Pence returns to Wilmington as Election Day nears

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — With Election Day right around the corner, Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence is making his second visit to the Wilmington area in less than two months.

Pence was scheduled to hold a rally starting at 3 p.m. at the Coastline Conference & Event Center in Downtown Wilmington.

There was standing room only inside the coastline convention center. Mike Pence was about an hour late, because he made a surprise stop in Hillsborough first to look at the firebombed GOP headquarters. Pence said it is political terrorism.

Pence also said his thoughts and prayers are with the families affected by Hurricane Matthew.

With three weeks left in this election, Pence said he did not just come to Wilmington to make a speech. He told his supporters to go out and volunteer in the electoral process and preserve the accountability of the voting process and talk to people.

“You got to go tell somebody,” Pence said. “If you have one of those red hats, just don’t take it off for three weeks. Find people at work and at worship and over a backyard fence and stop them and ask, just first question, ‘Do you think we need to change things in this country?'”

A supporter in the audience, Clayton Heath agreed with that idea.

“The people here are going to vote for Trump,” Heath said. “There ain’t nobody dissuading anybody here to vote for Trump. All of us here, all of us deplorables here, are going to vote for Trump. But we have got to get the word out to the ones that aren’t about what’s going to happen.”

As soon as Pence left, he headed to Fayetteville for a rally at 6 p.m.

Early voting in North Carolina starts Thursday.

The Indiana governor toured the Port of Wilmington and held a rally at a Leland factory on Aug. 24. Pence’s second visit marks the fourth time one of the major candidates for president or vice president has visited the Wilmington during this campaign. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump held a rally at UNCW’s Trask Coliseum Aug. 9. Democrat Hillary Clinton’s running mate Tim Kaine gave what the campaign called a “major national security speech” at the Hannah Block Historic USO on Sept. 6.