汉娜·德米斯是美国广播公司新闻活动的七名记者之一，在11月中期选举之前，她被安排在战场州。
德米斯负责密苏里州和北卡罗来纳州。下面，她描述了上周提前投票开始时她在北卡罗来纳州的所见所闻——国会的控制权悬而未决。
在Hulu上看到更多Demissie与embed团队和主播George Stephanopoulos的工作"权力之旅:寻求权力的人和追逐权力的人."
在2022年选举周期的最后几周，我们正进入关键时刻。在倒计时中，一系列大名鼎鼎的代理人已经出现在北卡罗来纳州的民主党和共和党参议员提名人Cheri Beasley和众议员Ted Budd - who陷入了一场势均力敌的，可能至关重要的竞赛。
周四对我来说是一个时刻，比斯利和巴德之间的竞争可能已经开始转移。这是该州提前亲自投票的第一天，一些政界重量级人物加入了竞选活动。几个月的民意调查显示两名候选人几乎不分上下，根据五点三十八分，巴德也开始打开一个小，但值得注意的领先优势。
然而，在这一天的过程中，他和比斯利都坚持认为每一张选票都很重要:不仅仅是为了他们的种族，而是为了哪个政党会在明年一月获得参议院多数席位，有权阻止或确认总统任命，并制定或阻挠关于堕胎、经济等问题的立法。
我周四从北卡罗来纳州民主党开始，该党举行了一次集会，开始了第一天的提前亲自投票。在那里，前州法官比斯利和其他落选的民主党候选人一起发言，设定她所看到的赌注。
“我们知道，追求生命、自由和幸福的基本自由必须得到保护，”她说，“每次我们行使投票权时，我们都是保护者。”
另一位参加集会的有影响力的民主党人是北卡罗来纳州州长罗伊·库珀(Roy Cooper)，尽管前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)在同年赢得了该州，但他在2020年赢得了连任。库珀从2016年开始明显扩大了他的胜利幅度，一位专家告诉美国广播公司新闻，这是紫色州在州一级“蓝色色调”的一个例子。
比斯利-强调医疗保健和堕胎权-希望在这一成功的基础上再接再厉，尽管她的政党在通货膨胀和经济方面遇到了阻力。库珀在周四的讲话中，重点谈到了他所谓的共和党在1月6日之后的极端主义。
“很明显，只要他们的人掌权，大多数共和党人更喜欢独裁而不是民主，”他说。“如果我们想维护我们的民主，我们必须确保我们选举的是相信民主的人。”
跟随今年夏天罗伊诉韦德案的翻案堕胎已经成为北卡罗来纳州最关键的问题之一，民主党抓住了这个机会。在周四的集会上，比斯利承诺，如果当选，她将利用参议院的投票来保护罗伊。
“我会战斗，我会战斗，以确保罗伊诉韦德案是这片土地的法律，”她说。
演讲结束后，比斯利前往罗利的一个投票站，和她的丈夫以及她的一个儿子一起投下了她的第一票，我也是记者中的一员。
从那里，我驱车前往格林斯博罗，巴德正在那里与共和党全国委员会主席罗娜·麦克丹尼尔(Ronna McDaniel)和佛罗里达州参议员里克·斯科特(Rick Scott)举行竞选活动。
在活动中，斯科特强调了理查德·伯尔退休后保守派保住北卡罗来纳州参议员席位的重要性。
“我们必须在北卡罗来纳州获胜，”斯科特说。“如果我们不能赢得北卡罗来纳州，我们就不会获得多数席位。”
在斯科特和巴德的讲话中，两人都谈到了经济，并强调了多少美国人正在感受到历史高通胀的痛苦。
斯科特周四说:“如果你喜欢为每件事付出更多，你应该投票给比斯利和(总统)乔·拜登，因为他们做到了。”
巴德甚至更直言不讳，他说他直接从当地人那里听到了生活成本的上升如何使他们的日常需求更难满足。
“这是她两年前买得起的购物车，”他说，描述了一个选民的轶事。“不幸的是，这是[她]现在能买得起的购物车——里面空空如也。”
民意调查一致显示经济和通货膨胀是许多选民最关心的问题反过来，他们又在向共和党提出这个问题上占了优势。共和党人指责民主党的支出政策，而民主党人以低失业率为由为自己辩护，称价格是由供应链问题、俄罗斯入侵乌克兰和其他因素推动的。
选民也很大程度上不赞成总统。周四，随着北卡罗来纳州选民开始投票，巴德希望他们把拜登和比斯利视为一揽子交易。
“我在美国国会有一项纪录，我正在向它努力，”他说。“她打算试着躲起来。她将会逃离乔·拜登。”
As early voting begins in North Carolina, abortion and inflation appeals divide the race
Hannah Demissie is one of seven ABC News campaign reporters embedded in battleground states ahead of the November midterms.
