RALEIGH, NC — Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday, she helped stuff diapers into boxes of personal care products for hurricane victims in North Carolina, agreeing with a helper who said, “It takes a village.”
“You’re right,” Harris said as she placed two packages of diapers into each cardboard box placed in front of her assembly line style.
Harris met with Black leaders at The Pit Authentic Barbecue restaurant in Raleigh before joining volunteers to pack bandages, baby formula, baby wipes, pain relievers and other items for victims of Hurricane Helene, which tore through western North Carolina last month. .
The vice president was in the state overnight, which protected his rival, a Republican Donald Trumpin 2020 Democrats are campaigning hard to flip North Carolina in next month’s presidential election. On Sunday, Harris was attending a church in Greenville as part of his campaign’s “Souls to the Polls” effort to get out the vote and hold a rally.
The weekend trip was his second since returning to battleground state Hurricane Helena. Democratic presidential candidate He went to North Carolina last Saturday he ordered a review of Helene’s aftermath and federal aid for her victims.
Before his plane left Washington, Harris told reporters he was traveling with him that he hoped to talk to residents “first, to see how they’re doing after the hurricane.”
Democrats in North Carolina believe they are hitting their stride this year with their black and college-educated base, as well as women concerned about the loss of women. abortion protections. But the aftermath of Hurricane Helene has become a political flashpoint as former President Trump and his allies have attacked the Biden administration’s response to the natural disaster.
At The Pit, Harris met with Black elected officials, believers and community leaders. His campaign did not release a list of the people he recruited.
After church on Sunday, Harris, a Baptist, was ready to talk about his economic plans at a rally to build support for early voting that begins Thursday in North Carolina.
Making landfall on September 26, Hurricane Helene killed about 230 people and knocked out roads, power and cell phone service. Two weeks later, Hurricane Milton hit Florida this week and caused $50 billion in damage and several deaths.
Harris also visited Georgia after Helen hit there, attending virtual briefings on the federal government’s response and changing the campaign schedule. With time spent this week, he continued to travel to the presidential race Nevada and Arizona.
One of his main messages has been that companies looking to take advantage of the shortages caused by the hurricanes should not have to raise prices, a theme he has made central to his campaign as a way to combat inflation.
“Any company or individual who is using this crisis to drive up prices through illegal fraud or price gouging, whether at the gas pump, airport or hotel counter, will be tracked down and there will be a consequence,” Harris. he said at the Friday meeting.
But Trump and his allies have falsely suggested that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster aid went to immigrants instead of hurricane victims, while suggesting that people are not getting the full financial aid they are legally entitled to.
At a recent rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump said the response has been worse than in 2005. Hurricane Katrinawhich killed nearly 1,400 people and caused $200 billion in damage.
“North Carolina has been very tough and this administration has not done a good job at all. Horrible, horrible,” Trump said at the rally, adding that Harris was “on a fundraising comedy tour” while people choked and suffocated across our biggest states.
President Joe Biden has called Trump’s falsehoods about the government’s response “un-American” and told his predecessor to “get a life, man.”
