President Donald Trump returned to the Charlotte region to campaign Wednesday evening alongside Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley in Gastonia.
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Trump delivered remarks focused on crime and the economy at the Gastonia Municipal Airport, where he also rallied during his 2024 presidential campaign. Whatley, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and North Carolina Republican Party, lives in Gaston County and has been endorsed by Trump in his race against former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
The two are competing for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who is not seeking reelection.
Trump’s appearance also put a renewed spotlight on his relationship with Whatley, whose political career has been closely tied to the president. Whatley led the Republican National Committee during Trump’s successful 2024 campaign and previously chaired the North Carolina Republican Party.
The “Make America Safe Again” rally started shortly after 5 p.m. Trump landed around 6 p.m. at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and started speaking around 7:30 p.m. He spoke for an hour.
Live updates from the event are below in chronological order.
President @realDonaldTrump en route to deliver remarks in Gastonia, NC 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/poCZupaSSS
Trump finished his speech in Gastonia almost immediately one-hour after he began.
Trump spent his 60 minutes on stage introducing Republicans like U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley, 1st Congressional District candidate Laurie Buckhout and 11th Congressional District candidate Jennifer Balkcom.
He spent much of the speech attacking Whatley’s opponent, former Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, and North Carolina by saying the state’s cities had turned into “blood-soaked killing fields.”
Trump celebrated the job market and addressed the economy.
He talked about his policies that stopped people who work overtime or service workers’ tips from being taxed.
He celebrated North Carolina for electing him six times, including the primaries, and told voters to pretend he’s on the 2026 ballot.
“We will make America powerful again,” Trump said. “We will make America wealthy again. We will make America healthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again.”
Throughout Trump’s 2024 campaign, he promised to fix the economy. On Wednesday, he blamed former President Joe Biden’s administration for putting him in a bad position coming into his tenure.
“On Jan. 21, ‘Eggs have gone up five times, sir,’” Trump quoted reporters. “I said I just got here. We took care of the egg crisis and we take care of everything. We also took care of the fact that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, thank you very much.”
Trump’s war with Iran has driven up gas prices, with effects across other industries. In North Carolina, prices are averaging $4.12 per gallon for regular unleaded and inflation still hasn’t come back down from what it was before the pandemic.
But Trump wasn’t sympathetic.
“It’s a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done,” Trump said. “Remember that it’s a little more. Frankly, even, it was a lot more — but that’s going to come tumbling down.”
Trump turned his attention to the 2025 death of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on the light rail in Charlotte.
On Aug. 22, 2025, Zarutska boarded the light rail and sat down in front of 34-year-old DeCarlos Brown, who is charged with her murder.
Trump used graphic language to describe her death and began to criticize the media for not showing her death on TV before saying that doing so wouldn’t be OK because of its graphic nature.
“I watched that so many times,” Trump said.
Trump said Zarutska was more scared on that train than she was with Russia bombing her home country.
“She didn’t know that sitting behind her on the train was a deranged lunatic,” Trump said. “A dangerous monster with 14 prior arrests for violent crimes. Set his bloodthirsty eyes on her right from the beginning.”
Brown has a history of mental health issues and had been arrested for misuse of the 911 system. He was out of jail on bail at the time of Zarutska’s death.
Brown had previously served time in prison for armed robbery, and served his entire sentence, but Trump and Republicans blame Cooper for his release because his name appears on a court settlement that allowed 3,500 prisoners to leave early due to the pandemic. He was released prior to the settlement being reached.
Trump got on stage and criticized the state of public safety in North Carolina in contrast to a White House news release and remarks by his attorney general earlier in the evening.
He reiterated a message he gave last week in Dallas that North Carolina had become crime-ridden.
“Nobody use to think of North Carolina as a dangerous state,” Trump said. “It was like North Carolina, it was beautiful, it was apple pie. Right? And now it’s the worst in the whole nation, and it all started with Cooper and you have a lousy governor right now too.”
Earlier today, the White House put out a news release saying violent crime was down in North Carolina.
Blanche reiterated that message in his speech before Whatley took the stage, though he credited the president and vice president for cleaning up the crime.
