North Carolina continues to be a focal point of the presidential election as the Harris-Walz and Trump-Vance campaigns battle for victory in the battleground state.
Both campaigns sent major figures to the state this week in an attempt to drum up public enthusiasm for their respective platforms while criticizing the agenda of their opponent.
Second Gentlemen Doug Emhoff was joined by First Lady of Minnesota Gwen Walz for a Monday campaign rally in Raleigh, where they discussed reproductive issues. Meanwhile, Trump visited Charlotte Friday to give an address before the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).
Emhoff and Walz in Raleigh
The pair teamed up for the Harris-Walz campaign's “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour, which includes at least 50 stops and aims to highlight the differences between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump’s platforms on reproductive rights.
In his remarks, Emhoff emphasized the importance of electing “pro-freedom candidates.”
“You’ve got to take this power back,” he said. “The small minority of extremists are making decisions for the majority of us that none of us want, and it’s causing actual damage.”
He also discussed the threat posed by Project 2025, which he referred to as “a blueprint to destroy our country,” and underscored the critical role the state will play in the upcoming election, saying the campaign’s “path to victory goes right through North Carolina.”
When Walz took the stage, she discussed her struggles with infertility. She recounted her experience undergoing years of fertility treatments to start a family with her husband — Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate — and shared that when they heard the news about the Alabama Supreme Court ruling endangering fertility treatment access, it “brought [them] to [their] knees.”
“We heard the stories of … people getting sent away from health clinics and told that they had to put their dreams of having children and a family on hold indefinitely, and it just brought us right back to that moment where Tim and I were having to make some of those decisions,” she said.
Walz also criticized what she described as Trump’s role in limiting reproductive rights, citing his appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices during his time in office — all of whom voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in the 2022 Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling. She also pointed to the Project 2025 agenda, which she argues “criminaliz[es] women’s reproductive health care” and “den[ies] women emergency care until they are moments away from death.”
“We don't take kindly to bullies like Trump and Vance telling us where or if or how to start our families,” Walz said.
Trump recently expressed support for making in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment free for all women, though he did not provide details on a plan for doing so.
Emhoff and Walz’s visit comes after an Aug. 29 visit to Raleigh from Tim Walz. Harris has traveled to the state eight times herself over the past year and is scheduled to return to Greensboro and Charlotte Thursday.
Trump in Charlotte
The FOP’s National Board of Trustees supported Trump in his 2020 presidential bid, and FOP President Patrick Foes announced at the event that the organization would endorse Trump again in the 2024 election.
“During his first term, President Trump made it clear he supported law enforcement and border security," Yoes said. "In the summer of 2020, he stood with us when very few would. With his help, we defeated the 'defund the police' movement and, finally, we are seeing crime rates decrease. If we want to maintain these lower crime rates, we must re-elect Donald Trump."
In his speech, Trump spoke about law and order, consistent with his attempts to contradict the view that Harris — a former prosecutor — is the “law-and-order candidate.” Trump’s speech in Charlotte served as a continuation of his strategy to paint Harris as extremely left-leaning and lenient on crime.
“American cities, suburbs and towns are totally under siege,” Trump said. “Kamala Harris and the communist left have unleashed a brutal plague of bloodshed, crime, chaos, misery and death upon their land.”
Trump also celebrated Judge Juan Merchan’s decision to delay his sentencing in the criminal hush money trial where he was found guilty on 34 felony counts, which was released that day.
Harris and Trump will face off in their first presidential debate Tuesday at 9 p.m. on ABC News.
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Ava Littman is a Trinity sophomore and an associate news editor for the news department.