WASHINGTON — This year’s presidential election has been disrupted by the unexpected arrival of two hurricanes, Helene and Milton, casting a shadow over the campaign activities of both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Each candidate is now faced with addressing the ongoing storm recovery efforts, which have become pressing issues as the election approaches.
As the storms dominate the news cycle, they raise fundamental questions regarding disaster management capabilities among presidential candidates, highlighting a formulaic part of the job that, in recent years, has often been overlooked. The hurricanes are not only affecting public engagements but also complicating voting logistics in critical counties just weeks before the November 5 election.
Harris is seizing this moment to showcase her leadership skills by appearing with President Biden at briefings while advocating for bipartisan efforts to enhance disaster response. Conversely, Trump is taking this opportunity to criticize the current administration’s effectiveness, alluding to alleged disparities in aid distribution, particularly to Republican jurisdictions, despite a lack of substantiation for such claims.
The urgency of the situation is magnified by the necessity to allocate additional funding to the Small Business Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which would require cooperation from House Republicans. President Biden stated that Hurricane Milton alone inflicted damage estimated at around $50 billion.
“Handling consecutive crises will heighten scrutiny on FEMA, and by extension, the Biden administration, as Election Day draws near,” observed Timothy Kneeland, a professor at Nazareth University in Rochester, New York, specializing in this subject matter. “Harris must express empathy toward victims while maintaining a campaign schedule and delivering consistent communication about the widespread destruction that complicates FEMA’s operations.”
Both candidates have already visited affected areas in Georgia and North Carolina, promising support and assessing the devastation, which has led to the cancellation of other campaign events. The stakes are particularly high since both states are critical battlegrounds.
This hurricane fallout has been evident in campaign events, as seen during Harris’s appearance at a Univision town hall in Las Vegas, where an undecided voter questioned whether the administration has sufficiently supported recovery efforts. While Harris acknowledged the misinformation circulating from Republican sources, her response underscored the dynamic complexities of the impending election.
“I must emphasize that this is not the right time for political maneuvering,” she indicated during the event. Meanwhile, Trump commenced his speech at the Detroit Economic Club by commending Republican governors in storm-affected states and criticizing Biden and Harris for their handling of the situation, stating that their response has unjustly left victims in crisis.
Voting procedures have also been thrown into disarray due to the storms. North Carolina’s State Board of Elections has enacted resolutions to assist residents in impacted counties with voting, while Florida is allowing more flexibility in mail-in ballots and polling locations. However, a federal judge in Georgia ruled that the state does not need to reopen voter registration, despite the disruptions caused by Hurricane Helene.
The political environment has grown tense, with Biden recently accusing Trump of disseminating false narratives that he deemed “un-American.” Candace Bright Hall-Wurst, a sociology professor at East Tennessee State University, observed that natural disasters have become increasingly politicized, shifting focus to the politicians instead of the individuals in need of assistance. “Disasters gain political significance when they can be of value to a candidate, but this politicization isn’t necessarily beneficial to those affected,” she noted.
As the Democratic nominee, Harris has found herself prominently involved in the storm response efforts, a role not typically associated with vice presidents in previous administrations. This includes participating in Situation Room briefings while maintaining campaign activities, emphasizing her administrative role.
During a recent briefing with Biden, Harris reiterated her commitment to combating price gouging, reflecting her campaign policies. “To any entity exploiting this crisis to unjustly inflate prices, we will be vigilant and there will be accountability,” she asserted, showcasing her expanded responsibilities in the ongoing response.
Hurricane Milton struck Florida strongly, leaving over three million residents without electricity, and while it was less catastrophic than Helene, which resulted in approximately 230 deaths and widespread service disruptions in North Carolina, the political implications of the storms are substantial. Trump and his associates have leveraged the aftermath of Hurricane Helene to circulate misinformation about disaster aid, making unsubstantiated claims that victims are only eligible for $750 in assistance and misrepresenting the allocation of emergency response funds.
At a rally in Juneau, Wisconsin, Trump claimed that the Biden administration’s handling of Helene was worse than the infamous response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which saw nearly 1,400 fatalities. “Kamala Harris has abandoned the victims, and the response has been the most inadequate we’ve ever witnessed,” he asserted.
In terms of strategy, Trump’s campaign press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, articulated that this focus represents a broader pattern of “failed leadership” by the Biden-Harris administration, extending to other critical issues, including military withdrawals and border security failures.
According to John Gasper of Carnegie Mellon University, natural disasters serve as a litmus test for leadership effectiveness at all levels of government. “Such crises are crucial in evaluating how officials respond,” he remarked. Nonetheless, he underscored that the current polarization of U.S. politics, along with various pressing topics such as the economy, may overshadow the significance of hurricane response as the election draws nearer. “While it may influence voter sentiment marginally, it will not necessarily dictate the election outcome amidst the array of other crucial issues at play,” he concluded.
