Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump shifted their attention Monday away from standard campaigning to focus on the emergency response to the devastation from Hurricane Helene, in a region that includes the battleground states of North Carolina and Georgia.
Ms. Harris cut short a West Coast campaign swing to return to Washington for a FEMA briefing on the federal recovery efforts. She made it clear the federal government would provide whatever assistance communities needed in response to the devastation.
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, traveled to Valdosta, Georgia, to deliver relief aid and survey the damage with state and local officials.
“Throughout the region, our hearts are with you and we are going to be with you as long as you need,” Mr. Trump said at a press conference with Rev. Franklin Graham and local officials.
“As you know, our country is in the final weeks of a hard-fought national election, but in a time like this, when a crisis hits, when our fellow citizens cry out in need, none of that matters,” Mr. Trump said. “We are not talking about politics now. We have to all get together and get this solved.”
Less than 40 days before Election Day, Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris are locked in a tight battle in swing states, including Georgia and North Carolina, which were hit hard by the storm. The storm has killed more than 100, with more than 600 people missing as of Monday.
In a social media post before the press conference, Mr. Trump delivered a less unifying message. He raised doubts about whether the Biden administration and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina are committed to helping people in Trump-friendly areas.
“I’ll be there shortly, but don’t like the reports that I’m getting about the Federal Government, and the Democrat Governor of the State, going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas,” Mr. Trump said. “MAGA!”
He also targeted a photo Ms. Harris posted online of herself talking on the phone on the vice presidential plane, with a caption saying FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell had just briefed her on the storm’s damage.
“Another FAKE and STAGED photo from someone who has no clue what she is doing,” Mr.Trump said. “They have left Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.”
In Georgia, he tempered that message.
“We do need some help from the federal government,” Mr. Trump said in Valdosta. “I am sure they are going to come through, but [Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia] has been calling the president [and] hasn’t been able to get him. But he will come through, I am sure.”
The Harris campaign said she had spoken with Mr. Cooper and contacted Mr. Kemp and Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
On Monday, Mr. Kemp said he had talked with President Biden Sunday night.
“The president just called me yesterday afternoon,” Mr. Kemp said. “I missed him and called him right back, and he just said, ’Hey, what do you need?’”
“I told him we got what we need. We will work through the federal process, he offered that if there’s other things we need, just to call him directly, which, I appreciate that,” Mr. Kemp said.
Mr. Kemp said he had been playing “phone tag” with Ms. Harris.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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