WILMINGTON — Donald Trump returned to North Carolina on Saturday, stumping in the southern battleground state with direct appeals to women, claiming he would be a better champion for them than Vice President Kamala Harris, who is vying to become the first female president.
Trump campaigned in Wilmington, along the state’s southern coast, without Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the GOP gubernatorial nominee and one of the former president’s top surrogates in the state, following a CNN report about his alleged posts on a pornography website’s message board. He did not mention Robinson during a speech that lasted just over an hour.
In his first outdoor rally since the second apparent attempt to assassinate him, Trump argued women would be safer and more prosperous with him as president and would “no longer be thinking about abortion.”
“I will protect women at a level never seen before. They will finally be healthy, hopeful, safe and secure,” Trump said. “Their lives will be happy, beautiful, and their lives will be great again. So women, we love you. We’re going to take care of you.”
The former president said women won’t have to think about abortion because decisions about regulating it are now left to the states. Many Republican-led states have taken steps to restrict or eliminate abortion access after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Trump nominated three of the six justices who voted to overturn Roe.
North Carolina banned most abortions after 12 weeks last year, with Republicans in the state legislature overriding Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto.
Voters overwhelmingly say they trust Harris to do a better job handling abortion policy, with 55% favoring her while 27% favored Trump in a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Harris and Democrats running down ballot have highlighted stories of women who faced severe medical complications or death because they didn’t get proper medical care from doctors worried about the impact of abortion laws. Harris on Friday blasted Trump as a threat to women’s freedoms and their lives, warning in a speech in Georgia that Republicans would continue to target access to abortion if he returns to the White House.
“Trump is scared out of his mind that women will vote like our freedoms and our lives are on the line this November – and he should be, because that’s exactly what we will do,” Harris campaign Sarafina Chitika said in a statement after Trump’s rally.
Trump also showed a gentler side, inviting two of his young grandchildren on stage. The former president lifted Carolina to the microphone, where she said “Make America great again” to cheers, followed by her older brother, Luke Trump, who said, “Vote for Grandpa.” They’re the children of Eric Trump, the former president’s second son, and his wife, Lara Trump, a North Carolina native who is now serving as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
Bulletproof glass surrounded Trump as he spoke, a new precaution for outdoor venues the Secret Service implemented after a bullet grazed Trump’s ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