“For years, pro-crime politicians like Roy Cooper have tried to bully you into silence while they turned your cities into blood-soaked killing fields, flooded your communities with migrant criminals, destroyed your schools with gangs and drugs and filled your streets with lawlessness, filth and squalor.”
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety reported a spike in violent crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Cooper was governor and Trump was president. Violent crimes have decreased as the state has come out of the pandemic and is down 5.8% in the first six months of 2026.
U.S. News & World Report ranks North Carolina is 31 out of the 50 states for violent crime, with No. 1 being the best and 50 being the worst.
President Donald Trump is on stage at Gastonia Municipal Airport.
His speech is 30 minutes behind schedule.
“Well hello, North Carolina,” Trump said. “This special place. It’s a special place. I love it.”
Trump added that North Carolina will elect U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley and talked about his record of winning the state six times, including the primaries.
The speech is ongoing.
Trump spoke to reporters in Charlotte after getting off Air Force One.
“We’re going to do a great job here in North Carolina tonight,” Trump said.
He then turned his attention to Whatley.
“Michael Whatley is a great candidate,” Trump said. “He’s going to bring it back to sanity because Roy Cooper, the former governor, was a disaster on crime and a disaster on all sorts of hazards.”
Trump told reporters he believed Whatley had a good chance of winning because “he’s strong on crime and loves the state.”
“He was a great head of the Republican Party, and so we’re going to be here for him.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke after Whatley contradicting claims that North Carolina is crime-ridden.
“NC is ground zero for exactly what is working,” Blanche said. “Communities are safer, families are stronger, and side-by-side with your local county sheriffs, police officers and state partners, people are able to go to bed at night and feel safer than they did just two years ago.”
Blanche gave credit to the president and Vice President JD Vance for resolving crime in North Carolina.
He added his son lives in North Carolina.
“I‘ve spent a lot of time here,” Blanche said. “I love North Carolina. It’s an important, amazing state in our union.”
Cooper’s campaign team responded to attacks Whatley made against the former governor during Whatley’s 15-minute speech.
“Independent fact-checkers have called these attacks false – Michael Whatley is getting desperate, and it’s shameful that he’s using heinous crimes to try to deceive North Carolinians,” the campaign said in a news release. “While Roy spent his career putting rapists and violent criminals behind bars and signing tough on crime laws as governor, Michael Whatley has continued to knowingly appoint, campaign with and elevate convicted child sex predators who spent time in prison and is celebrating the support of a President who released over 13,000 prisoners during COVID without a court order.”
Republican U.S. Senate nominee Michael Whatley got on stage in his hometown of Gastonia to attack former Gov. Roy Cooper, his campaign opponent.
“The worst governor in the history of North Carolina,” Whatley said, as the crowd shouted expletives.
He spoke for about 15 minutes and doubled down on claims by the Trump administration and Republicans that Cooper is responsible for the death of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska.
“That beautiful young lady should be alive today,” Whatley said. “That monster should have never been on the streets. That monster should have never been on that light rail car. And her blood is on Roy Cooper’s hands.”
Republicans blame Cooper for her death because of a 2021 settlement that allowed 3,500 prisoners to leave prison early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And though Brown’s name was on that list, fact checks have repeatedly shown Brown already served his full prison sentence for armed robbery and been released prior to the settlement taking effect.
Whatley promised to support law enforcement.
“I am going to fight for you,” Whatley said. “I’m going to fight for your family. I’m going to fight for every community across North Carolina, and we are going to fight every single day to make sure that you and your kids and your family and your community can live the American dream right here in North Carolina.”
In a rare move, Whatley also took a moment to talk about his background, growing up in Blowing Rock and his family.
But he barely mentioned the president.
Trump landed at Charlotte Douglas International Airport at 6:03 p.m., according to pool reports.
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It’s about a 30-minute drive, in normal traffic, between the two airports. But Trump travels in a motorcade with streets blocked off which should make the trip much faster.
The White House press pool reported that the flight from Washington to Charlotte was uneventful.
The flight took off at 5:17 p.m. from Andrews Air Force Base near Washington.
