Evening Edition: Still Recovering From Helene North Carolina Readies For Election
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I'm Will Kane. I'm Janice Dean. I'm Greg Gutfeld. And this is the Fox News Rundown. Thursday, October 31st, 2024.

Happy Halloween. I'm John Saucier. The state of North Carolina, they're in a tough situation right now, trying to clean up and recover from Hurricane Helene and acting as an important battleground state in this year's presidential election. It's hard to go out and vote when your whole life has been destroyed, but North Carolinians in the western portion of the state are showing us just how tough they are. They thought this was going to be, oh my God, we're never going to be able to vote. You know, it's

not going to happen. And people are finding out that there are resources being put in to allow them to do just that. This is a Fox News Rundown Evening Edition. Precise, personal, powerful. It's America's weather team in the palm of your hands. Get Fox weather updates throughout your busy day, every day. Subscribe and listen now at foxnewspodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

As we approach Election Day next week, we're taking stock of swing states and North Carolina finds itself in a particular situation. During an election that's been unlike any other, voters in the Tar Heel state are trying to not only move forward with their lives, but also figure out how and who to vote for. I am personally stunned at how much damage there still is and how much disruption this storm has created throughout western North Carolina.

We're speaking today with Fox News Washington, D.C. based correspondent Mark Meredith. Today, he's reporting from Asheville, North Carolina. We are staying at a hotel in basically downtown Asheville. And when we speak to people from, you know, the front desk to the dinner waitress, we just ask them, you know, how is everybody doing? How's the storm? And I am stunned at how much people say their lives have been disrupted. Even here at this hotel, we're staying in downtown. They lost two people. Two people died yesterday.

from the storm. They lost a housekeeper and they lost somebody in the banquet services. And then I was speaking to a woman this morning. We stopped for lunch at what would be a popular lunch spot. They had only canned beverages. They couldn't get their water. So they were still dealing with not being able to do dishware or hot items. And they were like, well, we need the money. So I mean, they literally were using just paper plates and stuff like that just to keep it going. We did our live shots this morning

one of the rivers right near the Biltmore estate, if you're very famous, very famous part of Asheville. And when you just look around and it's just trees uprooted everywhere, debris everywhere, almost to me, it looked more like a twister. You see the damage like in Oklahoma where stuff is just kind of thrown everywhere. That's what it looks like. And I just did not get the sense that things have gotten a lot better than they were, that maybe people thought they were going to be. Now, imagine what it's like

25, 30 minutes into the mountains from here and how much worse it could be. Yeah, seriously. So if people are in that stage of recovery, Mark, what are they saying about how the government has responded both on the state and federal level? Are they happy with how they've gotten relief or are they still waiting for things to come in? I haven't met anybody today that was angry with the response. So I think the thing is the good news is now it's all hands on deck. I've seen every state farm agent. I've seen Red Cross farmers.

I mean, you see that they've got all of the people here now. Obviously, there was a lot of anger a month ago

right after the storm hit they felt like they weren't getting the resources they need but the the state of north carolina is forecasting john that this storm will cost 53 billion dollars in recovery i mean it's just an astronomical figure for an area of a state that is not used to dealing with hurricanes and so they are they are vowing to take all the resources they can to throw at this but man john they're going to need time and these people here

So many of them have lost homes. And when we talked to them, they honestly got are keeping their best foot forward. And I know I'd be in tears and wouldn't be able to work. And again, the waitress we had last night just said, the only reason I keep working is to make sure that, you know, I can keep it together. And it was just so telling to me.

Tough times don't stick around, but tough people do. And from what I'm hearing from you, Mark, these people are tough as nails and really pulling together here to get through all this. And they've got a task at hand as well, besides just the hurricane recovery and election, too. And wouldn't you know it, North Carolina is a critical swing state in this presidential election. So if the roads are ripped up and there's trees uprooted and you don't have power, you don't have water,

How difficult is it to go vote? Talk to me about some of the hurdles, the extra hurdles people are jumping through just to cast their ballots. Absolutely, especially because it's not just voting on Election Day. North Carolina has absentee ballot. They have early voting. So it was a situation where, you know, it's not like they said, OK, good news. We still have two months to get this together. They had, you know, hours, if not just a day or two to figure it out. So in Western North Carolina, the state is doing something kind of interesting. They're creating these ballots.

When I say tent, you kind of think of like something you go camping with. It's a little bit bigger than that, but it's a temporary structure that is being set up in parts of North Carolina that people would not be able to get to the library or get to the community center where they would normally vote. And so those are being installed. In fact, there's one being installed today.

We had a camera up there all day and they, you know, all day to build this infrastructure. They're going to move in material on Monday so that it's ready to go for on Tuesday. It was a real concern early on. I get the sense from

where early voting is, that people have still been able to go and cast their ballot, that there hasn't been nearly as many concerns as maybe there were right out the gate. And we heard from a woman, Susie Fry, who is just who's voting today up in Black Mountain. It's about 20 minutes north of where we are here.

And she said, you know, it was a little frustrating when you have to go to a different area to vote. But when we heard about them opening the polling place, she thought it was awesome. They walked right across the street and got our vote in. So the point I'm trying to say is that they thought this was going to be, oh, my God, we're never going to be able to vote. You know, it's

It's not going to happen. And people are finding out that there are resources being put in to allow them to do just that. North Carolina was dealt a deadly blow from Hurricane Helene when it rolled through and caused extreme devastation. Lots of work remains, including casting ballots in this year's election. Fox News correspondent Mark Meredith is in Asheville today speaking with voters looking at the cleanup and covering the campaign. The conversation continues coming up next.

