Written by Gram Slattery and Alexandra Ulmer
FAYETTEVILLE, North Carolina (Reuters) – Donald Trump campaigned in North Carolina on Friday for the fourth time in a month as the Republican presidential nominee tried to rally support in a state he carried easily a few months ago but is now among the presidential contenders. The most competitive in racing.
The former president’s visit to Fayetteville, home to a large military community, came at a time when the state was rocked by physical and political storms.
Once-in-a-generation flooding from Hurricane Helen killed dozens in the state’s western mountains, while the Republican gubernatorial candidate faced devastating reports about past inflammatory and lewd comments.
Trump drew cheers from a raucous crowd of thousands packed into the grandstand when he announced that, if elected, he would seek to change the name of the sprawling military base in the state, Fort Liberty, to Fort Bragg. The name was changed last year, in honor of a Confederate general in the American Civil War.
Trump rejected the statements of US President Joe Biden, who warned this week that Israel should not attack Iranian nuclear facilities.
“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to hit?” Trump said. “When they asked him that question, the answer should have been to hit the nuke first and worry about the rest later.”
Some Trump allies privately say the race in North Carolina, which Trump won in both the 2016 and 2020 elections, is too close for comfort, even as they believe he still has a slight lead over his Democratic rival Kamala Harris ahead of the November 5 election. /November. election. Hurricane Helen intensified those concerns amid concerns from some Trump advisers and donors who are particularly concerned that the storm could lead to lower turnout in conservative mountainous areas of the state.
By some measures, the vice president is doing slightly better here than in Arizona and Georgia, two states that Trump lost in 2020. All three states are among the few battlegrounds where both candidates have a legitimate chance of winning next month, and she will play A crucial role in determining the winner of the election.
“I’m scared about North Carolina,” said one major Trump donor, who was granted anonymity to provide his candid assessment of the race. “Georgia and Arizona are not in the bag but they are headed in the right direction.”
Trump leads Harris by 0.5 percentage points in North Carolina, according to the polling average maintained by FiveThirtyEight, a polling and analysis site. The former president leads Harris by 1.1 points in Georgia and 1.2 points in Arizona. All of these numbers are within the margin of error of major polls, meaning either candidate could win.
On his way to North Carolina, Trump stopped in Evans, Georgia, for a briefing at the Hurricane Response Center with the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp.
The two men recently reached a truce after Trump publicly criticized Kemp for not supporting the hoax election fraud claims he used in 2020 to try to overturn his loss in Georgia.
“I’m not thinking about voters right now, I’m thinking about lives,” Trump told reporters.
Move forward with the campaign vigorously
Trump was leading Biden by several percentage points in North Carolina before the Democratic president abandoned his reelection bid in July and passed the baton to Harris, who has steadily closed the gap with Trump.
While Trump’s ad spending in the state was relatively modest compared to most other battleground states, he was a huge success on the campaign trail. By a Reuters tally, his four campaign events in North Carolina, including stops in Wilmington and Mint Hill, in the past month were more than those held in any other state except Wisconsin and Michigan.
The Trump campaign referred a request for comment to the North Carolina Republican Party. Matt Mercer (NASDAQ:), the party’s communications director, said the Trump campaign is going as planned in the southern state.
“North Carolina is close and has been for several cycles,” Mercer said. “However, President Trump has won the state twice, and we are confident we will win it a third time.”
Harris has also made frequent trips to North Carolina and is expected to arrive again on Saturday.
Harris is “gaining momentum as voters continue to learn more about Vice President Harris’ vision for a new path forward where our freedoms are protected and everyone has the opportunity not only to live, but to ‘get ahead,'” her campaign communications officer Dori McMillan said.
Among the potential headwinds Trump faces is the Republican gubernatorial nominee, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a Trump ally.
In September, CNN reported that Robinson, a black man, called himself a “black Nazi,” called for the restoration of slavery, and said he enjoyed trans pornography in an online chat room. Robinson denied making the comments.
Analysts say it is unclear whether the Robinson scandal will lead to lower turnout among Republicans on Election Day, which could hurt Trump. But it definitely won’t help.
“It didn’t necessarily change voters’ minds, but what concerns me is that you want everyone to be rowing in the same direction,” said Doug Hay, a veteran Republican strategist and North Carolina native who pointed to the chaos surrounding Robinson’s campaign. – Obstructing its ability to get voters to the polls.
Two Trump donors and a Trump adviser privately added that the hurricane’s aftermath was worrying. The hardest-hit areas of the state are also among the most Republican.
“If you don’t have a home, do you really care about the presidential election?” The advisor said, summarizing the concerns.
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