Dem insiders head into final election stretch confident on Harris win: ‘Nauseously optimistic’


Democratic insiders and strategists heading into the final hours of the election are expressing confidence that Vice President Kamala Harris will defeat former President Donald Trump on Tuesday at the ballot box. 

“Nauseously optimistic,” is how Democrats described themselves to New York magazine as the clock continues ticking for the final 100 hours of the election cycle. 

Trump and Harris both delivered what were their respective closing arguments earlier this week, with Trump addressing massive crowds at a historic rally at Madison Square Garden, and Harris delivering her final pitch in the nation’s capital Tuesday at the Ellipse, located just south of the White House and north of the National Mall. 

Polls are neck-and-neck, with a Fox News national survey published last month finding that Trump had a two-point edge over Harris, while the pair have zeroed-in on campaigning in key battleground states to increase the weight on their respective political scales. As of Saturday morning, Trump has nine events scheduled until Election Day, zig-zagging from battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania and Michigan to Georgia and also Virginia. 

CNN DATA GURU BREAKS DOWN SIGNS POINTING TO HARRIS VICTORY: PERHAPS DEMS WILL ‘SURPRISE A LOT OF FOLKS’

Kamala Harris on October 13

Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on the campus of East Carolina University on October 13, 2024, in Greenville, North Carolina.  (Alex Wong)

Harris is expected to travel to Georgia and North Carolina on Saturday, before delivering her final pitch to voters in Michigan’s rust belt on Sunday. As she caps off her final leg of the campaign since ascending the top of the Democratic ticket in July, when President Biden dropped out of the race, her allies have touted that she has a win within her grasp. 

HARRIS HOLDS COMMANDING 10-POINT LEAD OVER TRUMP IN VIRGINIA: POLL

David Plouffe, a senior adviser to the Harris campaign, said this weekend that voters deciding for whom to cast their ballot late into the election are going to benefit the Harris campaign and carry them to a victory. 

Trump

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during Turning Point’s United for Change rally at the Thomas & Mack Center on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Madeline Carter/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

“The question is, of the people who have not yet decided who to vote for, who are actually going to vote?” he said on CNN Friday, noting that current polls show Harris and Trump tied. “And our sense in the last week is that the people who have made up their mind in the last week we’re doing quite well with, and we like the people who have yet to make a decision . . . .”

DEM STRATEGIST JAMES CARVILLE CERTAIN HARRIS WILL WIN, KNOCKS ‘SWEATY’ DEMOCRATS

“It’s very important to look at who those undecideds are,” Plouffe added.

Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville, who worked as lead strategist for former President Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 election, touted that Harris’ financial backing and “united” Democrat Party sets her up for a win over Trump come Tuesday. 

“I think she’s going to win,” Carville said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday. “She’s got more money, more energy, has a more united party, has better surrogates, and he’s stone-a–nuts.”

New York magazine detailed in a piece this week that the buzz among Democrats is they are cautiously optimistic of a win on Tuesday, “largely based on the campaign’s close monitoring of early voting data from the seven battleground states, and its evolving understanding of who has already cast ballots and who’s left to convince.”

“The posture is driven both by reports from the field, especially from canvassers in competitive suburbs, and by senior advisers staring at the analytics in Wilmington. It’s far from a prediction of a win. Instead, it’s a belief that Harris maintains achievable paths to winning a majority or plurality of the vote in the tightly contested states — each of which they see as effectively tied, and almost all of which they see as home to a Democratic advantage in get-out-the-vote operations,” the outlet reported. 

Other Democratic insiders are reporting more or less the same on social media and during media interviews. 

DEMOCRATS HAVE AN ENORMOUS DILEMMA IF KAMALA HARRIS LOSES

Jon Favreau, former President Barack Obama’s director of speechwriting, posted on X, for example, that though the race is an “extremely close toss-up,” he argued that Trump isn’t ending on a strong note, pointing to jokes made by a comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally that were viewed negatively by the media and Democrats and other political issues he sees as election demerits. 

Daily Beast columnist and political affairs analyst David Rothkopf declared in a column on Friday that, “Kamala Harris is going to be the next president of the United States,” pointing to Harris’ “exceptional campaign,” speeches that were “suffused with a new energy and vision” for the nation, and her “‘closing argument’ on the Ellipse in Washington.” 

“On January 20, 2025, she will become America’s first woman president, America’s first woman of color to be commander-in-chief and America’s first person of Asian heritage to become the country’s chief executive,” he wrote. 

CNN senior political data reporter Harry Enten said Thursday that there are “clear” signs of a Harris win. 

“And the number-one sign is that Harris, simply put, is more popular than Donald Trump,” he said. 

Harris with Cheney

Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris sits with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) for a town hall at the Royal Oak Music Theatre on October 21, 2024, in Royal Oak, Michigan. Cheney joined Vice President Harris for stops Monday in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.  (Photo by Sarah Rice/Getty Images)

The Trump campaign and its allies have meanwhile remained steadfast that the Republican ticket will be victorious on Tuesday, as Trump rallies his base to vote early and attracts new supporters through his “make America great again” pleddge following the Biden-Harris administration. As the cycle entered its final weeks, Trump said during a Las Vegas rally last month that the Harris campaign is “imploding” and has a victory in his sights. 

“[Harris is] actually imploding, if you take a look. Because, look, I’m not supposed to say it, but we are leading by so much,” Trump said last Thursday. 

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“Now, we’re leading by a lot in Nevada. We’re leading by a lot in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. Even states that are typically never in play for 50, 60, 70 years. . . . But the fact is that states, other states too, big states, are all in play and they like us. But you know what? They think she is grossly incompetent. Let’s face it, she is not doing well,” Trump continued. 

Trump and Melania

Former US First Lady Melania Trump applauds her husband former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after he spoke at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, October 27, 2024. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Getty Images)

The 45th president added during his Madison Square Garden rally that he will have the “biggest victory in the history of our country” on Election Day. 

