Trump will rally supporters every day until the election in North Carolina, a swing state he won twice.

GASTONIA, North Carolina — GASTONIA, N.C. (AP) — Donald Trump will rally supporters in North Carolina every day until Tuesday’s election – a flurry of activity lately in the only swing state he won in his 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

Even as Trump seeks to expand his electoral map and demonstrate strength with trips to New Mexico and VirginiaBecause the two Democratic states are not considered competitive, he is paying significant attention to North Carolina, which last supported a Democrat for president in 2008.

The former president’s path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency will become significantly more difficult if he loses North Carolina. Four years ago, the fast-growing Southern state gave Trump his narrowest margin of victory — 1.3 percentage points — over Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump campaigned in Gastonia, west of Charlotte, and Greensboro on Saturday, with a stop in Salem, Virginia, in between. He will be in the eastern city of Kinston on Sunday and in Raleigh on Monday. These four rallies will bring his total number of appearances in North Carolina to nine beginning Oct. 1. His running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, has visited the state six times over the same period, most recently on Friday.

vice president Kamala HarrisTrump’s Democratic challenger was also in North Carolina on Saturday for a concert and rally in Charlotte. Her campaign has not announced any other trips to the state until Election Day, although she is sending her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, to Greenville on Monday.

Huge damage from Hurricane Helen throughout western North Carolina created dose of uncertainty about the state of affairs here. The flooding destroyed homes and displaced residents in several counties, including the liberal city of Asheville and surrounding conservative rural areas.

Trump’s team said it was confident in his chances in North Carolina. Democrats see Trump’s focus on the state as a sign of optimism for Harris.

“The repeated performances could 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 retribution does not win people’s votes.”

Trump adviser Jason Miller said Trump’s late-campaign travel is not a red flag.

“I’m not worried about anything,” Miller told reporters Friday. “We have a smart strategy that will help President Trump get through 270, maybe even a couple of states that will surprise you that will slip through there. But we will follow our strategy. Our strategy comes from our data and our targeting.”

As he has at most of his events in North Carolina, Trump said in Gastonia that his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, whom he named co-chair of the Republican National Committee, is from the state and that Lara and Eric Trump named their daughter Carolina.

“This is an amazing place. You’ve been through a lot,” Trump said, referring to the hurricane, before repeating refuted statement that FEMA is prioritizing people living in the country illegally over hurricane victims. “I can tell you that your government has not helped you much. Your government, FEMA, failed you because they wanted to spend money on illegal immigrants instead.”

Later in Greensboro, only about half the seats in the massive 22,000-seat arena were filled when Trump began speaking after 9 p.m. Trump spoke at another arena, which is part of the same complex, just 11 days earlier, although Harris filled the larger stage when she spoke there recently.

Roughly half of North Carolina’s 7.8 million registered voters had already cast ballots as of Friday, helped by early personal voting, which ended on Saturday afternoon.

North Carolina Republicans were encouraged by early voter turnout among their supporters after national and state GOP leaders shifted to a “save your vote” strategy this year instead of focusing on Election Day turnout.

Entering the final days of the campaign, the GOP had registered 50,000 more voters than Democrats who had voted early or by absentee ballot, although there are more than 100,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state, according to state election data. It is unclear whether the early increase in Republican votes will lead to higher overall turnout among Trump supporters.

Independent voters now make up the largest group of registered voters in North Carolina. Trump lost ground among independents between 2016 and 2020.

Harris took the stage in Charlotte after rocker Jon Bon Jovi warmed up the crowd, closely sticking to a speech she gave during her last tour of the battleground states.

Harris supporter Gwen Garnett, 66, said Trump’s attack on North Carolina is “just part of the process.” It doesn’t bother me at all.” She gave Harris’s candidacy a spiritual dimension.

“It’s an anointed time for her to be in this role,” Garnett said. “I just believe it’s God’s timing.”

Voters in the state have shown a penchant for splitting their tickets over the years. That’s why, although Republicans have controlled the state legislature since 2011, Democrats have held the governor’s mansion for nearly four years, starting in 1993.

GOP hopes of breaking that power Tuesday appeared to have faded in recent weeks after the party’s nominee for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, received unwanted publicity from a CNN report alleging he did Explicit posts of a racial and sexual nature in a message from a porn site. reign more than ten years ago.

Although Robinson has denied writing the messages and sued CNN for defamation last month, his campaign almost fell apart, raising concerns that a big victory for Democrat Josh Stein, the state attorney general, could hurt GOP candidates in other races.

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Robertson reported from Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina. Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Detroit and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.