CHARLOTTE, N.C. – More than 80,000 Americans from across North Carolina and the country traveled to Charlotte for Concert for Carolina on Saturday, a benefit show donating 100% of proceeds to those impacted by Hurricane Helene in the western part of the state.

Country music stars Luke Combs and Eric Church, who are both from western North Carolina, organized the star-studded show that included performances from James Taylor, Keith Urban, Billy Strings and others, plus surprise appearances from Nicole Kidman and Randy Travis, to help those impacted by Helene and ended up raising $24.5 million.

“I have been volunteering with the hurricane relief, and I see where they need a lot more help than what they’re being given, so this is a great opportunity to listen to music, which I love, and help the people who need it most who have been left behind by the people who should be helping them,” Jessica White of eastern Tennessee told Fox News Digital.

She added that people are still “sleeping in tents” as temperatures drop in the mountains.

LUKE COMBS AND ERIC CHURCH RAISE OVER $24.5 MILLION FOR HURRICANE VICTIMS AT STAR-STUDDED CONCERT FOR CAROLINA

“That’s horrible. And it’s even more horrible when we have illegals sleeping in hotels but our own taxpaying citizens are sleeping in tents because a hurricane destroyed their home,” White added.

Sherry from Denver, North Carolina, echoed that same sentiment.

HURRICANE HELENE RELIEF CONCERT BRINGS COUNTRY STARS LUKE COMBS, ERIC CHURCH BACK HOME TO NORTH CAROLINA

Sherry from Denver, N.C., thinks “a majority of the country has moved on and has no idea there are still people sleeping in tents.” (Fox News Digital)

“I think if we did for our American citizens what we did for illegal entrants into this country, we’d be in a much better place,” she said, adding that she thinks “a majority of the country has moved on and has no idea there are still people sleeping in tents.”

“Good old friends and neighbors have stepped up, and I think they’ll be alright.”

— Sherry of Denver, North Carolina

Advertisement

Many of the attendees who spoke to Fox News Digital on Saturday had seen the destruction in areas around Asheville themselves when they drove hours from their homes to deliver supplies and volunteer their time to help people rebuild. 

Many of the attendees who spoke to Fox News Digital on Saturday had seen the destruction in areas around Asheville themselves when they drove hours from their homes to deliver supplies and volunteer their time to help people rebuild. (Fox News Digital)

One family from Avery County said a tree fell on their home during the storm, and they drove to Charlotte for the concert to escape some of the stress they’ve dealt with over the last month.

Church announced during the show that his charitable organization, Chief Cares, was donating 100 homes to those in need after Helene, which killed 98 people in North Carolina alone and more than 250 across the Southeast. North Carolina Gov. Cooper estimates that damage to the state totals about $53 billion.

Luke Combs and Eric Church perform at Concert For Carolina at Bank of America Stadium on Oct. 26, 2024 in Charlotte, N.C. (John Shearer/Getty Images for Concert For Carolina)

“We’ve come up with a plan called Blueprint for the Blue Ridge. We’re going to put 100 families in homes that have lost their homes in Avery County and the surrounding areas — one of the worst hit areas. In an area that I spent half of my years, an area I’ve had a lot of inspiration and gained a lot of inspiration, in an area I’ve made five records in. And we’re going to go and keep those people in their community, put a roof over their heads, let them interact with their community, let them be a part of their community, and let them help rebuild the community.”

Hosts Marty Smith of ESPN and Caleb Pressley of Barstool Sports announced during the show that Dolly Parton had directed $1 million to Concert for Carolina through a donation from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, which he dedicated to Dolly specifically “to direct to causes that she cares about,” Smith said on Saturday.

ERIC CHURCH SUPPORTS HURRICANE HELENE VICTIMS BY DONATING ROYALTIES FROM NEW SONG: ‘THEY’RE IN NEED’

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman speak at the Concert For Carolina at Bank of America Stadium on Oct. 26, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. (John Shearer/Getty Images for Concert For Carolina)

Earlier this month, the country legend donated $1 million of her own money to the Mountain Ways Foundation to support Hurricane Helene relief efforts. Parton’s Dollywood also contributed an additional $1 million to the relief.

On Saturday morning before the show, Church and Combs shared stories with Fox News Digital about their memories of western North Carolina as they reflected on the mass destruction caused by Helene.

HURRICANE HELENE: DOLLY PARTON, MORGAN WALLEN, MIRANDA LAMBERT HELP WITH DISASTER RELIEF

The stadium lit up during Eric Church’s performance at the Concert for Carolina. (Audrey Conklin/Fox News Digital)

“I remember there was some video of an area that I knew intimately in western North Carolina, and … I didn’t know what I was looking at. It was stunning to me to see this area that I grew up in, that I knew, that I no longer recognized,” Church said. 

Advertisement

WATCH: LUKE COMBS AND ERIC CHURCH RECALL SEEING PHOTOS OF DEVASTATION

Combs recalled a U-Haul dealership he was fired from as a teenager.

“There’s a Walgreens on one side of Tunnel Road, and there’s a U-Haul dealership on the other side, and I actually worked one summer at that particular U-Haul dealership. I got fired from that job, and … I came home, I was probably 20 years old, and I told my parents I got laid off. They knew that was a lie,” Combs recalled.

