North Carolina GOP focusing on 'hand-to-hand political combat' to ramp up ground game in battleground state

Former President Trump won North Carolina in 2016, 2020

Aubrie Spady / Fox News

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Republicans are taking both a data-driven and hand-to-hand approach to target key voters in the battleground state whose electoral votes are historically decided by just a small fraction of people.

Republicans won North Carolina in the past three presidential elections, but the results have consistently come down to just a couple of thousand votes, with former President Trump winning by about 4% in 2016 and 1% in 2020. The last Democrat to win the state, former President Obama in 2008, won by less than 14,000 votes.

As Republicans ramp up their get out the vote efforts this cycle, leaders at the forefront of the movement told Fox News Digital that they are focusing their resources on encouraging early voting and delivering their message to the key 1% to 2% that could swing the election for either party.

Jason Simmons, chair of the North Carolina Republican Party, told Fox News Digital that there has been an "overwhelming" response to their knocking on doors and grassroots activism.