Trump expected to turn his full focus on Harris at first rally since Biden’s exit from 2024 race

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Donald Trump is holding his first public campaign rally since President Joe Biden dropped out of a 2024 matchup that both major parties had spent months preparing for, leaving the former president to direct his ire toward his likely new opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump is expected to turn his full focus on Harris as he stops Wednesday in North Carolina, a swing state that Trump has carried in the past, but Democrats have seen as pivotal. The former president’s trip to the state shows he’s still concerned about keeping it in his column this November, even as his team reaches for wins in traditionally Democratic-leaning states like Minnesota, where Trump is set to visit Saturday.

With Biden’s abrupt departure from the presidential race and Harris edging closer and closer to officially being the Democrats’ general election pick, Trump has ramped up his criticism of the vice president, whom he’s characterized as “the same as Biden but much more radical.”

He has blamed her for what he portrays as the Biden administration’s failures, particularly on security along the U.S.-Mexico border.

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