Harris Pledges Ongoing Federal Support As She Visits North Carolina To Survey Helene's Aftermath

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris pledged ongoing federal support and praised the work of strangers helping strangers as she visited North Carolina on Saturday in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, her second trip in four days to the disaster zone.

The vice president was in Charlotte one day after a visit to the state by Republican Donald Trump, who is spreading false claims about the federal response to the disaster.

Harris opened her visit by attending a briefing with state and local officials, where she thanked “those who are in the room and those who are out there right now working around the clock.”

She promised federal assistance would continue to flow and added praise for the “strangers who are helping each other out, giving people shelter and food and friendship and fellowship.”

Despite Trump’s claims that the federal response in the state has been “lousy,” Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said the state was “deeply grateful for the federal resources that we have. FEMA has been on the ground with us since the very beginning,” he said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Earlier in the week, Harris was in Georgia, where she helped distribute meals, toured the damage and consoled families hard-hit by the storm. President Joe Biden, too, visited the disaster zone. During stops over two days in the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia, Biden surveyed the damage and met with farmers whose crops have been destroyed.

The two have been vocal and visible about the government’s willingness to help, and the administration’s efforts so far include covering costs for all of the rescue and recovery efforts across the Southeast for several months as states struggle under the weight of