Greensboro, North Carolina Former President Donald Trump spoke to a crowd of Republicans from across North Carolina on Friday, with his son Eric Trump on stage and on speakerphone, blasting the Biden administration and vowing to win the state for a third time.
“I want to thank the people of North Carolina, your support has been incredible and it's never wavering,” Donald Trump said, to cheers from a crowd of several hundred.
The four-minute call kicked off keynote speeches by Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump and her husband Eric Trump at the Republican National Convention in Greensboro, North Carolina. The couple touted the significant changes they will bring to the national Republican Party under Lara Trump's leadership and made the case for returning Trump to the presidency.
“What's going on in this country right now isn't Republican versus Democrat or left versus right,” Lara Trump, a Wilmington, North Carolina, native, said during the couple's roughly 40-minute speech. “It's good versus evil.”
The visit comes as presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump prepares to face Biden in November's general election. The latest Morning Consult/Bloomberg poll showed Trump leading Biden by 10 points with or without a third-party candidate. Previous polls had suggested a close race in the battleground state.
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Lara and Eric Trump's speech came a year after Trump addressed North Carolina Republicans as the keynote speaker at the 2023 Republican National Convention. It was one of Trump's first public comments and came days after a grand jury handed down the first criminal indictment against him for improperly handling classified federal documents.
But much has changed in both the state and the party since President Trump visited the convention in June, including his daughter-in-law's rapid rise through the ranks within the Republican National Committee.
Lara Trump became co-chair of the Republican National Committee in March and the party's chief fundraising officer, serving as No. 2 to Michael Whatley, the former chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party and the new chairman of the Republican National Committee. Whatley is scheduled to speak at the North Carolina Republican Convention on Saturday. Both Whatley and Lara Trump have taken on leadership roles to revitalize the party and ensure Trump's victory in November.
In the weeks since they took office, the RNC has undergone major personnel turnover and a much-needed boost in fundraising to cover mounting legal costs as Trump faces multiple civil and criminal trials.
While Lara Trump has only recently taken on the role of party chair, Nancy Murray, a Republican representative from Charlotte, said she has high hopes for what Trump's daughter-in-law will bring to the party's leadership.
Murray also said Lara Trump may be a significant improvement over longtime Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, whom Murray considers a RINO, a derogatory term for conservatives who are Republican in name only.
Emily Bourgeois, another Charlotte delegate under McDaniel, said the party has struggled with financial problems and lost too many elections across the country.
“I'm hopeful that Lara Trump will bring this back,” Bourgeois said before the speech.
Lara Trump told the crowd that the Republican National Committee's policy shifts are necessary to win the 2024 election, including a focus on getting Republicans to vote in large numbers in November. She urged the crowd to vote as soon as possible, including by mail, something Republicans like Trump have previously warned against, and to get others to vote too so the election is “so big it can't be rigged.”
“Vote however you can, as soon as you can, and save your vote,” Lara Trump said.
The couple harshly criticized the Biden administration, including over the immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border and inflation. As a way to return to the country's “guiding principles,” Eric Trump told the crowd that he and Lara Trump are determined to lead the Trump campaign to victory in November.
“We're going to make America great again, and we're going to do it together, and we're going to start in North Carolina,” Eric Trump said.
Other prominent conservatives scheduled to speak at the Greensboro rally this weekend include former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson.
Ahead of Friday's convention, Democratic leaders and groups representing national and state Democratic candidates held several events and press conferences to get their message out.
“Donald Trump doesn't want a better country for working families,” Winston-Salem Mayor Pro Tem D. Adams said on a conference call hosted by the Democratic National Committee.
Democrats worry that Trump's policies would further roll back environmental protections and that his desire to replace Obamacare would leave millions of people without health care, she said. She also denounced recent comments by Trump suggesting he would consider making cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
“That's why they're gathering in Greensboro this week to pledge their unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump and are committed to restoring him to power,” Adams said. “Their extreme policies are out of step with voters who believe in our democracy and our state. We will fight tooth and nail to make it clear that Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans do not represent our communities and to ensure they never come near the Oval Office again.”
WRAL reporter Aaron Thomas and WRAL State Government Editor Jack Hagel contributed additional reporting to this story.