On Saturday, Vice President Kamala Harris is set to engage with Black community leaders in North Carolina, coinciding with a church visit in the state before a rally, as outlined by her campaign.
This weekend marks Harris’s second trip to the key battleground state following the devastation brought by Hurricane Helene. This visit transitions Harris back into campaign mode in a region that many Democrats consider crucial for the upcoming November election.
Last week, the Democratic presidential candidate visited North Carolina to assess the hurricane’s damage and pledged support to those affected. On Sunday, she will join a “Souls to the Polls” initiative in Greenville, a coastal city with about 90,000 residents, part of a state that narrowly favored Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
With a focus on its base of Black voters, educated young adults, and women concerned about abortion rights, Democrats believe North Carolina might swing in their favor this election year. However, the political landscape has become complicated due to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, as former President Trump and his supporters criticize the Biden administration’s disaster response.
On Saturday evening, Harris will meet with local Black electors, faith leaders, and community representatives at a Raleigh restaurant, collaborating with volunteers to prepare hurricane relief supplies. Following her church attendance, Harris is expected to address economic matters at a rally intended to boost enthusiasm ahead of early voting in the state, commencing on Thursday.
Hurricane Helene, which made landfall on September 26, tragically claimed approximately 230 lives while causing widespread destruction, including major losses in infrastructure, electricity, and communication. Merely two weeks post-Helene, Florida experienced another blow with Hurricane Milton, leading to an estimated $50 billion in damages and multiple fatalities.
In addition to her visits to North Carolina, Harris toured Georgia shortly after the hurricane’s impact. She has made adjustments to her campaign schedule while still participating in campaign events across Nevada and Arizona.
One of Harris’s key messages focuses on preventing price gouging amid shortages resulting from the hurricanes—an issue central to her campaign in the context of rising inflation. “To any company or individual exploiting this crisis to inflate prices through fraudulent means, whether at the gas station, the airport, or hotel, we’ll be monitoring the situation, and there will be repercussions,” Harris warned at a briefing on Friday.
Meanwhile, Trump and his supporters have propagated misinformation suggesting that FEMA’s disaster relief is being allocated to immigrants rather than those directly affected by the hurricanes, implying that victims are receiving inadequate financial support. During a recent rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump criticized the government’s disaster response, likening it unfavorably to the handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which resulted in nearly 1,400 fatalities and $200 billion in damages.
“North Carolina has faced significant challenges, and this administration’s response has been absolutely inadequate,” Trump stated at the rally, accusing Harris of prioritizing fundraising over addressing the crisis while many citizens remain in dire situations.
President Biden has rebuffed Trump’s claims about the government’s hurricane response, labeling them “un-American” and suggesting that Trump needs to “get a life.”
