By admin 
President Donald Trump will hold a midterm election rally Thursday in Rock Hill to boost South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham ahead of the Nov. 3 vote.
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The visit comes as Graham’s race against Democrat Annie Andrews tightens and Democrats hold their own event in the city the night before. A New York Times/Siena University poll released Wednesday showed the race as tied and pointed to supporters of U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, a York County Republican who lost a runoff to Graham, as a weak spot for her.
Trump is scheduled to speak at the Rock Hill Sports & Events Center at 326 Technology Way, with doors opening at 9 a.m. Thursday and remarks beginning at 12:30 p.m. In the past, Trump rallies have used the 6,100-seat Winthrop Coliseum off of Cherry Road.
Andrews held her own Rock Hill gathering on the eve of Trump’s rally, and other Democrats are scheduled to be in Rock Hill around the same time as Trump.
Trump in Rock Hill live updates
Live updates will follow below, with the most recent at the top
Protesters in Rock Hill
11:15 a.m. About three dozen trump protesters gathered at the intersection of Dave Lyle Boulevard and East White Street down the block from the venue. They carried signs against the president and his policies and waved at traffic passing by. Some honked horns in support. Others just looked at the spectacle.
Retired Winthrop university professor Chris Van Aller was one of the first there. He said he wanted to publicly “protest Trump’s policies.”
Van Aller said he is particularly concerned with the way Trump has changed public assistance such as food stamps and other vital programs that affect “the less fortunate people in our society.”
Trump takes off for Rock Hill rally
11 a.m. Trump departed Joint Base Andrews just outside of Washington, D.C. at 10:42 a.m., according to White House pool reports.
He talked to news outlets for seven minutes before boarding Air Force One.
Talking about South Carolina, Trump claimed he’s got a 99% favorable number within the Republican Party and expects to hit 100%. But a poll released this week by The Citadel showed 29% of South Carolina Republicans surveyed “strongly approve” of Trump’s job as president and 34% “somewhat approve.”
“We have lines of people going 2 miles long. So it’ll be great,” Trump said about Thursday’s South Carolina rally. “I’d like to see Lindsay, in honor of Lindsay Graham, I’d like to see his sister win. She’s very talented, very smart. She loved her brother. Her brother was a great guy. He loved South Carolina. He was a great politician.”
Is Trump trying to boost Whatley too?
10:30 a.m. It’s not clear whether Michael Whatley, the Republican nominee for Senate in North Carolina, will attend Trump’s rally in Rock Hill. The Charlotte media market straddles the state line, and news outlets from both Carolinas are expected to be at the rally.
WSOC-TV, The Charlotte Observer’s news partner, reported Whatley is holding a campaign rally Thursday with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Former Gov. Roy Cooper, the Democratic nominee, holds a steady lead over Whatley in a North Carolina Senate race that’s usually closely contested. South Carolina, meanwhile, faces an unusually tight Senate race that Fox News now rates as a toss up.
A spokesperson for the Cooper campaign characterized Trump’s visit as an attempt to also boost Whatley’s campaign in the days before Tuesday’s election.
“Roy Cooper is the only candidate with plans to make stuff cost less while Michael Whatley led the charge to give billionaires handouts that doubled people’s health care premiums, pushed for policies that spiked his own stocks and lobbied for big utility companies including Duke Energy as people’s electric bills went through the roof,” a campaign spokesperson said in a statement.
Read more Donald Trump to speak Thursday at Rock Hill election rally. Here’s where and how to go
‘Can’t become a Democratic state’
9:50 a.m. Darla Jordan of York County attended Thursday’s rally with two carts of Trump merch in tow. Dressed in a suit with a red tie and a MAGA hat, Jordan told McClatchy she’s a “die hard Trump fan” attending her third rally. She was part of a crowd of people waiting to get in Thursday before Trump’s rally.
“I think that it’s very important that Darline Graham get re-elected in South Carolina and us not become a Democratic state,” she said. “I think that we cannot become a socialist economy. I think that capitalism is very important and I think that we’ve got to make sure that our capitalist economy wins.”
I-77 South lanes closed north of Charlotte
9:20 a.m. Interstate 77 southbound lanes in the Lake Norman area could be closed all day Thursday because of an early morning crash, state highway officials said.
The wreck happened just after 6:30 a.m. near I-77 Williamson Road exit 33 in Mooresville, according to DriveNC.gov, the state’s real-time traffic information map.
The toll and two left general purpose lanes are closed., according to the NCDOT map.
Traffic is backed up to beyond I77 N.C. 150 exit 36 in Mooresville.
Anticipate traffic in Rock Hill
The York County Sheriff’s Office warns there will be “significant delays” around the Interstate 77 corridor from the state line through Rock Hill between 11 a.m. through 4 p.m.
Sgt. Johnathan Gilbert of the York County Sheriff’s Office told The Herald deputies will be visible assisting on Thursday.
Rock Hill police said in a statement Wednesday afternoon drivers should also expect delays near the events center, and should allow for additional travel time through at least 3 p.m.
Rock Hill police said any updates Thursday on traffic would be released through the department’s social media.
The President’s travel route has not been revealed, but Charlotte-Douglas International Airport reports the Airport Overlook will be closed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday.
Trump won’t be visiting the same Rock Hill, mayor says
On Thursday, Trump will rally voters at a city-owned site that represents revitalization, grit and a new era of prosperity for downtown Rock Hill. Regardless of political leanings, anyone can see that it’s a big deal for the city to host a sitting president.
Downtown has had plenty of big deals in recent years. The area transitioned from mills and factories to vacant properties, and then to the tech-forward mix of industries, apartments, restaurants and tourist sites that are there today. Mayor John Gettys recalls standing at the top floor of the Cotton Factory during his own 2017 campaign and telling folks to look out the windows, insisting those views would explode with new buildings in the coming decade.
“Well, that’s come to fruition,” Gettys said. “And it’s come to fruition so that we have all these people coming to downtown Rock Hill every weekend. We have people living downtown now.”
Read more here about how Rock Hill is becoming a new and different city as it benefits from rapid growth.
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