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“We’re running against something far bigger than Joe or Kamala. And far more powerful than them, which is a massive, vicious, crooked, radical left machine that runs today’s Democrat Party. They’re just vessels. In fact, they’re perfect vessels, because they’ll never give them a hard time. They’ll do whatever they want. I know many of them. It’s just this amorphous group of people. But they’re smart, and they’re vicious, and we have to defeat them,” he said.

“We’re going to have the biggest victory in the history of our country on Nov. 5, and it’s going to be the biggest victory in history. We’re going to make America great again.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.



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Trump poised to hit Harris over disastrous jobs report: ‘Hurricane Kamala’


Former President Trump plans to take a final swipe at Vice President Kamala Harris over the latest jobs report on Friday.

Prepared remarks for Trump’s upcoming rally in North Carolina later Saturday show him blaming Harris for tens of thousands of lost jobs. The report itself from the Department of Labor blames the losses on the fallout from hurricanes Helene and Milton.

“Yesterday, it was announced that our country lost nearly 30,000 private sector jobs last month alone, along with nearly 50,000 manufacturing jobs in a single month. They’re trying to blame the Hurricane for the jobs numbers—but it wasn’t Hurricane Helene, it was Hurricane Kamala,” Trump is set to say.

“Under her catastrophic economic agenda, more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs have been wiped out since the start of this year. 150,000 Americans joined the unemployment rolls last month, and nearly a quarter of a million people dropped out of the labor force,” the remarks continue.

WHY TRUMP IS MAKING LAST-MINUTE STOPS AHEAD OF ELECTION DAY IN TWO BLUE-LEANING STATES

Trump and Harris in Pennsylvania split image

Trump and Harris are making their final pitches to voters before Election Day. (Getty Images)

U.S. job growth slowed down in October, coming in well short of economists’ expectations, while the unemployment rate was unchanged.

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The Labor Department on Friday reported that employers added 12,000 jobs in October, well below the 113,000 gain that was predicted by LSEG economists and the lowest tally since December 2020.

The unemployment rate was 4.1%, in line with expectations.

Two destroyed cars in Gerren Creek after Helene

Friday’s jobs report credited many of the lost private sector jobs to fallout from hurricanes Helene and Milton. (Steve Antle)

The number of jobs added in the prior two months were both revised downward, with job creation in August revised down by 81,000 from a gain of 159,000 to 78,000, while September was revised down by 31,000 from a gain of 254,000 to 223,000.

Private sector payrolls contracted by 28,000 in October after LSEG economists projected they would rise by 90,000.

The manufacturing sector saw employment decline by 46,000 jobs in October, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) noted was largely due to strike activity in the transportation equipment manufacturing sector. About 33,000 unionized machinists at Boeing have been on strike since early September.

26 REPUBLICAN ATTORNEYS GENERAL JOIN VIRGINIA IN PETITIONING SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON VOTER ROLL

Trump waving

Trump remains on the campaign trail with less than a week before Election Day. (Win McNamee)

The construction sector added 8,000 jobs — below the average of 20,000 jobs per month in the past 12 months. Health care added 52,300 jobs in October, near its average monthly gain of 58,000 in the last year.

The government added 40,000 jobs in October, mostly in line with its average monthly gain of 43,000 over the past 12 months.

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The BLS noted that Hurricane Helene made landfall in the southeast before the reference period for its employment surveys, while Hurricane Milton hit the same region during the report period.

Fox Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report



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Cardi B perseveres through teleprompter glitch to deliver Harris endorsement


Rapper Cardi B took the stage in Wisconsin to deliver a speech at a campaign rally for Vice President Harris on Friday, but an apparent teleprompter glitch had the performer stumbling before she could begin.

Cardi B was among the celebrities at Harris’ third and final Wisconsin rally, in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis. Milwaukee is home to the most Democratic votes in Wisconsin, but its conservative suburbs are where most Republicans live.

As Cardi B stood before the podium, it appeared the teleprompter wasn’t displaying her speech.

“One second guys, one second,” the rapper said as the crowd cheered.

10 CELEBRITIES CAMPAIGNING FOR HARRIS IN ELECTION’S FINAL WEEKS

Cardi B speaking

Cardi B introduced Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Harris during a campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wis., on Friday. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

For nearly two minutes, the “WAP” singer tried to work the crowd until the apparent glitch was fixed.

“I’m a little nervous, guys! I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” she said as the crowd continued to cheer the rapper on.

“I need Patience over here. Patience, where are you girl?” Cardi B said, referring to a staffer.

Cardi B speaks

Cardi B experienced an apparent teleprompter glitch during her speech endorsing Harris. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A woman eventually brought Cardi B a cell phone on which the rapper could begin her speech.

“I took my time writing this speech so I’m going to make sure I deliver it right,” Cardi B told the crowd.

ELECTION 2024: TRUMP, HARRIS’ TOP HOLLYWOOD CELEBRITY SUPPORTERS

At one point during the speech, the rapper addressed former President Trump.

Cardi B hugs Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris

Cardi B hugs Harris after introducing the vice president. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“Did you hear what Donny Trump said the other day?” Cardi B said, referring to Trump saying he’ll protect women “whether they like it or not.”

“Donny, don’t,” she said. “Please.”

Trump held a dueling rally across town in Milwaukee in the same arena where the Republican convention took place in July.

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Trump narrowly won Wisconsin in 2016 but lost in 2020 to President Biden.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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Rashida Tlaib refuses to endorse Kamala Harris as Gaza war takes toll on Dem voter base


Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., refused to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris at a rally in Detroit, Michigan on Friday.

Tlaib appeared alongside fellow “squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and members of the United Auto Workers union. While Ocasio-Cortez and other speakers threw their support behind Harris, Tlaib only urged Michiganders to get out and vote and didn’t mention Harris, according to the Detroit News.

“Don’t underestimate the power you all have,” she told rally-goers. “More than those ads, those lawn signs, those billboards, you all have more power to turn out people that understand we’ve got to fight back against corporate greed in our country. … We’ve got to make sure that the nonpartisan part of the ballot gets filled in.”

Tlaib has been heavily critical of the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Her stance mirrors that of many Muslims and Arabs in the U.S., a demographic that has a large representation in Michigan.

