By Ben Rappaport
Donald Trump Jr. is scheduled to make a stop in Robeson County on Friday, a sign that his father’s campaign is counting on Lumbee voters to help win North Carolina.
Trump Jr. is set to appear with Tulsi Gabbard, a former U.S. House representative from Hawaii, and Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma. They will deliver remarks at a 6 p.m. event at Locklear Farm in Red Springs.
Robeson County, home to about 117,000 residents and the headquarters of the Lumbee Native American tribe, was a longtime Democratic stronghold where Barack Obama won in 2008 and 2012. But the county has seen a major swing toward GOP candidates: Trump won nearly 51% of the county’s vote in 2016.
Less than two weeks before the 2020 election, Trump made a campaign appearance at the Robeson County Fairgrounds, where he voiced support for full federal recognition for the Lumbee people. He went on to win 59% of the vote in the county.
At a campaign rally in Wilmington last month, Trump again said he would support full federal recognition if elected. The Lumbee tribe has had partial federal recognition since 1956 but would receive millions of dollars for health care, education and more if it gains full recognition. The issue has bipartisan support, but legislation that would grant the designation continues to stall in Congress.
Democrat Kamala Harris says she also supports full federal recognition for the tribe. Her campaign opened a field office in Robeson County over the summer.
Meanwhile, Republicans have been trying to build on the GOP momentum in the county. The Republican National Committee opened an office there in 2022.
It’s clear local voters care about more than federal recognition in the presidential race, however. In Robeson, one of the most diverse counties in America where about 40% of residents are Native American, 25% are white and 24% are Black, many voters say immigration, abortion and the economy are especially important.
Despite the recent GOP winning streak, Democrats and unaffiliated voters outnumber Republicans in Robeson County. Forty-three percent of voters in the county are registered Democrats, 36% are unaffiliated and 19% are Republicans.
An aggregate of recent polls by FiveThirtyEight shows Harris trailing Trump by one point, within the margin of error, in North Carolina. Cook Political Report dubbed North Carolina a “toss-up.”