Dems need to ramp up early voting efforts to match GOP momentum in North Carolina: analyst

The Democratic Party needs to get competitive with Republicans in battleground North Carolina to turn out more voters before Election Day, says a former political consultant from the Tar Heel State. 

Thomas Mills is publisher and founder of PoliticsNC, a website described as "Analysis, commentary, and opinion of North Carolina and national politics from the perspective of a center-left, 30-year veteran of the campaign battlefield."

Mills, who worked on the direct mail team for the Democratic National Committee in 2004, identified two problems that Democrats need to address, quickly, to compete in the state: early voting and low African American voter turnout.

"They [Republicans] seem to be on the right track right now. Democrats, on the other hand, need to boost their turnout. I mean, what we don't know is how people are voting," Mills told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. "Some of these Republicans that are going to the polls may not actually be voting for Republicans. So, until we count the votes, we don't know a whole lot."

Mills said that this cycle, Republicans are voting at "levels much higher than they have in the past."

NORTH CAROLINA VOTERS WILL DECIDE ON AMENDMENT TO EXPLICITLY BAR NONCITIZENS FROM VOTING IN ELECTIONS

"The big question is, 'What is driving the GOTV vote this cycle?' They [Republicans] historically have not put any emphasis in North Carolina on early voting. In fact, in 2020, they actually told Republicans not to vote early, to vote on Election Day," Mill said. "This year, they've taken a different tack. And they're actively telling Republicans to go vote early."