Lack of federal Hurricane Helene disaster relief could impact midterm elections in North Carolina

Voters in western North Carolina are overwhelmingly dissatisfied with the federal response to Hurricane Helene, and that could impact the 2026 midterm elections in a big way, reports Katie Myers for Grist. Helene devastated entire communities and caused $60 billion in damage, but as Myers reports, only $10 billion has been provided by the federal government so far. 

"Half of all North Carolinians are dissatisfied with the government’s response, compared to 37 percent who are satisfied, according to a poll commissioned by television stations WRAL and WSOC. In western North Carolina, which bore the brunt of Helene’s fury, just 5 percent said they are 'very satisfied' with how officials are handling things," Myers writes. 

These sentiments are affecting federal elections in North Carolina's U.S. Senate race between former governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, and President Trump's point person on Helene recovery, Michael Whatley. Trump has "joked that he wouldn't send North Carolina additional aid if Whatley lost," Myers reports, which means "politicians are treating [disaster] recovery as an electoral issue." 

Myers writes that it's unclear whether slow disaster relief is impacting voters. For some, Myers writes, it's more about climate change than recovery. But numbers show a shift is happening. In NC-11, for instance, the largely rural mountain area went for Trump by nearly 10 points in 2024. But now, Republican Jennifer Balkcom is "running even with Democrat Jamie Ager," and a pro-Trump political action committee just canceled more than $1 million in TV advertising for Balkcom in the district. 

Disinformation spreads quickly after disaster, but one news outlet created a media literacy guide to help

A "perfect storm" of factors is leading to vast disinformation after disasters, and more than becoming conspiracy theories about government interference or so-called "weather weapons," such misinformation could harm recovery efforts and threaten lives, reports Jake Bittle of Grist.

"Extreme weather events are always chaotic, and it’s always been easy for rumors to spread during moments of calamity, but the problem has never been as bad as it is now," Bittle writes. He writes that the problem is "as bad as it is now" because of several factors: "... the information landscape has never been more fragmented — major social media companies have given up on any pretense of fact-checking and content moderation; politicians often distort or politicize disasters; government agencies are short-staffed following DOGE cuts; and generative AI models have created an entirely new and little-understood way to source information." 

But when misinformation spreads after a disaster, it "can lead to lost lives, traumatic displacement, or slow recovery," while also straining "the relationship between public authorities and their citizens." So, what can people do about this? Grist has an answer in a new guide about fact-checking during a disaster, that can help those impacted find accurate information about extreme weather from trusted sources. The guide offers a list of sources and helps people understand how to verify those sources and the information they share. It even helps readers identify A.I.-generated content.