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

Even as Trump seeks to expand the electoral map and bolster his plans with trips to New Mexico and Virginia, two Democratic states not considered competitive, he is spending a lot of time on North Carolina, which last supported once a Democrat for president in 2008.

The former president’s path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency becomes much more complicated if he loses North Carolina. The fast-growing Southern state gave Trump his smallest margin of victory – 1.3 percentage points – over Democrat Joe Biden four years ago.

Trump will campaign in Gastonia, west of Charlotte, and Greensboro on Saturday, with a stop in Salem, Virginia, in between. He will travel to Kinston, in the east of the country, on Sunday and to Raleigh on Monday. These four rallies will bring the total of its events in North Carolina since October 1 to nine. His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has visited the state six times during the same period, most recently on Friday.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival, will also be in North Carolina on Saturday for a concert and rally in Charlotte. His campaign has not announced any further trips to the state before Election Day.

The extensive damage caused by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina has created a dose of uncertainty about the state of play here. Flooding destroyed homes and displaced residents in several counties, including the liberal city of Asheville and the conservative rural areas surrounding it.

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

“These repeated appearances could indicate that the Trump campaign is in trouble,” said Democratic state Rep. Marcia Morey of Durham. “If Trump continues with his dangerous and violent rhetoric of recent days, it could backfire on him. A campaign of personal retaliation does not win the votes of the people.

Trump adviser Jason Miller said Trump’s late-campaign trips were not a red flag.

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

About half of North Carolina’s 7.8 million registered voters had already cast their ballots Friday, buoyed by in-person early voting, which ends Saturday afternoon.

North Carolina Republicans have been encouraged by their supporters’ early voter turnout after national and state Republican leaders adopted a “banking your vote” strategy this year, rather than focusing on turnout. election day.

Entering the final days of the campaign, more than 50,000 more registered GOP voters than Democrats had cast early or absentee ballots, even though there are more than 100,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans overall. the state, according to state election data. It’s unclear whether the surge in Republican votes will translate into higher overall turnout for 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.

The state’s voters have shown a propensity to split their slate over the years. That’s why, while Republicans have controlled the state legislature since 2011, Democrats have held the governorship since 1993, all but four years.

The Republican Party’s hopes of breaking that hold Tuesday appeared to dwindle in recent weeks after the party’s gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, received unwanted publicity from a CNN report that he had posted explicit racist and sexual messages on the message board of a pornographic website. board of directors more than ten years ago.

While Robinson denied writing the messages and sued CNN for defamation last month, his campaign nearly imploded, raising fears that a big victory for Democrat Josh Stein, the state’s attorney general, could hurt Republican candidates in d other races.

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Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Detroit and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.