Combs added that it was “sobering to see so many places that” he had walked with his “own two feet, especially in Asheville,” destroyed by the hurricane. He mentioned MANNA food bank, one of his chosen charities to benefit from the Concert for Carolina show and where he and his mother used to volunteer, saw severe damage from the storm.

James Taylor performs at the Concert For Carolina at Bank of America Stadium on Oct. 26, 2024 in Charlotte, N.C. ( John Shearer/Getty Images for Concert For Carolina)

“Very special place for me. A lot of memories there, and I just hate to see the condition that it’s in,” Combs said.

Advertisement

All proceeds will be split equally and distributed to Combs’ and Church’s organizations of their choosing in support of relief efforts across the Carolinas and the Southeast, according to a press release. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Combs’ portion will be distributed among Samaritan’s Purse, MANNA Food Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC.

Church’s organization, Chief Cares, is focused on helping established charities and organizations that are well-managed, organized and can expedite aid directly to the families affected by Hurricane Helene.

Fox News’ Ashley Hume contributed to this report.

Advertisement

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s next attorney general will be one of two outgoing members of Congress who have represented the Charlotte area on Capitol Hill and previously at the state legislature.

Both Democratic U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson and Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop are lawyers and prolific fundraisers. Each has argued that his rival is too radical to become the state’s top law enforcement official on Nov. 5.

The winner succeeds two-term Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic nominee for governor. Democrats have dominated the position — a Republican hasn’t been elected as attorney general since 1896 — even as the GOP has performed well for decades in other statewide races. In both 2016 and 2020, Stein won by fewer than 25,000 votes over his Republican opponent.

This fall’s campaign has focused largely on who is best able to represent the nation’s ninth-largest state in court and keep its communities safe. While State Bureau of Investigation figures show the North Carolina violent crime rate was higher in 2023 compared to a decade ago, it was essentially flat compared to 2022.

The two candidates and their allied PACs were on track to spend at least $31 million combined on television and online advertising during the general election campaign, according to data from AdImpact, which monitors campaign spending. The North Carolina race is among the most closely watched of the 10 attorney general elections taking place across the U.S. next month.

The attorney general is charged with representing the state in court and defending the work of locally elected district attorneys in appeals of criminal cases. AGs also make legislative recommendations to the General Assembly, and in the past have sued specific industries for damages, including tobacco, drug and social media companies.

That two members of the U.S. Congress are seeking a state government post reflects the position’s growing influence and the increasingly partisan role state attorneys general are playing when it comes to going to court to support or oppose federal government policies.

Jackson is an Afghan war veteran and National Guard attorney who has gained a large following on social media and was elected to Congress in 2022. He has said his experience as a prosecutor — he worked as an assistant district attorney in Gaston County handling different types of cases — and his commitment to performing his duties in a nonpartisan matter make him the most qualified candidate.

“The job is fundamentally about being a shield for people against those who mean them harm,” Jackson said in a recent interview. “I’ve spent my entire career doing that as a soldier, as a prosecutor. That’s why I want to be attorney general.”

Bishop, a longtime commercial litigation attorney, former Mecklenburg County commissioner and state legislator, joined Congress in 2019 and is a strong supporter of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump.

Bishop downplayed Jackson’s legal history as an assistant prosecutor and highlighted what he calculates as his own 400-plus appearances in state and federal courts.

“What I have had is extensive and complex experience with the judicial system in North Carolina,” Bishop said in an interview. “He has not had anything like that career.”

Jackson said that if he’s elected, he will work to counter the fentanyl overdose epidemic and combat scammers now using artificial intelligence techniques to fool consumers.

Bishop accused Jackson of having an “extensive record of being soft on crime and antagonistic to police.” He said what North Carolina needs is the “restoration of law and order,” and that he would work to reel in what he considers liberal-leaning district attorneys who aren’t doing so.

The position has been a stepping stone for gubernatorial bids — outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper was attorney general for 16 years. In recent years, Cooper and Stein stopped defending state laws pushed by Republicans that they have determined are unconstitutional.

Jackson said in a recent interview that Stein was right to decline to defend provisions of state laws restricting medication abortions and mandating what a physician must do before prescribing abortion pills.

But Bishop contends that Stein’s motive for not defending state laws enacted by the GOP-controlled General Assembly is to advance his political career — and he alleged that Jackson would do the same thing if he’s elected.

Jackson and Bishop served together in the state legislature, where Bishop shepherded a 2016 law that banned cities from enacting new anti-discrimination ordinances and required transgender people to use public restrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificate.

Jackson didn’t seek reelection to Congress this fall after the General Assembly redrew legislative maps and placed him in a heavily GOP district.

Jackson and his allies have also pointed out Bishop’s endorsement of Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson for governor, especially after a CNN report alleging that Robinson made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornography website’s message board. Robinson has denied the allegation.

Asked whether he remains comfortable endorsing Robinson, Bishop said he’s focused on winning the attorney general’s race and that “whatever issues involve the governor’s race are between Mark and the voters.” But Jackson said it’s “absurd” that Bishop “can’t bring himself to say a single critical word” about Robinson.

Earlier this month, Bishop filed a defamation lawsuit against Jackson’s campaign and others, alleging that at least some of them are to blame for a political survey asking if a voter would be more or less likely to vote for Bishop if he “represented people who stole money from the elderly.” Bishop says he has never represented such people. Jackson’s campaign has suggested the lawsuit will be unsuccessful.