The three-day tour will feature Trump campaign surrogates visiting locations from Alamance to Wayne counties.
The campaign of former president Donald Trump announced a traveling bus tour in the critical battleground state of North Carolina, beginning Wednesday in Burlington, concluding with a Friday visit in Goldsboro.
After kicking off in Burlington, the bus tour will make stops in Winston-Salem, Mooresville, Rutherfordton, Gastonia, Archdale, Raleigh, Jacksonville, Winterville, before hosting a final event in Goldsboro Friday.
The tour will include appearances by Congressman and current Republican nominee for state attorney general Dan Bishop, as well as Republican candidate for North Carolina’s 1st congressional district Laurie Buckhout on Friday.
Additionally, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley will join the tour Thursday in his hometown of Gastonia, along with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem; Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS); Corey Lewandowski, senior advisor to the campaign; Chad Wolf, former acting Secretary of Homeland Security; Matt Whitaker, former acting US Attorney General; and Tudor Dixon, former Republican Michigan Gubernatorial candidate.
The tour kicked off in Burlington Wednesday morning with Kash Patel, former chief of staff of the US Department of Defense and Brooke Rollins, president & CEO of the America First Policy Institute.
The surrogate bus tour follows visits to North Carolina last week by Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance, R-OH..
Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris also visited North Carolina last weekend, attending a church service in Greenville and holding a rally, aiming to drum up support in the Tar Heel State where Trump won in 2016 and 2020.
Following her visits to North Carolina, Harris announced proposals targeted at black men, where signs of softening support have emerged, including a promise to legalize recreational cannabis, and a plan to offer one million fully forgivable loans of up to $20,000, to black male entrepreneurs.
Former president Bill Clinton and Harris running mate Minn. Gov. Tim Walz will each campaign in Durham and Winston-Salem later this week as early voting begins.
Prior to the announced bus tour, the Trump campaign had frequented North Carolina with stops in Wilmington, Greenville, Raleigh, Greensboro and more. Most polling indicates a slight lead in the swing state for the former president, firming in recent weeks following Harris’s initial burst into the presidential race.
Most recently, Trump sat for an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago, discussing his economic policy proposals and defending plans to use tariffs in struggles with adversaries like China.
In addition to the bus tour, Trump surrogates former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and Trump’s eldest son, Don, Jr., will hold an event in Robeson County on Friday. For those interested in attending can get more information here.
Polling outfit FiveThirtyEight puts Trump over Harris at 48.2%, to 47.3 (0.9%) based on an average of recent polling in the state.
The latest Carolina Journal poll will be released later this week. Early voting begins Thursday, Oct. 17.