It could take months, if not years, to recover from Hurricane Helene’s unprecedented devastation in western North Carolina. All communities are destroyed and points residents were displaced. With the presidential election less than 26 days away, both parties are grappling with unexpected political setbacks.
For Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the Democratic nominee just 2½ months ago, the aftermath of the hurricane meant campaign rallies were suspended. It’s lost on Harris’ world when every hour is ticking, especially when Democrats have the task of turning around a historically red state.
Greenville, the part of the state not affected by the hurricane, will return this weekend for the first political event that Helene hit 17 days ago.
For former President Donald Trump, devastation in deep red counties could hamper voters’ ability to get to the polls. While public officials addressed voting issues this weekadditional relief has been given to regions affected by early voting widespread impulse – from both Democrats and Republicans – to the disinformation spread by some members of the GOP, including Trump himself.
And Republicans are in an undeniably unusual position: In the final stretch of the race, they’re defending what was once a solid piece of the Republican map. Democrats have only won North Carolina twice since 1964.
A tense, unpredictable race
Neither side sees data suggesting the hurricane has fundamentally shaken the race. Instead, members of both parties say it’s as tight as ever. Only now, more unpredictable than ever.
“We always play like we’re one step behind,” a Trump campaign official said. “The biggest thing for us is the momentum we see on the ground … not the energy We see Kamala Harris everywhere from the team. I think that his energy and speed have somehow run out.”
However, Morgan Jackson, a longtime Democratic strategist in the state who has advised Gov. Roy Cooper and state Attorney General Josh Stein, said the opposite is true.
“We see incredible enthusiasm for the Democrats. “We’re seeing a little less enthusiasm from the Republicans, and a lot of that is ongoing, and that’s based on their dislike of their candidate,” Jackson said of Trump and ambitious candidate for governorshipLt. Gov. Mark Robinson. “They … don’t like abortion bans, social media conspiracy theorists and election deniers.”
It’s a back-and-forth game as North Carolina increasingly becomes the centerpiece of both parties’ strategies to win the White House. Harris could significantly block Trump’s path if he wins the state, and Harris could be blocked if Trump holds North Carolina and takes a blue-wall state like Pennsylvania. Unlike previous presidential terms, Democrats have a broad organization across the state, including 340 staff in addition to volunteers. It’s an operation that dwarfs Trump. Still, Republicans are betting the state will stay reliably red.
There are signs that the Republican contingent is ready to walk away from Trump. in March, More than 250,000 people Voted for Nikki Haley in the GOP in North Carolina, even though she had already dropped out. In 2020, Trump won the state by about 75,000 votes.
Trump criticized the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to Hurricane Helene, saying it did not act quickly enough to help people in rural areas. But his words turned into conspiracy theories and misinformation. They were charged without federal government evidence he refused on purpose Helene-affected Republicans are out of money due to aid and FEMA spending on illegal immigrants.
He also contradicted him members of his own partyincluding Sen. Tom Tillis of North Carolina appreciated the relief efforts and criticized those who engaged in “political posturing, finger-pointing or conspiracy theories” in statements perceived as critical of Trump’s claims. After Tillis posted her statement on social media, Harris said she was actually talking about him.
“Republicans are going to do everything they can to make this fail,” said veteran North Carolina Democratic strategist Thomas Mills. “It’s not working yet.”
Jackson argued that those affected may see Trump trying to politicize the hurricane.
“When people focus on safety and shelter and you focus on politics for personal gain, that’s a problem,” Jackson said. “It’s an election problem for the candidates who are pushing these stories, these false stories.”
Jonathan Felts, a longtime Republican strategist in North Carolina who works on a super PAC supporting Robinson, said Trump has solid support in the state’s rural areas. He added that Republicans would be wise to push for more voting and early voting in the area to ensure residents still get out after a disaster.
“There’s still zero message for rural North Carolina, and the storm didn’t change that,” Harris said.
A Trump campaign official pointed to Haley’s efforts to expand the Trump tent with surrogates such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds to make gains among former GOP voters. Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, was in the state Wednesday. The person made it clear that the coalition expansion effort is targeting “historically Democratic Blue Dog voters.”
Even when Harris is not in the state, including an upcoming visit by former President Bill Clinton, his political operation is still going strong. On Thursday, the campaign previewed a Univision town hall event with Latino voters in Raleigh. In separate events, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is set to visit Friday as officers defend the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
Help residents heal and vote
The Trump campaign believes recent legislation passed by the North Carolina Legislature will go a long way toward addressing voting concerns in the western part of the state. But he is ready to take additional steps.
“If we have to get volunteers out there to cut down trees, we’ll get volunteers out there to cut down trees and get them off the highway to vote,” a campaign official said. “We’re working on what that’s going to look like to make sure our voters can come out to get something to eat, to make sure these early voting centers have canned food, barbecues, ‘if you’re doing this again, make sure they vote.'”
Trump set up a GoFundMe page to help storm victims in several states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. So far, it has raised more than $7.6 million. Trump’s campaign did not say whether he personally donated.
Harris’ well-funded and sprawling organization is far ahead of the curve in North Carolina. For weeks, he drove tractor-trailer trucks across western North Carolina, delivering supplies and toiletries, batteries and shelf-stable food to the hardest-hit areas, including drop-offs at community and distribution centers from nearby states. The Harris campaign also hosted community meals that fed 120 families, and it organizes similar events, spending more than $30,000 in relief efforts. He also set up a voter assistance hotline, which he said has hundreds of live operators ready to help voters by phone or text.
“Our hearts go out to North Carolinians affected by Hurricane Helene, and we are working closely with our legal and voter advocacy teams and the NC Democratic Party to ensure that every voter can safely make their voices heard in this election,” Dory MacMillan, a North Carolina-based spokeswoman for the Harris campaign, said in a statement. .
Trump’s campaign played down the idea that voters there were reeling from the hurricane misinformation he and his allies spread online. appeared In the hurricane-ravaged part of Georgia before Harris or President Joe Biden visited. Biden and Harris did not want to get in the way of state and local officials trying to reconnect affected communities where roads and other services have been cut. Biden said at the time. Finally, after Biden toured North Carolina, Harris visited Georgia once to highlight relief efforts. Trump once held a town hall in North Carolina.
“He’s talking about how FEMA is misusing the dollars,” said a second Trump official, accusing the administration of misusing emergency dollars, which the Biden team has repeatedly denied.
Zeb Smathers, the mayor of Canton, North Carolina, which is facing a significant recovery from the storm, said the hardest-hit residents lacked the bandwidth for politics and could respond to anyone who used the hurricane for political gain.
“There’s a time for politics, but I think the American people, who have a lot to lose, deserve to have their leaders put politics aside and lead,” Smathers said, adding that the result has happened in places like his city. “We’ve been able to work together, get a lot of resources for our people, and the American people need to see that. Let this be one of the legacies of all these crises.”