Gov. Tim Walz travels to North Carolina for campaign stop; Trump, Vance also on the way

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democrats’ nominee for vice president, plans to visit Asheville Tuesday for a political event, according to a campaign official.

His trip kicks off a week of North Carolina campaign events that includes visits from the Republican nominees, former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, who will be in Raleigh the same day that Walz is in Asheville.

It will be the second time Walz has visited North Carolina since August, when Vice President Kamala Harris chose Walz as her running mate.

Campaign officials have not yet provided further details about Walz’s visit on Tuesday.

During his last visit, to Raleigh, he stopped for milkshakes at Cook Out with Gov. Roy Cooper before visiting a campaign office and a fundraiser.

The Trump campaign said Trump and Vance plan to host rallies to focused on the state of the economy. Trump will visit Wilmington on Saturday.

Michael Zhadanovsky, the North Carolina Democratic Coordinated Campaign’s rapid response director, said Trump and Vance are campaigning on an extreme agenda “that would rip away North Carolinians’ freedoms and raise taxes for working families across the state.”

“Voters here don’t want Trump and his MAGA allies like Robinson trampling on our rights and freedoms,” Zhadanovsky said. “When Trump and Vance come to Wilmington and Raleigh next week, we’re going to make it clear: we’re not going back.”

The multiple visits in a single week highlight the importance North Carolina is playing in the upcoming election.

Trump and Vance have increased their visits to the Tar Heel state since Harris became Trump’s opponent for president on July 21.

When Trump faced off against President Joe Biden, he often led in North Carolina’s polls, sometimes by double digits. But when Harris launched her campaign, the polls began to narrow.

On Monday, a poll from Quinnipiac University showed Harris three points ahead of Trump in North Carolina. Harris visited three days later, on Thursday, holding campaign rallies in Charlotte and Greensboro.

Democrats have spent more than a year investing in North Carolina as a key battleground state. While Democratic presidential candidates rarely win in North Carolina, the margins have narrowed. Trump carried North Carolina in 2020 by the smallest margin of any state he won.

Democrats have worked to flip North Carolina blue, trying to secure the state’s 16 electoral votes.