Trump, Clinton to return to NC

Trump is expected to make a campaign stop Monday in the Triad, according to state Republican Party officials. Details are still being worked out.

Clinton and Trump also are scheduled to speak at the VFW National Convention in Charlotte, with Clinton first up on Monday – before she heads to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia – followed by Trump on Tuesday.

The visit would mark Trump's third and fourth appearances to North Carolina in six weeks and Clinton's third stop in the same time, demonstrating the state's increasing importance in the November election. Clinton has also been running a number of television and radio ads statewide in recent weeks.

Another sign of North Carolina's must-win status for Republicans: Trump's son and daughter-in-law were dispatched Thursday morning to meet with the state's delegation to the Republican National Convention.

"On thing I'll say about North Carolina, (it has) some of the greatest people in the world, and that's why I married this one," Eric Trump said.

His wife, Lara, is a Wrightsville Beach native. She's also a proud graduate of North Carolina State University, singing the school fight song for delegates.

"I think we're going to come through, and I think my home state is going to come through again in November," Lara Trump said.

Eric Trump also blasted former presidential candidate Ted Cruz, who was booed off the convention stage Wednesday night because he wouldn't endorse Donald Trump in a prime-time speech.

"They were booing someone off the stage who wasn't in 100 percent lockstep," Eric Trump said, noting that the shouts of his family's name by supporters were deafening inside Quicken Loans Arena.

"He doesn't come out and endorse, which that's obviously what everybody was looking for him to do and, quite frankly, what would have been the right thing for him to do. He literally gets booed off the stage, which I think the room spoke for itself," Eric Trump said.

Most in the North Carolina delegation didn't appreciate Cruz's snub of Donald Trump.

"I just think there was a lot of damage done," said Kim Cotten-West of Plymouth. "I think he's done (in politics)."

Cruz backer Larry Schug of Zebulon disagreed, saying Trump's past attacks on Cruz ran too deep.

"If I talk trash about your mother or father or wife, would you endorse me?" Schug said.

Instead of division, however, Eric Trump said he sees a political party defending its nominee.

"People keep taking about unity and unity of the party. Obviously, everyone in that room, which represents so much of the influence of the Republican Party, was behind my father," he said.