President Donald Trump is coming to NC’s redrawn 1st district this week
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Redrawn districts tilt NC-1 toward Republicans; Davis filed for 2026 reelection.
- Rocky Mount visit marks Trump’s third North Carolina trip this year.
- Trump will speak in Rocky Mount at 6 p.m. Friday, White House lists RSVP link.
President Donald Trump plans to give a speech in Rocky Mount on Friday night, according to the White House’s website.
U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley announced the news on social media Monday afternoon with a link for guests to RSVP to the event.
According to the White House website, Trump will offer remarks at 6 p.m. in the Rocky Mount Event Center.
Neither White House officials nor Whatley’s team offered immediate information about Trump’s visit, his planned statements or why he chose North Carolina.
Trump made Rocky Mount one of his final stops before his 2024 election. It was also his 50th campaign stop in North Carolina.
This will be Trump’s third visit to North Carolina since taking his oath of office in January. He’s since visited Asheville and Fort Bragg.
Redrawn map of NC
Rocky Mount is home to one of the biggest congressional races in North Carolina for 2026.
State lawmakers, at the request of Trump, redrew two districts in North Carolina’s east to try to give Republicans an extra seat in Congress. The U.S. House is currently made up of 220 Republicans and 213 Democrats, with two vacancies from the Democratic Party.
Rep. Don Davis, a Democrat from Snow Hill, represents the 1st Congressional District. The district has been represented by a Democrat for more than a century, and has been a target for years of the National Republican Congressional Committee to flip it red.
In November, when state lawmakers redrew the 1st and 3rd congressional districts, they moved Davis’ home into the 3rd and took several counties along the coast away from Rep. Greg Murphy, a Republican from Greenville who has prioritized coastal issues.
Both Murphy and Davis were left debating what district to run for reelection in. Both chose to stay as their districts’ incumbents with Davis announcing he would move away from his hometown.
Davis filed to run for reelection on Monday morning. Filing for the 2026 campaign began Dec. 1 and concludes at noon Friday.
The 1st district race
Following the redrawing of districts, the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia rated Davis’ district as “leans Republican.”
The more favorable lines led many Republicans to file to run against Davis, including state Sen. Bobby Hanig, Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck, Lenoir County Commissioner Eric Rouse and attorney Ashley-Nicole Russell of Atlantic Beach. Several other Republicans are rumored to be mulling a run there.
Like Davis, the new maps drew Rouse out of the 1st district, but he chose to run there anyway. A congressional candidate is not required to live in the district they represent.
Trump has not yet made an endorsement in the 1st district.
He has announced his “complete and total endorsement” of Whatley.
