What you should know about North Carolina's race for governor

North Carolina has been an underappreciated political battleground recently and not gotten the same attention as nearby Georgia or Florida or the traditional campaign hotbeds of the Rust Belt.

That is changing in 2024, partly because of a potentially historic governor’s race that pits North Carolina's centrist tendencies against the rise of populist conservatism in the era of Donald Trump.

The Republican nominee is Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a 55-year-old who would be the state’s first Black governor. Democrats have chosen Attorney General Josh Stein, a 57-year-old who is trying to keep the office in his party’s control after two terms under outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper.

Here are some key dynamics and questions in the contest.