Vice President J.D. Vance held a rally in Rocky Mount, N.C. with about 200 attendees, March 13, 2026. (Photo: Christine Zhu/NC Newsline)
Vice President JD Vance was in North Carolina last week, doing his best to put a happy face on the economic situation in our state. It was and is not an easy sell.
Though the vice president took the stage in Rocky Mount flanked by banners seemingly left over from the 2024 campaign proclaiming “Lower Prices, Bigger Paychecks,” most North Carolinians would not recognize that as the reality they are experiencing in 2026.
Indeed, even prior to the recent spikes in gasoline and other prices that have accompanied President Trump’s controversial war in Iran, the state’s economy was showing troubling signs. As North Carolina Budget and Tax Center policy analyst Alex Campbell noted in both a recent online post and an NC Newsline radio/podcast interview, highly questionable state and federal policy choices are contributing to an increasingly stagnant situation with “an increasingly weak labor market, [with] more and more North Carolinians struggling to find work and make ends meet.,”
Not surprisingly, there are likely several culprits behind this situation, but Campbell argues persuasively that the Trump administration and its allies in the North Carolina General Assembly bear responsibility for some of the most important.
The list includes:
Massive federal workforce layoffs: These cuts, which have reduced the federal workforce by more than 9% (the biggest reduction since immediately following World War II), have eliminated thousands of jobs in North Carolina. What’s more, these reductions, Campbell notes, tend to disproportionately impact Black workers, veterans, and people with disabilities.
Attacks on immigrant communities: In North Carolina, Campbell points out, 11 percent of all workers are immigrants, with immigrants making up one-third of all workers in the construction industry and in software development. The ICE raids, he notes, are not causing trickledown hiring of non-immigrants, but rather creating damaging employment gaps.
Tariffs and cuts in the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill”: The confusion and economic disincentives that have arisen from these policies — particularly in the renewable energy field — helped lead to a 1.5% drop in North Carolina manufacturing jobs in 2025.
The state legislature’s failure to pass a Fiscal Year 2026 budget: In addition to the direct negative impacts of underfunding a host of core public services and the salaries of the public employees who deliver them, the General Assembly’s inexcusable refusal to enact a state budget (a situation driven chiefly by Senate Leader’s Phil Berger’s effort to ward off a right-wing primary challenger) has only added to the uncertainty plaguing the state’s business community.
The failure of the both feds and state legislature to adequately fund the Hurricane Helene recovery: Thus far, the amount the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress have distributed in Helene relief over the past 18 months is “minuscule” in comparison to past storms (around 10-12% of the $60 billion damage estimate), where the norm has been more on the order of 40-50% — or even closer to 70% in the case of Hurricane Katrina.
This failure, in combination with the legislature’s similarly miserly approach to recovery in western North Carolina (see, for example, the ongoing refusal to provide grants and forgivable loans to small businesses), has contributed mightily to the ongoing economic troubles in that region. The result: some counties in the region continue to experience unemployment well above the state average. In Buncombe County, the rate is 6.8%. In Mitchell, it’s close to 9%.
Given this backdrop, it’s not surprising that Vance selected eastern North Carolina for his politicking visit. A trip to the west might have spurred inquiries about the Trump administration’s priorities, given that the amount already expended on the Iran war – reports place the price tag for the just the first week at a minimum of $11 billion – could have already raised federal Helene relief funding to standard levels.
So, where do things go from here? At this point, the prospects for substantive and beneficial policy changes in the near term seem minimal, at best.
JD Vance may know in his heart that he’s opted to place his pursuit of personal advancement ahead of the country’s wellbeing as he spins Trump’s policies and delusions to friendly GOP audiences for the next couple years. But for the Veep, the shot it conceivably provides for him to succeed Trump in 2029 or, given the president’s advanced age and increasingly evident infirmities, even earlier, seem irresistible for now.
Similarly, as Phil Berger strives desperately to cling to his state Senate seat and source of power in the face of Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page’s apparent narrow victory in the March primary, the odds that he will buck the Trumpian far right by embracing fiscal sanity in the spring’s legislative short session seem long.
And so it is that, for now, North Carolinians looking for elected leaders to provide an honest assessment of the state’s economic situation or rational policy decisions to address it will likely have to await the results of the 2026 general elections. Stay tuned.
Hence then, the article about vance tries to push back against economic reality in nc visit was published today ( ) and is available on NC news line ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Vance tries to push back against economic reality in NC visit )
Also on site :
- En medio de la crisis, el Gobierno de Cuba anuncia reformas económicas aunque persisten los obstáculos
- LA28 ticket registration nears deadline as first Olympic qualifiers emerge
- What do you need to vote in Illinois? What you can take into the ballot box with you