Harris goes to North Carolina, plans to hold Sunday campaign event in state hit hard by hurricane
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris is meeting with black leaders in North Carolina on Saturday and will attend church before a rally in the state, according to her campaign.
The weekend trip is her second time in the battleground state after it was hit Hurricane Helenewith Harris getting back into campaign mode in a spot that many Democrats see as a potential rebound in the November election.
The Democratic presidential candidate went to North Carolina last week to map the devastation caused by Helene and pledge help to the victims. She plans to attend church on Sunday as part of a “Souls to the Polls” effort in Greenville, a city of about 90,000 on the coastal plain of a state that has closely supported the Republican Party. Donald Trump in 2020.
Democrats view North Carolina as moving their way this year, with a base of black and college-educated voters, as well as women concerned about losing protection against abortion. But the aftermath of Hurricane Helene has become a political flashpoint, with former President Trump and his allies attacking the Biden administration’s response to the natural disaster.
On Saturday evening, Harris will meet with local Black elected, faith and community leaders at a restaurant in Raleigh, in addition to working with volunteers preparing relief supplies for hurricane victims.
After Sunday’s church service, Harris plans to speak about the economy at a rally to drum up support ahead of the start of North Carolina’s early elections, which begin Thursday.
Hurricane Helene, which made landfall on September 26, resulted in the deaths of approximately 230 people and destroyed roads, electricity and cell phone services. Just two weeks later, on Wednesday, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, causing an estimated $50 billion in damage and leaving several people dead.
Harris also visited Georgia after Helene struck, in addition to virtually attending briefings on response efforts and adjusting her campaign schedule. But she has also continued to travel for and spend time in the presidential race Nevada and Arizona.
One of her main messages was that there should be no price gouging by companies seeking to profit from the shortages caused by the hurricanes, an issue she has made central to her campaign as a way to tackle inflation.
“Any company or individual who uses this crisis to drive up prices through illegal fraud or price gouging, whether at the gas pump, at the airport or at the hotel counter, we will keep an eye on and there will be a consequence are,” Harris said. said during Friday’s briefing.
But Trump and his allies have wrongly suggested that Federal Emergency Management Agency relief went to immigrants instead of hurricane victims, while also suggesting that people are not getting the full financial support they are legally entitled to.
At a recent rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump said the response was worse than how the administration handled the 2005 problems. Hurricane Katrinakilling nearly 1,400 people and causing $200 billion in damage.
“North Carolina has been hit very hard and this administration has not done a good job at all. Terrible, terrible,” Trump said at the rally, adding that Harris was “on a comedy tour to raise money while people are stranded and drowning all over some of our largest states.”
President Joe Biden has called Trump’s falsehoods about the administration’s response to the hurricanes “un-American” and told his predecessor to “get a life, man.”