If elected, Kamala Harris would make history: the first woman, first Asian American, and first Black American to serve as Vice President.

But how will the California senator play in North Carolina, an important battleground in this fall’s election?

Susan Roberts, a political science professor at Davidson College, says Joe Biden’s pick could help energize Black voters - a potential key to victory in the Tar Heel State.

“African Americans and people of color didn’t want to be taken for granted in 2016. And this says, 'You will not be taken for granted,'” she said.

The turnout rate among registered Black voters in North Carolina ticked down in 2016, after relative highs during the Obama electoral cycles, according to data compiled by Michael Bitzer, a professor at Catawba College.

When Barack Obama won the state in 2008, for example, the turnout rate for Black voters was 73 percent. By comparison, the turnout rate was 64 percent in 2016 when Hillary Clinton lost the state.

Rep. GK Butterfield, D-1st District, said he is thrilled with Harris as the VP pick.

He called her “tough as nails” and said he believes that together, Biden and Harris could help rebuild the so-called Obama coalition during what he expects will be a high turnout election.

Harris “can penetrate into Millennials and college students, she can go into the unaffiliated voter category and appeal to white women and white business people because she understands their issues,” he said.

Across the aisle, Republicans locally and nationally are blasting Harris - though with various and at times inconsistent lines of attack. For example, while some described her as too liberal, others painted her as not progressives enough to appease some in the Democratic party.

In an interview with Tim Boyum on Capital Tonight, Hogan Gidley, the national press secretary for the Trump campaign, labeled the Harris pick as a sign that “Joe Biden’s complete and total capitulation to the radical left is complete.”

At the state level, the chairman of the NCGOP called Harris “an out-of-touch California liberal” who would not help Biden’s chances in the electoral battleground state.

Among other things, he cited her backing of a Medicare for All bill on Capitol Hill. During her own presidential campaign, Harris waffled on healthcare issues.

However, Prof. Roberts is not sure that the ‘liberal’ label will stick or resonate, given Harris’s resume, including her work as California Attorney General.

“I think she’s going to play on being a prosecutor, being Attorney General. If you look at how she worked on the [Senate] Judiciary Committee and her relentless questioning, I think people like that savvy,” she said, referencing Harris’s

For his part, Butterfield rejected the notion Harris is a “flaming liberal,” describing her as “moderate-to-progressive.”