Trump leans on Christians in final Sun Belt push
CONCORD, North Carolina — Former President Donald Trump is making a final push to win over evangelicals in the final two weeks of the 2024 election, campaigning in the south with religious leaders Monday.
Trump’s campaign schedule, which has seen him visit Georgia and North Carolina, as well as a planned visit to Florida, makes it clear that the former president believes his path back to the White House runs through the South.
The Republican nominee’s Monday night rally in Concord, a suburb of Charlotte, featured several religious leaders, including Franklin Graham, and had a stated focus on not only faith, but the role that Christians could play in determining the election’s outcome.
Peter Navarro, Trump’s former trade ambassador, spoke ahead of the former president and outright told the crowd that if Harris wins in November, both the countries and devout Christians will suffer.
Dr. Ben Carson, Trump’s former secretary of housing and urban development, declared that the 2024 election will determine if the U.S. is a “secular nation” or “one nation under God.”
“We are a people of faith,” Carson stated. “We will not give that up.”
Trump’s own remarks came immediately following a live performance of “God Bless the U.S.A.” by Lee Greenwood, and the former president opened by reminding the crowd that he has a granddaughter named Carolina.
“We need more of that,” Trump added in agreement when an attendee shouted out “Jesus is Lord” during a break in his speech.
Trump briefly described his own faith, recalling going to church with his parents and being impressed by the “amazing” preacher yet not quite absorbing all of the lessons in his sermon.
The former president proceeded to say that, after reflecting on the two recent attempts on his life, he “now [recognizes] that it was the hand of God guiding me.”
“I think they became more religious that day,” he added of his sons, Eric and Donald Jr. Trump, who are both avid shooters and were stunned by Trump’s survival in Butler.
Trump quickly turned his faith discussion into an attack on Harris, singling out her recent handling of Christian hecklers at a campaign rally in Wisconsin.
“She’s very destructive to religion. She’s very destructive to Christianity,” he told the crowd. “She’s your worst nightmare.”
Trump’s crowd responded with renewed chants of “Jesus! Jesus!”
“I’m here to deliver a simple message to Christians across America,” the former president closed. “It’s time to stand up and save your country. On November 5 Christian voters need to turn out in the largest numbers ever.”
Still, roughly 15 minutes into the former president’s remarks, a slow stream of attendees began departing the Concord Convention Center. Harris, of late, has started mocking Trump’s rambling during his rallies, causing some attendees to leave before he finishes speaking.
A number of rally attendees told the Washington Examiner that they were pleased to see Trump highlighting Christianity in the final days of the election.
Kendra Ashwood, who lives in nearby Kannapolis, said that she wanted to attend the Concord rally because Carson, whom she called a “good, Christian man,” would be speaking alongside Trump.
U.S. Marine Kenneth Murray, a transplant from New York to North Carolina, claimed to have met Trump in the 1980s. Though he said he had not purchased a copy of the Bible Trump has been selling, Murray cheered the former president’s decision to focus on faith Monday night.
“Faith is a very, very, very personable thing. Your level of faith is shown in the substance of your family. People say, ‘Prayer don’t help,’” he stated. “That’s because they’re living in the flesh. They need to learn to separate the flesh and the spirit.”
Trump isn’t alone among Republicans in focusing on North Carolina. The former president carried the state in 2020 by less than 2 points, Trump’s narrowest win of any state last cycle, and Democrats have claimed that since 2022 the abortion debate puts North Carolina back in play for Democrats.
“We are going to win or lose the presidency based on what happens in North Carolina,” Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley assessed last week while taking part in a GOP bus tour.
Despite delays caused by Helene, North Carolinians have already cast more than 1 million ballots since early voting began earlier this month and are expected to cast 5.5 million ballots once polls close on Nov. 5.
Polls have given Trump slight advantages over Vice President Kamala Harris in Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina since September — 1.6, 1.8, and 0.5 points, respectively, as of Monday, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
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The former president held three separate events in North Carolina on Monday, starting his morning by visiting Asheville, the western North Carolina city ravaged by Hurricane Helene. Trump had previously visited Valdosta, Georgia in the days following Helene’s landfall, but his Monday appearance was his first to survey storm damage in the Western part of the Tar Heel State.
Monday afternoon, Trump proceeded to hold a rally in Greenville, North Carolina before heading to Concord, Trump will hold yet another North Carolina rally, this one in Greensboro, on Tuesday afternoon following campaign stops in Florida and Georgia.
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