north carolina is currently experiencing the impact of helene which will continue into saturday. as we said yesterday, north carolinians should stay informed and have a plan in place to protect your family and should take this storm seriously. the state emergency response team remains fully activated today and our operational priority continues to be on supporting our impacted local jurisdictions across the state. we continue to have our public sector, private sector, nonprofits and volunteer here at the e.o.c. and working in communities across the state. since yesterday we've seen downed trees and flooding across the foot hills of north carolina. areas in our state particularly in the west have seen immense rain fall totals already. as we go into this afternoon we'll continue to see rainfall with weather conditions improving over the course of the afternoon and evening. there remain as severe weather threat to eastern and northern north carolina where tornados and heavy downpours are expected. for those in flood prone areas, please make sure you're informed and you have a plan of

but josh stein is the democratic nominee for governor in north carolina. he's the guy running against mark robinson. he is currently the attorney general of north carolina.en and running for governor is a high pressure thing. always a big responsibility. think about what josh stein has on his shoulders right now, right? i mean, if josh stein does not win this governor's race in north carolina, it's not just like, oh, lost opportunity for the democrats. if josh stein does not win this race in north carolina, north carolina really is going to get a governor who calls himself a nazi and says he wants to bring back slavery and says he wants r women to not be allowed to vote. talk about the stakes in an election. t no pressure, josh stein. north carolina democratic candidate for governor josh stein will join me here live here in just a moment. i'm really excited to talk with him. we're going to be joined by the former chairman of the ir republican party in the great state of maine. and that's because today, not one, not two, but three former chairs of the statew

so activism continued in north carolina post 1965 and later in the black power. there was activism happening. and cindy smith is of the people can i focus on right so she was from south carolina, a small town, south carolina, piedmont. she came to bennett college as a student after the uprising in greensboro. and so let me go to that. so greensboro uprising happens may of 1969. claude barnes, a student at all black high school, he's radical. he's part of these multiple growing black power movements organizations. he wants to be body president. he was already like junior body president, but he wanted to be senior student body president, the black administration, this allowed him from being a candidate because of his radicalism. the students protested and still voted for him. right. despite it being this allowed. so they protested. use the police because laws and starts attacking harassing both students and teachers. they run to einstein's campus for support at his campus a student organization of black unity kind of being founded one of the key leaders is nelson jo

so the sit in on february 1st, 1960 by for north carolina students in a woolworth's in north carolinarked the sit in movement. soon thousands mostly students, followed suit and sit in demonstration as it began throughout the country. those are the students at the all female local historically black university, bennett college participated in the movement, including participating in gillian's right. so again, you only focus on the anc for right? you ignore all the other as soon as it participated in it, right? you also in the war, the women, the black women who were involved it anc and it been in college. right? who were essential to the successes of the movement in terms percentages bennett college even though it's a smaller it was a smaller institution the anc had more of a student body participated in the sit ins then anc right and so you won't kind know how these movements were successful if you don't take a step back and look at all who were involved right. these are hundreds and thousands participants. and if you only focus on the for and you only focus on that one day that they

but i digress raleigh news and observer editorial board calls for robinson to drop out before north carolina mails out ballots with his name on them to voters, that deadline passed. >> however, as of 12:00 a.m. eastern time this morning. so north carolinians tar heels will see robinson on the ballot in november. he's facing off against current north carolina attorney general, democrat josh stein, who was already leading in the polls before this explosion of cringe. but how is robinson weathering? the storm? cnn's dianne gallagher is down in the tar heel state with this new reporting things, the fallout from cnn's bombshell report about mark robinson spilling over into a second day are running for governor. >> the gop nominee for north carolina's governor, moving forward with his campaign after the deadline passed for him too. withdrawal as absentee ballots are sent out to voters friday, the fresh swirl of controversy follows a kfile investigation that found robinson made a series of inflammatory comments on a pornographic website's message board, more than a decade ago referring to himself a

this is a picture of them going in north carolina the person on the right is actually a student. was a student at central university at the time. they are accosted and a black journalist the photographer offer the local newspaper the carolina time is arrested and roughed up. this is significant. this is happening in february of 1950. he is a very important activists. there is that initial trying to organize on different campuses. but the person considers but the key organizers o t itizen right movement she comes in and says we shoul he a youth organization. shesntegral res. despite vowing sexism in these organizations. grassroots organization or ttom-up leadership. we do not need that one leader at the top wouldn't multiple leaders at the, bottom. everyone can be leaders grassroots leadership. she said strong people don't need strong leaders. you're stronger so w if you do t need someone telling you what to do. she wants to encourage youth to be their own leaders and organize their own organization. not having adult naacp and tells what to do. she trained and influence many of th

