David Axelrod Under Fire for Saying ‘Killer Storms’ in Rural North Carolina Could Hurt Trump Voter Turnout

Former Obama adviser David Axelrod is under fire after commenting that North Carolina’s “liberal voters” in “blue” Asheville would “find a way to vote” for Vice President Kamala Harris despite Hurricane Helene’s devastation, while rural Trump supporters who had their “homes and lives destroyed” might struggle to reach the polls.

The hurricane, which caused widespread flooding across several south-eastern states last week, including North Carolina, left an death toll of at least 225, many missing and hundreds of thousands of people without power.

On his podcast Hacks on Tap, Axelrod offered his own take on what the destruction meant for election turnout in November.

Here’s my question about North Carolina. You had these killer storms, which, by the way, was a third big story this week. These killer storms, and there’s a lot of displacement in western North Carolina.

Now, Asheville is a blue dot in that area. But those voters in Asheville are, they’re, you know, the kind of voters who will figure out a way to vote. You know? They’re upscale voters, kind of liberal voters, and they’re probably going to figure out a way to vote. I’m not sure a bunch of these folks who’ve had their homes and lives destroyed elsewhere in Western North Carolina, in the mountains there, are going to be as easy to wrangle for the Trump campaign.

I don’t know how that’s all going to play out but it’s an unpredictable element in North Carolina that has made it a little more interesting.

The comments quickly drew backlash on social media as conservative commentators slammed what were perceived as ignorant remarks by Axelrod.

Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist, used the remarks to further the Trump campaign’s claims that the federal government’s relief response was failing: “I fear that Axelrod’s point is why Harris and Biden are letting these people drown.”

Meanwhile, Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce accused Axelrod of belittling rural Trump voters.

Watch above on Hacks On Tap.