PROTESTERS INTERRUPT KAMALA HARRIS’ MICHIGAN RALLY: ‘NO MORE GAZA WAR!’

Rashida Tlaib

Rep. Rashida Tlaib condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “war criminal” when he spoke to Congress in July. (Getty Images)

Tlaib issued her most stark rejection of the Harris-Walz ticket in September during an appearance on MSNBC. She said at the time that she had many consituents come to her saying they did not feel their could support Harris and she told them, “there’s other people on this ballot that support a ceasefire. There’s other people on this ballot that can protect our community.”

GAZA PROTESTERS PLAGUE HARRIS RALLIES: ‘WISH I COULD VOTE FOR U’

There are multiple third-party candidates for president on the ballot in Michigan, including Jill Stein and left-wing activist Cornel West.

Kamala Harris at podium

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is working to smooth relations with Muslim voters angry over the U.S. relationship with Israel. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

Harris’ campaign is attempting to play both sides of the Gaza conflict, appealing to Jewish voters in Pennsylvania by highlighting her support for Israel’s autonomy, while condemning the violence in Gaza in ads aimed at Michigan Muslims.

A report from CNN on Friday put a spotlight on the Harris campaign’s divergent Facebook ads.

“And let me be clear- I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself,” Harris says in the Facebook ad, which had been taken from her DNC convention speech. “And I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters

Anti-Israel protesters disrupt Vice President Kamala Harris with chants of ‘Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide, we won’t vote for genocide!’ as she speaks to several thousand attendees at her presidential campaign rally in Detroit. (Adam J. Dewey/Anadolu via Getty Images)

After an edit, Harris adds, “And know this: I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists.”

Meanwhile, the Harris campaign launched a separate ad, this one aimed at Arab-Americans in Michigan, expressing solidarity with civilians in Gaza.

“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating,” Harris says in the ad. “We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent.”

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In another speech featured in the same ad,” Harris says, “Our common humanity compels us to act.”

The video itself is captioned as “VP Harris has been working to end the suffering in Gaza.”



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Georgia GOP threatens lawsuit against deep-blue Fulton County over extended absentee voting


Georgia Republicans are vowing to sue the Democratic stronghold of Fulton County after it announced extended elections office hours on Friday.

The threat came after the state GOP learned that election officials in the county, which includes Atlanta, are planning to open four election offices this weekend ‘to accommodate voters seeking to hand-return their absentee ballots.’

“This is a blatant violation of Georgia law . . . which states ‘all drop boxes shall be closed when the advance voting period ends,’” the Georgia GOP said in a statement late on Friday.

Fulton County is expected to be key to Democrats’ chances of winning Georgia again in 2024 – something that Republicans alluded to in their statement.

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Georgia voting scenes

Early voting in Georgia has smashed the state’s previous records. (Getty Images)

“To make matters worse, the four election office locations are situated in areas of the county that will clearly favor Democrat candidates,” the statement said.

Fulton County was one of several to announce it would keep election offices open this weekend for voters turning in their existing absentee ballots in-person.

Drop boxes are a way for voters to turn in their absentee ballots at elections offices without human contact, which is different from submitting them in person at the office itself.

Drop boxes were available through Georgia’s early voting period from Oct. 15 through Nov. 1.

But Republicans are arguing that the extended hours for turning in absentee ballots over the weekend run afoul of the state’s rules.

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Joe Biden

President Joe Biden won Georgia by less than 1% in 2020 (Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to the Fulton County government and Kamala Harris presidential campaign for comment.

NPR reporter Stephen Fowler wrote on X of the lawsuit threat, “Multiple counties are doing it, and there’s nothing illegal about it – these aren’t drop boxes.”

It comes after a Fulton County Superior Court judge rejected Republicans’ bid to force the county to hire more Republican poll workers for Election Day on Tuesday.

State, federal and local Republican parties accused the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections of not hiring enough GOP poll workers. They alleged that nine out of 45 qualified applicants were hired to help with early voting, while just six of 62 were hired for Election Day, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Judge Kevin Farmer said the case would be looked at further but declined to order emergency measures to force more Republican poll workers in by Tuesday.

‘ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND VOID’: GEORGIA JUDGE STRIKES DOWN NEW ELECTION RULES AFTER LEGAL FIGHTS

Fulton County has seen more than 439,000 active voters cast absentee or early in-person ballots during Georgia’s early voting period.

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A significant majority of those were women over men – 55.9% to 43.8%.

Roughly 72% of the county’s White voters turned out during that period, as well as 49% of Black active voters there.

Former President Trump lost Georgia to President Biden by less than 12,000 votes in 2020.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. 



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Republicans topple Dem voter registration advantage in crucial swing state as early vote wraps up


New numbers released in a key swing state show that Republicans have virtually erased the Democrat voter-registration lead, on top of historic early-voting numbers for Republicans, which one expert tells Fox News Digital is part of an effective strategy on the ground targeting a key demographic.

Figures released by the Nevada Secretary of State on Friday showed that Democrats hold a 9,200-vote lead in registrations over Republicans after October data was added. Four years ago, Democrats held an advantage of roughly 86,000 votes heading into Election Day.

On top of significantly narrowing the registration gap, Republicans have had a historically high early-vote turnout and lead Democrats by about 5% in the early vote, which ended in person on Friday, while trailing in mail-in votes.

Early voting concluded in Nevada with 393,811 votes cast for Republicans, 344,539 for Democrats, and 287,762 for other affiliations, according to the Secretary of State website.

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Trump Harris

Former President Donald Trump and VP Kamala Harris (Getty Images)

The roughly 49,000 vote advantage that Republicans had over Democrats at the end of the week is a stark contrast from 2020, when Democrats ended early voting with a 43,000-vote advantage.

Biden won Nevada by roughly 34,000 votes in 2020.

The Democratic turnout advantage in the state in years past has been driven by what is known as the “Reid Machine” that late Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, the U.S. Senate majority leader from 2007 to 2015, established to help pool resources to maximize support for candidates up and down the ballot. 

His approach tapped into networks that extended well beyond the traditional party structure. He leaned especially on the heavily immigrant Culinary Union, which represents about 60,000 casino workers and leads efforts to register voters, make phone calls and knock on doors.

“That paradigm has changed,” Nevada’s GOP Gov. Joe Lombardo said in Carson City on Friday. “That dynamic has changed. It has changed, and we are in the game. We are in the game, and it helps that you had a crappy president for the last four years.”

A large part of that paradigm shift, Sentinel Action Fund President Jessica Anderson told Fox News Digital, has to do with the work that organizations like hers have done in battleground states along with the Republican Party.

“You had candidates up and down the ballots, including President Trump and Senate candidates in all of the target states, embracing early voting,” Anderson said. “The candidate has to be brought in themselves. So that’s really important. And then the other three things I think that made a difference was the messaging around absentee early votes. The first is that a lot of the focus was on convenience. It’s, you know, it’s more convenient. You’re busy. You can skip the line of Election Day, vote early. You know, you’re busy with your kids, your child care, your job. You know, whatever those things are that can potentially interrupt your plans on Election Day, just take the convenience of voting early or dropping your ballot in the mail and get a difference. I think that message really worked.”

“The second message that we saw really encapsulated and worked in particular in the mail was the military messaging. That it works for our guys overseas, it’s safe, it’s convenient, it’s secure. Then the third, which was, I think, really unique to President Trump and his leadership here as we talked about voting early to overcome the margin of fraud and that did exceptionally well in our focus groups. And then when we presented some of that information to President Trump and to others in the party over time, that became kind of the clarion call of the RNC, you know, ‘Vote early.’ So it’s too big to rig.”

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Anderson said that Sentinel Action Fund has also embraced ballot harvesting in states where it is permitted and that one of the keys to Republican success has been the strategic targeting of low-propensity voters who have not voted in years past.

Some experts have wondered whether strong GOP early-vote turnout in Nevada, and nationwide, would “cannibalize” the historically strong Election Day turnout that Republicans usually enjoy in a situation where Election Day voters are simply just voting early, and Republicans will have a weaker turnout on Election Day. 

Anderson told Fox News Digital that Sentinel Action Fund’s data and modeling in Senate races in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada show that the GOP vote is not being cannibalized.

I know it’s not happening, because we can see it in the data,” Anderson said, pointing to Sentinel Action Fund modeling in the Senate race between GOP Senate candidate Sam Brown and incumbent Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen.

SWING STATE GOP CANDIDATE COULD HIT MAJOR MILESTONE IN MAYORAL RACE AMID ‘REPUBLICAN WAVE’ OPTIMISM

Lopez with HArris

US singer Jennifer Lopez (L) greets US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris during a campaign rally at the Craig Ranch Amphitheater in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 31, 2024.  (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

“Democrats and Republicans appear to be getting ballots from the same percentage of high- and low-propensity voters, but Democrat Jacky Rosen’s votes are coming disproportionately through the mail,” Anderson wrote on Substack on Friday.

“Meanwhile, Sam Brown is winning in-person ballots at a ratio of 1.35 to 1. If the Reid machine is unable to match Republicans during early voting, it’s hard to see it mobilizing for an Election Day surge. There is good reason to believe that Sam Brown can continue to perform well through Election Day.”

Some political pundits and politicians outside the Republican Party have also sounded the alarm for Democrats in Nevada in terms of the GOP early-vote surge.

“Republicans are kicking our ass at early voting,” Nevada Democratic Congresswoman Dina Titus said during a Harris rally in North Las Vegas. “We cannot let that happen.”

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Trump speaking

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Respected Nevada journalist Jon Ralston, CEO and Editor of the Nevada Independent, acknowledged on X on Friday that “you’d rather be GOP than Dems as in-person early voting ends today” but pointed out that three remaining variables are “key,” including Clark County mail figures, the independent vote and Election Day turnout.

On Saturday, Ralston posted on X, “NV voter update: GOP extends lead to 49 K statewide. That’s 4.8 percent. Rural landslide continues. It’s now Clark mail or bust for Dems, steep climb.”

Nevada has voted for every Democrat who has run for president since 1992, except the two elections with President George W. Bush on the ballot. However, the average margin across those eight elections is just 4.1 points.

Nevada’s six electoral votes are expected to play a critical role in determining which candidate wins the presidential election, and the Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Trump with a slim 1.5-point lead.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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Harris, Trump hold dueling final rallies in crucial ‘blue wall’ battleground


MILWAUKEE — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump will hold competing rallies around the same time Friday night just a few miles apart in battleground Wisconsin’s largest city.

With just four days until Election Day, the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees make their final stops in Wisconsin, where nearly all the latest public opinion polls indicate a margin-of-error race between the two candidates.

“As of this weekend, the way to predict the winner is to flip a coin. It’s that close,” University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor emeritus Mordecai Lee told Fox News.

Two days after Harris and Trump held competing rallies in Wisconsin — the vice president stopped in Madison, the state capital, while the former president was in Green Bay — they will hold dueling rallies again, this time in the same city.

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Donald Trump in orange safety vest raising army at rally

Former President Trump gestures after speaking at a campaign rally at Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Trump’s event will take place in Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum, where he accepted his party’s presidential nomination during the Republican National Convention in July. Harris will be a few miles away for a get-out-the-vote rally at the Wisconsin State Fair Park Exposition Center.

The former president will be arriving in Wisconsin from Michigan, another key battleground, where he held campaign events earlier on Friday.

VICE PRESIDENT KEEPS HER DISTANCE FROM BIDEN IN FINAL STRETCH TO ELECTION DAY

Harris’ Milwaukee rally — where popular rapper and songwriter Cardi B will also make remarks — will be her third Wisconsin event of the day. She stopped by a union hall in Janesville during the afternoon.

As a group of union members started shouting “Madam President,” Harris responded, saying, “Not yet! Four days.”

The vice president also argued that “Donald Trump has been no friend to labor.”

Kamala Harris closeup shot, pointing finger

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Janesville, Wisconsin, on Friday. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

The vice president then headed to Appleton to headline a rally at a school.