bombshell allegations in the key battleground state of north carolina. the allegations involving the republican candidate for governor there. tonight, mark robinson is now denying claims a new cnn report that alleges he made disturbiin comments on a pornography website in a message forum more than a decade ago. he called himself a black nazi, and accused of making disparaging comments about martin luther king. tonight, he is vowing to stay in the race. robinson was endorsed by donald trump, who has called the candidate martin luther king on steroids. abc has not confirmed the cnn report, but tonight, the candidate responding before the report was even made public, saying it was not him. it's not just the governor's race being closely watched in that state, of course, the presidential race very close there, as well. here's rachel scott. >> mark robinson! >> reporter: tonight, the republican nominee for governor in the crucial presidential battleground of north carolina is vowing to stay in the race after an explosive cnn report thmade a series of racist a

then when it comes to the north carolina gubernatorial contest. democrat josh stein has been healed by double digits over mark robinson, and that's also been consistent with other polling, so the democrats and even before what ended up happening yesterday had been in pretty good shape in north carolina. of course, it is worth noting we have seen many polls in north carolina in the 2020 cycle, as well as even in 2016 with democrats doing well, and republicans gaining ground and winning at the end. >> and eugene, trump not only backed robinson but compared him to martin luther king. take a listen. >> this is martin luther king on steroids. now, i told that to mark. i said, i think you're better than martin luther king. i think you are martin luther king times two. >> so talk to us about the impact for trump, and i understand, eugene, you have new reporting on how the harris campaign views this? >> yeah, i mean, this is the issue that a lot of republicans have had with trump for a while is that he picks these candidates who say these wild things, eve

if josh stein does not win this race in north carolina, north carolina really is going to get a governor who calls himself a nazi and says he wants to bring back slavery and says he wants women to not be allowed to vote. talk about the stakes in an election. no pressure, josh stein. north carolina democratic candidate for governor josh stein will join me here live here in just a moment. i'm really excited to talk with him. we're going to be joined by the former chairman of the republican party in the great state of maine. and that's because today, not one, not two, but three former chairs of the statewide republican party in that state justty endorsed democratic candidate kamala harris for president.s this is three republican state party chairmen dorising harris. i'll be talking with former maine republican party chief ted o'marra this hour as well. that endorsement for harris from the republican party chairman in maine, it's the latest in what has just been this long string of man bites dog unexpected company endorsements for kamala harris and her campaign. it's not just former republic

they're both wrong for north carolina. >> now here's the tweet from the north carolina republican party. the left needs this election to be a personality contest, not a policy contest, because if voters are focused on policy, republicans win on election day. the left can try to smear mark robinson all they want. but when voters go to the polls on election day, they're going to be asking one simple question. are you better off now than you were four years ago? the answer is overwhelmingly know, and that's why republicans will win on november 5. i understand why that's their message. i don't know that that's what people are going to be thinking. >> i've never seen an election where someone below the presidential candidate influence the top of it, much less donald trump, who's the most known, most polarizing person in american politics. and we have an incumbent administration. it's unpopular this election, north carolina is going to be between where you better off four years ago, the rna i'm not sure i agree with that. >> i think this is a question of whether robinson's comments, which are

he must win north carolina. we know that if kamala harris wins north carolina, she is the next president of the united states. we did this in 2008. north carolina voted for barack obama and made history. we are ready to make history again. >> here is vice president harris earlier this evening. >> donald trump intends to end the affordable care act. think about that. think about that. we remember what it went -- it meant when insurance companies could deny you for a pre- existing condition. he wants to get rid of it and as he said in the debate, he made clear he has no plan to replace it. in fact, you remember? concept. you remember he has, quote, concepts of a plan. concepts of a plan. i mean, we are 54 days from that selection. concepts of a plan. which means no actual plan. which means no actual plan. and 45 million americans are insured through the affordable care act, so understand what that means. he's going to end it based on a concept and take us back? so generations of americans before us led the fight f

