US presidential campaign in wake of hurricanes

Photo: Charly Triballeau Agence France-Presse Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves as he leaves the stage after a town hall meeting at the Convention Center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, October 20, 2024.

Jim Watson – Agence France-Presse and Julie Jammot – Agence France-Presse in Asheville and San Francisco

Published at 6:56 AM

• United States

With 15 days to go before a US presidential election that promises to be very close, Kamala Harris is due to visit three key states on Monday, while Donald Trump will rekindle the debate on aid for hurricane victims in North Carolina.

“I'll be in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin tomorrow. I'll give it my all,” the Democratic candidate said in an interview on MSNBC on Sunday.

Supported by stars Lizzo and Usher on Saturday, then Stevie Wonder on Sunday — who sang Happy Birthday — she notably tried to seduce African-Americans in Georgia, an electorate that she does not consider “a foregone conclusion.”

Now in her sixties, the vice president campaigned on her economic program, abortion rights and the mental and moral unfitness, according to her, of Donald Trump to be head of state.

His behavior “debases” the presidential office, she said, in response to a question about her opponent's crude insults against her.

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“You need to tell Kamala Harris that you’ve had enough. […] You’re a shitty vice president, the worst, you’re fired. Get out of here,” Donald Trump told his supporters during a meeting Saturday in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

The billionaire courted the working class over the weekend, posing with workers in hard hats Saturday and playing waiter at a McDonald’s Sunday.

He claims, without proof, that the Democrat did not, as she claims, work at the fast-food chain when she was a student.

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“Grief”

On Monday, the Republican candidate planned to go to Asheville, a city in North Carolina (east) badly hit by Hurricane Helen at the end of September.

“I just had my first hot shower today,” Shelley Hughes, a resident of a town near Asheville, told AFP on Friday, who says she will vote for the Republican candidate.

The water came back into her pipes on October 10, but it is still not drinkable. “Everything still feels like a war zone, I don't have a better word to describe” the situation, she added.

Hélène, the second deadliest hurricane to hit the continental United States in more than half a century, killed at least 240 people in the eastern part of the country. Two weeks later, its successor, Milton.

Both hurricanes quickly took on political dimensions. Donald Trump and conservative lawmakers have made false accusations about the government’s handling of the disasters, many of which have been denied by governors of the affected states, including Republicans.

The former president had notably accused Democrats of having “stolen money” from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), “so they could give it to their illegal immigrants.”

The White House has approved more than $1.8 billion in aid for people affected by Helen and Milton, FEMA said Friday.

But the wave of false claims has had consequences on the ground, including in North Carolina, where FEMA agents have received threats.

Kamala Harris had castigated “those who divert people’s tragedies and grief into resentment and hatred” by “spreading misinformation.”