The Democratic and Republican Parties’ vice presidential nominees — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, respectively — have both crisscrossed Wisconsin, and major surrogates — including former Presidents Obama and Clinton for Harris — have parachuted into the Badger State.

Both campaigns and their aligned committees and super PACs have also flooded Wisconsin airwaves with TV ads in the closing stretch leading up to Election Day next week.

Wisconsin, along with Michigan and Pennsylvania, are the three Rust Belt states that make up the Democrats’ so-called “blue wall.”

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION

Democrats reliably won all three states for a quarter-century before Trump narrowly captured them in the 2016 election over Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton to win the White House.

Four years later, in 2020, President Biden swept all three states by razor-thin margins to put them back in the Democrats’ column and defeat Trump. In Wisconsin, Biden carried the state by just over 20,000 votes out of more than 3.2 million cast.

With a race within the margins, it may likely come down to turnout in Wisconsin.

Trump and Harris in Pennsylvania split image

Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Getty Images)

The Harris campaign highlights that they have over 50 offices across 43 counties in the state, and 250 full-time coordinated staff on the ground. 

They spotlight that they have knocked on more than 1.5 million doors in the battle for Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes.

NFL LEGEND BRETT FAVRE LAMENTS AMOUNT OF ‘HATE’ DURING ELECTION CYCLE: ‘IT’S CERTAINLY SAD TO SEE’

Brett Favre arms up at Trump rally in Wisconsin

Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre speaks during a campaign rally for former President Trump at the Resch Center in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, on Wednesday. (Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

The Trump campaign, pointing to the pro-football rivalry between Wisconsin’s Green Bay Packers and neighboring Minnesota’s Vikings, took aim at the vice president.

“Kamala Harris doesn’t know the first thing about Wisconsin — she chose a Vikings fan as her running mate. Wisconsin voters are already running up the score for President Trump as evidenced by his lead in the polls, encouraging early vote turnout, and big endorsements from hometown favorites including Hall of Famer Brett Favre and Wisconsin’s Former Governor Tommy Thompson,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt argued in a statement to Fox News.

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Lee, who’s been involved in Wisconsin politics for nearly five decades, pointed to all the attention his home state is receiving.

“We feel like we’re the ones who are going to select the next president,” he said.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.



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Fox News Politics: Election Day around the corner


Welcome to the Fox News’ Politics newsletter, with the latest political news from Washington, D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. 

Here’s what’s happening…

-Michigan Dem Slotkin leads as GOP aims to win first US Senate race in state since 1994

-Discovery of ‘fraudulent’ voter applications prompts PA probe of Arizona company’s potential involvement

-Netanyahu signals Tehran’s nuclear program could be next target as Iran plans future attack

CLOSE RACES FOR THE HOUSE

Two House Republican lawmakers are in political trouble with Election Day just four days away, according to a new analysis.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report issued a ratings update late Friday morning projecting races for Reps. Don Bacon, R-Neb., and Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., to “lean Democrat.”

They were both ranked as “toss-up” races, meaning it was anyone’s game ahead of Nov. 5. The Cook Partisan Voting Index (PVI) ranks Bacon’s race as “even,” whereas D’Esposito’s is five points in favor of Democrats…Read more

Don Bacon, Anthony D'Esposito

Reps. Don Bacon and Anthony D’Esposito got bad news in the most recent Cook Political Report race update. (Getty Images)

White House

IDENTITY POLITICS: Biden-Harris admin pushed more than 500 ‘DEI actions’ across government, report finds…Read more

‘NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT’: Top House committee subpoenas Biden admin for docs on faulty border cameras: ‘National security threat’…Read more

DANGEROUS STREETS: NY Republican slams Biden, Harris for ‘total lack of respect’ after illegal charged in 5-year-old’s rape…Read more

TURNING UP THE HEAT: Harris slammed for hiring advisor with ties to dark money group pushing gas stove ban: ‘Par for the course’…Read more

Vice President Harris and new climate engagement director Camila Thorndike.

Vice President Harris and new climate engagement director Camila Thorndike. (Getty Images)

Capitol Hill

CAVING TO ACTIVISTS: Harvard, Northwestern failed Jewish students during college campus protests: House report…Read more

‘ABSOLUTELY ZERO SUPPORT’: Ted Cruz knocks McConnell-aligned super PAC for ‘zero support’ in competitive race…Read more

PUT ON BLAST: McConnell issues smackdown of Kentucky Dem governor’s call to abolish the Electoral College…Read more

Sen. Mitch McConnell

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., concludes a news conference in the U.S. Capitol after the Senate luncheons on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Tales from the Trail

NOVEMBER SURPRISE: Dismal jobs report gives Trump last-minute political ammunition to fire at Harris…Read more

TRUMP COUNTRY: Rural Georgia counties outpace Dem strongholds as Peach State shatters early voting records…Read more

BLUE WALL HOLDING?: Harris holds narrow lead over Trump in ‘blue wall’ states Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin: poll…Read more

‘IRRESPONSIBLE’: Trump criticism of Liz Cheney as ‘radical war hawk’ framed as call for violence by ‘irresponsible’ media…Read more

FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Video of Haitian migrants saying they plan to vote multiple times in Georgia is Russian-made: US intel…Read more

‘DOESN’T THINK’: Chris Christie blasts Mark Cuban for ‘really stupid’ remark about Trump and ‘strong’ women…Read more

Chris Christie and Mark Cuban

Chris Christie criticized Mark Cuban’s comments about Trump and “strong, intelligent” women (Getty Images)

Across America

FOR RICHER TO POORER: Oregon ballot measure would tax big corporations more, return revenue as rebate to residents…Read more

‘A VIOLATION’: Montana to probe nation’s leading pediatrics group for claim puberty blockers are ‘reversible’…Read more

‘RED FLAGS’: State treasurers push for divestment from China citing ‘red flags’ regarding the CCP…Read more

‘VOTER SUPPRESSION’: Stacey Abrams claims voter suppression in Georgia despite record early turnout…Read more

‘ALL HANDS ON DECK’: Republicans are running a ‘successful’ early voting campaign in battleground North Carolina: NRCC chair…Read more

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.



