CHARLOTTE, NC — CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Donald Trump holds his first public campaign rally since becoming president Joe Biden withdrew from a 2024 showdown that both major parties had been preparing for months, allowing the former president to direct his anger at his likely new opponent, the vice president Kamala Harris.
Trump is expected to turn his full focus to Harris when he visits North Carolina on Wednesday, a swing state that Trump has won in the past but that Democrats have seen as crucial. The former president’s trip to the state shows he remains concerned about keeping November in his column, even as his team pushes for wins in traditionally Democratic-leaning states like Minnesota, which Trump is scheduled to visit on Saturday.
Of Biden’s sudden departure of the presidential race and Harris is getting closer Now that Trump is officially the Democratic nominee for the general election, he has stepped up his criticism of the vice president, describing him as “the same as Biden, but much more radical.”
He blames her for what he calls the Biden administration’s failures, particularly on security along the US-Mexico border.
Trump has also postponed plans for an expected debate with Harris, first saying he wanted Fox News, not ABC, to host the contest he had originally planned. scheduled for September with BidenOn Tuesday, Trump appeared to change that message again, saying in a phone call with reporters that he would like to debate Harris “more than once,” but he did not commit to appearing at the debate currently scheduled and said he had only agreed to debate Biden twice, not Harris.
Republicans have privately said that replacing Harris with Biden would destroy part of their party’s argument for Trump’s vitality and strength.
Biden, at 81, was the oldest general-election nominee. Now Trump, 78, occupies that spot. Harris, 59, has launched a campaign that appears to be galvanizing interest, at least in some quarters, among younger voters who could play a key role in deciding what is expected to be a close general election.
North Carolina is a state that Trump won in his previous two campaigns, but by less than 1.5 percentage points over Biden in 2020, the narrowest margin of any state Trump won. Trump struggled in North Carolina even as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, while Biden largely stayed away from in-person campaigning and did not visit the state in person in the final 16 days of the election.
Mecklenburg County, home to Charlotte — the state’s largest city — was also the scene of Trump’s narrowest victory in the North Carolina GOP primary, where he narrowly won Nikki Haley by less than 8 percentage points.
This year, Trump had planned to hold his first rally since the start of his presidency. hush money lawsuit in Fayetteville, but that event was cancelled due to bad weather. Trump instead called from his private jet.
Democrats have also tried to win North Carolina. The party’s most recent presidential victory was Barack Obama’s 2008 victory, despite the Republican Party’s recent dominance.
Biden held a campaign event in Raleigh the day after his disastrous debate with Trump in June. While he was much more forceful in that appearance than he had been on the debate stage, it did little to quell growing concerns among members of his party about his ability to reclaim the White House.
Now that Harris is ready to take his place, she may once again turn to North Carolina for some political help: The state’s governor, Roy Cooper, is among the Democrats canvassing Harris’ campaign for a possible pick as her vice presidential running mate.
Cooper is term-limited and cannot seek reelection. The highly competitive race to replace him pits Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein against Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a staunch Trump supporter who is the first Black major-party candidate for governor of North Carolina.
Trump’s event in Charlotte is his second campaign rally since Assassination attempt on July 13 at a rally in Pennsylvania. Days later, Trump accepted the GOP nomination for president and delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention, where his ear — injured in the shooting — was bandaged.
Wednesday’s rally is also the first since the Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle Resignswho said she took “full responsibility for the security failure” that led to a shooter who can get that close to Trump during the outdoor event in Pennsylvania.
The rally in Charlotte, like the one last weekend in Grand Rapids, Michigan, will be held in an indoor arena.
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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP