kamala over the top is if she finally speaks the passcode to North Carolina politics — barbecue.

To win North Carolina, the Democrats’ key voter cannot be just suburban women, but the barbecue enjoyer. Everyone eats barbecue, from Charlotte bankers to Farmville fieldhands. If a candidate is to win over the hearts, minds and votes of North Carolinians, they have to know our political power is fired with smoke and wood.

Harris was just steps away from this blessing. If only she went across the street from the Coliseum to Stamey’s Barbecue. 

George W. Bush’s visit here in 2006 was recorded as a candid stop by the "whim" of the feverishly hungry president, shaking hands with the good people of North Carolina as he sat down with their own representatives to eat. Donald Trump’s 2016 visit to Stamey’s was just as successful, diners chittering with excitement seeing the TV personality. The born & bred New Yorker didn’t stumble over the menu or, God forbid, ask what barbecue sauce they served. When Republican campaigns seek to fabricate authenticity, they do it well. 

Recent Democrats’ barbecue ventures were not nearly as successful. 

Cal Cunningham was vilified for his disingenuous posing near a gas grill, ready to cook the stack of hot dogs nearby. This picture made it clear to all North Carolinians that Cunningham did not know barbecue. The Obamas apparently love Asheville for their ribs, out of all the things you could love Asheville for. Hillary Clinton stopped by a polished chain, Midwood Smokehouse, in Charlotte, during her campaign. 

While these Democratic campaigns knew barbecue was important, their lack of genuine interest or research betrayed their sentiments on the communities themselves. It’s no surprise Democrats have consistently struggled in rural America, having taken no time to understand it.

If a community feels their cherished businesses and "local flavor" are harmed by national policy, best believe they’ll vote accordingly, even in arguably absurd circumstances. Parker’s Barbecue, the gem of Eastern North Carolina ‘cue, received citations for ignoring COVID-19 measures. In response, a Facebook group was created in support of Parker’s with 24,000 members. For better or for worse, that’s some political capital. 

The Democrats’ ineptitude in this particular cultural arena does not bode well for them at the polling place. Many rural southerners characterize the Democratic Party as “snobby elitists who look down on them.” Rural voters often see Democrats as responsible for their hurting, impoverished communities.

What certainly doesn’t help is when national party leaders come to fumble around in a gentrified, inauthentic restaurant in a failed attempt to appear humble. The local sentiments towards the restaurant become applied to the candidate themselves. The picture of Hillary Clinton's squinting over a bloated Midwood Smokehouse menu is just as repulsive to rural voters as her shock at a middle-class kitchen. 

If a candidate won’t venture past the beltline and the tobacco fields for real barbecue, how could voters expect them to go the extra mile for their constituents?

But hope is not entirely lost for Democrats, at least for the state's party. Roy Cooper, the product of Nash County, served Sam Jones BBQ to the Prime Minister of Japan’s delegation, giving our allies a proper taste of southern hospitality. As the Harris team pays pollsters and consultants for the key to our battleground state, it could be as easy as ordering correctly at the Skylight Inn. 

If Democrats want to win North Carolina, they need to, in the words of John Shelton Reed, “shut up and eat.”

@marytwatk

@dthopinion | opinion@dailytarheel.com