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Harris, Trump ‘leave nothing on the field’ in final weekend before Election Day


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MILWAUKEE — Vice President Kamala Harris is urging her supporters to vote with the clock ticking down toward Election Day.

“We’re going to get this done, but nobody can sit by the sidelines,” the Democratic presidential nominee emphasized as she campaigned in battleground Wisconsin. “You don’t want to look back on these four days and have any regrets about what you could have done.”

Harris and the Republican nominee, former President Trump, held dueling rallies Friday night a few miles apart in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s largest city.

NOVEMBER SURPRISE: DISMAL JOBS REPORT HANDS TRUMP INSTANT AMMUNITION TO FIRE AT HARRIS

Kamala Harris at rally behind lectern

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, speaks at a campaign event Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Little Chute, Wis. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

Hours earlier, while campaigning in Michigan, another crucial Great Lakes swing state, Trump told his supporters “nothing matters except what happens on Tuesday.”

“Just pretend that we’re one point down. We’re not. We’re up. But pretend that we’re one point down on Tuesday,” the former president stressed. He once again touted that he’s leading Harris, even though the latest polls continue to indicate it’s a toss-up.

VICE PRESIDENT KEEPS HER DISTANCE FROM BIDEN IN FINAL STRETCH TO ELECTION DAY

Donald Trump closeup shot at rally

Former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, speaks at a campaign rally at Macomb Community College Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Warren, Mich.  (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

With time running out, the campaign strategy now shifts.

“The closing arguments have been made. It’s not really about persuasion now. It’s about turnout. And that’s where all the energy of the campaigns are going to be directed,” longtime Republican strategist David Kochel told Fox News.

Kochel, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, said, “At this point, people’s minds are made up. There are very few people out there to convince at this point. And if they’re deciding, they’re deciding between voting or sitting on the couch.”

Harris and Trump on Thursday each held their final events in the western battlegrounds of Arizona and Nevada, and Friday’s competing rallies were their last stops in Wisconsin ahead of Election Day.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION

The razor-thin margins in those three states, along with Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina, decided President Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and will likely determine if Harris or Trump wins the 2024 election.

This weekend, both nominees will keep up the brisk pace.

closeup shot of Kamala Harris with right arm raised

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, speaks at a campaign event in Burns Park Oct. 28, 2024, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Harris campaigns Saturday in Georgia and North Carolina and makes multiple stops in Michigan on Sunday. On Election Eve, she crisscrosses Pennsylvania, which, with 19 electoral votes up for grabs, is the biggest prize among the seven battlegrounds.

Trump campaigns this weekend in Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. He also makes a detour on Saturday in Virginia, a one-time swing state that has leaned blue in presidential elections for two decades. The former president will hold a rally in the conservative southwestern section of the commonwealth.

The former president made a similar stop in another blue-leaning state, New Mexico, Thursday.

REPUBLICANS ARE RUNNING A ‘SUCCESSFUL’ EARLY VOTING CAMPAIGN IN BATTLEGROUND NORTH CAROLINA: NRCC CHAIR

Donald Trump pointing, rally crowd behind him on the right

Former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, arrives at a campaign rally at Albuquerque International Sunport Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Albuquerque, N.M.  (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

On Monday, the day before the election, Trump will campaign in North Carolina and Pennsylvania before holding his final rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the same city where he closed out his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.

But it’s not just the standard-bearers on the trail. The running mates — Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee — are fanning out across the country, along with top surrogates.

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Far from the spotlight, campaign staffers and volunteers are making their final rounds with door knocks, phone calls, texts and emails to make sure their supporters have already voted early or will cast a ballot on Election Day

In an election within the margins, it could make all the difference.

“It’s about getting people to the polls, getting absentee ballots returned, getting whatever remaining early vote there is left in the door and just leave nothing on the field,” Kochel emphasized.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.



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North Carolina, New Mexico, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia ending early in-person voting Saturday


Saturday is the final day for early in-person voting in New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Virginia as the nation sits just three days from Election Day.

Here is everything you need to know to cast a last-minute ballot during early voting.

North Carolina is a top swing state this cycle

North Carolina last voted for a Democratic president in 2008, when Sen. Barack Obama won the state by 0.3 points, or 14,177 votes.

Trump pulled out a convincing 3.7-point win in 2016, but that margin shrank to 1.3 points against Biden in 2020.

‘PULLING AN ALVIN BRAGG’: LEFT-WING DA’S ‘FLIMSY’ SUIT AGAINST ELON MUSK’S $1M GIVEAWAY SLAMMED BY EXPERT

Late last month, the Fox News Poll had the two 2024 presidential candidates just a point apart, with Democratic nominee Vice President Harris at 49% and former President Trump at 50%. North Carolina is ranked a toss-up on the Fox News Power Rankings.

The state has become more competitive as its population has grown. Over the last full decade, North Carolina added roughly 1.1 million people, the fourth-largest gain among all states.

Much of that growth has been in urban and suburban areas like those in solidly blue Mecklenburg and Wake counties.

The pandemic brought more wealthy, urban Americans from surrounding states, and there are pockets of college voters as well.

Rural areas have experienced some population decline, but they remain a powerful part of the state’s overall vote, and they vote overwhelmingly Republican.

