A day after President Donald Trump delivered a grim campaign speech in Gastonia, Gov. Josh Stein described Trump’s categorization of North Carolina as “political nonsense.”
In his stump speech for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley, Trump portrayed the state as one of the most violent in the nation. He referred to North Carolina as “criminally dangerous,” and described its cities as “blood-soaked killing fields.”
“North Carolina, it was beautiful, it was apple pie, right? And now it’s one of the most violent and one of the worst in the whole nation,” Trump claimed.
Stein said the remarks were intended to generate fear and turn out voters in Whatley’s closely watched race against Democratic former governor Roy Cooper.
“Statistically,
he’s just flat out wrong. There are 20 states that have more violent crime than we do,” said Stein on Thursday. “We want to make sure that people are safe and feel safe in this community.”
Stein said his administration has been working on a bipartisan basis with the legislature to improve public safety.
The $34 billion state budget signed by Stein in July included double-digit salary increases for law enforcement. Last October, Stein signed a Republican-led bill aimed at addressing violent crime in North Carolina. The bill, “Iryna’s Law,” is named for Irina Zarutska, a Ukrainian woman who was killed on public transit in Charlotte in August 2025.
Trump also wrongly said Wednesday that Cooper released DeCarlos Brown Jr., the suspect in Zarutska’s death. That claim has beendebunked.
Stein said Trump’s misleading claims do not advance the debate about how best to keep citizens safe.
Prior to Trump’s arrival, the White House issued arelease that also seemed to contradict the president’s messaging. The press advisory stated that overall crime in Charlotte fell 9% in 2025 with violent crime falling 21%. And for the first half of this year, violent crime in North Carolina is down 5.8%.
Trump ties Whatley win to Helene relief
Stein also took exception to Trump’s off-the-cuff remark that if Whatley did not win the Senate seat in November, North Carolinamight not see additional FEMA funding for Helene recovery.
“You know, you’re waiting for some additional funding,” Trump joked with the crowd at the Gastonia Municipal Airport. “If Michael loses, I’m not sending it.”
In the wake of Helene, Trump named Whatley his “recovery czar” for western N.C. But local officials have said Whatley has been largely absent from the area during the recovery, and federal funding has been unprecedentedly slow to arrive.
The governor said while politicians often say silly things, this was no way to respond to a tragic disaster.
“What he said that very much troubled me was to in any way connect recovery from an actual disaster to a political outcome,” said Stein.
Stein said western North Carolina has been working tirelessly for two years to recover from Hurricane Helene and needs more federal funding to flow to the region. The storm is estimated to have caused nearly $60 billion in damage. An estimated $9.8 billion in federal funds has been awarded since 2024, but the governor has requested more than $10 billion in additional funding from Congress.
“We’re doing everything we can to get whatever funding we’ve got out the door as quickly as we can,” Stein said. “To have any illusion that that funding is somehow tied to how people vote is absolutely offensive.”
Deputy Editor Clayton Henkel manages the NC Newsline website and daily newsletter, while also producing the weekly News and Views radio program/podcast.
NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Gov. Stein: Trump ‘flat out wrong’ about NC crime
