Did the Cal Cunningham scandal cost Biden North Carolina?

[VAR]

Here’s something people don’t realize: While Cunningham did very well in rural areas, he ran behind most statewide Dems in the big urban counties.

Mecklenburg County (Charlotte):
President: Biden +35.1
Senate: Cunningham +29.2
Governor: Cooper +37.5
Lieutenant Governor: Holley +30.9
Attorney General: Stein +32.8
Secretary of State: Marshall +34.1
Treasurer: Chatterji +24.9
Superintendent of Public Education: Mangrum +30.0
Auditor: Wood +33.4
Commissioner of Agriculture: Wadsworth +28.5
Commissioner of Insurance: Goodwin +28.1
Commissioner of Labor: Holmes +31.7

Wake County (Raleigh):
President: Biden +26.5
Senate: Cunningham +21.6
Governor: Cooper +32.0
Lieutenant Governor: Holley +22.6
Attorney General: Stein +26.3
Secretary of State: Marshall +28.4
Treasurer: Chatterji +18.0
Superintendent of Public Education: Mangrum +22.5
Auditor: Wood +28.5
Commissioner of Agriculture: Wadsworth +11.6
Commissioner of Insurance: Goodwin +20.8
Commissioner of Labor: Holmes +23.4

I could post results from other counties as well, but the pattern is clear. The three Democrats who did worse than Cunningham were running against GOP incumbents Causey, Folwell, and Troxler, all of whom are much more popular than Thom Tillis.

Given that there tends to be less ticket-splitting in federal races than statewide races, and that Tillis is not a particularly strong incumbent, it’s hard to come up with an explanation as to why nobodies like Beth Wood, Yvonne Holley, Jessica Holmes, and Jen Mangrum did better than Cal Cunningham in metropolitan NC....

....other than that the scandal did change the trajectory of the race.