they are in north carolina. do you think that's actually going to have an effect to benefit the harris campaign. there absolutely we know that donald trump has fully embraced mark robinson's agenda, wanting to see a total ban in the state of north carolina. >> and one is just as dangerous as the other folks down the ballot this year going to receipt we're going to see that every single republican that's been endorsed by donald trump and by mark robinson is only going to be rubber stamps for their administration if they were to be elected. and we know across the ballot this year in north carolina that folks are getting out to stand up for reproductive freedom and making sure that we're getting democrats elected everywhere so trump has won north carolina in the last two times that he has run. what makes you think it would be any different this time because of the fact that we're running a stronger ground game than we ever have in the state. >> joe biden lost this state in 2020 by 74,000 votes, bringing down the ma

i want to update you on this excessive rain rescue her from places like raleigh, north carolina and richmond, virginia part of tennessee's vaughan of the state of south carolina so you can say why -- cui six states have all but claimed disaster territories and seeking disaster release -- released. five of the six have already done so, so you'll -- georgia was among those hard hit as well and that's where former president donald trump visited earlier today, alexander hall has more from the doctor. alexandra? >> hi, neil. year the former president said he came here to show solidarity and signals are buried there with all those living in georgia who are struggling and all victims were living in helene's rastall, her break right now. he also said he brought supplies with them like water and gotland and did so in partnership with franklin graham's relief organization, syrup -- samaritan's purse. the former president held a moment of silence for lives lost and gave -- listen. >> as you know, our country is in the final weeks of a hard-fought national election. but in a time like this, when a crisi

>> it is a fight everywhere in north carolina. those votes are out there in counties across north carolina and the democratic party is working hard with the campaign to make sure we are reaching out across all 100 counties in our state and we are not leaving one voter behind. mark robinson is our current lieutenant governor and he is someone who has been a holocaust denier, abortion denier, he would take north carolina backwards then the state legislature already has. we are also seeing a very strong fight from heart democratic nominee and -- we will make sure that we fight for every single vote. we are just trying to make sure that democrats and voters across north carolina fundamentally understand to congresswoman williams point what is at stake in this election cycle which is fundamental freedoms across north carolina and abortion- rights. >> let's just stay in north carolina for extra moment. i found north carolina to be more of the sweet spot in the south than a lot of people would say virginia, that's where it began in the 9

since barack obama won in north carolina. north carolina is a hard state. simone and i have spend a lot of time in campaign buses. way too many hours. >> way too many hours on campaign buses. >> trump has been there. he has traveled there. harris would love to win north carolina. i think democrats would breathe a sigh of relief. what's the state of things there and what, for people you're talking to in the state to gretchen's point. how much is this if at all impacting the top of the ticket. >> can i say something about what mckay and mark noted. >> yeah. >> i think there's the political analysis of this. then there's theoretical conversation. you know in the weeks and months after the assassination of dr. king. i should talk about that versus the lieutenant governor of north carolina. a few weeks after his assassination, a poll said the majority of people thought dr. king brought the assassination against himself. they thought he was a terrorist . that he had pushed by it while he was alive. why do i bring this up? because for the republican party apparatu

he believes that if he can carry georgia and he can carry north carolina carolina, and he can carry pennsylvania, then all of a sudden he gets to exactly 270 electoral votes. but if he loses just one of these states, let's say he loses in the state of pennsylvania all of a sudden, kamala harris can get to 270 electoral votes this way. or if we take away these states. and in fact, we then say, okay let's give, we're going to put that there, but we give north carolina and georgia and then we go okay. we're going to give arizona and then we give nevada. that's another way she can get the 200. >> she's got a lot of pads. it seems more real than he does all right. so in light of this news, when you're watching politics, what do people googling? what are they looking at? what are you seeing tonight? >> take a look here. google searches for mark robinson compared to yesterday. my goodness, gracious, up 4,900% nationally. and in the great state of north carolina, up 1,900%. it seems to me that our dear friend andy kaczynski's reporting has had a lot of impact, a lot of people search, certainly has. >> a

it is a new south in north carolina. >> anderson clayton, chair of the democratic north carolina party, thank you for being with us. >>> up next, as the gop tries to downplay the consequences of restricted access to reproductive health care, families across the country are dealing with the reality that some women are dying the reali some women are dying . >>> we trusted them to take care of her, you know. and, they just let her die because of some stupid abortion ban. >>> coming up, more on where abortion rights in america stand today with just about six weeks left until the election a weeks left until the election type 2 diabetes? discover the ozempic® tri-zone. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. i'm lowering my risk. adults lost up to 14 pounds. i lost some weight. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't shar