Demissie is covering Missouri and North Carolina. Below, she describes what she saw and heard in North Carolina as early voting got underway last week -- with control of Congress hanging in the balance.
See more of Demissie's work with the embed team and anchor George Stephanopoulos on Hulu's"Power Trip: Those Seeking Power and Those Who Chase Them."
We're entering crunch time in the final weeks of the 2022 election cycle. Amid that countdown, a slew of big-name surrogates have been turning out for North Carolina's Democratic and Republican Senate nominees, Cheri Beasley and Rep. Ted Budd -- whoare locked in a close, potentially crucial, race.
Thursday stands out for me as a moment when the contest between Beasley and Budd may have started to shift. It was the first day of early in-person voting in the state, and some political heavyweights joined the campaigns.
After months of the polling showing a virtual tie between the two candidates,according to FiveThirtyEight, Budd also began to open up a small but notable lead.
Over the course of the day, though, both he and Beasley insisted that every vote mattered: not just for their race but for which partywould have a Senate majority come January, with the power to block or confirm presidential appointments and shape or filibuster legislation on abortion, the economy and more.
I started Thursday off with the North Carolina Democratic Party, which held a rally to kick off the first day of early in-person voting. There, Beasley, a former state judge, spoke along with other down-ballot Democratic candidates -- setting the stakes as she saw them.
"We know that the fundamental freedom to pursue life, liberty and happiness must be protected," she said, "and we are the protectors every time we exercise our right to vote."
Another influential Democrat who joined the rally was North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who won reelection in 2020 despite former President Donald Trump winning the state that same year. Cooper notably expanded his margin of victory from 2016 in what one expert told ABC News was an example of the purple state's "blue tinge" at the state level.
Beasley -- emphasizing health care and abortion access -- hopes to build on that success, despite her party's headwinds over inflation and the economy. Speaking Thursday, Gov. Cooper focused on what he called the GOP's extremism after Jan. 6.
"It's pretty clear that a majority of the Republican Party prefers an autocracy to a democracy as long as their guy is in charge," he said. "If we want to preserve our democracy, we have to make sure that we're electing people who believe in it."
Followingthe overturning of Roe v. Wade this summer, abortion has become one of the most critical issues in North Carolina and Democrats have seized on the opportunity. During Thursday's rally, Beasley promised to use her Senate vote to codify Roe's protections, if elected.
"I will fight, and I will fight to make sure that Roe vs. Wade is the law of the land," she said.
After she spoke, Beasley headed to a polling station in Raleigh -- trailed by reporters like me -- to cast her early vote alongside her husband and one of her sons.
From there, I drove to Greensboro, where Budd was holding a campaign event with Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel and Florida Sen. Rick Scott, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
During the event, Scott emphasized the importance of conservatives holding onto the North Carolina Senate seat after Richard Burr's retirement.
"We have to win in North Carolina," Scott said. "If we don't win North Carolina, we're not gonna get a majority."
During Scott and Budd's remarks, both hit on the economy and underlined how many Americans are feeling the pain of historically high inflation.
"If you like paying more for everything, you should vote for Beasley and [President] Joe Biden, because they did that," Scott said Thursday.
Budd was even more blunt, saying he'd heard directly from locals about how the rising cost of living made their daily needs less attainable.
"This is the grocery cart that she could afford two years ago," he said, describing one anecdote from a voter. "And unfortunately, this is the grocery cart that [she] can afford now -- which is pretty empty."
Polls consistently showthe economy and inflation are top of mind of many voters, who in turn give the edge on addressing it to the GOP. Republicans blame Democratic spending policies while Democrats, who defend themselves by citing low unemployment, say prices are fueled by supply chain issues, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and other factors.
Voters alsolargely disapprove of the president. On Thursday, as North Carolina voters began casting their ballots, Budd wanted them to think about Biden and Beasley as a package deal.
"I've got a record in the U.S. Congress that I'm running toward," he said. "She's going to try to hide. She's going to run away from Joe Biden."
