By james art 
Donald Trump will rally supporters in North Carolina every day leading up to Tuesday’s election, a surge of late activity in the only swing state he won in both his 2016 and 2020 campaigns.
Even as Trump seeks to expand the electoral map and increase his strength with trips to New Mexico and Virginia, two Democratic states not considered competitive, he is devoting significant time to North Carolina, which last supported a Democrat for president in 2008. Mr.
The former president’s path to the 270 electoral votes needed to hold the presidency becomes significantly more complicated if he loses North Carolina. The fast-growing southern state gave Trump his smallest margin — 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, Va., in between. He will be in the eastern city of Kinston on Sunday and in Raleigh on Monday. Those four rallies will bring his total to nine events in North Carolina since Oct. 1. His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has been in the state six times during the same period, most recently on Friday.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival, will also be in North Carolina on Saturday for a concert and rally in Charlotte. Her campaign has not announced another trip to the state before Election Day.
The heavy damage from Hurricane Helen in western North Carolina has created a dose of uncertainty about the state of affairs here. Flooding destroyed homes and displaced residents in several counties, including the liberal city of Asheville and the conservative rural areas surrounding it.
Trump’s team said it was confident about his chances in North Carolina. Democrats see Trump’s attention to the state as a signal of optimism for Harris.
“The repeated appearances may 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 vendetta does not win the people votes.”
Trump adviser Jason Miller said Trump’s late-campaign trips were not a cause for alarm.
“I’m not worried about anything,” Miller told reporters Friday. “We have a smart strategy that will get President Trump through 270, maybe even a few states that surprise you that slide in there.” But we will follow our strategy. Our strategy comes from our data and our targeting. “
Trump, on Fox & Friends’ interview on Saturday morning, was asked about his message to women after businessman Mark Cuban suggested the former president should not surround himself with strong and intelligent women.
Trump said he was defended by “women who make men look like babies” and that he was “giving women a chance.” He cited Kellyanne Conway, who ran his 2016 campaign, and Susie Wiles, his current campaign manager.
He also said he was “so disappointed” in Julia Roberts, who provided the voice-over for an ad about women hiding their voices from their husbands. He predicted that she would look back and cringe. “Can you imagine a woman not telling her husband who she is voting for? Do you hear anything like that?” he asked.
Roughly half of North Carolina’s 7.8 million registered voters had already cast ballots as of Friday, boosted 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 this year to a “save your vote” strategy instead of focusing on Election Day turnout.
Supporters arrive before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Gastonia, North Carolina, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.
Entering the final days of the campaign, more than 50,000 more registered GOP voters than Democrats have cast early or absentee ballots, even though there are more than 100,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans statewide, according to state election data. It is unclear whether the surge in Republican early voting will translate into higher overall turnout for Trump supporters.
Independent voters now make up the largest group of registered voters in North Carolina. Trump lost ground with independents between 2016 and 2020.
Voters in the state have shown a tendency to split their ticket over the years. That’s why, while Republicans have controlled the state legislature since 2011, Democrats have held the governor’s mansion for all but four years since 1993.
GOP hopes of breaking that hold on Tuesday appeared to have dwindled in recent weeks after the party’s nominee for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, received unwanted publicity from a CNN report alleging he made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornographic website message board more than a decade ago.
Although Robinson denied authoring the messages and sued CNN for defamation last month, his campaign nearly collapsed, raising concerns that a landslide victory for Democrat Josh Stein, the state’s 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.