All right. So good news there. And I think the early voting can help also with people who obviously have been big things on their mind, trying to get their lives back together. We're speaking today with Fox's Washington DC based correspondent, Mark Meredith today. He's a national North Carolina covering the election there. And of course the aftermath of hurricane Helene, you said you spoke to some voters, Mark, what's the vibe. I mean, which way do you feel people leaning? Is it more Trump? Is it more Harris? Is it tough to kind of catch on to where people are going? It's,

It is tough to catch on. Of course, we're in western North Carolina and this this area tends to be more conservative. I think in the 25 counties impacted by the that are considered most impacted by the disaster, Republicans far registered Republicans far outrank the Democrats here. And obviously, the North Carolina Republicans have made comments about that, saying they want to make sure that western North Carolina is accurately represented because it could absolutely sway this state.

I try not to just ask people flat out, who'd you vote for? Because I know I wouldn't like it if somebody asked me that. It's kind of rude. So I try to read the tea leaves as best I can. In fact, there was a guy this morning, uh, we were talking and I, I was dying to know, but, uh, you know, I just, instead of just saying, Oh, who'd you vote for? I like to say what issues matter to you? Uh,

You know, was there one particular thing that had you motivated? And then I try to read the tea leaves from that. So that's a great question. What are the issues? That was another thing I was curious about. What are some of the issues that voters in Western North Carolina have on their minds as they head to the polls? Well, certainly, obviously, this recovery and the storm and how it's being handled. It's a Democratic governor here. He's not up for reelection. He's term limited. So, you know, his.

response to the storm, I don't necessarily think will translate into the ongoing gubernatorial race because he's not a candidate. You know, how FEMA responded and how the Biden administration, I do think will have an impact here. J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, he was in North Carolina today, not in this area, but he made it very clear he thinks that it's the economy inflation that will be the biggest issue for North Carolinians.

And this is a state that Trump won both in 2016 and in 2020. It was a bit narrower in 2020. The Trump campaign, though, has been feeling pretty good about it. New Fox poll out just yesterday showing Trump with a, I believe it was a two, two and a half point lead. So within the margin of error. But

But obviously, you know, Trump's got some history here. He won it in 16, won it in 20. I would imagine his campaign is feeling pretty bullish. The vice president, she's back here Saturday. She's got a rally in Charlotte. Her campaign also took some money out of media markets in North Carolina. They had pre-bought some airtime and pulled back. Maybe that's an indication they think that maybe it's a foregone conclusion here. That will have to be will have to be seen.

Yeah, I was curious about that because she's still going to Charlotte. She's still having that rally there. But the money, money talks very loud in these campaigns, Marcus, we all know. And when you pull advertising money out of a place like North Carolina to put it somewhere else, I think that's a big deal, especially when you consider the amount of money the Harris campaign has raised in just a short time that she's been the candidate. I couldn't agree with you more. In fact, I find that really bizarre, too, because it's like,

Like why – I mean money is the least of their problems. I mean they've got more money than they would know what to do with. Why would they do that unless they really saw something in the water? And it doesn't make much sense to me unless for whatever reason that money has to go to a place like Arizona. Maybe they feel – maybe you could do devil's advocate and say maybe they feel comfortable enough that they could move the money to a different state.

Um, but, uh, obviously this has been a, a closely watched state for quite a while now. And there is a governor's race underway. As I mentioned, the Republican candidate has been trailing significantly. So I don't necessarily think that that is, uh, going to bode well.

great in terms of turning out maybe more moderate republicans uh for trump but we shall of course wait to see in just a few days time mark meredith one last thing for you and it's really kind of a reporter's notebook type question you've done this before you know we're all very busy right now here at fox covering the presidential campaign and of course the 2024 election not just the president but you mentioned the governor's race there we've got the house the senate the

different ballot measures and whatnot. How's this election been for you? I know you're very busy going around different states. How are you holding up and what's it like to be a reporter covering the election for National Network?

Well, it's my dream to come true. So I feel very, very lucky. And the coolest thing is that we get to work with our Fox teams all over the country. So I could be with a producer today from Atlanta tomorrow from Chicago, a cameraman from Seattle. So it's really fun because, you know, we all meet each other in random city and we all go separate ways. It can be tough on family. I've got a wife and two little kids. I got a three year old and a three month old, and she's had to take a lot of the of the burden for our family. And

You know, I'm very, very thankful. But she also knows that this is what I love to do. And this was my dream. So she's she's been willing to accommodate. Let's just say she is very ready for the election to be over. I've had a blast. Very, very thankful. It's been a very weird cycle. I mean, none of this has been a normal cycle by any stretch of the imagination.

But it's been really fun. I'm going to be at the vice president's watch party in D.C. on Tuesday. It's going to be very weird to have an election night in Washington. It's kind of strange. Then again, Trump did it from the White House four years ago. So it's just I would have thought it would be more in California. I was a little surprised she didn't do something there.

All right, Mark Meredith, Fox News correspondent out of Washington, D.C. Today, he's reporting from Asheville, North Carolina. Mark, thanks for your coverage. Good luck on Tuesday. We appreciate it. And as always, great job. And thanks for being with us on the Fox News Rundown Evening Edition podcast. Thanks for having me. We'll just do it before the next four years, all right? We'll make it four years in between. All right, we'll sprinkle a few in there before the next election for sure. Thanks, John. ♪ music playing ♪

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