By Valerie Bauerlein

RALEIGH, N.C.-At his first stop on his last day of campaigning, former President Donald Trump took the stage an hour late, speaking with a scratchy voice. He joked that he had won North Carolina twice already, but had visited the state on Saturday, Sunday and Monday to ensure he had it locked down.

Trump bragged that he was not using a teleprompter as he preferred to "weave" his way through the various themes of his campaign, especially border security and keeping boys out of girls' sports, the biggest sources of applause for the crowd. The arena at the state fairgrounds had a capacity of 7,500 but had emptied to about half full by the time he wrapped up an hour of remarks. He said he was wistful after 257 rallies. "This will be our final moment," he said. "These moments that we had together, these really were just to create what we hopefully will create tomorrow," he said.

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November 04, 2024 13:01 ET (18:01 GMT)

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