GASTONIA, N.C. — President Donald Trump leaned heavily into law and order as he worked to build support for the Republican candidate in a North Carolina race that could decide which party controls the Senate for the back half of his second term.
Speaking at an airport rally Wednesday, Trump said Democrats coddle criminals, peppering his hourlong speech with graphic details of violent crimes that he said are an outgrowth of Democratic policies.
He used visual aids to draw visceral reactions aimed at stoking antipathy to the Democratic candidate, former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. At one point, an oversize video screen displayed mug shots of unnamed criminal suspects. The Republican running against Cooper, Michael Whatley, will make the streets safer, Trump said.
“You can either vote for Roy Cooper to set loose criminals who rape and murder your children and your population, or you can vote for Michael Whatley to protect and defend your children and your population,” Trump said.
One of the speakers who preceded Trump was Todd Blanche, the U.S. attorney general. It’s a break from tradition for the attorney general to appear at partisan political rallies, but Trump has eroded some of the post-Watergate norms that sought to insulate the nation’s top law enforcement officer from politics.
Trump’s trip to North Carolina is his third since December in support of Whatley’s campaign. A lot rides on the outcome.
The North Carolina seat is now held by Republican Thom Tillis, a Trump critic who is retiring. Democrats must net four seats in the November elections to capture the Senate majority. Cooper was leading Whatley by 11 percentage points in the latest Elon University poll of likely voters.
That makes North Carolina ripe for a potential Democratic pickup.
Whatley is tying his candidacy tightly to Trump.
Trump won North Carolina in all three of his presidential campaigns, even as Cooper won the governorship in 2016 and 2020; Whatley needs Trump to energize the MAGA base.
Whatley, a former Republican National Committee chairman, lacks the name recognition in the state that Cooper enjoys as a former two-term governor. He also faces a fundraising disadvantage. Cooper’s campaign had nearly $21 million to spend as of June 30, while Whatley’s campaign had $3.5 million, according to the most recent campaign finance reports.
Trump praised Whatley throughout the speech. In his own brief remarks before Trump took the stage, Whatley mentioned Trump’s name repeatedly.
“President Trump needs an ally who will work to lower costs, protect our families and preserve the American dream,” he said.
Polling shows that crime isn’t a top-of-mind concern for most voters across the U.S.
Crime and safety have consistently ranked behind the economy, threats to democracy and healthcare in NBC News polls of U.S. adults asked to name the issue that matters most to them over the last year.
But Trump and North Carolina Republicans see crime as a vulnerability for Cooper. Trump devoted part of his speech to a 23-year-old Ukrainian woman, Iryna Zarutska, who was stabbed to death last year on a commuter train in Charlotte.
“You worked your entire life for everything you have,” Trump said. “You saved your money, followed the law, and now Roy Cooper and his band of communists want to take everything you have and give it to people who would rob your house, invade your border, just shoot you dead.”
Trump also used the speech to reassure voters who are squeezed by high fuel costs. Gas prices have spiked since the Trump administration and Israel launched an attack on Iran on Feb. 28. The price hike is temporary, Trump said.
“It’s a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done,” he said. “Remember that. It’s a little more. Frankly, even if it was a lot more. But that’s going to be coming tumbling down. That’s going to be like a rocket ship in reverse.”
