President Trump will visit North Carolina on Monday as official Republican National Convention business gets underway in Charlotte, touring a site packaging food boxes for families as part of the administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a White House official, Trump will tour Flavor First Growers and Packers, a company partnering with Baptists on Mission to package and distribute food boxes as part of the $3 billion Farmers to Families Food Box program launched by the Department of Agriculture in April. The president will also deliver outdoor remarks on the administration’s efforts to support farmers and families during the pandemic.
Flavor First Growers and Packers is located in Mills River, N.C., about 100 miles west of Charlotte.
Trump will be formally nominated on Monday as 336 delegates — six from each state and territory — gather in Charlotte for the GOP proceedings. The official business has been scaled down due to the coronavirus, but it will be livestreamed. Monday’s trip was first reported by the local publication North State Journal.
The Farmers to Families Food Box program is designed to connect regional distributions with local food banks, community organizations, religious groups and other nonprofits in order to distribute surplus dairy, meat and produce to families in need. Officials say the program, which was funded by legislation passed by Congress in mid-March, has delivered nearly 70 million food boxes to date.
Baptists on Mission was awarded a contract to produce the food boxes and has partnered with Flavor First.
The president will be joined by his daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump, who has been a vocal advocate for the program within the administration.
“With nearly 70 million boxes of nutritious, locally-sourced fresh fruit, vegetable, milk and meat delivered to date, we are deeply appreciative of our strong and innovative partners like Baptists on Mission and Flavor First Growers and Packers that allow us to continue the fight to feed our nation’s hungry, support our farmers and strengthen our workforce,” Ivanka Trump said in a statement.
The president said late last month that he planned to travel to North Carolina during the convention business, briefly touching off confusion over if he planned to deliver his acceptance speech in the state.
The Republican National Convention events will stretch over four days next week, culminating in Trump’s formal acceptance speech on Thursday evening, which he plans to deliver from the White House grounds. Multiple Republican leaders and noteworthy speakers are slated to deliver remarks to the convention, which will be mostly virtual to avoid large crowds. Vice President Pence plans to address the convention from Fort McHenry in Baltimore on Wednesday to accept the vice presidential nomination.
The convention was initially scheduled to take place fully in Charlotte, but Trump moved the celebratory events to Jacksonville, Fla., after disagreements with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) over the convention size. Trump was then forced to cancel plans for the in-person events in Jacksonville last month, due to surging coronavirus infections in the Sunshine State.
North Carolina is a key battleground in the 2020 elections, and recent polls show Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden in a tight race in the state, which Trump won by more than 3 percentage points in 2016. An Emerson College survey released earlier this month found Trump leading Biden 48 percent to 46 percent among North Carolina voters, an advantage within the poll’s margin of error.
The Republican convention will take place the week following its Democratic counterpart, which concluded Thursday evening with Biden’s keynote address.