about the race in north carolina. democratic candidate for president when there for the first time since it's 2008 know pretty good about north carolina which is great because two months ago we did not all part of the total story about a family dealing with devastating sometimes things happen for a reason. >> and your job is to discover the reason matt christopher, we've store the ci 13 everywhere you look, things are getting more expensive so it consumer cellular we're lowering the price for those 50 and now you can get unlimited talk text and data for $30 a line when you buy to. >> that's just $60 a switch to the carrier ranked number one in the network covered in custody tomorrow satisfaction and get to unlimited lines for just $30 each come on. you've earned this call 1888, freedom or visit? fit consumer cellular.com today is it possible to be more capable more practical perform? state in making this out and kamala as well as what lies ahead? how do we get there exceptional offers at your local audi dealer to amge

he is currently the attorney general of north carolina. running for governor is always a big responsibility but think about what josh stein has on his shoulders. if he doesn't win this governor's race in north carolina, it is not just like a lost opportunity for democrats. if he doesn't win this race, north carolina really will get a governor who calls himself a and says he wants to bring back slavery and not want women to vote and talk about the stakes in an election. no pressure, josh stein and he will join me here live in just a moment. i am excited to talk to them. we will be joined tonight by the former chairman of the republican party in the great state of maine because, today, not one, not two but three former chairs of the statewide republican party in that state just endorsed the democratic candidate kamala harris for president. this is three republican state party chairman's endorsing harris and i will be talking with the former main republican party chief ted o'mara this hour as well and we have a lot coming up. that endorsement

there's a few things happening in north carolina. in north carolina. the schedule.oking forward to that conversation. thank you, my friend, much appreciated. >> thank you. >> and thank you at home for joining us this

meant tossing bright bright-yellow marshmallow chicks on the ladies happy easter reporting on north carolina gubernatorial candidate mark robinson was quite swift leading election forecaster, larry sabato and team to make what they call their fastest rating change ever quickly moving in with carolina governor's race from lean democrat to likely democrat but could robinson's campaign also impact the presidential race in this crucial battleground state, cnn's stephen collinson, front of the show writes this, this morning, quote, it would be an ironic historical coda if trump becomes collateral damage to a republican who would have been anathema to the old gop but who thrived in the smash town, smash mouth political era. >> the ex-president nurtured if north carolina finally goes blue again this year, it may show that republicans are finally tiring of the pandemonium and maga fellow travelers that trump has enabled joining us now to discuss cnn political commentator michael smerconish, the host of cnn's smerconish. michael, happy friday, always a happy friday because we get to have you here on

but north carolina is one of the state's this prime to be flipped this time i think north carolina has an interesting combination for the harris campaign. >> it's one that has a ton of college educated white voters. it's that quarter between charlotte, north carolina and the research triangle, which is raleigh, durham. and it has a lot but black voters, one of the things that harris campaign has to do is go outside of those areas to the eastern and western portion of the state. but you asked about mark robinson in the thing is mark robinson is running against an extremely good candidate. and josh stein, but the steady drip, drip, drip last week wasn't the first time that mark robinson has been marred some type of scandal i mean, he is an anti-black anti-semite who has said things such as holocaust denial. and so it's amazing to see that last week, all of a sudden because of post on nude africa.com or whatever it was was a bridge too far. when he has been taking bridges too far for so period so long a period of time that is kind of baked into the cake in north carolina. now bakari, what

in a c17 to western north carolina. you destroyed the former president acknowledge just how badly north carolina has been hit. you heard governor desantis in florida say we have it bad? they have it worse. this is all part of the helene support effort and they are getting badly needed supplies there. >> john: and it can't come fast enough for those folks there on the ground. but they need to get the power back as well. it's interesting to see despite the criticism that he gets from his white house, elon musk stepping in with his starlike digital service to get communications going. we will see if we can listen in here. >> john: of the camera mics just aren't close enough to pick up what is being said. looks like they don't have a specific microphone on the president but again, elon musk stepping in with his startling satellite service to get things up and running and get people reconnected as they need to be. >> sandra: when you talk about the area they are in right now, think about all of those super isolated areas in

and in the great state of north carolina, up 1,900%. it seems to me that our dear friend andrew kaczynski is reporting has had a lot of impact, a lot of people searching certainly has and just to note, north carolina, they know who he is and they're still looking on hundred percent. all right. harry, thank you very, very much. and next more breaking news, the number i'm suspicious letters sent to election workers growing tonight, officials now having to take extraordinary measures in order to keep the votes save. this is a special report you'll see first out front plus hezbollah vowing to retaliate after thousands of pagers and two-way radios exploded. and tonight, incredible new details about how israel was able to do it consumer cellular is lowering the price for those 50 and get to unlimited lines for $30 each that's just $60 a month. >> so switch to the carrier ranked number one and network covered this faction. is it consumer cellular.com today 75% of americans had their social security numbers exposed in recent data breaches and t