.@POTUS is on the ground in North Carolina! 🛬
Next stop: Gastonia, where he’ll deliver remarks around 7p ET. pic.twitter.com/34zqu24rSu
Gastonia Mayor Richard Franks kicked off the rally around 5:15 p.m. followed by state Rep. Neal Jackson, who led the crowd in prayer, and Chet Effler, director of education and outreach for the National Fraternal Order of Police, who led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Former Trump adviser Laurie Buckhout, a Republican congressional candidate from Edenton, spoke to the crowd attacking her opponent, Rep. Don Davis, a Democrat from Snow Hill.
Davis represents the far northeastern counties in North Carolina and faces a redistricting change, with the latest round in October drawing his home outside the area he would represent and diluting the Democratic vote to favor Republicans.
State Rep. Jennifer Balkcom followed. The Republican Party in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, which covers Western North Carolina, chose Balkcom to replace Rep. Chuck Edwards, a Republican from Flat Rock, on the ballot.
Edwards dropped his campaign after the House Committee on Ethics found substantial evidence that he sexually harassed two female staffers and created a hostile work environment. Edwards was later censured.
Balkcom will face off against Jamie Ager, a local farmer, with a political pedigree that includes state and federal lawmakers.
Just as the event began, Trump boarded Air Force One in Washington en route to Gastonia.
.@POTUS boards AF1 for the great state of North Carolina where he will deliver remarks at 7:00 EST tonight! pic.twitter.com/h9ppXfYB8D
People are beginning to gather at Gastonia Municipal Airport where President Donald Trump is set to speak at 7 p.m.
The crowd is filled with American flags and wearing Make America Great Again hats.
Gaston County School District’s buses are being used, along with other large vehicles, to build a barrier alongside the fence surrounding the site of the rally.
Whatley is already on site and has given interviews to TV news crews that have gathered ahead of the speech.
Programming ahead of Trump’s appearance is expected to begin in the coming hour.
For months, the Trump administration and Republicans have attacked Democratic Senate candidate Roy Cooper as being too soft on crime. A banner reads, “Make America Safe Again” over the stage.
Last week, Trump spoke in Dallas at the rare midterm Republican National Convention and said North Carolina had “become a crime-ridden state.” That’s a contrast with messaging the White House put out before the event touting improvements in crime in the state.
Trump blamed Cooper for releasing 3,500 “dangerous criminals all over the once-safe streets and countryside of North Carolina.”
Trump and Whatley repeatedly attacked Cooper over a 2021 court settlement that led to the release of inmates. Several civil rights groups had sued the state after Cooper, who served as governor at the time, refused to release 18,000 inmates.
A judge told North Carolina officials he’d likely side with the plaintiffs and find that prison conditions no longer complied with the Constitution because of the COVID-19 pandemic. To prevent the release of 18,000 prisoners, state officials settled for 3,500 who would reach the end of their sentences before the end of the year.
But the list included DeCarlos Brown, a man who had already served out his full sentence and was released before the settlement. In August 2025, police said, Brown rode the light rail in Charlotte and stabbed 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska to death. She was a Ukrainian refugee who had fled to the United States for safety from her war-torn country.
At the time, Brown, who has a history of mental health problems, was out of jail on bail for misuse of the 911 system.
Trump and Whatley have said Zarutska’s blood is on Cooper’s hands.
“Roy Cooper released him into North Carolina society — and others almost as bad,” Trump said at the Dallas convention, according to prepared remarks. “They’re all over the streets and fields of North Carolina, and now they want to make him a senator?”
Christyna Thompson, spokeswoman for the Senate Majority PAC working to elect Democrats, called it “bull (expletive).”
“They know exactly what they’re doing,” Thompson said in a statement to McClatchy Wednesday. “Republicans have been called out for irresponsibly dishing flagrant lies and exploiting grieving loved ones’ pain. If they’re so concerned about crime, they should look inside their own house.”
She then called out Trump’s own criminal record and reports that Whatley campaigned with a sex offender.
Police are closing intersections in Gastonia, including Union/Robinson, Gaston Day School/Union and Union/Dawnwood. “Local residents will be escorted into neighborhoods,” Gastonia police said. “Please be patient.”
