Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump returned to North Carolina on Wednesday, making a strong push in a state where they are locked in a neck-and-neck race less than a week before Tuesday’s presidential election.

A WRAL News poll released Tuesday found the candidates tied 47% to 47%, with just 4% of voters undecided. The results were consistent with other recent surveys.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee for the third consecutive term, gave a speech at the Rocky Mount Event Center in which he criticized the Biden administration’s record and Harris’ role in its policies, insulting her as a “low IQ person” and her imitated several times.

He repeated promises he had made for months on the campaign trail: to lower inflation, strengthen border security and immigration enforcement and help lower energy prices.

“This is a very important state,” Trump said, encouraging people to vote. “If we win this state, we’re sailing.”

He added: “We need an honest and respected president. I ask you to look forward to the future again with great anticipation. … I ask you to dream big again.”

Harris exuded confidence at her rally at Coastal Credit Credit Union Music Park in Walnut Creek, telling her supporters she would win.

“We know that in this election we have an opportunity to end a decade of Donald Trump, who has sought to divide us and instill fear in each other,” Harris said. “We know he is. But North Carolina is not who we are.”

“It’s time for a new chapter where we stop pointing fingers at each other and instead embrace each other, knowing we have so much more in common than divides us.”

Her vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was scheduled to be in Charlotte and Asheville on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

The visits are not taking place as campaigns fight for North Carolina’s 16 electoral votes.

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance will hold an event in Selma on Friday, while Trump will hold a rally in Greensboro on Saturday evening. Harris travels to Charlotte on Saturday.

Trump likely needs the state to find a path to the 270 electoral votes needed to claim the presidency. Harris could reach the total without North Carolina, as President Joe Biden did in 2016 by securing wins in the so-called “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. But the state is giving her another path to 270.

More than 3.3 million voters in North Carolina have already voted. Registered Republicans cast more ballots than registered Democrats in voting before Election Day, a dramatic reversal from previous years.

Harris visit

Harris, who arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport at 11:16 a.m., was greeted on the tarmac by several Democratic politicians, including U.S. Reps. Deborah Ross and Valerie Foushee, Auditor Jessica Holmes and Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam . Harris held Allam’s young son, Abdul, after he got off the plane. Durham Mayor Leo Williams and Morrisville Mayor TJ Cawley were also on hand to greet Harris.

Jennifer Bell, who said she was a fiscal conservative and a 2016 Trump voter, introduced Harris in Walnut Creek. She urged voters, including conservatives and Republicans, to support Harris.

Angel Cordero, who attended the event, said he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020.

“Not anymore,” he said. “I’m pretty disappointed with what happened.”

Harris went through a number of her priorities, including cutting taxes on small businesses, lowering prices, covering the cost of elder care under Medicare and building more homes. She contrasted her policies with those of Trump, who she said would use his proposed tariffs to impose a national sales tax and attempt to undo the Affordable Care Act.

“We fight for the future and for freedom,” Harris said before discussing abortion rights.

With just six days until Election Day — and more than 40% of registered voters in North Carolina have voted — Harris included a message in her speech that has become her closing message.

“As your president, I promise to seek common ground and common-sense solutions to the challenges you face,” she said. “It’s not about scoring political points for me, it’s about making progress.”

Towards the end, a protester interrupted Harris’ speech, saying she had disrespected the Palestinian community. The crowd drowned out the male protester by chanting “Kamala, Kamala.”

“Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy,” Harris replied. “He wants to put her in prison. I give them a seat at the table.”

Trump visit

Trump won North Carolina during his successful presidential bid in 2016 and during his unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2020. He won North Carolina in 2020 by fewer than 75,000 votes, the narrowest margin of any state he won.

Just as Harris delivered a version of her closing argument, Trump also leaned on his final message.

“Are you doing better now than you were four years ago?” Trump asked. “I am here today with a message of hope for all Americans. …I will end inflation. I will stop the massive invasion of criminals in our country. And I’m going to bring back something called the American Dream.”

Trump blamed Harris for the entry of illegal immigrants into the country and repeated claims that other countries are emptying their prisons and mental hospitals.

Trump once asked if there were any women in the audience who did not seek protection, then asked if there were any women who did want to be protected.

He tried to present himself as a protector of the American way of life.

“I will protect our workers,” he said. “I will protect our jobs. I will protect our boarders. I will protect our families. And I will protect our children’s birthright to live in the richest and most powerful nation on earth.”

Closing arguments

The visits follow the candidates’ closing arguments – Trump’s in New York on Sunday, Harris’ in Washington on Tuesday evening.

On Sunday, Trump presented himself during a broadcast as someone who could fix the economy and the border, raising eyebrows over comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s divisive comments, who called the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Trump endorsed proposed tax cuts aimed at attracting older adults and workers. This included a promise to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits, tips and overtime pay and to introduce a tax credit for family caregivers.

Harris spoke Tuesday evening at The Ellipse near the National Mall in Washington, where he again pledged to have a unifying presence in the White House, a president who would help first-time homeowners with down payments and help adults care for young children and older parents. She also promised to pass a bipartisan border security bill that failed last year after Trump encouraged Republicans in Congress to abandon it.

They will bring this news to battleground states leading up to the November 5 election. Their efforts could be a deciding factor in the race, said Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University. The question: Who can convince enough additional voters to cast their ballots in a state where early voting is already at record levels?

“Everyone has made up their minds,” Cooper said. “It’s about mobilization. At this point, it’s 100 percent about getting your voters off the couch and at the ballot box.”

The locations of Wednesday’s visits underscored the emphasis on motivation rather than persuasion.

Democrats have been trying to motivate more voters in Mecklenburg County, where turnout lagged in the 2022 midterm elections, particularly among Black voters who were seen as crucial to Democrats’ efforts.

According to the latest WRAL News poll, Harris lost support in Raleigh between September and October. She’s also trying to shore up support in the suburbs.

Trump’s trip to Rocky Mount allowed him to focus on blue-collar voters who have become critical to his base. As the WRAL News poll shows, Trump has made gains among rural middle-class voters in recent months.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.