voting rights in north carolina.our state this year. there are only taking us further backwards as a party. >> state legislatures hugely matter down ballot and thank you to you for all your work. thank you for joining us. >>> coming up the harris campaign is doing everything they can to taunt the trump campaign into another debate. quentin fobes is standing by and he joins me next. you'll love this! centrum silver is clinically proven to support memory in older adults. so you can keep saying... you mastered it! you fixed it! you nailed it! you did it! with centrum silver. clinically proven to support memory in older adults. growing old is part of the journey, even when you have heart failure. but when he had shortness of breath, carpal tunnel syndrome, and lower back pain, we wondered, could these be warning signs of something bigger? thank goodness we called his cardiologist because these were signs of attr-cm, a rare and serious disease... ...that gets worse over time. if you see any of the warning signs, don't wai

with north carolina, that is a state where if you are trump, and you are getting bad outcomes in northe president harris has turned the tides in georgia, previous to coming to the top of the ticket. democrats saw it as the biggest concern, republicans saw georgia as the easiest state to flip. that has really changed when harris came on because again, looking at voters she excites, she excites young voters. she excites minority voters, and she excites independent voters. and those voters are key in a state like georgia which is critical for both campaigns. >> so if harris were to lose pennsylvania, she still has a path to victory. how do you see that? >> she will have to go through arizona and nevada. these states are latino heavy, they are states with a lot of voting class -- working-class voters. and the trump and harris campaigns are very concerned about winning arizona and nevada because you see them proposing no tax on tips, and trump has gone even further to say that he will not tax over time. and this month is latino heritage month. and for the first time, the trump campaign is r

trump was in north carolina couple days ago.ng to be enough to avoid being dragged down by robinson in this state? >> no. all the way does look like a choir boy next to donald trump, it's a problem. it's a real problem. statewide efforts based on the strength of the overall ticket. the person at governors at the statewide ticket and it creates fieldwork and incentives and creates up and down the ballot effect. the most important thing is for people to be excited about the races in the states. i think very strongly now that north carolina could be the route that hears goes to win the election. i think it is possible she win pennsylvania but she could lose it, but if she loses pennsylvania, it's very likely that she will win north carolina, and then i think she is a good possibility of picking up either georgia and/or arizona. i think north carolina is shifting politically, and i think the mark robinson effect is a big problem. >> maria, the mark robinson effect is a thing as marquez noted. trump appears to have a slight polling e

also the democratic nominee for north carolina attorney general. congressman. appreciate you being with us. are you surprised robinson has refused to drop out of the race know this has been who he's been. >> and frankly, i'm not surprised by the recent revelations if you're from north carolina this is not a surprise. i know the rest of the country has just now burning about him, but we've known who mark robinson is for a long time. he's referred to gay people is felt. he has said that god doesn't call women to weed. he's been carrying around a lot of hangar lot of anger and a lot of hatred for years much of i mean, do you think it has much of an impact not just in the gubernatorial race, obviously, but potentially the presidential race. >> i do. i mean, look, north carolina is a 50-50 state that is full of 50-50 races, including mine, including the presidential race. a swing of 25,000 votes could be the entire margin. i think you're going to see a backlash of basic decency. look, they're going to be people who look at these comments he's in favor o

a sex scandal in north carolina is between the lieutenant governor and the people of north carolina.so. >> anderson, what are you hearing about this? >> people in north carolina know this is the same man who has been our current lieutenant governor the last four years so it is not a surprise to anybody here on the ground. what i will say is jd vance and donald trump will have to defend why they are touting around his endorsement of them and why they have endorsed him and are not rescinding those endorsements. mark robinson is an extension of donald trump and represents the republican party in this entire state. one that would take us backwards if he became governor in our state. we are now under a republican supermajority. if they keep that next year, it will only further enact harmful policies he has endorsed to himself on the governor's trail this year. >> what impact do you believe this will have on josh stein's race? >> it will make sure we see a successful democratic victory like we have the last seven out of eight governor's races in north carolina and we hope it will make sure

