Election 2024 | Former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance to discuss national security in North Carolina at event in Asheboro

ASHEBORO, N.C. (WTVD) — Former President Donald Trump and vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance are scheduled to speak at an event in North Carolina this afternoon.

The Trump-Vance campaign announced that the event would be held at the North Carolina Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame at 2222 Pilots View Road in Asheboro around 2 p.m.

It will be Trump's first outdoor campaign event away from one of his properties since the Pennsylvania rally where a gunman tried to assassinate him.

Trump’s podium is surrounded by bulletproof glass that forms a protective wall across the entire stage. Storage containers have been stacked around the perimeter of the space to create additional walls and block sight lines. Snipers have been positioned on the rooftops of the venue, where old airplanes are parked behind the podium and a large American flag hangs from cranes.

The former president and his running mate Vance are expected to speak on national security issues.

VIDEO: JD Vance speaks to ABC11 while in North Carolina

Vance answered several questions about what a second Trump administration will look like in the White House.

Before Trump arrived, his plane flew over the rally site. The crowd erupted in cheers.

Lisa Watts, a retired business owner from Hickory, North Carolina, who was attending her fifth Trump rally, said she felt “very positive” about the race.

“A month ago, her name was never mentioned, and now she’s being touted as the ‘savior of the country,’” Watts said of the vice president. “I don’t think her record shows that she’s ready to lead this country.”

Watts said she doesn't think Trump's chances of winning are much different now than they were when Biden was the Democratic nominee.

“I think Democrats are going to try to do everything they can to keep her on that pedestal,” she said, predicting that the hype around Harris will fade.

This is Trump's second trip to North Carolina in a week. He stopped in Asheville on August 14, where he focused his speech primarily on his plans for the economy.

Trump also visited the state last month for a rally in Charlotte where he marked his first public campaign event since Biden dropped out of the 2024 race and Harris became the likely Democratic nominee.

Trump won North Carolina by a comfortable margin in 2016. The state handed the former president his closest statewide victory four years ago and is again seen as a key battleground in 2024.

North Carolina remains a favorite for both campaigns. Vice President Kamala Harris recently visited the state on August 16, when she unveiled details of her economic policy.

Both campaigns have made several stops in the state, which political experts say is unlikely to change in the coming weeks.

“In North Carolina, we’ve gone from a situation where Joe Biden was almost certain to be defeated here, to Kamala Harris having a real chance of winning,” said Steven Greene, a political science professor at North Carolina State University.

Dan Kanninen, the Harris campaign's key states director, said North Carolina “is as likely as any of these states to be the swing state, so we've been investing heavily there from the beginning.”

Trump gets used to Harris, his new rival

As Democrats begin their convention in Chicago, Donald Trump is trying to regain his footing after weeks of struggling to adjust to Vice President Kamala Harris as his rival.

The former president and Republican candidate spoke at a Pennsylvania factory Monday as he tries to undermine the Democratic party with a jam-packed schedule. He is holding daily events in key states on issues where Republicans believe they have an advantage, including the economy, crime and safety, national security and the border.

“Kamala Harris is a destroyer of the economy and the country,” Trump told workers and supporters gathered at Precision Custom Components, a company that makes components for military and nuclear use.

It’s Trump’s busiest week of campaigning since last winter, when he faced a wide field of challengers in the Republican primary. And his focus on battleground politics reflects concerns among Trump allies, who have urged him to try to broaden his appeal to swing voters who are increasingly wary of Harris’ competitiveness.

“He needs to stop talking about Biden, let alone Harris relying on these policies,” said Kory Jeno, a 53-year-old from Swannanoa, North Carolina, who was waiting for Trump’s speech last week in Asheville. “He needs to keep the conversation on the issues and what he’s going to do for the American people instead of getting into these digressions where he’s just criticizing her and all that kind of stuff.”

Trump “needs to stop the personal attacks,” echoed Mary Ray, 75, who advised him to “keep a low profile when you speak.”

Asked if she thought about Trump's most incendiary personal attacks — calling Harris a “nasty woman” and questioning how she talks about her biracial heritage — Ray furrowed her brow and pursed her lips.

“It hurts him with other voters,” Ray said.

Economic press conference ends with discussion of wounded veteransBut even at events billed as political speeches, Trump often strays from the topic and undermines his own message with remarks that drown out everything else.

The challenge for Republicans came last week, when Trump invited reporters to his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, to talk about the economy. Over an assortment of groceries, Trump largely stuck to his original message, talking about rising prices and blaming Biden and Harris for policies he blames for driving up inflation.

But later in the evening, he gave Democrats another headache by hosting an event on anti-Semitism with billionaire Republican donor Miriam Adelson. He said receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, was “much better” than receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor because recipients of the nation’s highest military honor are often seriously injured or dead.

At a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump repeatedly pivoted from an economic-focused message to personal attacks on Harris, including saying he was “much better looking” than her.

On Monday, he largely stuck to his prepared remarks, criticizing Harris' approach to the economy and energy and promising major new investments in power plants and energy infrastructure if he wins, including small nuclear plants.

He has, however, veered toward the personal, attacking Harris' father, a Jamaican-born Stanford University economics professor, as a “Marxist” and calling his running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a “nutcase.”

“Between his movement and his laughter, there is a lot of madness,” he said.

His campaign rejects the idea that he is trying to reset

Trump aides deny being engaged in any effort to reset the campaign, even as they recruit new candidates, including veterans of Trump's 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

The former president’s advisers remain optimistic about her chances. They insist that Harris and Democrats are caught in a moment of passing excitement about their new nominee and are confident that voters will turn away from the vice president once they learn more about her past comments and positions.

They plan to spend the final stretch of the campaign portraying her as a liberal extremist and contrasting the candidates' different approaches to the economy, crime and immigration.

“President Trump has talked nonstop about skyrocketing inflation that has crushed American families, an out-of-control border that threatens every community, and rampant crime while Kamala Harris continues to hide from the press,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, adding that Trump “will travel to battleground states across the country to pursue the case against a weak, failed, and dangerously liberal Kamala Harris.”

Some polls show Harris performing better than Biden in key states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, though most still suggest a close race.

About half of American adults (48%) have a very or somewhat favorable view of Harris, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s slightly better than the 41% of adults who say they have a favorable view of Trump.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Copyright 2024 WTVD-TV. All rights reserved.

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