Voters in North Carolina and Georgia have bigger problems than politics. Helene changed everything

VILAS, N.C. (AP) — Brad Farrington stops to pick up a box of bottled water that will be distributed in Vilas, a small rural community hidden in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He's on his way to help a friend who lost most of his possessions in Hurricane Helene last weekend.

His friend, like countless others in western North Carolina, is starting over, which explains why Farrington isn't thinking too much about politics or the White House race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris right now.

“I don’t think people’s hope is going to be chosen between the two,” he said.

Farrington pauses, then gestures to a dozen volunteers loading water and other essentials into cars and trucks.

“I think we find a lot more hope in people like that,” he said.

In the final weeks of the election, people in North Carolina and Georgia, the influential swing states, are grappling with more immediate concerns: widespread storm damage. As if that weren't enough, voters in Watauga County, an Appalachian vote-grabbing county that has become increasingly Democratic in recent years, have to contend with politicians who blame them while offering their support. as they fight in a race that could be decided by any small change.

Large uprooted trees litter the roadsides, sometimes blocking driveways. Some homes in Vilas are no longer accessible after bridges collapsed and roads collapsed. More populated areas such as Boone, home of Appalachian State University, experienced severe flooding.

Residents are wondering where friends and relatives are missing, whether there will be enough food and water until new supplies arrive and how they will rebuild.

The focus is on survival, not politics – and that can stay that way for weeks.

Politicians travel to the affected embattled states

Trump and Harris have visited North Carolina and Georgia five times since the storm. Trump was in North Carolina on Friday and Harris was there the next day.

After Trump traveled to Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday, 20-year-old Fermin Herrera said the former president won his vote with his display of caring, not out of frustration with the behavior of President Joe Biden and Harris, the vice president's disaster relief efforts of the federal government. Herrera was already leaning toward voting for Trump.

“I feel like everyone is friendly and doing what they can,” he said. “All the locals are grateful for the help that is coming.”

Trump, who has his own mixed record responding to natural disasters, attacked Biden and Harris for what he said were slow responses to Helene's destruction. Trump accused Democrats of “doing anything to not help people in Republican areas” and said there wasn't enough Federal Emergency Management Agency money because it was being spent on illegal immigrants. There is no evidence for either claim.

“I’m not thinking about the voters right now,” Trump stressed after meeting with Gov. Brian Kemp, R-Ga., on Friday. “I think about life.”

Biden pushed back forcefully, saying he was “committed to being president for all of America” and had not ordered aid to be distributed along party lines. The White House cited statements from the Republican governors of Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee expressing satisfaction with the federal government's response.

FEMA Director Deanne Criswell told ABC's “This Week” that this “really dangerous portrayal” of falsehoods is “demoralizing” for first responders and “causes fear among our own employees.”

Criticism of relief efforts so soon after a natural disaster is “inappropriate,” especially considering the daunting logistical problems in western North Carolina, said Gavin Smith, a professor at North Carolina State University who specializes in disaster relief. He said the dangerous terrain due to damaged roads and bridges, as well as widespread lack of electricity and cell service, make disaster relief in the region particularly challenging.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper made several stops in western North Carolina, including Watauga County and surrounding areas, and Biden viewed the extensive damage on an air tour.

A focus on recovery and reconstruction

In Watauga County, Jessica Dixon scraped dirt and broken furniture from the ground with a shovel, then tossed it into the bucket of a humming backhoe. The 29-year-old was standing in a house that she bought two years ago. It is now gutted after a surge of water forced Dixon, her boyfriend and their two dogs to flee to safety.

Without flood insurance, Dixon isn't sure what will happen next month. She said she filled out a FEMA application but hasn't checked her email since. She had been thinking about the presidential election before Helene, but now she's busy cleaning up her house.

“It wouldn’t change my views on anything,” said Dixon, who planned to vote for Harris.

For 47-year-old Bobby Cordell, the presidential election is not the main focus either. He's trying to get help for neighbors in western Watauga County, which has become inaccessible in some parts.

His home near Beech Mountain was one of those places, he said, after a bridge was washed away. Cordell saved his aunt from a landslide, then traveled to Boone and stayed at Appalachian State's Holmes Convocation Center, which now serves as a Red Cross emergency shelter.

He's trying to send disaster relief back to his home by reaching out to officials, including from FEMA. That conversation “went very well,” he said.

It is not easy for people in the mountains to accept help because they are used to looking after themselves.

But now the people who are trapped need “everything they can get.”

After Helene's aftermath, it becomes more and more important to help the neighbors

In the last week of volunteering at Skateworld, where Farrington stopped to drink water, Nancy Crawford has found it harder to smile. She has helped save more than 1,000 people, she said, but “for many of us who are normally tough,” the emotional toll is beginning to be felt.

This burden added to the weight she was already feeling about the choice, which she said was “scary at first.” Crawford, a registered Republican, said she plans to vote for Harris. As a Latina of Mexican descent, she believes Trump's immigration policies would have a damaging impact on her community.

The storm, she said, was unlikely to change her vote, but it made one thing clear.

“It doesn’t matter what party you are, we all need help,” she said.

Jan Wellborn had a similar thought as she walked through the Watauga High School gymnasium collecting supplies to give to colleagues in need. A 69-year-old school district bus driver, she said the outpouring of support she has received from the community has been a “gift from heaven.”

She takes comfort in the district's ability to pull together. The election is important, she said, but even more important is helping people get through a harrowing time.

“The election should matter,” Wellborn said. “But right now we need to focus on taking care of everyone in the county.”

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Associated Press writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.