Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to North Carolina on Saturday to survey damage from Hurricane Helene, the White House said.
It's her latest stop in a week of whirlwind travel, balancing traveling to areas impacted by the storm – the deadliest since Hurricane Katrina in 2004 – and campaign events with roughly a month until Election Day.
The vice president will survey the impacts of the storm and get a briefing about recovery efforts taking place across the state, the White House said. She will also update on federal efforts to support emergency response and recovery in North Carolina and other southeastern states.
Harris visited Georgia on Wednesday, another battleground state, and met with officials at an emergency response center in Augusta. The city’s mayor, Garnett Johnson, called the storm “the worst in the history of our city” and said it “means a lot” that Harris was there. She also handed out meals and met with families impacted by the storm. President Joe Biden also visited North Carolina this week, in addition to South Carolina, Florida and Georgia.
“I've been reading and hearing about the work you've been doing over the last few days, and I think it really does represent some of the best of what we each know can be done, especially when we coordinate around local, state and federal resources to meet the needs of people who must be seen, must be heard,” Harris said. “I am now listening.”
Later, Harris spoke to the media alongside Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff. The vice president said she had spoken to a woman in the area who lost her husband in the hurricane. She also announced the federal government would reimburse local governments for 100% of their recovery effort costs.
"The president and I have been paying close attention from the beginning to what we need to do to make sure the federal resources hit the ground as quickly as possible, and that includes what was necessary to make sure that we provided direct federal assistance," Harris said. "And that work has been happening."
“My final point to the residents of this community and the region is that we are here for the long haul,” Harris added.
Harris isn't the only 2024 candidate to visit storm-impacted areas: Donald Trump, the former president and Republican nominee, visited Georgia earlier this week, accompanied by resources distributed through Franklin Graham’s Samaritan Purse charity. Trump surveyed storm damage and offered prayers for those impacted, while baselessly claiming the Biden administration isn't doing enough to help the region – a remark rebutted by governors in the region, Democrats and Republicans alike.
Biden accused Trump of lying and has repeatedly expressed that partisan politics are unnecessary during a disaster.
“He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying,” Biden said at the White House on Monday evening.
“I don’t know why he does this,” Biden continued. “I don’t care about what he says about me, but I care what he what he communicates to people that are in need. He implies that we’re not doing everything possible. We are. We are.”