Dem
51
GOP
49
Although North Carolina tends to get less attention than some of the other swing states, as you can see from the numbers above, it was almost as close as Pennsylvania and has almost as many EVs (16 vs. 19). It is surely going to be closely contested. As an added benefit, it is a lot closer to both candidates' home bases (D.C. and Florida, respectively) than Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, or Michigan, so they can get there easily. With Trump required to spend 4 days a week in a New York courtroom, the logistics of campaigning have suddenly become a very big deal.
As we have mentioned a couple of times, the subject of abortion is going to come up once or twice this year. The Democrats have put 1 and 1 together and come up with an ad campaign in North Carolina where they have put up 16 billboards in Charlotte and Wilmington hitting Trump on his opposition to the procedure. This is the most billboards in any state. They are in English and Spanish.
Billboards are not exciting, but they are relatively cheap and if placed in well-traveled locations, get plenty of views. Some of them are mobile. The choice of Wilmington was not accidental. Trump was supposed to speak there on Saturday and the DNC wanted to make sure everyone knew about Trump's views on the subject. However, bad weather forced Trump to cancel his appearance. Still, this could start a trend (mobile billboards about abortion, not bad weather): Wherever Trump is speaking, a truck with a mobile billboard about abortion will circle the venue to call everyone's attention to the subject. (V)