Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton will hold their joint appearance in Winston-Salem. | AP Photo Michelle Obama to rally with Hillary Clinton in North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. — Michelle Obama will stump alongside Hillary Clinton for the first time Thursday in North Carolina, campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said Sunday.

The popular first lady has proved to be one of the most effective surrogates of the 2016 campaign, and last week headlined a rally for Clinton in Arizona, a traditionally Republican state that Clinton hopes to capture.


Fallon called Obama a “rock star” and said her “team keeps surprising us with extra” availability to appear on the trail.

Obama and Clinton will hold their joint appearance in Winston-Salem. It will be their first rally together, and it comes in one of the only states that voted for then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008 and then went for Mitt Romney in 2012.