Donald Trump is heading to North Carolina on Friday for the fourth time in a month.
The Republican presidential candidate tries to firm up support in a state he was winning handily a few months ago but is now among the most competitive in the race.
The former president’s visit to Fayetteville, home to a large military community, comes as the state has been convulsed by literal and political storms.
Once-in-a-generation floods triggered by Hurricane Helene killed dozens in the state’s western mountains, while the Republican candidate for governor has faced damaging reports about past inflammatory and lewd comments.
Some Trump allies privately say the race in North Carolina, which Trump won in the 2016 and 2020 elections, is too close for comfort, even as they think he still has a slight leg up on Democratic rival Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
Those three states are among a handful of battlegrounds that both candidates have a legitimate shot of winning next month.
Trump leads Harris by 0.5 percentage points in North Carolina, according to a polling average maintained by FiveThirtyEight, a polling and analysis website.
The former president leads Harris by 1.1 points in Georgia and 1.2 points in Arizona. All of those figures are within the margin of error for major polls, meaning either candidate could walk away with a victory.
Trump will also travel on Friday to Georgia, where his campaign said he will receive a briefing with Governor Brian Kemp on local storm recovery efforts and then speak to the media.
