Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cheri Beasley has had difficulty getting her schedule to align with events by Biden administration officials visiting North Carolina, and Republicans were happy to point it out during Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to Durham on Sept. 27.
“Beasley needs to be upfront with North Carolinians on why she embraces the Biden administration’s policies,” the Republican National Committee’s N.C. press secretary, Taylor Mazock, told Carolina Journal. “We invite Cheri Beasley to attend the visit of Biden’s Treasury Secretary, given her own support of the Biden administration’s inflationary policies.”
Republicans made this invitation official by hand-delivering a poster-sized event invite to Beasley’s office that included a map to Yellen’s event.
Two events were added to Beasley’s schedule — a 1 p.m. meet-and-greet at N.C. Central and a 3 p.m. meet-and-greet at N.C. State — after Yellen’s visit was confirmed.
And this isn’t the first time Beasley has had difficulty finding time to join Biden administration officials during recent visits to the state. On Sept. 1, when Vice President Kamala Harris visited Durham, WRAL reporter Bryan Anderson asked Beasley’s campaign if they were planning to attend any events with the vice president. The campaign told Anderson that “While the vice president is in North Carolina for an official White House visit, Cheri is focused on her campaign to give North Carolinians a Senator in Washington who will work for them.”
Only six days later, Bloomberg reporter Christian Hall reported that Beasley again sidestepped calls to campaign with Biden or Harris, saying, “I’m not aware of what their schedules are.” Hall said Beasley “wouldn’t commit” to campaigning with the president or vice president.
Mazock told Carolina Journal that she believes Beasley is not being upfront about her support for the Biden administration and its policies but wants to put distance between her campaign and Biden officials who are not popular in the state.