CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Buoyed by her growing lead over Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton is pressing the advantage in North Carolina, one of a half dozen remaining battlegrounds where Democrats hope not only to lock up the White House but also to win back the Senate.

Trump's many self-inflicted wounds are fueling the optimism, though the race here, as elsewhere, remains fluid.

Clinton wants to run up the score enough to render moot any dark warnings about refusing to concede if he loses. And there are growing signs that her coattails may be long enough to at least tip control of the Senate, where Supreme Court and Cabinet nominations live or die.

Robin Hayes, chairman of the North Carolina GOP and a former congressman, said he isn't sure if a Trump effect will drag down the incumbents seeking re-election for governor and senator. He and the party apparatus are "100 percent behind Trump," he said. But Trump's insistence that he wouldn't automatically concede defeat after an election he calls "rigged" has hurt, as have other missteps.

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"On the even days I think it makes a big difference, on the odd days I don't," Hayes said.

Patsy Keever, state Democratic Party chairwoman, said she has no doubt that Trump taints the rest of the GOP ticket and is having a direct drag effect. As Republicans have ramped up pleas for a Congress that can put the brakes on Clinton's agenda, Democrats offer the counterargument: Send her enough allies to break the gridlock.

"It's time for us to get a Congress that can work together. Hillary Clinton will work with Congress, and we don't need a one-sided Congress," Keever said.

It's a view that resonates with rank-and-file Democrats, who say Republicans have only themselves to blame for Trump and the damage he's wrought on their party.

Both sides are fighting hard for the state.

Clinton was in Raleigh and Charlotte on Sunday, a few days after running mate Sen. Tim Kaine spent two days crisscrossing the state. She returns Thursday with Michelle Obama, a first lady who's emerged as the former first lady's most effective surrogate. Their rally in Winston-Salem will be their first joint campaign appearance. Bill Clinton embarks on a two-day bus tour Tuesday.

Charlotte also hosted Clinton's first joint appearance with President Barack Obama, on July 5 — a volley that reflects the stakes and the high priority of the Tar Heel state.

Trump has lavished attention, too, with three stops Friday and a return visit planned Wednesday.

Donald Trump addressed a rally at the Convention Center in Charlotte on Oct. 14. ((Logan Cyrus / Agence France-Presse))

In all, the nominees for president and vice president have made three dozen appearances since June — more than in Ohio, Pennsylvania or any other battleground besides Florida.

Party support is close to parity in North Carolina.

Obama won in 2008 by 14,000 votes out of 4.3 million, thanks to an especially strong ground game that pushed Democratic turnout to the same level as Republicans'. Four years later, he lost by 90,000 votes. Math tells the story: Democratic turnout slid, and Republicans' rose.

Probably two-thirds of the state's Republicans support Trump intensely — and that's a problem. It's usually above 90 percent for a GOP nominee.

Longtime GOP operative Carter Wrenn says up to 15 percent of Republican voters remain undecided. If they stay home, that would push down GOP turnout by 4 percent, hobbling Gov. Pat McCrory and Sen. Richard Burr, who are both locked in tough re-election fights.

"It could be like a row of dominoes falling. You don't know if it's going to roll through the other two major races," said Wrenn, who ran Sen. Jesse Helms' political organization and Ronald Reagan's presidential effort in the state in 1976.

He sees worrisome signs of a Trump effect. Polls show Democratic support growing on generic ballot tests: Would you prefer a Republican or Democrat in a Senate or U.S. House race?

"That's a sign that Trump's having a broader impact," Wrenn said.

"It could be like a row of dominoes falling," North Carolina GOP operative Carter Wrenn said.

Burr and other Republicans haven't been especially explicit about making their case based on the need to provide a check on a President Clinton. But Wrenn said, given the environment as Election Day looms, "I expect you're going to see a lot of that in the next couple of weeks."

Michael Bitzer, a political scientist at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., sees a toss-up in the three major races.

"This is a competitive state, and it's all about the ground game," he said. And Republicans are especially vulnerable with a potent bloc of swing voters: white college-educated women.

"Trump has alienated that group," Bitzer said.

Clinton is keen to take advantage. At a rally Sunday in Charlotte, she joked about her penchant for planning: "Maybe it's kind of a woman thing," she said. "We make our lists, then we try to figure out what we're going to get done and cross it off."

One item that has risen on her to-do list is to put more effort into helping potential allies win their races.

Clinton's lead has widened nationally to perhaps a dozen percentage points, a cushion that has prompted her to do just that, though it's too soon to assess the impact in North Carolina.

"We can't take anything for granted because we know Donald Trump's going to whine if he loses. The bigger we can win by, the harder it is for him to whine and have anybody believe him," Kaine told a couple hundred supporters at Heist Brewery in Charlotte on Thursday, where he made a case for ousting Burr and McCrory. "And the better we win, the more likely we'll have a Congress that shares your values."

The battle for control of the Senate has come down to a half dozen states, and this is one of them.

Republicans control 54 seats, so Democrats need to flip control of four if Clinton wins. They're on track to nab Illinois and Wisconsin. After that, their best shots are in Missouri, New Hampshire and Nevada, with opportunities in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Indiana.

"That makes everybody, as it should, kind of squeamish," Robin Hayes, the North Carolina Republican chairman, said of Trump's refusal to automatically concede the election if he loses.

The low-key Burr, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is seeking a third term against former state lawmaker Deborah Ross, whom Republicans paint as "radically liberal" for her stint leading the state American Civil Liberties Union. Burr led through the summer, fell behind along with Trump for a few weeks last month and then, unlike Trump, bounced back.

Clinton leads by about 3 percentage points in North Carolina and for now, so does Burr, suggesting that Democrats haven't yet managed to tie his fate to Trump's.

At the Kaine rally, Louis Lesesne, 71, a retired lawyer, agreed that running up the score against Trump would make it easier for Clinton to fill Supreme Court vacancies and make good on other campaign promises. And he said, "It might help deflate Trump's charges of a rigged election."

Gina Navarrete, 48, a neuropsychologist in Charlotte who trained at the University of Texas-Southwestern, said she wasn't optimistic that the drubbing she foresees will change the stubborn ways of Republicans in Washington.

"They weren't ready for a black president. It's weird, but they're not ready for a female president," she said. "We have to win both houses. If not, it's going to be another stalemate like we had with Obama."

As for Hayes, the state GOP chairman, he said Republicans have "indigestion" over Trump's inability to ignore distractions and stay focused on Clinton's vulnerabilities.

"When you get off message, it hurts your campaign," he said. "I would like to see him stay on offense with the things that are relevant."

And all the talk of rigged elections doesn't help either, he said.

"Traditional folks get their panties all in a wad about him saying that ... and that makes everybody, as it should, kind of squeamish," Hayes said.