Trump rally in Gastonia and Greensboro ahead of Election Day

Donald Trump will rally supporters in North Carolina every day until Tuesday’s election, a flurry of activity lately in the only swing state he won in both his 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

Even as Trump looks to expand the electoral map and show strength with trips to New Mexico and Virginia, two Democratic states that are not considered competitive, he is dedicating significant time to North Carolina, which last supported a Democrat for president in 2008 year.

The former president’s path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency will become significantly more difficult if he loses North Carolina. The fast-growing southern state gave Trump his narrowest margin of victory – 1.3 percentage points – over Democrat Joe Biden four years ago.

Trump will campaign in Gastonia, west of Charlotte, and Greensboro on Saturday, with a stop in Salem, Virginia, in between. He will be in the eastern city of Kinston on Sunday and in Raleigh on Monday. These four rallies will bring his total number of appearances in North Carolina to nine beginning Oct. 1. His running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, has visited the state six times over the same period, most recently on Friday.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic challenger, will also be in North Carolina on Saturday for a concert and rally in Charlotte. Her campaign has not announced any other trips to the state until Election Day.

The extensive damage from Hurricane Helen across western North Carolina has created some uncertainty about the state of affairs here. The flooding destroyed homes and displaced residents in several counties, including the liberal city of Asheville and surrounding conservative rural areas.

Trump’s team said it was confident in his chances in North Carolina. Democrats see Trump’s focus on the state as a sign of optimism for Harris.

“The repeated performances could signal that the Trump campaign is in trouble,” said Democratic Rep. Marcia Morey of Durham. “If Trump continues his dangerous, violent rhetoric over the past few days, it could backfire. A campaign of personal retribution does not win people’s votes.”

Trump adviser Jason Miller said Trump’s late-campaign travel is not a red flag.

“I’m not worried about anything,” Miller told reporters Friday. “We have a smart strategy that will help President Trump get through 270 states, maybe even a couple of states that will surprise you that will slip through there. But we are going to stick to our strategy. Our strategy is based on our data and our targeting. “

Trump on Fox & Friends” on Saturday morning, he was asked about his message to women after businessman Mark Cuban suggested the former president doesn’t surround himself with strong, smart women.

Trump said he defended “women who make men look like babies” and that he “gave women a chance too.” He cited Kellyanne Conway, who managed his 2016 campaign, and Susie Wiles, his current campaign manager.

He also said he was “very disappointed” with Julia Roberts, who narrated an ad about women hiding their voices from their husbands. He predicted she would look back at this and cringe. “Can you imagine a wife not telling her husband who she is voting for? Have you ever heard anything like this? he asked.

About half of North Carolina’s 7.8 million registered voters had already cast ballots as of Friday, helped by early in-person voting that ends Saturday afternoon.

North Carolina Republicans were encouraged by early voter turnout among their supporters after national and state GOP leaders shifted to a “save your vote” strategy this year instead of focusing on Election Day turnout.

Entering the final days of the campaign, the GOP had registered 50,000 more voters than Democrats who had voted early or by absentee ballot, although there are more than 100,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state, according to state election data. It is unclear whether the early increase in Republican votes will lead to higher overall turnout among Trump supporters.

Independent voters now make up the largest group of registered voters in North Carolina. Trump lost ground among independents between 2016 and 2020.

Voters in the state have shown a penchant for splitting their tickets over the years. That’s why, although Republicans have controlled the state legislature since 2011, Democrats have held the governor’s mansion for nearly four years, starting in 1993.

GOP hopes of breaking that power Tuesday appeared to have faded in recent weeks after the party’s nominee for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, received unwanted publicity from a CNN report alleging he did Explicit posts of a racial and sexual nature in a message from a porn site. reign more than ten years ago.

Although Robinson has denied writing the posts and sued CNN for defamation last month, his campaign nearly collapsed, raising fears that a big victory for Democrat Josh Stein, the state attorney general, could hurt GOP candidates in other races.

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Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Detroit and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.