WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump are trying to rethink their travel plans and tactics as they face a real-time test of how they handle unexpected crises: life-threatening weather, war and a looming longshoreman strike. which may raise prices.
Harris’s challenge is to shape the government’s response without politicizing a moment that calls for bridging national divisions.
Former President Trump’s dilemma is that any criticism he issues could draw attention to his own actions in 2017 when he threw in the towel on Puerto Rico’s victims of Hurricane Maria.
“These storms are devastating events for elected leaders when disaster strikes,” said Republican pollster Whit Ayres. “When the election comes down to seven swing states that are essentially tied right now, and a few of those swing states suffer extraordinary damage from this storm, then any Influence at the margins in these swing states can affect the national outcome.
Harris canceled campaign stops and returned to Washington for a private briefing from federal emergency management officials on the damage caused by Hurricane Helene.
“Thanks for showing us,” Eric Hooks, deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told her.
White House official Harris plans to visit storm-hit areas “as soon as possible without halting emergency response operations.”
For his part, Trump traveled to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday to survey damage from the storm and express “solidarity” with those affected by the storm, which killed at least 116 people and left two million customers without power in several southern states.
Trump used a news conference at a local furniture store in Georgia to say politics should play no role in recovery efforts — while leveling false criticism of his enemies’ handling of the storm response.
Trump said he “couldn’t get” President Joe Biden on the phone to discuss the storm’s victims, though Kemp told reporters they spoke Sunday evening, Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who was not at the event.
“He just said, hey, what do you need?” Kemp told the press about his discussion with Biden. “And I told him, you know, we got what we needed. We will work through the federal process.”
White House official Harris also spoke with officials from storm-stricken Kemp and other communities where he flew home at the Air Force Base on Monday. Trump later mocked the photo he shared on social media with a description of his discussion with the officials.
In both campaigns, the path of the hurricane was not lost. In two battleground states that could decide the election, communities in North Carolina and Georgia are now looking for federal help and leadership as they struggle to rebuild.
Recent CNN and Marist polls in North Carolina show Harris and Trump tied at 49-49%. In Georgia, which Biden won in 2020, the latest Fox News poll showed Harris leading 51-48% and CBS News leading Trump 51-49%.
Analysts say the pool of undecided voters is small, but the executive nature of Harris and Trump in the coming weeks could make a difference in the election.
North Carolina is a case in point. The western part of the state is a rural, heavily Republican region that includes the two blue dots in Asheville and Boone, one of the cities hardest hit by the hurricane. Biden easily carried Buncombe County, which includes Asheville, 60% to 39%.
“There’s a pretty simple playbook for campaigns to be useful or useless,” said Caitlin Legacki, a Democratic strategist and former Biden administration official. “For example, the Harris team already uses North Carolina email lists and social accounts to provide information and resources to their audience. You’ll likely see field offices temporarily used for food banks and donation mailings. These are productive ways to engage campaigns in relief efforts.”
Events in the U.S. and abroad give both candidates a chance to win or lose ground in a race where little has changed the trajectory.
The argument Harris and Democrats before him have made is that they are more qualified and better suited to run the federal government than Trump.
“This week’s events show how critical it is to have a president who is serious about the issues facing the country and the world,” said a Harris campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity to speak freely about the dynamics of the campaign. “Donald Trump is frivolous. She yells about her hair and Johnny Carson and ignites the flames of division. The vice president helps lead the federal response to the disaster, including the thousands of federal workers sent to help.
Still, the fallout from the storm — along with the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and a potential port strike that could disrupt supply chains — threatens the core logic of Harris’s campaign.
He is part of a Biden administration that will tell voters how to prevent problems or prevent them from spreading. Presidents are not responsible for union disputes. Nor can they control the weather or dictate events on the battlefield some 6,000 miles away. But fair or not, the public can still hold them accountable.
Alex Conant, a Republican strategist who worked in the George W. Bush White House during Hurricane Katrina, said people tend to blame the federal government for its lack of response to the disaster, even though the effort was largely led by state and local governments.
“Emergencies like this can certainly put a big dent in campaign plans,” Conant said. “Ultimately, people expect the federal government to respond, and if the response is insufficient, they will blame the administration.”
As for the war in the Middle East, Harris did not respond to reporters’ questions about the worsening situation before boarding his plane back to Washington.
“There is a measure of justice for Hezbollah’s victims,” Harris said after an Israeli operation killed Hezbollah commander Hassan Nasrullah on Saturday, following the death of “a terrorist with American blood on his hands.”
He emphasized that he and Biden wanted to prevent the escalation of tension between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
“We are working on a diplomatic solution on the Israel-Lebanon border so that people can return home safely on both sides of the border. Diplomacy remains the best way to protect civilians and achieve lasting stability in the region,” he said. .”
Wanting to take advantage of this moment, Trump tried to portray Harris as incompetent in his response to the hurricane. He attacked Harris on social media over a photo he posted while being briefed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency while flying with the 2nd Air Force.
“Another one FAKE AND FALSE A photo of someone who has no idea what he’s doing,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. “You have to connect the cable to the phone to work!”
Trump’s criticism of Harris could open him up to accusations that he mishandled the hurricanes on his watch as president. Once he appeared Use a Sharpie To show on a map that Hurricane Dorian threatens Alabama. Then there were reports that he once asked officials if he could use a nuclear bomb destroy the hurricane.
one lasting images Trump’s presidency was when he dropped rolls of paper towels on Puerto Ricans during his visit after Hurricane Maria hit the island in 2017. Some critics considered the gesture disingenuous given the scale of the suffering.
“He looked at them like a photograph,” Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said.