Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

North Carolina man says he voted Harris because girlfriend threatened to break up with him

State is one of the key battlegrounds in the 2024 presidential election

Josh Marcus
San Francisco
Tuesday 05 November 2024 22:01
Comments
North Carolina man jokes he voted Harris after breakup threat from his girlfriend

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A North Carolina man is going viral after he told CNN he voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election because his girlfriend threatened she would break up with him if he refused.

“I wasn’t going to vote at all until my girlfriend was blowing up my phone, telling me to go vote,” Bryan Flores said after voting in Charlotte. “And if I didn’t, she was going to break up with me, so now I’m here.”

Flores, a Biden 2020 voter, later admitted, “I made that up, she didn’t say that, but it’s funny to say that,” and said she did ask him to go for Harris.

But Flores’s experience may be a common one.

A historic gender gap is expected to play a key role in determining the winner of the election, with polling suggesting Harris has nearly 20 percent more support among women than Donald Trump, who was instrumental in rolling back the constitutionally protected right to an abortion.

North Carolina is one of the key battleground states in the 2024 election, and its official election result has not yet been announced.

According to the most recent figures obtained by the Charlotte Observer, the Harris campaign has won just shy of 70 percent of the presidential vote in Flores’s polling place of Mecklenburg County, one of the areas with a large city the Harris is hoping to claim in this purple state.

As The Independent reported from North Carolina, going into election day, the Harris campaign seemed to have “all the momentum, while Trump was grasping for straws.”

Overall, Donald Trump has 52 percent of the vote so far in North Carolina, with less than half of the votes counted, according to recent estimates.

North Carolina voter Bryan Flores said his girlfriend asked him to vote for Kamala Harris.
North Carolina voter Bryan Flores said his girlfriend asked him to vote for Kamala Harris. (CNN)

The state has endured its share of challenges this election season, including Hurricane Helene.

The storm tore across the state this fall, leveling towns like Asheville and leaving thousands without electricity and running water for weeks.

While observers worried the storms could depress turnout, there are some early indications that hasn’t been the case.

North Carolina election officials said Sunday that a “record turnout” of more than 4.2 million residents made their choice via in-person early voting, compared with 3.6 million who did so in 2020.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in