Wilmington, North Carolina.- Donald Trump returned to North Carolina on Saturday, campaigning in the Southern battleground state with direct appeals to women, saying he would be a better advocate for them than Vice President Kamala Harris, who is vying to become the first female president.
Trump campaigned in Wilmington, along the state’s southern coast, without Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the GOP gubernatorial candidate and one of the former president’s top surrogates in the state, in the wake of a CNN report about his alleged message board posts on a pornography website. He did not mention Robinson during a speech that lasted just over an hour.
Robinson has denied writing the messages, which include lewd and racist comments, saying Thursday that he would not be forced out of the race over “sensational lies.” The Trump campaign has appeared to distance itself from Robinson in the wake of the CNN report, which the AP has not independently verified, saying in a statement that Trump “is focused on winning the White House and saving this country” and calling North Carolina “a vital part of that plan,” without mentioning Robinson.
Democrats have seized on the opportunity to highlight Trump’s ties to Robinson, with billboards showing the two together, as well as a new Harris campaign ad highlighting the Republican candidates’ ties, as well as Robinson’s support for a statewide abortion ban with no exceptions. According to Harris’ campaign, it is her first advertising effort related to linking Trump to an election race.
Both abortion rights and Robinson are electoral liabilities for Trump in a state he has already won twice. Even before the CNN report, Robinson was trailing Democratic candidate Josh Stein, the state’s attorney general, in several recent polls. Polls show Trump and Harris in a tight race here and nationally.
Trump downplays abortion as a campaign issue
At his first outdoor rally since the second apparent assassination attempt, Trump argued that women would be safer and more prosperous with him as president and that they would “no longer think about abortion.”
‘I will protect women at a level never seen before. They will finally be healthy, hopeful, safe and secure,’ Trump said. ‘Their lives will be happy, beautiful and their lives will be great again. So women, we love you. We’re going to take care of you.’
The former president said women won’t have to think about abortion because decisions about regulating it are now in the hands of the states. Many Republican-led states have taken steps to restrict or eliminate abortion access after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Trump nominated three of the six justices who voted to overturn Roe.
North Carolina banned most abortions after 12 weeks last year, with Republicans in the state legislature overriding a veto by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
Voters overwhelmingly say they trust Harris to do a better job handling abortion policy, with 55% supporting her and 27% supporting Trump in a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Harris and Democrats running on the ballot have highlighted stories of women who faced serious medical complications or death because they did not receive adequate medical care from doctors concerned about the impact of abortion laws. Harris on Friday lashed out at Trump as a threat to women’s freedoms and their lives, warning in a speech in Georgia that Republicans will continue to attack abortion access if he returns to the White House.
“Trump is scared to death that women will vote like our freedoms and our lives are at stake this November, and he should be, because that’s exactly what we will do,” Harris’ campaign representative Sarafina Chitika said in a statement after Trump’s rally.
Trump also showed a softer side, inviting two of his young grandchildren on stage. The former president brought Carolina up to the microphone, where she said, “Make America great again,” to cheers, followed by her older brother, Luke Trump, who said, “Vote for Grandpa.” They are the children of Eric Trump, the former president’s second son, and his wife, Lara Trump, a North Carolina native who now serves as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
Bulletproof glass surrounded Trump as he spoke, a new precaution for outdoor venues that the Secret Service put in place after a bullet grazed Trump’s ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump supporters reject new accusations against Robinson
A Republican has carried North Carolina in every general election since 1976 except one, when Barack Obama won the state in 2008. Trump won there in his previous two campaigns, but by less than 1.5 percentage points over Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 — the narrowest margin of any state Trump won. That’s part of why Democrats view the state as winnable this fall.
With none of the Senate seats up for grabs, the governor’s race has been North Carolina’s most important race this year. Robinson has emerged as Trump’s top natural surrogate in the state and a frequent presence at campaign events, appearing with the candidate at a rally last month in Asheboro. Trump has long praised Robinson, who is black, referring to him as “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
Endorsing Robinson ahead of the Republican gubernatorial primary, Trump continued: “I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you’re Martin Luther King times two.”
Robinson has a long history of making inflammatory comments, including suggesting that women seeking abortions are “not responsible enough to pull down their skirts” and comparing abortion to slavery.
Charlie Kimball, a 46-year-old former construction worker from Burgaw who said he is currently on disability, dismissed the new allegations against Robinson as “fake news.”
‘That’s his personal life. Who cares?’ Kimball said. ‘It’s all hearsay… It’s not true. It’s all speculation. Where’s the proof?’
While the presidential hopefuls have made more visits to the Rust Belt battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, both Harris and Trump have made multiple trips to North Carolina, highlighting the state’s importance. Following Biden’s withdrawal from the race in July, Trump held his first large-scale rally there, turning his full attention to Harris.
Wilmington is home to New Hanover County, which Biden won in 2020. But his margin over Trump in the county was one of the slimmest in the state.
Julia Novotny, 55, of Wilmington, said she has returned to supporting Trump after initial reservations because of allegations that he has sexually assaulted women, something he denies.
‘He’s got class, he’s a gentleman, he looks good in a suit and he has strong values,’ Novotny said. ‘Everybody makes mistakes, and whether he made them or not, I don’t know, but you know what? Leave him alone. He’s a good man. He wants to change this country. Our country is in tatters, and the only man who can get us out of it is Donald Trump.’
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