Harris plans to hold campaign event in hurricane-hit North Carolina on Sunday

The Democratic statesmanlike nominee went to North Carolina past week to survey the demolition caused by Helene and pledged assistance for its victims.

She plans to be religion connected Sunday arsenic portion of a “Souls to the Polls” effort successful Greenville, a metropolis of astir 90,000 radical connected the coastal plain of a authorities that narrowly backed Republican Donald Trump successful 2020.

Democrats presumption North Carolina arsenic swinging their mode this twelvemonth with its basal of Black and college-educated voters, arsenic good arsenic women acrophobic astir the nonaccomplishment of termination protections. But the aftermath of Hurricane Helene has go a governmental flashpoint with erstwhile President Trump and his allies attacking the Biden administration’s effect to the earthy disaster.

On Saturday evening, Harris volition conscionable with section Black elected, religion and assemblage leaders astatine a edifice successful Raleigh, successful summation to moving with volunteers who are preparing alleviation supplies for hurricane victims.

After religion connected Sunday, Harris plans to talk astir the system astatine a rally to make enactment up of the commencement of aboriginal voting successful North Carolina opening connected Thursday.

Making landfall connected September 26, Hurricane Helene resulted successful the deaths of astir 230 radical and wiped retired roads, electrical powerfulness and compartment telephone service. Just 2 weeks aboriginal connected Wednesday, Hurricane Milton made landfall successful Florida and generated an estimated $50 cardinal worthy of harm and near respective radical dead.

Harris has besides visited Georgia aft Helene struck, successful summation to virtually attending briefings connected the effect efforts and rejiggering her run schedule. But she’s besides continued question to question for the statesmanlike contention with clip spent successful Nevada and Arizona.

One of her premier messages has been that determination should beryllium nary terms gouging by companies seeking to instrumentality vantage of shortages caused by the hurricanes, an contented that she has made cardinal to her run arsenic a mode to tackle inflation.

“To immoderate institution oregon idiosyncratic that is utilizing this situation to jack up prices done amerciable fraud oregon terms gouging, whether it beryllium astatine the state pump, the airdrome oregon the edifice counter, we volition beryllium monitoring and determination volition beryllium a consequence,” Harris said astatine Friday’s briefing.

But Trump and his allies person falsely suggested that catastrophe alleviation from the Federal Emergency Management Agency went to immigrants alternatively of hurricane victims, portion besides suggesting that radical are not getting the afloat fiscal enactment to which they’re legally entitled.

At a caller rally successful Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump said the effect has been worse than however the authorities handled 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, which near astir 1,400 radical dormant and caused $200 cardinal successful damages.

“North Carolina’s been deed precise hard and this medication has not done a due occupation astatine all. Terrible, terrible,” Trump said astatine the rally, adding that Harris was “on a fundraising drama circuit portion radical are stranded and drowning each implicit immoderate of our top states.” President Joe Biden has called Trump’s falsehoods astir the government’s effect to the hurricanes “un-American” and told his predecessor to “get a life, man.”