Fans hoping to see Luke Kuechly at Gastonia’s Whataburger on Wednesday evening will have to wait.
The meet-and-greet, originally scheduled from 5-7 p.m., has been postponed due to road closures resulting from President Donald Trump’s visit to Gastonia. A rescheduled date will be announced soon.
Kuechly, who spent eight seasons as a linebacker for the Carolina Panthers, was set to meet with fans and take photos. Kuechly was the youngest recipient of the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award when he won it in 2013, and he is now a Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Republicans continued their criticism of Cooper, the Democratic Senate nominee, ahead of Trump’s visit, saying Cooper “fights for dangerous criminals.” Republicans’ biggest point of criticism focuses on a list of 3,500 prisoners in a 2021 settlement over prison conditions. And they’ve argued some prisoners released as part of that settlement went on to reoffend.
“President Trump and Michael Whatley will always put North Carolina first and today’s visit to Gastonia is firing up voters to elect a true fighter this November,” said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Emma Hall.
Democrats criticized Whatley for “cheering on the Iran War as it spikes his stock portfolio and drives up gas prices.” State Sen. Woodson Bradley, a Charlotte Democrat, held a news conference in front of a gas station sign as she criticized Whatley’s past as an oil lobbyist.
“So if he’s advocating for policies that benefit his bottom line as a candidate, imagine how he could abuse that seat in the United States Senate, just to enrich himself at our expense and off of hardworking people’s backs. Let’s not find that out, North Carolina,” Bradley said.
The White House said in a news release President Donald Trump is visiting to “highlight how his administration is restoring law and order across the country.” Its news release highlighted crime improvements across North Carolina, including in Charlotte. The descriptions contrast previous assertions by top Trump officials.
In September 2025, Vice President JD Vance said Charlotte’s murder rate rivaled the poorest countries in the world — a claim that is false. Vance was visiting Concord when he made the speech after the killing of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s Blue Line in August 2025.
In North Carolina’s 2026 U.S. Senate race, Republicans are focused heavily on crime and public safety, including ads trying to tie former Gov. Cooper to specific murders based on a COVID-19 prison release deal.
President Trump’s visit to North Carolina to stump for Whatley comes as Whatley has struggled to make inroads against his opponent, former Gov. Roy Cooper. A poll released last week by Elon University shows Cooper with an 11% lead over Whatley, a margin that remained unchanged from a poll conducted the month prior.
That’s due in part to Trump’s own unpopularity in North Carolina, a state that voted for him three times. The same Elon poll found that just 31% of North Carolinians approve of the job Trump is doing as president. That’s the lowest approval rating recorded by the Elon poll since Trump took office in January 2025.
A separate poll released last week by East Carolina University showed Cooper with a slightly smaller lead over Whatley, 46% to 39%. But 14% of voters said they remain undecided, so the opportunity remains for Whatley to tighten the race.
Still, Trump acknowledged the challenge at last week’s GOP midterm convention in Dallas, saying, “In North Carolina, you have a little more difficult case, because people don’t quite get it, but they’re going to find out.”
CLT’s public overlook will close at 3 p.m. and reopen at 8 a.m. Thursday, airport officials announced.
Drivers in Charlotte and Gaston County should expect disruptions around the airport Wednesday.
Extensive closures are expected later on Wednesday afternoon and evening. Police are urging people who do not need to be in the area to avoid it if possible. Read more.
“Soft” road closures begin in the area of Union Road, Gaston Day School Road, Robinson Road and Bud Wilson Road in Gastonia, police said.
“These roads will remain accessible to local traffic, but drivers should expect delays and changes in traffic patterns. More road closures will begin at 2:30.”
“The Union Road and Gaston Day School Road area will be particularly impacted,” police said. “Closures will remain in place through the evening as needed.”
Reporter Joe Marusak, sports intern Will Dehmel, Deputy Opinion Editor Paige Masten and Government Editor Josh Bergeron contributed reporting.
This story was originally published September 16, 2026 at 8:44 AM with the headline “President Trump smears NC as ‘blood-soaked killing fields’ in Whatley campaign rally.”
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