Here are the key down-ballot races in today’s states

  • North Carolina’s 1st District: Democratic Rep. Don Davis won this open seat in the midterms by under five points. This year, he’s up against Army veteran Laurie Buckhout for this northeastern district with a high proportion of Black voters. This race is a toss-up on the Fox News Power Rankings.
  • North Carolina’s 13th and 14th Districts: Redistricting shifted both of these seats, once based in Raleigh and Charlotte, into sprawling, predominantly exurban and rural districts. That makes them easy targets for Republicans, who are likely to flip both of them this November. In the 13th district, small businessman Frank Pierce (D) is up against prosecutor Brad Knott (R), and in the 14th, it’s U.S. Army veteran and nurse Pam Genant (D) versus state legislator Tim Moore (R).
  • West Virginia Senate: Republicans will kick off the night strong in West Virginia. The seat is held by Sen. Joe Manchin, who decided not to run for re-election earlier this year. The senator’s enduring relationship with West Virginians helped him eke out a three-point win in 2018, but with former President Donald Trump’s nearly 39-point win in the last presidential race, this is deep red territory. Democrats needed Manchin on the ballot to put up a good fight. That victory alone would give Republicans 50 senate seats, or one short of a majority. (If Trump wins the presidential race, the GOP would rule the senate even without a majority because the vice president breaks ties.)
  • New Mexico’s 2nd District: New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District occupies most of the southwest land area of the state. It includes Las Cruces and parts of Albuquerque, but it also has a chunk of rural votes. Democratic Rep. Gabe Vasquez won the district by just 1,350 votes in the midterms; this year, he faces the seat’s former Republican occupant, Yvette Herrell. This is a Power Rankings toss-up.
  • Virginia’s 2nd District: Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District was one of the most closely watched races in 2022 and a Republican flip. Rep. Jen Kiggans faces U.S. Navy veteran and small businesswoman Missy Cotter Smasal this time in a military-heavy district that includes Virginia Beach. This is a Lean R race in the Power Rankings.
  • Virginia’s 7th District: The north central 7th District stayed in Democratic hands in 2022 thanks to Abigail Spanberger’s strong brand, but she is vacating the seat at the end of this term to run for governor. This will be a face-off between two Army veterans: Democrat Eugene Vindman and Republican Derrick Anderson. The race shifted from Lean D to toss-up in the final Power Rankings before Election Day.

TRUMP HAS ANOTHER RESPONSE TO BIDEN’S ‘GARBAGE’ COMMENT ABOUT GOP SUPPORTERS

Early voting

Early in-person voting concludes in several states on Saturday.

How to vote in New Mexico

Voters who have received their mail-in ballot have until Nov. 5 to deliver it to local election officials. Saturday is the final day for early in-person voting.

BIDEN CALLS TRUMP SUPPORTERS ‘GARBAGE’ DURING HARRIS CAMPAIGN EVENT AS VP PROMISES UNITY AT ELLIPSE RALLY

Trump and Harris

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris remain in a dead heat with just days to go before Election Day. (Getty Images)

How to vote in North Carolina

Voters who have received their mail-in ballots have until Nov. 5 to deliver them to local election officials. Saturday is the final day for early in-person voting.

How to vote in South Carolina

Voters who have received their mail-in ballot have until Nov. 5 to deliver it to local election officials. Saturday is the final day for early in-person voting.

Wisconsin voters in person

Early in-person voting concludes in New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Virginia. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

How to vote in West Virginia

Voters who have received their mail-in ballot have until Nov. 5 to deliver it to local election officials. Saturday is the final day for early in-person voting.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

How to vote in Virginia 

Voters who have received their mail-in ballot have until Nov. 5 to deliver it to local election officials. Saturday is the final day for early in-person voting.



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Georgia’s nearly 4 million early votes bode well for Trump, top state Republican says


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Georgia Republicans appear confident the state’s record-setting early voting numbers will favor their 2024 presidential nominee.

“It’s been record turnout, something unbelievable — voting from all across the state,” Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones told Fox News Digital. “I think the enthusiasm, the momentum, is with President Trump.”

The former commander in chief lost Georgia by less than 1% in 2020, and Republicans have poured enormous time and resources into winning it back Nov. 5.

A significant part of that strategy has been convincing people to cast ballots early, traditionally a voting method more favored by Democrats.

MIKE JOHNSON KICKS OFF SWING-STATE TOUR AS GOP CLINGS TO HOUSE CONTROL

Donald Trump

Rural counties won by former President Trump in 2020 have so far outpaced blue strongholds in percentage of population voting early. (Getty Images)

And both parties’ emphasis on early voting has had a seismic effect. During the early voting period between Oct. 15 and Nov. 1, nearly 4 million Georgians cast in-person or absentee ballots, more than half the state’s active voters.

Over 700,000 people who voted already in 2024 did not vote at all in 2020, according to Georgia Votes.

Meanwhile, the top three counties for voter turnout rates are rural areas won by Trump in 2020.

Both of those factors, Jones argued, were favorable indicators for the ex-president.

‘ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND VOID’: GEORGIA JUDGE STRIKES DOWN NEW ELECTION RULES AFTER LEGAL FIGHTS

“We’ve got a lot of voters that voted in 2016 but didn’t vote in 2020. … What makes me believe that they are Trump voters is that most of them are … from parts of the state that are pretty strong Republican strongholds,” he said. 

“You start breaking down where they live, where they were historically as far as the Republican cards they pulled in the past, and, like I said, the on-the-ground enthusiasm for [Trump] right now is pretty off the charts.”

Kamala Harris speaking at rally

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, is hoping for a repeat of President Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Asked why he believes some of Trump’s base did not turn out in 2020 but is voting now, Jones said, “I’ll be honest with you. I think that there are a lot of people that just felt like, you know, the president had the win in the bag in 2020.

“Sometimes I wonder if that false sense of security might have hurt us back in 2020.”

Nonetheless, it will likely be tough to get a full picture of how well Republicans’ early voting strategy has paid off until after Election Day.

According to Georgia Votes, Hispanic voters make up the largest share of those who voted early in 2024 but did not vote at all in 2020, making up 37.6% of that number.

FORMER REPUBLICAN US SENATOR ENDORSES KAMALA HARRIS, SAYS ELECTION OFFERS ‘STARK CHOICE’

Georgia election workers attend training

The state has broken its own early turnout records already. (Reuters/Jayla Whitfield-Anderson)

That’s followed by Asian voters at 33.7%, Black voters at 19.1% and White voters at 17.7%.

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Roughly 72% of people who voted early in 2024 also did so in 2020 — about 2.6 million people.

About 8.3%, just over 305,000 people, voted early in 2024 after voting on Election Day in 2020.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. 



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Pennsylvania’s Amish are a key, yet hesitant voting bloc; pressing issues may benefit Trump, some say


Pennsylvania’s election is likely to go down to the wire Tuesday, meaning support from the commonwealth’s sizable, yet traditionally private Amish community might just make a difference.

