Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to hold a rally in North Carolina on Monday as the Trump administration continues ramping up rallies to support candidates in the 2026 midterm elections.
Vance is scheduled to speak around 1:15 p.m. at the Hyder Warehouse on Chestnut Gap Road in Hendersonville. President Donald Trump will hold a rally the following day in Greenville, which, according to WITN, will be at the Pitt-Greenville Airport.
Doors at Vance’s rally open at 10 a.m., and the event begins at Noon.
Trump’s and Vance’s visits come as Republicans look to gain ground in North Carolina’s Senate race, as well as in two key U.S. House races. Republican Michael Whatley, whom Trump endorsed, is running against former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper for the seat vacated by Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, who is not seeking reelection. Green Party nominee Michael Dublin and Libertarian Shannon Bray are also running in the 2026 Senate race.
The visits to North Carolina are part of the Trump administration’s midterm campaign blitz, which stopped in Georgia on Friday as part of the White House’s efforts to boost Republican enthusiasm in an election that could define the final years of his second presidency.
Henderson is in the heart of the state’s 11th Congressional District, and Greenville is just outside the 1st Congressional district. Both are districts where voters strongly supported Trump in 2024 but now, as voters face rising gas and grocery prices, are in play. Each is now rated as a tossup, and Democratic victories there could help Democrats flip control of Congress.
The 11th district is currently held by Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards, who was censured by his colleagues in the House amid a sexual harassment investigation and declined to seek election. Republican Jennifer Balkcom and Democrat Jamie Ager are running for the seat.
The 1st District is currently held by Rep. Don Davis, a moderate Democrat who sometimes crosses party lines to vote with Republicans. He’s facing GOP challenger Laurie Buckhout. Davis defeated Buckhout once already, in 2024, but state lawmakers redrew his seat last year to make it more Republican-leaning.
While each of those races is viewed as a tossup, many political observers see the Senate races as less competitive. A new WRAL/WSOC poll released Tuesday showed Cooper holds a 14-point lead among likely voters. The poll found 54% would vote for Cooper, compared with 40% for Whatley. About 5% were undecided, and 1% said they would vote for another candidate.
Around the country, many Republican voters believe Trump is falling short at home and abroad and want major change in the upcoming elections.
An AP-NORC poll found that registered voters who identify as Democrats are more enthusiastic than Republican voters about casting a ballot. More voters want Democrats to win control of Congress and have a more negative view of Republicans.
In several races across the U.S., Trump has told voters to pretend that he’s on the ballot in this year’s election.
Whatley told reporters earlier this month that, despite having paused his own television ads and losing financial support from national conservative groups, he was confident in his campaign’s ability to compete with Cooper’s.
Early, in-person voting began this week for the Nov. 3 election.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.