so i like to think of north carolina as the united states of north carolina. it sounds obvious, but it goes from apalachicola all the way to the coast. and there is a lot of variety in north carolina, but abortion and the suburbs, the fast-growing suburbs, is a huge opportunity for the harris campaign and grit. >> gretchen the just mentioned some of the outrageous things that this lieutenant governor who wants to be governor has said also some very anti-semitic remarks. >> hitler disarming millions of jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash. and it goes on and on. so you know, in any other pre maga time, i think it's fair to say it will be very hard for someone like this to get the nomination with one of those statements right? with any within any of those statements. but look, he does not have the endorsement of senator pat tillis, republican. >> he does not have the endorsement of the former republican governor pat mccrory, but he's on the ticket with trump? yes. he's on. but but north carolina has a history of ticket-spl

scandal tonight rocking the governor's race in politically consequential north carolina. republican candidate and conservative firebrand mark robinson tonight facing calls to drop out of the race after a cnn report today linked robinson to a series of inflammatory online remarks, including, according to cnn, referring to himself as a black nazi, and writing in support of reinstating slavery. but robinson is strongly denying making the comments and says he is staying in the race. we have to warn you, much of the reporting in this story is graphic in nature. the cable network saying the remarks were posted on a porn website over a decade ago linked by a single user name. nbc news has not verified the authenticity of the posts. robinson calling the report tabloid trash as some republicans are speaking out against him. laura jarrett has the latest. >> reporter: tonight, republican candidate mark robinson vowing to stay in the race for governor in north carolina, vehemently denying an explosive new report purporting to show dozens of his disturbing comments online. >> they wan

on that race, but do you thank the robinson controversy can actually help kamala harris win in north carolina >> i'm not a political scientist, but there has been incredibly exciting newfound energy for the harris-walz campaign here, north gallant shed 25,000 people at a rally week ago. so she's got momentum. i think she's going to win, but i am absolutely focused on winning my race, which is to defeat mark robinson. we've got a completely different worldview. i believe fundamentally that our democracy is based on equality. it's what drives my public life. five mark robinson does not believe that he thinks that there are some people who are good and acceptable and other people who were not it's about hate, not hope it's about division, not unity. we have so much potential to do better here in north carolina. but we have to win. my race is going to be incredibly close. most kamala harris is race is going to be closed. if folks want to help or learn more than go to joshstein dot vice president harris is facing calls from even many democrats to branch out in her public appearances. do town halls

they are on the ground now working and also for anyone else who's listening in north carolina, south carolina, florida, the president has declared an emergency disaster declaration and you can register for assistance at disasterassistance.gov calling 1806 to 13362, or the fema app. and that'll be the opening of an opportunity or not just fema, but also agencies i'm curious. >> what do you say to the people though who are still stranded with no wifi, no cell service, no way to communicate with the outside world. of course, say, because of all of that, they wouldn't be able to hear you right now. but there these people that we've been speaking to are not are not seeing that help that you laid out? why is it that some people are so stranded still and not and not getting the help from government officials from these teams on the ground that you just said yeah i think well versed, obviously, the storm passed through on friday. >> i was floodwaters active search and rescues that were ongoing and are still ongoing throughout the last couple of days. and we understand in the state of the fans

north carolina's lake lure filled with wood and debris. much of the city of asheville, north carolina, tonight left in ruins. stunned neighborhoods walking through muddy streets, surveying what's left there. many roads impassable, covered in debris. part of interstate 40 here through north carolina washed away. and the images tonight, the lines. at least a mile long, just waiting for gas there. tonight, with so many in need, the efforts to get help to them, with so many roads impassable. abc's faith abubey leads us off in asheville, north carolina, tonight. >> reporter: tonight, an urgent search for the missing, after apocalyptic rain from remnants of hurricane helene turned hillsides to rivers of mud and tore bridges to pieces. >> there are 92 rescue teams out working, doing search and rescue right now. we're dealing with a situation that is unlike anybody's ever seen in western north carolina. >> reporter: floodwaters cutting off entire communities. more than 130 people dead across six states, and hundreds more still unaccounted for. par

show you north carolina right now and show you what joe biden did well in north carolina back in 2020. essentially in north carolina he cut the margin from hillary clinton in half. trump won the state 1.4 points but if you go back to 2016, same state now, trump won the state by almost four. biden did better. a lot of these big counties where you found raleigh and charlotte. and that helped keep biden competitive. let me go back to 2020 so you see it again, all right? trump wins the state. it was close if you remember that night. 74,000, 481. what do democrats smell in north carolina now. do they see something here? if so, are the 16 electoral votes up for grabs for kamala harris? >> north carolina went for donald trump in 2016, went for him in 2020 and it will go for him again in 2024. the democrats have definitely been investing a lot of time and energy in north carolina. at the end of the day north carolina voters want a strong america, they want a strong north carolina, they really truly care about the same issues we see in other battleground states. whether or not we have a strong

