RALEIGH, N.C. – It will be some time before we know for sure what path the Republican Party takes in the post-Trump era, according to a county party chair.
Former President Donald Trump's speech to the state Republican Party convention marks his first public appearance outside his home state of Florida since he left office in January.
The 45th president's speech is expected to kick off a whirlwind speaking tour this summer. Bloomberg reports he will stump for Republican candidates in Ohio, Alabama, Florida and Georgia in the coming weeks. This contrasts with his predecessors, who largely avoided the limelight in the first few months after they left office.
Cabarrus County Republican Party Chair Addul Ali said the prospect of seeing Trump in person once again is exciting. He said he knows from past experience at Trump rallies that the real-estate mogul-turned-politician will bring a high-energy presentation.
“I just think it's a great thing to have President Trump showing that he's still part of the Republican Party, that the Republican Party is still Trump's party and vice versa,” he said.
Although Election Day 2024 is still three and a half years away, the former president has loomed large over the field ever since last year's election. During a speech at CPAC in Orlando in March, Trump hinted at another run. If he did, it would be only the second time in the nation's history a former president ran for another term after an unsuccessful re-election bid. Ali said he's open to other candidates, but he would support Trump if he ran again.
The question is how the nation's shifting demographics would affect a Trump 2024 candidacy and future Republican politicians. Exit poll data from the 2020 campaign show Trump performed better among Black and Asian voters than any Republican presidential candidate since 2004 and among Hispanic voters since 2008, but Joe Biden still significantly outperformed him there. Moreover, the Democratic margin of victory among voters ages 18 to 29 increased from 19 to 24% compared to the 2016 election.
Ali said the Republican Party has some work to do on selling the Trump brand to voters who haven't traditionally identified as Republican. He said we can expect some tweaks to the party's message over the next couple of years.
“We have to consider Trump brought a lot of people into the political discourse and into the party that weren't involved before, that got involved just because Trump was involved,” he said. “So I think there's going to be a little bit of a balancing act, trying to figure out what that looks like, how do we balance that.”
In a statement ahead of his convention speech, Trump said North Carolina “produced a big victory” for his 2020 campaign and again alluded to his thoroughly-debunked claims of election fraud.
“Before my election in 2016, everybody said North Carolina was going blue, now they are saying the great state of North Carolina is surging big for Republicans. Look at the results we have produced,” the statement read in part.