SWANNANOA, N.C. — Surveying storm damage in North Carolina, former President Donald Trump blasted federal emergency responders Monday whose work has been stymied by armed harassment and a deluge of misinformation, but he said he was not concerned that the aftermath of Hurricane Helene would affect election results in the battleground state.

Trump was asked whether it was helpful to criticize hurricane relief workers after the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently paused its work in the area because of reports that they could be targeted by militia. He responded by again attacking the agency and repeating the falsehood that the response was hampered because FEMA spent its budget helping people who crossed the border illegally. That claim was debunked weeks ago by Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., who stood behind Trump as he spoke.

“Well, I think you have to let people know how they’re doing,” Trump told reporters outside Asheville. “If they were doing a great job, I think we should say that, too, because I think they should be rewarded. ... If they’re doing a poor job, we’re supposed to not say it?”

Despite extensive damage across western North Carolina, Trump said he saw no reason for the storm to cast doubt on the North Carolina election results.

“No, I think in a way, it’s the opposite,” he said. “I mean, we’re so impressed, and I think they have a pretty good system here.”

Trump’s campaign and that of his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, are ramping up their activity in North Carolina again after the storm. Trump had three stops scheduled for Monday. Former President Bill Clinton appeared last week with Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, and then made several visits in eastern North Carolina.

With 15 days until Election Day, North Carolina is critical to the Electoral College math that will decide whether Trump gets a White House encore or Harris hands him a second defeat and, in the process, makes history as the first woman, second Black person and first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office.

“We are going to win or lose the presidency based on what happens in North Carolina,” Republican National Chairman Michael Whatley, a North Carolinian, said last week as part of a GOP bus tour.

North Carolina is expected to cast as many as 5.5 million ballots; more than 1 million votes have been cast since the start of early voting last Thursday.

Many North Carolina counties affected by Helene moved Election Day precincts or changed early voting sites. Thousands of voters remain displaced or without power or water. Both parties are scrambling to check their turnout operations.

Harris has not visited Asheville since the storm. President Joe Biden flew over the area in a helicopter to survey damage. The White House generally shies away from on-the-ground visits to disaster zones because their presence can distract law enforcement from recovery needs.

Republican Renee Kyro, who lives a short drive from the devastated mountain town of Chimney Rock, said she knows “plenty of Trump supporters who lost everything” and others who remain in their homes but don’t have reliable internet or phone connections and may not know their polling location.

“I’ll go door to door if I have to,” she said.

Yet Trump and Republicans never built the same campaign infrastructure as Harris — or Biden before he dropped out of the race in July.

“It was a flip of a coin before the storm,” GOP pollster Paul Shumaker said. “The critical question is going to be: How is the rural turnout going to compare matched with the urban and suburban turnout?” Especially if Republicans “continue to have ballot erosion in the urban-suburban areas.”

State Sen. Natalie Murdock, who doubles as political director for Democrats’ coordinated campaign in the state, said field workers have engaged in recovery efforts, distributing water and other supplies to residents.

Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, urged Trump not to “share lies or misinformation” when he visits the Asheville area.

Many storm survivors lost everything, and they want help and truth, Cooper said Monday at a briefing in Asheville. “Storm recovery cannot be partisan.”

Edwards, who represents Asheville and surrounding areas in Congress, put out a long statement last month debunking “outrageous rumors” that FEMA was halting trucks from bringing in supplies, abandoning rescue efforts to bulldoze Chimney Rock, running out of money and more.

He did not defend FEMA from Trump’s criticism Monday but said he owns McDonald’s franchises and noted that the former president learned to make French fries during a photo opportunity Sunday at a McDonald’s. Edwards presented what he called a “French fry certification pin” to Trump.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Trump’s FEMA comments had been debunked on a bipartisan basis. She said 5,500 federal personnel were in North Carolina and Florida after Helene and Hurricane Milton, and $2 billion in federal assistance had been approved for those affected in North Carolina.

“They are dangerous,” she said of Trump’s remarks. “They are unhelpful. It is not what leadership looks like.”