Several dozen supporters gathered at the Buncombe County Democratic Party office in Asheville Wednesday morning for a press conference, responding to Trump’s event.
Entering the room to cheers, State Party Chair Anderson Clayton criticized Trump’s first term.
“North Carolinians know that Donald Trump left our communities out to dry as president of the United States,” Clayton said.
“Driving over 6,000 manufacturing jobs out of North Carolina, leaving rural hospitals on the brink of shutting down, and focusing on getting tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations instead of renewing and rebuilding our infrastructure.”
A fact check earlier this year by PolitiFact found "Trump-signed legislation ... on average (was poised to) cut taxes for households in each income group, but that taxpayers in higher-income households would see the biggest benefits."
The fact check used data from an analysis by the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, conducted in 2017 while Trump was in office.
In 2020, Trump lost to President Joe Biden in Buncombe County by more than 30,000 votes. But the former reality television star won all of the state’s westernmost counties in the election.
N.C. Rep. Caleb Rudow, who faces U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards in a battle to represent Western North Carolina's 11th Congressional District, emphasized how a second term for Trump would hurt Buncombe County.
“Donald Trump's Project 2025 agenda will jack up prices and weaken the middle class,” Rudow said.
“His plans will raise taxes for working families here by thousands while continuing to cut taxes for those making millions. Trump's disastrous tariff plan will raise prices on everyday items pushing costs up even higher.”
Rudow praised the Democrat's presidential nominee. Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, saying: They are “the only candidates fighting for families and fighting for Western North Carolina.”
