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North Carolina is making a big splash this weekend, just days before Super Tuesday, when Vice President Kamala Harris, presidential candidate Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump visit.
On Friday, Harris visited Durham to announce a $32 million investment in small businesses and discuss the administration’s economic successes in the region.
She stood in front of the Black Wall Street sign in Durham’s historic black business district. She was joined by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, and several investors in the program.
The $32 million comes from the American Rescue Plan under the state Small Business Credit Initiative. An additional $60 million will come from matching private sector venture capital partners. The announcement marks the final stop on the administration’s “Invest in America” tour. President Biden recently visited North Carolina in January to tout the administration’s investments in high-speed internet for underserved communities.
Cooper said at the event that for many people, the “American Dream” includes starting their own business. But his dream hasn’t become a reality for many Americans.
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According to a White House press release, “Black-founded businesses typically receive less than 1% of venture capital funding annually, while women-founded businesses receive only about 2%.” That’s what it means.
Harris said the program intentionally invests in underserved groups. She says these groups can accomplish great things if they have the resources.
“But when you provide access, you have the talent, you have the ability, you have the desire, you have the ambition, and that brings growth and economic growth,” Harris said.
When Harris and Biden first took office, they promised to increase federal contracts for minority-owned businesses by 50%, and Harris said this investment puts her on track to reach that goal. Told.
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Voter sentiment towards Bidennomics
The public was not invited to the outdoor event, but some stood and watched from outside the fence, inside nearby stores and on the roofs of apartment buildings. Linda Hubbard Curtis, a Black woman who owns a small business in Durham, flashed her pink Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority gloves and said she and Harris were sisters, or sororities. They shared that they are sisters.
She said she is an enthusiastic supporter of Bidennomics. She believes the administration has done a great job, and she had already voted for Biden during early voting in the primary.
“For this economy to continue to grow, we have to accommodate them,” Hubbard-Curtis said.
But the polls may tell us something else about public opinion about Biden’s economy.
In a February Reuters/Ipsos poll, 39% of respondents said that “Trump’s handling of the economy was better” compared to President Trump’s handling of the economy, while Biden was 33%.
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