GASTONIA, NC — Ahead of Donald Trump’s Wednesday rally in Charlotte, two young Republican activists in a western suburb of the city seeking victories for conservatives up and down the ballot explained why President Biden is losing support among voters their age — who are increasingly turning to Trump.
Jonathan Fletcher, 32, a former Gaston County GOP chairman, has been involved with the party for 20 years, starting as a 12-year-old homeschooler.
His own name is on the ballot for the first time, as a register of deeds candidate.
Twenty-two-year-old Jesse Hughes is dedicating his time this summer to being a Trump Force 47 volunteer before he returns to Liberty University to attend law school.
As an undergrad, he was chairman of Liberty’s College Republicans chapter.
The Post interviewed both gentlemen at the Gaston County GOP HQ, in a rather unusual location for a county-party office — a full-fledged shopping mall.
The four-and-a-half-year-old office is open longer and for more days of the week during the election season but maintains the location year-round, atypical for county-party organizations, which are often strapped for cash.
“The mall has been struggling getting people because retail is changing. And they were amenable to trying something new. They’ve got all kinds of crazy different things in this mall that you don’t see in others — batting cages, they had laser tag, and all kinds of different stuff. So we thought we’d try it out, and we get a lot of good reception here. A lot of people want to come and take a picture with President Trump — that’s a big thing,” Fletcher said, referring to a near-life-sized cardboard cutout of the 45th president.
“We get a lot of thumbs up. Every once in a while we’ll get a different finger. But I would say overwhelmingly positive versus negative reception here.”
The mall office is also a retail location selling all kinds of Republican paraphernalia, the proceeds from which help fund its get-out-the-vote efforts, particularly for lesser-known down-ballot candidates.
Both young men said Biden administration policies have made it hard for people their age to get ahead, delaying major life milestones such as homeownership and having children.
“If we’re put in a position where people can’t afford even have a family, that’s not going to be sustainable for the future. That’s not going to be a good outlook for the future,” Hughes said.
“The United States is at the lowest fertility rate that it’s had in its history. That is not how you keep a nation going for another few generations, another 100 years or so. We need to be able to address these concerns and make it easier for people to be able to buy a home, be able to have kids, have families and be able to afford to do those things.”
“I think that a lot of people my age lean more into the idea that Republicans have better answers on those issues,” Hughes concluded.
Biden won voters under 45 by double digits in 2020.
But polls now show his lead with them is down to the single digits in a two-way race — and Trump wins them when third-party candidates are polled as well.
Both young men noted the policies passed by North Carolina’s Republican super-majority Legislature have been good and could be even better if Republicans win key statewide races: governor and attorney general.
Gov. Roy Cooper is term limited, and the spot is up for grabs in November — the only governorship Democrats are defending in a state Trump won in 2020.
Hughes pointed to state Republicans’ resiliency despite two terms of Democratic governance: “Look at what all they accomplished with Roy Cooper at every turn trying to stop them. With a Democrat Supreme Court at every turn trying to stop them. Now we have the General Assembly. We have the Republican Supreme Court. And if we can get the governor’s mansion, I can’t even imagine all the great things that we can do. If we get that opportunity, and I believe that we will.”
Both men are charting their futures in Gaston County, with no plans to flee to less purplish pastures. Fletcher has lived there his whole life. Hughes said he may work elsewhere after graduation, but only for a short season before returning to his roots.
One threat to their community’s prosperous future is fentanyl, which flows freely into America thanks to lax border policies, making the issue close to home for this North Carolina county.
“We have really become a border state because so many people are coming here after they do cross the border. And I think the biggest thing that we’re seeing in relation to that is just the fentanyl. Really, really a lot of terrible effects of fentanyl,” Fletcher said.
In his area, the harsh reality of drug abuse shows itself in unexpected ways.
“One of the ones that I think people don’t think about often is the strain that is putting on our foster-care system and our adoption system. Our foster-care reunification rate for families right now in Gaston County is 13%. It should be 70%. But it’s 13%. And when you ask our social-services workers why that is, it’s because of the drug epidemic. And that’s because of everything that’s pouring over the border.”
Hughes and Fletcher are just as concerned about the state’s attorney-general race, featuring a contest between Republican Rep. Dan Bishop and Democratic Rep. Jeff Jackson.
The last two Democrats elected attorney general used it as a springboard to higher office in the Tar Heel State.
Hughes said with Bishop as AG and Mark Robinson as gov, “you would see a slew of policies that would make North Carolina a great state” — and “a safe state where crime is prosecuted the way it needs to be and, where things aren’t just allowed to kind of slip under the radar.”
Cooper was AG before being elected governor, and 2024 gubernatorial Democratic nominee Josh Stein is attorney general right now.
At her Fayetteville rally last week, Vice President Kamala Harris noted Cooper is a “dear friend” and “extraordinary leader” she’s known for almost two decades, since he was North Carolina AG and she was California AG.
Cooper’s name has been floated as a possible running mate for Harris.
Donald Trump will be in Charlotte Wednesday evening for a rally at the Bojangles Arena.