Trump will rally backers every day until the election in North Carolina, a swing state he won twice

Donald Trump will rally supporters in North Carolina every day until Tuesday's election, a flurry of late activity in the only swing state that he won in both his 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

Even as Trump looks to expand the electoral map and project strength with trips to New Mexico and Virginia, two Democratic states not widely viewed as competitive, he is putting considerable time into North Carolina, which last backed a Democrat for president in 2008.

The former president's path to the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the presidency gets significantly 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 campaigned in Gastonia, west of Charlotte, and Greensboro on Saturday, with a stop in Salem, Virginia, in between. He will be in the eastern city of Kinston on Sunday and in Raleigh on Monday. Those four rallies will bring his total events in North Carolina since Oct. 1 to nine. His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has been in the state six times during the same period, most recently on Friday.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump's Democratic rival, also campaigned in North Carolina on Saturday for a concert and rally in Charlotte. Harris took the stage in Charlotte after rocker Jon Bon Jovi warmed up the crowd, sticking closely to the speech she's been delivering in her final tour of the battleground states. Her campaign has not announced any other travel to the state before Election Day.

The extensive damage from Hurricane Helene across 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 has said it is confident about his chances in North Carolina. Democrats see Trump's attention on the state as a signal of optimism for Harris.

In Greensboro, only about half of the seats were filled in a massive 22,000-seat arena when Trump started speaking after 9 p.m. Roughly half of North Carolina's 7.8 million registered voters had already voted as of Friday, buoyed by early in-person voting, which ended on Saturday afternoon.

North Carolina Republicans have been encouraged by early voter turnout among their supporters after national and state GOP leaders switched this year to a “bank your vote” strategy, rather than focusing on Election Day turnout.

Entering the final days of the campaign, over 50,000 more GOP registered voters than Democrats had voted early or by absentee ballot, even though there are over 100,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans statewide, according to state elections data. It is unclear whether the Republicans' early vote surge will result in a higher overall turnout for Trump supporters.

Independent voters now make up the largest group of registered voters in North Carolina. Trump lost ground with independents between 2016 and 2020.