Local native Lara Trump will attend and likely speak at a rally for her father in law, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, at a Wilmington rally Tuesday.

NEW YORK – Lara Trump likes to think she had something to do with her father-in-law, Donald Trump, making a campaign stop in Wilmington Tuesday.

“I talk about my hometown all the time,” the Wilmington native said Monday from New York. “Everybody in the (Trump) family and involved with the campaign knows, not only am I from North Carolina, but I’m from Wilmington. So when they were looking at the schedule and realized they could make a stop in Wilmington work, I hope I played some role in that and my insisting paid off.”

The Republican presidential nominee will speak at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Trask Coliseum on UNCW’s campus. Doors open at 11 a.m.

Although Lara, who is married to Donald’s son Eric, is not formally scheduled to speak Tuesday, she’s no stranger to being pulled up on stage by her father-in-law. At a March rally in Fayetteville, Donald Trump brought Lara Trump on stage and spoke briefly about her North Carolina ties – drawing big cheers from the crowd.

If Donald Trump hands over the microphone to her Tuesday, she is excited and ready to address the crowd, which she expects will be dotted with familiar faces.

But don’t expect her to read from a pre-written speech.

“As a member of the Trump family, I learned from all of them the best stuff comes off the cuff and from your heart,” she said. “It will be whatever is on my mind and my heart. That way you can’t mess anything up.”

Lara Trump, who was back in New York Monday on assignment for her job at “Inside Edition,” had not talked to Donald Trump about the Wilmington rally since it was confirmed over the weekend. But she said she expects his speech to heavily acknowledge North Carolina's military presence.

Lara Trump and several campaign members spent the past week laying the groundwork for his visit.

Together with national campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson and “Apprentice” alumna and Trump’s current Director of African-American Outreach Omarosa Manigault, she traveled the state on a Woman’s Empowerment Tour to speak directly with women voters in North Carolina.

The group met with Republican women in New Hanover and Brunswick counties Saturday to organize events -- eyed for September -- that will ask locals to get involved with the campaign.

The tour was the first time Lara Trump has been dispatched by the campaign out into communities on her own, without Eric or other family members. No matter where she is sent, she said she constantly thinks of Wilmington.

"I think about it everywhere I go," she said. "I want to be a great representation of my home."

The campaign's impending trip to North Carolina comes just three weeks after Donald Trump accepted the nomination for president at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Lara Trump joined the family on stage following his speech and called the experience "incredible."

With his Wilmington rally, Donald Trump hopes to appeal to voters in North Carolina, which is considered a swing state. Lara said she hopes she can connect the larger-than-life nominee with her hometown community.

“There is southern blood in the Trump family now,” she said. “I am proud to bring that.”

Reporter Hunter Ingram can be reached at 910-343-2327 or Hunter.Ingram@StarNewsOnline.com.