SWANNANOA, N.C. (AP) 鈥� Surveying storm damage in North Carolina, former President on Monday blasted federal emergency responders whose work has been stymied by and a deluge of , but he said he was not concerned that the aftermath of would affect election results in the battleground state.
Trump was asked whether it was helpful to criticize hurricane relief workers after the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently paused its work in the area because of reports they could be targeted by militia. He responded by again attacking the agency and repeating the falsehood that the response was hampered because FEMA spent its budget helping people who crossed the border illegally. That claim was weeks ago by U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., who stood behind Trump as he spoke.
鈥淲ell, I think you have to let people know how they鈥檙e doing," Trump told reporters outside Asheville. 鈥淚f they were doing a great job, I think we should say that too because I think they should be rewarded ... If they鈥檙e doing a poor job, we鈥檙e supposed to not say it?鈥�
Despite extensive damage across western North Carolina, Trump said he saw no reason for the storm to cast doubt on the North Carolina election results.
鈥淣o, I think in a way, it鈥檚 the opposite,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淚 mean, we鈥檙e so impressed, and I think they have a pretty good system here.鈥�
Trump's campaign and that of his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, are ramping up their activity in North Carolina again after the storm. Trump had three stops in the state scheduled for Monday. Former President Bill Clinton appeared last week with Harris' running mate, Tim Walz, and followed with several visits in eastern North Carolina.
With 15 days until Election Day, North Carolina is critical to the Electoral College math that will decide whether Trump gets a White House encore or Harris hands him a second defeat and, in the process, makes history as the first woman, second Black person and first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office.
鈥淲e are going to win or lose the presidency based on what happens in North Carolina,鈥� Republican National Chairman Michael Whatley, a North Carolinian, said last week as part of a GOP bus tour.
North Carolina is expected to cast as many as 5.5 million ballots, with more than 1 million votes already cast since the start of early voting last Thursday.
Harris on Monday suburban Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin 鈥� holding a series of conversations with moderated by Republican strategist Sarah Longwell, publisher of the Bulwark conservative commentary site, and conservative radio host Charlie Sykes.
Hurricane Helene displaced thousands of voters
Many North Carolina counties affected by Hurricane Helene moved Election Day precincts or changed early voting sites. Thousands of voters remained displaced or without power or water as early voting commenced. Both parties are scrambling to check their turnout operations.
鈥淲e鈥檙e working every channel we can, you know?鈥� Whatley said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be doing phone calls. We鈥檙e going to be doing direct mail. We鈥檒l be doing emails and digital 鈥� basically anything we can do to let people know where to go.鈥�
Harris has not visited Asheville since the storm. Biden flew over the area to survey damage in a helicopter. The White House generally shies away from on-the-ground visits to disaster zones because their presence can distract law enforcement from recovery needs.
Republican Renee Kyro, who lives a short drive from , said she knows 鈥減lenty of Trump supporters who lost everything,鈥� and others who remain in their homes but don鈥檛 have reliable internet or phone connections and may not know their polling location.
鈥淚鈥檒l go door to door if I have to,鈥� she said.
Yet Trump and Republicans never built the same campaign infrastructure as Harris 鈥� or President Joe Biden鈥檚 before he dropped out of the race in July.
鈥淚t was a flip of a coin before the storm,鈥� GOP pollster Paul Shumaker said. 鈥淭he critical question is going to be: How is the rural turnout going to compare matched with the urban and suburban turnout?鈥� Especially, Shumaker added, if Republicans 鈥渃ontinue to have ballot erosion in the urban-suburban areas.鈥�
State Sen. Natalie Murdock, who doubles as political director for Democrats' coordinated campaign in the state, said the party has the apparatus to reach their target voters in the disaster zone. Field workers in some of Democrats鈥� two-dozen-plus offices around the state have engaged in recovery efforts, distributing water and other supplies to residents.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, urged Trump not to "share lies or misinformation鈥� when he visits the Asheville area.
Many storm survivors lost everything, and they want help and truth, Cooper said Monday at a briefing in Asheville.
鈥淲e should work together to give them both,鈥� the governor said. 鈥淪torm recovery cannot be partisan."
Edwards, who represents Asheville and surrounding areas in Congress, put out a long statement last month debunking 鈥渙utrageous rumors鈥� that FEMA was halting trucks from bringing in supplies, abandoning rescue efforts to bulldoze , running out of money and more.
He did not defend FEMA from Trump鈥檚 criticism Monday but said he owns McDonald鈥檚 franchises and noted the former president learned to make French fries during a photo opportunity Sunday at a McDonald鈥檚. Edwards presented Trump with what he called a 鈥淔rench fry certification pin.鈥�
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called Trump's FEMA comments 鈥渄angerous鈥� and said they had been . She said 5,500 federal personnel were in North Carolina and Florida after Helene and Hurricane Milton and noted that $2 billion in federal assistance had been approved for those affected in North Carolina.
鈥淭hey are dangerous,鈥� Jean-Pierre said of Trump鈥檚 remarks. 鈥淭hey are unhelpful. It is not what leadership looks like.鈥�
Democrats are running both on Helene and Mark Robinson
Even before Helene, North Carolina was all the more compelling because of its history of split-ticket voting. It鈥檚 one of the few states that features competitive governor鈥檚 races concurrent with presidential contests.
Democrats have carried the presidential electoral votes just once since 1992 (Barack Obama's narrow win in 2008). Republicans have won just one governor鈥檚 race in the same span. Four years ago, Cooper won reelection by 4.5 points despite Trump outpacing Biden. He's now term-limited.
Democrats hope Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson鈥檚 latest struggles, centered on CNN鈥檚 revelations that the state's first Black lieutenant governor once called himself a 鈥淏lack Nazi鈥� and posted lascivious statements on a porn website, turn thousands of Cooper-Trump voters into supporters of Harris and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Stein. Robinson has denied the allegations and CNN, calling its report defamatory.
Trump demurred Monday when asked whether voters should support Robinson.
鈥淚鈥檓 not familiar with the state of the race right now,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 seen it.鈥�
At the least, Trump鈥檚 dominance over the GOP has moved some of the state toward Harris, said Robert Brown, a High Point attorney who came to hear Walz. Just 16 years ago, Brown was on the other side of the aisle as Republican nominee John McCain鈥檚 state director against Obama.
Trump鈥檚 nomination in 2016, Brown said, pushed him to register as an independent and vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton. 鈥淭hen after Jan. 6, I moved all the way over鈥� and registered as a Democrat, he said.
鈥淚鈥檝e just become more and more scared and disillusioned about the direction of the party and the country,鈥� he explained, adding that he sees Harris as a center-left pragmatist who is as strong on national security as was McCain. 鈥淭his really isn鈥檛 that hard for me and for some other Republicans and former Republicans.鈥�
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Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, Colleen Long in Washington and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.
Michelle L. Price And Bill Barrow, The Associated Press
