By Jarrett Renshaw
GASTONIA, North Carolina, Sept 16 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump campaigned in North Carolina on Wednesday for a Republican Senate candidate who is trailing his Democratic opponent in opinion polls before the midterm elections, accusing Democrats of being soft on crime and embracing communism.
Those themes are likely to be central to Trump's promised series of appearances across the country to bolster his party ahead of the November 3 vote. All 435 congressional seats and 34
of the Senate's 100 seats will be up for grabs, and Democrats are favored to regain control of the House while forecasts expect a close race for the Senate majority.
North Carolina was his first major campaign stop since the Republican Party's midterm convention last week, when he repeatedly sought to portray Democrats as extreme and out of touch on cultural matters while promoting his hard-line stance on immigration, a signature issue that twice helped vault him to the White House.
Trump sought to help Michael Whatley, who previously chaired the Republican National Committee, close a polling gap against former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.
Trump predicted electoral victory while falsely accusing Democrats of embracing communist ideology, a charge Democrats reject as a deliberate misrepresentation of their policies.
"You're going to crush the communists, and that's what they are, they're communists ... We will not be a socialist nation. I was right. They're going for 'communist' nation," he said.
A screen showed photos of what he said were some of the 3,500 North Carolina inmates who were freed during Cooper's time as governor in a 2021 COVID-era settlement that reduced the state's prison population.
"Roy Cooper wants migrant criminals like these set loose on North Carolina streets with sanctuary city policies. Michael Whatley wants them executed, arrested, or deported," Trump said during his one-hour appearance.
A Cooper campaign spokesperson rejected Trump's characterization, saying Cooper, a former governor and attorney general for North Carolina, spent his career "putting rapists and violent criminals behind bars and signing tough on crime laws."
"These attacks are false," the spokesperson said.
Trump remains a powerful force with the Republican base, but Whatley will also need to win over North Carolina's large bloc of swing and unaffiliated voters as Republicans confront rising concerns over affordability that have strained Trump's support among more moderate voters.
Trump repeated what he told Republicans at the convention in Dallas last week – to "pretend that I'm on the ballot" – even though he is not seeking election.
DEMOCRATS AHEAD IN POLLS
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in the past week found Trump's approval rating at 35%, up from a record-low 33% in the previous poll. Democrats led Republicans 44% to 37% on the generic congressional ballot, the widest Democratic advantage in the Reuters/Ipsos series since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
Unaffiliated voters account for roughly 40% of North Carolina's registered electorate, making them the state's largest registration bloc.
Cooper led Whatley 49% to 38% among likely voters in a recent Elon University poll, while 54% of North Carolina voters in the survey disapproved of Trump's job performance and 31% approved.
"It's mathematically impossible to win the state without winning unaffiliated voters," said veteran Republican strategist Paul Shumaker, a former adviser to departing Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who opted against seeking re-election.
"We Republicans have to understand that we have to address the affordability issue, and we have to be able to put unaffiliated voters' minds at ease as it relates to the economy and affordability between now and November for the Senate race to remain in play."
Fuel prices have added to the affordability challenge. The national average for regular gasoline was $4.33 a gallon on Tuesday, while diesel reached a record $6.27, according to AAA.
Trump attempted to blame Democrats for America's affordability troubles.
"I got hit with this affordability word for a year and a half. And they're the ones that caused the affordability problem," Trump said, raising the issue of egg prices that became a concern during the 2021-2025 term of former President Joe Biden.
"We took care of the egg crisis. We took care of everything," Trump said.
Egg prices have fallen under Trump, while inflation for food overall has been higher so far during his second term than in his first.
"If they (Democrats) get in, this country will go into a massive depression," said Trump, who also promised once again to offer Americans a $5,000 rebate if the Republicans maintain control of Congress, although the proposal has failed to animate congressional Republicans who would need to approve the spending.
(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw in Gastonia, North Carolina; Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; editing by Donna Bryson, Lincoln Feast, Stephen Coates and Deepa Babington)
