With speech at GOP state convention, Donald Trump returns — to NC and public view

President Donald Trump is returning to North Carolina for one of his highest-profile appearances since leaving the White House.

And he’s hyping his Saturday night speech at the NCGOP state convention in Greenville in a very Trump way.

“A great honor to be speaking at the North Carolina GOP convention tomorrow night. I understand the place will be packed, all records broken!” Trump said in a statement Friday.

Trump, who carried the state during both of his presidential bids, will speak at 5:30 p.m. at the Greenville Convention Center. It is a ticketed event for about 1,250 people and is sold out.

His remarks will be carried live on C-SPAN, as it’s only the second public appearance for Trump since Joe Biden was inaugurated as president in January. Turmp also appeared at the CPAC convention in late February.

“If you’re going to put him on the road, we’ve got a built-for-purpose event, a record crowd, it’s in Greenville where he’s done multiple events before,” NCGOP chairman Michael Whatley told Trump’s team. “North Carolina, as you know, is a huge battleground state in 2022.”

Trump made 14 visits to North Carolina in the final year of his presidency, including an October 2020 stop in Greenville. The Republican National Convention was scheduled to be in Charlotte, but a dispute with Gov. Roy Cooper over coronavirus restrictions led Trump to move the public portions of the event, including his acceptance speech, which ultimately was held at the White House.

Whatley said the dinner sold out in 48 hours after announcing Trump was coming. It is believed to be the first time a president or former president has attended the GOP state convention, which began Friday and runs through Sunday. The party met virtually last year for its convention due to the coronavirus pandemic.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is speaking at the convention on Saturday afternoon.

Seeking Trump’s support

But it’s Trump, still the most popular figure in the Republican Party and a potential 2024 presidential candidate, who is the main draw. Still banned from most social media platforms, Trump has largely communicated through emailed statements from his Save America PAC account, such as the one he sent Friday about his speech. (Friday, Facebook announced it would extend Trump’s ban on the site until at least January 2023.)

Since Trump left office, a parade of Republicans have traveled to South Florida, seeking time with Trump and support for their candidacies. Rep. Ted Budd and former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, both candidates for U.S. Senate in 2022, have visited Trump in recent months.

“North Carolina produced a big victory for us, without a fraudulent outcome — missing ballots, illegal voting, dead people voting, and all of the other Democrat tricks,” Trump said in statement Friday.

“Before my Election in 2016, everybody said North Carolina was going ‘Blue,’ now they are saying that the Great State of North Carolina is surging big for Republicans. Look at the results we have produced.”

Trump has not let go of claims that the 2020 election was somehow stolen or rigged. He’s been supportive of audits in states and localities that he lost, including Arizona and Georgia. Several dozen lawsuits from Republicans and Trump did not change the outcome of the election and didn’t produce evidence to back up Trump’s claims.

Lately, Trump has been telling associates, according to multiple reports, that he may be “reinstated” to the presidency later this year — a process which does not exist in the Constitution or anywhere in American law.

Trump, known for going off-script during events, is likely to bring up the 2020 election Saturday night.

“He’s going to draw a pretty big contrast between America under his watch and America today and go pretty hard at the policies that Biden and the Democrats in Congress are pushing,” Whatley said.

Straw poll in NC Senate race

What is less certain is whether Trump will give a clue as to his future plans or whether he will touch on North Carolina’s open 2022 U.S. Senate race. Republican Sen. Richard Burr, who voted to convict Trump for his role inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, is not running for reelection.

Five Republicans are in the race so far, including Budd, Walker, former Gov. Pat McCrory, former Department of Defense employee Jen Banwart and Brunswick County Commissioner Marty Cooke.

All five will address the convention Saturday morning, and a straw poll will be held Saturday afternoon. McCrory has been leading in most public polls at nearly 40%. He ran for governor three times, winning in 2012 and narrowly losing in 2016.

While the Budd and Walker campaigns have consistently tried to contrast their candidates with McCrory, the former governor has largely ignored his fellow Republicans and focused his attention and attacks on Democratic candidates so far.

“It’ll tell you where the support is in the hall. Obviously the voters that participate in our convention are kind of our bedrock voters,” Whatley said. “I’ll be curious to see what the results are. I’m not really trying to hazard a guess.”

Lara Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, said she is considering a run for the U.S. Senate. Lara Trump grew up in Wilmington and graduated from N.C. State University. She is not expected to attend the convention. Trump and her husband, Eric, recently purchased a $3.2 million home in Florida, taken by some as a sign that she will not run in North Carolina.

North Carolina Democrats have planned a “Day of Action” to coincide with Donald Trump’s appearance in the state. The state party has organized door knocking events in more than three dozen counties and plans to highlight the Democratic-passed American Rescue Plan, Biden’s top legislative priority.

No Republican voted for the measure, though it included $1,400 checks for most Americans, which Trump had supported in his final months in office.

Democratic volunteers will call residents in the 20 counties with the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates and offer information on where they can obtain a nearby vaccine.

“While the Republican Party has chosen to throw our democracy and the truth by the wayside, President Biden and Democrats are hard at work undoing the damage of the Trump administration, delivering on their promises, and getting our country back on track,” said Meredith Cuomo, the NCDP’s executive director.

For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at link.chtbl.com/underthedomenc or wherever you get your podcasts.

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