Trump to campaign in North Carolina rally with his handpicked Senate nominee Michael Whatley

President Donald Trump plans to travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to campaign with Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley President Donald Trump will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to campaign with Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley as the former national party chairman tries to shore up his campaign against Democratic former Gov. The trip marks Trump’s first campaign rally since his unusual midterm convention in Dallas.

The president, despite voter frustrations over the Iran war and his economic leadership, has promised dozens more trips ahead of Election Day. Trump’s involvement creates a balancing act for Republicans like Whatley, who will depend on the president’s core supporters to turn out while also trying to appeal to moderates and disaffected conservatives unhappy with the direction of the country. Whatley was the president’s pick for the Senate race and Trump’s pick to lead the Republican National Committee before that.

Republicans viewed him as a strong recruit to hold the seat being left open by Sen. Thom Tillis, who decided to retire after clashing with the president last year. But Whatley, who is making his first bid for public office, has trailed Cooper in fundraising in recent months and polling from over the summer showed Cooper with at least a slight lead.

Trump has acknowledged the challenging landscape but believes his presence will be a clear boost. “In North Carolina, you have a little more difficult case, because people don’t quite get it, but they’re going to find out,” Trump said during his keynote speech in Dallas. Democrats have not won a Senate contest in the state since 2008, and Trump has carried North Carolina three times since.

The seat is critical to Democrats’ effort to flip control of the Senate. Cooper was perhaps Democrats’ best recruit this cycle, having never lost a statewide race in North Carolina through four terms as attorney general and two terms as governor. Republican pollster Paul Shumaker, who worked for Tillis’s and North Carolina Sen.

Ted Budd’s campaigns, said Trump will energize Republicans who may not be as excited about the campaign as Democrats. But he noted that registered Democrats and Republicans in North Carolina are split about evenly, while independent voters outnumber both. That cohort of more than 3.5 million voters, he said, are more concerned about the economy, an issue where Trump is weaker than he was in 2024, than with crime or immigration, issues where North Carolina Republicans might…