Trump heading to battleground NC to headline state GOP convention

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EXCLUSIVE: Former President Trump will travel to North Carolina early next month to headline the state Republican Party's annual convention.

The North Carolina GOP says the former president will attend its state convention in Greenville on Saturday, June 5 and will speak at the convention dinner. The state party’s Monday morning announcement of the Trump stop in North Carolina was shared first with Fox News.

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Trump’s address will be his first outside of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., since his keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Feb. 28 in Florida. The former president also addressed the Republican National Committee’s private spring donor retreat at Mar-a-Lago on April 10. Trump has lived at his residence at the south Florida resort since leaving the White House on Jan. 20.

Former President Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) ((AP Photo/John Raoux))

North Carolina is a crucial general election battleground state that Trump won by just over three and a half points in his 2016 presidential election victory over Hillary Clinton and by just over a point over Joe Biden in his 2020 reelection defeat. The state will be the site of a key open-seat Senate election in the 2022 midterms that could determine when the Democrats hold their majority or if the Republicans win back the chamber, as well as a likely competitive race for governor.

"President Trump won North Carolina in 2016 by promising to put America First, and he won North Carolina in 2020 by keeping that promise," North Carolina GOP chair Michael Whatley told Fox News in a statement. "President Trump delivered real results for North Carolina by rebuilding the military, standing strong against China, and unleashing the American Economy."

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Whatley said, "We are honored to welcome President Trump to our convention as the Republican Party launches our campaign to retake Congress and the Senate in the 2022 midterms."

The GOP was supposed to hold the 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte. But due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions at the time, just a dramatically slimmed down first day of the convention was held there, with the remaining three days of the confab, including the speeches and ceremonies, taking place in the nation's capital.