and then he was scheduled to appear at a get out the vote of that in north carolina. and all of those have been canceled or we've seen robinson removed from the moroccan. we reached out to all of them. we haven't heard back an injury pressingly. robinson, most importantly, he has no events listed, none. i mean, it is just fascinating to watch all of this. alright. andrew kaczynski, thank you very much at the new reporting from kfile

for survivors in florida, north carolina and south carolina, those governors have requested major disastereclarations. the president approved them immediately over the weekend. and we urge those citizens seeking fema assistance to sign up for that assistance as quickly as possible. you can do that either by calling 1800-621-3362, registering on disaster assistance.gov, or by filling out an application on your mobile device through the fema app. that brings me to our response. under president biden and vice president harris's leadership, we are providing urgent and extensive federal support for the ongoing response and recovery efforts to hurricane helene. over the weekend at the president's direction, fema administrator deanne criswell traveled to florida on saturday , to georgia on sunday, and today she is in north carolina accompanying governor cooper in surveying impacts to the affected communities in western north carolina. the president has asked deanne criswell to remain in asheville, north carolina, given how acute the situation is on the ground there and he will receive an update f

today, the kfile reportedly reporting is certainly the talk of north carolina right now, though trump himself has not directly addressed what came from his protege. hear his campaign, however, telling cnn in his statement, that's trump's campaign is focused on winning the white house, north carolina is a vital part of that plan and we will not take our eye off the ball oh now, part of the challenge for trump in north carolina will breed be reversing recent trends of women voters supporting the democratic nominee instead trump got to work on that early last tonight with a post on truth social where he said that women were poor, less healthy less safe, more depressed, and less optimistic than they were her four years ago. he also said that quote, you will no longer be thinking about abortion because it t is now where it has always had to be. the state to support this comes as vice president harris has made abortion a central part of her campaign, and it's no wonder that he is talking about this coming into north carolina, harris is doing much it's better than donald trump among female v

they're both wrong for north carolina. >> reporter: donald trump's advisers say that winning north carolinas critical to their chances of taking back the white house in november. sources tell me that the campaign is trying to put some distance between themselves and mark robinson. robinson is not expected to attend donald trump's rally in the state tomorrow, but still the former president showing no

arrived in north carolina. thank you. >> thank you for that and thank you to the bipartisan infrastructure law, north carolina received seven core door i.d. awards last year, how do you anticipate the funding improving north carolina's ability to invest in and accelerate the development of passenger rail in our state? >> corridor i.d. is really important because community needs, as stephen had said, the community needs to understand what a project will cost, the corridor i.d. unlocks $5000 worth of planning funds so we can work with communities to define what the service outcomes art they would like to see and what the infrastructure investments will be needed to make that happen. which each of our communities admitted to the corridor i.d. program, we are meeting with them to understand what is the kind of service outcomes they would like to see, what is the match they will need, at what time in this process i would give this is an example meeting with the community of fayetteville recently, they are very excit

north carolina is leading coverage concerning the after affects of the storm in that small north carolina mountain town, helene made landfall on thursday as a category four. "realities setting and for many people about how long that might be left isolated without running water, power, cell service or internet. catastrophic flooding washed out roads, damaged flooding, leaving neighborhoods underwater. people sharing posts on facebook looking for friends and loved ones, asking others to check on relatives. many major roads remaining impassable, few people able to make it out on the small winding roads that move through the valleys and rivers of this region. out we will hear more from the president later on concerning the aftermath of the hurricane. eric, north carolina, good morning. caller: good day, how are you? host: thank you, good, go ahead. caller: you just had an individual calling about north carolina. there in the mountains, it's you know. but nothing has been said about the limited access to the areas appear. informing the individual that there is help being sent. fema is actively

basically, the electorate north carolina is 50-50.he vote in the last election but are gerrymandered legislature is about 60% republican, 40% democrat. it is unrepresentative of the will of the voters because they drew the lines. they used computer technology in order to accentuate the power , and it creates real challenges in terms of stymieing what the voters truly want. you cannot gerrymander an entire state. that is why i have a fighting chance to win. >> talk to me about expanding the current base that you got. where are the vulnerabilities know that you're enjoying this laden eyecatcher point that leads sometimes it evaporate but given that on paper you at least have the sleep, what does it allow you to do that you have not been able to do? >> mark robinson is so beyond the pale. he is beyond extreme. he is as french as they come. he says awful things about people. he says women are not called to lead. he calls people filth. from a church pulpit a few weeks ago he said some folks need killing. i mean, it is just beyond the pale.

