Voters in areas of Georgia and North Carolina that were damaged by Hurricane Helene helped propel President-elect Donald Trump to victory, election returns show.
The hardest-hit counties in both swing states were being watched by state officials and candidates to see if voter turnout declined because of lingering road damage and the relocation of some voting sites.
In both states, the 25 counties with the most damage from Helene saw a slight decline in the percentage of voters who cast ballots for president, compared to 2020, an analysis by POLITICO’s E&E News shows. But those counties overwhelmingly supported Trump, who won 61 percent of those voters in North Carolina and 58 percent in Georgia.
Helene was the first catastrophic disaster to hit two swing states within six weeks of a presidential election, NOAA records show.
