Former President Donald Trump has a busy campaign schedule in North Carolina and returns to the state for his third visit in two weeks.
Trump will travel to Fayetteville on Friday to hold a town hall with voters and supporters where, the Trump campaign said in a press release, he will “answer questions directly from voters, listen to their concerns and share why his policies puts the working men and women of North Carolina first.”
The town hall marks Trump’s seventh visit to North Carolina since Vice President Kamala Harris rose to the top of the Democratic ticket and began her campaign.
Polls show an increasingly close race between Trump and Harris in North Carolina, which last voted for a Democratic candidate for president in 2008, when former President Barack Obama won the state.
Averages of several recent polls from 538 and RealClearPolitics show Trump leading Harris in the state by 0.4 and 1.4 percentage points, respectively, both well within the margin of error in most polls.
A new CNN poll of likely voters in North Carolina taken earlier this week found the race tied, with both candidates polling 48%. Another poll released Friday by Bloomberg and Morning Consult showed Harris with a 2 percentage point lead among likely voters.
Trump won North Carolina in 2016 and 2020, but by only 1.3 percentage points the second time. His regular visits to the battleground state, one he is likely to win, underscore how seriously the Trump campaign has taken the state as Harris tries to bring it back into the Democratic column.
Trump on Robinson: ‘I don’t know the situation’
In a statement on Saturday, the Harris campaign criticized Trump’s economic agenda, saying his visits to the state have only reminded voters that he is “too extreme for North Carolina.”
“It’s time to turn the page on Trump’s extremism and elect Vice President Harris to lower costs for North Carolina residents, protect our fundamental freedoms and keep our communities safe,” said Michael Zhadanovsky, director of rapid response for the North Carolina Democratic Coordinated Campaign.
Trump addressed supporters in Charlotte on Wednesday and held a rally with supporters in Wilmington a week ago.
On both occasions, Trump avoided mentioning Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor whose campaign was rocked by scandal after CNN reported that he made a number of lewd and racist comments on a porn website several years ago.
Trump had previously endorsed Robinson and embraced his candidacy, but has kept his distance since the CNN report broke on September 19.
When asked by a reporter on Thursday whether he would withdraw his support for Robinson, Trump said: “I don’t know the situation.”
Robinson has had to regroup and resume his campaign amid the fallout from the CNN report, with nearly all of his campaign staff resigning and half of his staff in the lieutenant governor’s office also resigning.
The town hall with Trump will take place on Friday, October 4 at 7:00 PM at the Crown Complex in Fayetteville. Tickets can be found on his campaign website.
Under the Dome
Get the latest news on North Carolina politics from The News & Observer’s award-winning team. Get the free summary in your inbox by signing up here.