but, i know he is really depending on north carolina. he likes north carolina.olina was good to him. really good to him in the last election. but, i also recognize that there are other battleground states that might need his time a little more. i would not put it past him or hold it against him if he spend more time in those states because we need him to win. >> to get perspective from the democratic party and another swing state i have been speaking with congressman dan kelce from michigan. -- dan kilby from michigan. the initial polling in the wake of the debate shows kamala harris performed better than trump. do you think she can translate that into votes? >> i think it will make a difference. while she has been vice president, senator, and attorney general some americans out there have not yet fully formed their view of vice president harris. this debate was the first opportunity for those undecided voters to take measure of these two candidates. and, she did quite well. so, it sometimes takes a little time for this to sink in and be reflected in the polling

joining us now is anderson clayton the chair of the north carolina democratic party. welcome back to the last word. jd vance held a rally in north l carolina today. i do want to play for you what he said about mark robinson in charlotte today. >> what he said or didn't say is also between him and the people of north carolina. the people of north carolina will make that decision. look, i have seen some of the statements. i have not seen the mall. some of them are pretty gross to sit mildly. -- say it mildly. it's up to mark robinson to make his case to the people of north carolina that those were his statements. i will let him make that case. a sex scandal in north carolina is between the lieutenant governor and the people of ol north carolina. >> anderson, what you hear t about voters linking those disturbing comments to the republican, mark robinson? >> north carolinians know this is the same man who is been the current lieutenant governor for the last four years and r fortunately. it isn't a surprise here. jd vance and donald trump will have to defend why are they to

even in a closely fought swing state like north carolina, north carolina does not want that guy.idate for governor in north carolina is currently polling 14 points behind his democratic opponent, josh stein. democrats are not only hoping to beat mark robinson very badly, they're hoping he will be such a drag on republicans up and down the ticket that it will give kamala harris and every other democrat on the north carolina ballot a considerable boost. north carolina democrats have announced a fairly epic get out the vote effort. they're holding 30 different college campus events across the state in 30 days. 30 campuses in 30 days. that campaign will be led by anderson clayton, chair of the north carolina democratic party, and she's only 26 years old. she's the youngest chair of any state political party in the whole country. she joins us now. thank you for being with us. appreciate your time. >> thank you for having us. >> i'm looking at this through an admittedly reductive lens, about who is at the top of the ticket on the ballot in your state. are there nuances or angles here t

north carolina, but this issue is going to come and go. but the reality of what's happened in our country remains and that's why donald trump's going to win the state of north carolina as democrats in north carolina seek to turn robinson's controversy into a challenge for other republicans. >> i think that when people go to the polls, they need to think about these candidates who had supported and encouraged somebody like mark robinson and continue to do so. >> now, democrats across the state of north carolina, taking advantage of this nearly every statewide candidate down through the balance well, it has posted a photograph that the republican opponent has taken with robinson or touted an endorsement, even just kind of comments about the lieutenant governor. there was a fundraiser that was scheduled for mark robinson featuring the chair of the republican governors association, tennessee governor bill lee, will a source familiar tells cnn that is no longer taking place. and governor bill lee is not coming to north carolina dianne gallagher

a very big hello to north carolina, a special place. you saw the other day my little granddaughter, named carolina. that is for a reason, because lara, her mother, is from here. she's doing a fantastic job, a fantastic person. it's great to be here and great to be back in this beautiful state with thousands of proud hardworking american patriots, which is what you are. i want to thank you very much glenn bosak and everyone at the mosak group for welcoming me. this is beautiful and fantastic. i much stomach must tell you, he's the owner and the boss and all of that come and grab me as i'm coming up. "i want to just tell you something. he said, before tariffs, when you put the tariffs on, this was a dead-end empty building. it wasn't functioning. and you put those tariffs on and now we are a manufacturing powerhouse. [applause] he said they were only importing product and now they are making product, and making a lot of it. you see a lot of it here. that's a lot of product. and that's what we are going to be doing on a much larger scale,