Trump says he'll travel to North Carolina next week

Former President Trump said he will travel next week to the battleground state of North Carolina as it grapples with rescue and recovery efforts following the destruction of Hurricane Helene.

“Date to be determined, because I don’t want to do anything that’s going to interrupt their Rescue efforts,” Trump wrote in a post on TruthSocial.

The Republican nominee previously visited Georgia to meet with local officials and distribute relief supplies in the aftermath of the Category 4 storm.

The former president also launched a GoFundMe page that has raked in more than $4.5 million for hurricane victims in several states as of Thursday afternoon.

Vice President Harris traveled to Georgia on Wednesday and plans to visit North Carolina following President Biden's visit to the Tarheel State this week where he met local authorities.

Georgia and North Carolina are two of the states in the southeast U.S. impacted by Helene that are also crucial to determining the outcome of the November presidential election.

Trump won North Carolina in 2016 and 2020 but polls have shown the race with Harris closely locked there, with the former president leading the Democratic nominee by less than 1 percentage points in The HIll / Decision Desk HQ's polling index.