Election forecaster shifts 2024 prediction in North Carolina in the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris

A top election forecaster has shifted the potential result in North Carolina from 'lean Republican to a 'toss up' as Kamala Harris narrows the gap with Donald Trump.

Cook Political Report said the Tar Heel State, considered one of the battlegrounds that could decide the 2024 presidential race, is now 'more competitive than ever'.

'Despite the optimism and hype, [President] Biden was never able to keep this race [in North Carolina] close. By the time he dropped out of the race in late July, the president was trailing Trump by almost seven points,' Cook Editor-In-Chief Amy Walter wrote.

Polling averages have Trump and Harris in a dead heat, with the vice president seeing a surge in the 38 days since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

Vice President Kamala Harris is being called out for 'rewriting' her story about where she really grew up in northern California to claim more moderate beginnings.

The presidential hopeful speaks fondly about her upbringing in Oakland, California, but she actually spent the majority of her youth and early school years in Berkeley, a place with more leftist connotations.

During her presidential nomination acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last week in Chicago, Harris spoke about how her mother rented an apartment in 'the East Bay.'

'In the bay, you either live in the hills or the flatlands,' she said. 'We lived in the flats, a beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses, and construction workers all who tended their lawns with pride.'

Harris, however, did not officially move to the flats of Oakland until she was an adult in her 20s, according to the New York Times.

Although she was born in an Oakland hospital, her birth certificate lists an  apartment building near to the University of California at Berkeley where her parents were pursuing their doctorates.

Harris has a record of speaking vaguely about her upbringing, likely an attempt to identify with a more humble middle class life, instead of the privileged life as a child of Berkeley academics.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will sit for their first joint interview on Thursday with CNN, according to a release from the cable news network.

The interview will be conducted by CNN’s chief political correspondent and anchor Dana Bash in Georgia on Thursday afternoon and will air at 9 p.m. ET.

The highly anticipated interview will take place 39 days since Biden dropped out of his reelection campaign and endorsed Harris.

Bash has earned trust from President Biden's White House and Harris' team.

Bash interviewed Harris in April 2021 where the vice president made her comment about being the last person in the room when President Joe Biden made his decision to exit Afghanistan.

Bash also interviewed Harris in June 2022 about the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.