Rebuilding from the unprecedented destruction caused by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina could take months, if not years. Entire communities are destroyed, and scores of residents have been displaced. With the presidential election less than 26 days away, both parties must deal with the unpredictable political fallout.

For Vice President Kamala Harris, who only became the Democratic nominee two and a half months ago, the aftermath of the hurricane meant the suspension of campaign rallies. That’s wasted time, while in Harris’ world every hour has counted, especially when it’s up to Democrats to flip a historically red state.

This weekend, however, she will return to host a political rally in Greenville — a part of the state not affected by the hurricane — for her first political event there since Helene struck seventeen days earlier.

For former President Donald Trump, the devastation in deep-red counties could hamper their voters’ ability to get to the polls. While state officials have addressed voting issues this week and given affected counties additional early voting flexibility, there has been widespread pushback — from both Democrats and Republicans — to misinformation spread by some members of the Republican Party, including Trump himself .

And Republicans find themselves in a decidedly unusual position: In the latter part of the race, they are defending what was once a solid piece of the Republican map. Since 1964, Democrats have only managed to win North Carolina twice.

An exciting, unpredictable race

Neither side sees data that suggests the hurricane has fundamentally shaken the race. Instead, it’s as tight as ever, members of both parties say. Only now it is also more unpredictable than ever.

“We always play like we’re one point behind,” a Trump campaign official said. “The most important thing for us is the momentum we see on the ground… it’s not energy that we see everywhere from the Kamala Harris team. I think her energy, her momentum, has faded a little bit.”

However, Morgan Jackson, a longtime Democratic strategist in the state who has advised Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein, said the exact opposite is true.

“We see incredible enthusiasm for the Democrats. We’re seeing a little less enthusiasm among Republicans, and a lot of that remains, and that’s based on the fact that they don’t like their nominees,” Jackson said, referring to Trump and embattled gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. “They don’t like abortion bans, conspiracy theorists on social media and election deniers.”

The back-and-forth is playing out as North Carolina becomes increasingly central to both parties’ strategies to win the White House. Harris could significantly hinder Trump’s path if she wins the state, while Trump could block Harris if he retains North Carolina and takes over a blue-walled state like Pennsylvania. Unlike in previous presidential cycles, Democrats have an extensive organization in the state, including 340 staffers, in addition to volunteers. It is an operation that dwarfs Trump’s. Still, Republicans are counting on the state to remain reliably red.

However, there are signs that a contingent of Republicans is ready to distance themselves from Trump. In March, more than 250,000 people voted for Nikki Haley in the Republican primaries in North Carolina, even though she had already dropped out. In 2020, Trump won the state by about 75,000 votes.

Trump has blasted the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to Hurricane Helene, saying it did not move fast enough to help people in rural areas. But his comments shifted to conspiracy theories and misinformation. They included accusations without evidence that the federal government deliberately refused to provide aid to Helene-affected Republicans and that FEMA had run out of money due to spending on illegal immigrants.

He was also contradicted by members of his own party, including Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who had praised the relief efforts and panned those participating in “political posturing, finger-pointing or conspiracy theories” in comments widely seen as critical of the Trump’s plans. claims. However, after Harris posted Tillis’ statement on social media, he responded that he was actually talking about her.

“Republicans are going to do everything they can to make this a failed response,” said Thomas Mills, a veteran North Carolina Democratic strategist. “So far it’s not working.”

Jackson argued that those affected could see that Trump was trying to politicize the hurricane.

“When people are focused on safety and shelter and you’re focused on politics for your personal gain, that’s a problem,” Jackson said. “That’s an electoral problem for candidates who push these stories, these fake stories.”

Jonathan Felts, a longtime Republican strategist in North Carolina who is working on a super PAC backing Robinson, said Trump has solid support in rural parts of the state. He added that it would be wise for Republicans to increase voting and early voting in the region to ensure residents are still on their feet after the disaster.

Harris “still doesn’t have any message for rural North Carolina, and the storm hasn’t changed that,” he said.

A Trump campaign official pointed to efforts to expand the Trump tent to include surrogates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds to make gains among GOP voters who have defected to Haley. Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, was in the state on Wednesday. This person made it clear that efforts to expand the coalition were aimed at “historically Democratic Blue Dog voters.”

Harris’ political operation is still ongoing even when she is out of state, including an upcoming visit from former President Bill Clinton. On Thursday, the campaign held a viewing party for a Univision town hall event with Latino voters in Raleigh. In separate events, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will visit Friday, as will officers who worked to defend the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

Helping residents recover – and vote

The Trump campaign believes that recent legislation passed by the North Carolina Legislature will go a long way toward solving the voting problems it has been concerned about in the western part of the state. But it is willing to take additional steps.

“If we need volunteers to cut down trees, we will get volunteers to cut down trees and get them out of the driveway to vote,” a campaign official said. “We’re working on what it’s going to look like to make sure that we have canned food drives, barbecues at these early voting centers to make sure that our voters can come out and get something to eat and then as they If they do that, make sure they cast their vote.”

Trump had set up a GoFundMe page to benefit storm victims in several states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. To date, it has raised more than $7.6 million. Trump’s campaign did not say whether he personally donated.

Harris’ organization, well-funded and expansive, is far ahead of that field in North Carolina. For weeks, it has been trucking water to western North Carolina on tractor-trailers, delivering supplies and transporting toiletries, batteries and non-perishable food from nearby states to the hardest-hit areas, including community drop-offs and distribution centers. The Harris campaign also hosted community meals that fed 120 families and is hosting similar events, spending more than $30,000 on relief efforts. It has also set up a voter assistance hotline, which it says has hundreds of live operators ready to help voters by phone or text.

“Our hearts are with the North Carolinians affected by Hurricane Helene and we are working closely with our legal and voter protection teams and the NC Democratic Party to ensure every eligible voter can safely make their voice heard in this election ,” Dory MacMillan, the North Carolina-based spokesperson for the Harris campaign said in a statement.

The Trump campaign pushed back on the idea that voters there baulked at the hurricane disinformation he and his allies had promoted online, saying it appeared in a hurricane-ravaged part of Georgia before Harris or President Joe Biden came to visit. Biden and Harris did not want to get in the way of state and local officials working to reconnect affected communities where roads and other services had been cut, Biden said at the time. Finally, after Biden toured North Carolina, Harris visited once in her official capacity after visiting Georgia to highlight relief efforts. Trump once visited North Carolina, where he held a town hall.

“He’s been talking about how FEMA has misused dollars,” the second Trump official said, charging that the administration had misused emergency dollars, which Biden’s team has repeatedly refuted.

Zeb Smathers, the mayor of Canton, North Carolina, which is facing a significant recovery from the storm, said the hardest-hit residents lack bandwidth for politics and could push back against anyone using the hurricane for political gain.

“There is a time for politics, but I think the American people, those who have lost so much, deserve for their leaders to put politics aside and lead,” Smathers said, adding that ultimately this is what happened in places as his city. “We were able to work together and get so many resources for our people, and the American people need to see that. Let that be one of our legacies from all these crises.”