Former Gov. Bev Perdue

“Just over the weekend, North Carolina exceeded 175,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, and in the last few weeks we’ve seen that our state’s unemployment rate is now higher than the national average. Thousands of working North Carolina families don’t know where their next paycheck is going to come from. […] And instead of taking real action that will help us address these crises, Donald Trump is bringing together a large crowd in a dangerous setting for an event that is just meant to further his own political interests. He’s putting his campaign above the health and safety of our community; no leader should ever take such a reckless, self-interested course of action. […]

“Normally in a campaign speech we’d expect to hear the candidate lay out their ideas for a better future — for them to talk about how they would address the problems we’re facing in a given moment. But Donald Trump has held these kinds of events for months, and not once has he been able to talk about what steps he’s taking to get us out of this mess. He can’t even tell us what he’d do with a second term. The last 6 months have shown us clearly that Donald Trump cannot get us out of this crisis — he’s simply not up to the job.”

Kathy Manning, Democratic Nominee for NC-06

“It’s been months since the House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, but Donald Trump has let it languish in the Senate and he’s failed to even come to a consensus within his own party when it comes to a new stimulus, which we desperately need.  What we’re seeing right now in the White House isn’t leadership — it’s chaos, and the people of the 6th District are the ones paying the price. Our communities are crying out for help from the federal government, but all we’ve gotten are nasty tweets and dangerous in-person campaign events that put our public health at risk. 

“Working families in our state need an ally in the White House and we’ve given Donald Trump his chance to meet that need — he hasn’t, and he won’t if he wins a second term. As Kamala Harris said a few weeks ago, the kind of president he’ll be is the kind of president he’s been. And that’s why we desperately need a new direction. Joe Biden has a real plan to contain this virus, restart our economy and make sure working families have the support they need to get back on their feet.”

Rep. Evelyn Terry (D-71)

“My constituents don’t need a rally right now; They need a president who is working to secure more relief for small businesses; They need a president who is committed to raising the minimum wage; They need a president who is interested in actually lowering the cost of health insurance instead of undoing the Affordable Care Act; And they need a president who is going to make sure our schools and educators have the funding, protective equipment and safety protocols they need before trying to force schools to fully reopen in the middle of this pandemic. 

“Those are the issues my constituents will want to hear Donald Trump talk about tonight. But this President never shares facts about anything. North Carolinians like me and many others that I represent here do not trust anything he says. If past is prologue, tonight will be nothing more than a partisan pep rally chalk full of nasty rhetoric and lots of misdirection. Since he doesn’t have much of a record to run on, that’s about all he’s able to do. Donald Trump hasn’t taken this situation seriously from the very start — he undermined our public health experts, spread falsehoods about phony treatments and said this virus would just “disappear” on its own. And because he refused to take this threat seriously, we now find ourselves in the worst public health and economic crisis in a century.”