Booming Suburbs of North Carolina Are Changing the Election Map

For Kristina Jeffreys, leaving Rhode Island for North Carolina was about being her own boss. To Shannon Halbur, heading east from Wichita to the suburbs of Raleigh in 2020 meant a chance to settle down into retirement after years of moving for her husband’s auditing job.

Jeffreys, 36, and Halbur, 70, landed a few miles apart in Johnston County, home to an expanding Novo Nordisk operation that churns out weight loss drug Ozempic — and has helped make this one of the fastest growing counties in one of the fastest growing US states.

Both women are part of a shift that ...