Haley to stump for embattled NC Gov. Pat McCrory

Facing a tough re-election challenge, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory will get some help on the campaign trail this week from his neighbor to the south.

S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley will attend a fundraiser Thursday for McCrory in Fayetteville, Haley’s office said.

Aligning himself with Haley could help McCrory who has slid behind N.C. Attorney General Ray Cooper, his Democratic challenger, in the polls.

N.C. Democrats hope to win over voters who are upset about a new state law that requires transgender people to use the bathroom of their birth sex. The law does not apply to private businesses, said a spokesman for McCrory, who signed the controversial legislation known as HB2.

Haley rejected a similar proposal in South Carolina, saying it was unneeded.

N.C. Democrats also are banking on GOP disillusionment with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to help them in down-ballot contests against Republicans, including McCrory.

Haley has criticized Trump repeatedly, including during her nationally televised GOP response to President Obama’s January State of the Union address.

Haley enjoyed a rising national profile and popularity after she pushed to remove the Confederate flag last summer from the State House grounds in the wake of the massacre of nine African Americans in a Charleston church.

This story was originally published August 23, 2016 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Haley to stump for embattled NC Gov. Pat McCrory."