The Amish-Mennonite community has long been a reliably conservative group, given its devout faith, humility and reluctance to engage with aspects of contemporary societal norms such as driving cars and using cellphones.

Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., the first Amish-born member of Congress, said he’s seeing a real change lately.

“You have a minority of the Amish who are now farming and agricultural. They ran out of land in Lancaster County a long time ago. So, there’s a new generation of Amish who are business owners,” he said.

ACTIVIST TALKS AMISH VOTING

Lloyd_Smucker_PA

Rep. Lloyd Smucker (Getty)

“So, they’re becoming much more engaged politically than their parents were.”

A report from Elizabethtown College estimated 90,000 Amish live in Pennsylvania and 84,000 live in Ohio, in addition to sizeable populations in Indiana, Wisconsin, New York and Missouri.

Smucker said there were 1,500-2,000 new voter registrants in his district who are Amish, adding he expects thousands more to cast ballots this cycle.

Two former presidents — George W. Bush and Donald Trump — actively canvassed the community, which by and large doesn’t vote due to customs surrounding privacy.

Bush visited Smoketown during the 2004 campaign, meeting with Amish leaders without photographers out of respect of religious customs.

Excepting Democrat James Buchanan, a Greencastle native who maintained a residence in the city of Lancaster, Bush was the first president since George Washington to visit at least twice during his term.

CRISS-CROSSING PA TO REGISTER VOTERS, PRESLER SEES COUNTIES FLIP RED

Amish_Trump_Pennsylvania

Amish Trump supporters (Getty)

“We hate that abortion issue,” a farmer named Sam Stoltzfus told The Associated Press during Bush’s visit. “You could hold up a dead mouse with a sign ‘I love Bush,’ and we’d still probably think twice about stomping that mouse underfoot.” 

In contrast to Bush’s quiet visit, Trump held a raucous 2016 rally in Manheim. Men in traditional Amish garb were seen seated throughout the venue, cheering the mogul’s pitch and critiques of Hillary Clinton.

Of the criticism that Trump’s New York bombast isn’t a fit for humble Lancaster, Smucker said many Amish “love” Trump for his small-government platform.

With faith at the core of Amish life, they also appreciate Trump’s own focus on religious liberty. That focus, he said, also mirrors many other conservatives’ priorities outside Lancaster.

Smucker said while Bush and Trump have had most of the Amish attention, the Amish were very politically active in the 1950s when compulsory age-based education was an issue for youth who often returned to farming.

Today, Trump signs sit on some farms and occasionally on a horse and buggy clip-clopping down Old Philly Pike in Bird-in-Hand.

Many Fridays, Republican activist Scott Presler registered voters at the Green Dragon Farmers Market in Ephrata, where he told Fox News Digital the Amish he’s interacted with have been very fervent in their support of Trump.

In a tweet, Presler also pointed to Democratic officials who investigated Amish farmer Amos Miller over his raw milk sales. The case drew national attention from the likes of Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who called the litigation “shameful.”

Donald Trump Jr. also lambasted a raid on Miller’s property, saying he “can’t be the only person sick of this s—.”

Asked whether the government’s run-ins with Miller inspired new political enthusiasm, Smucker said other dairymen have found ways to comply with the law, but the intrusion into Miller’s business was not well taken.

“Yes, Amos Miller was a good case of that. But there are plenty of others that the Amish can point to as well,” he said.

The Amish first arrived from Germany in the 18th century, when many Germans landed in Philadelphia and initiated a diaspora throughout Pennsylvania.

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The Amish headed west toward Lancaster, while other “Pennsilfaanisch” headed northward to the Lehigh Valley, settling in places with ethnic names like Hamburg, Heidelberg, Neffs and Seisholtzville.

Today, Lancaster is a little less quiet than it’s traditionally been, with an explosion in tourism and new residents who are “English,” as the Amish refer to those outside their sect, since the turn of the century.

Smucker recounted being born the tenth of 12 in an Old Order family, the stricter of the sect, who wear plainclothes, speak “Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch” and drive buggies.

He suggested his own story illustrates how Amish values mesh well with conservative principles and those forwarded by Trump.

After completing Amish schooling, which ends around the ninth grade, Smucker took a nighttime job hanging drywall to fund private Christian school tuition to finish his studies.

Doug_Burgum_Amish

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and an Amish man at a Trump event. (Getty)

“That was the deal,” he said of his time at Lancaster Mennonite School. 

He later purchased a fledgling business from a sibling for $1,000 and developed it into a regional leader in construction and commercial contracting.

“I talk about that as what we think of as the American dream,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter where you start. You know, if you work hard … play by the rules, you’re going to have a really great chance of getting ahead in this country of ours.

“It’s the idea of strong individual responsibility, a strong family unit and then a strong local community or local church. And when you have all of that in place, you don’t need a big government. And that’s exactly how the Amish look at that.”

Fox News Digital also reached out to the Lancaster County Democratic Committee for comment. 



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Federal judge orders Musk back to PA court for lawsuit over ‘illegal lottery’


A federal judge on Friday denied Elon Musk’s request to move a Pennsylvania lawsuit over his $1 million daily giveaways to federal court, remanding the case — which centers on whether the giveaways amount to “illegal bribery” under Pennsylvania law — back to the state for a hearing.

The decision is a victory for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who filed a lawsuit earlier this week to stop Musk and his Trump-supporting political action committee from continuing its $1 million giveaways to swing state voters. 

Judge Angelo Foglietta on Friday ordered the hearing to take place Monday at 10 a.m., in accordance with Krasner’s request that the matter be heard “immediately.”

It is unclear whether Musk, whose attorneys filed a motion Friday evening to quash a mandatory attendance provision in the lawsuit, will show up to court.

The D.A.’s office has described the giveaways as an “illegal lottery” aimed at influencing the results of a presidential election and a violation of Pennsylvania law.

It also accused Musk and his PAC of violating consumer protection laws, citing the “deceptive” and “misleading” statements Musk had made about the nature of the contest. 

SWING-STATE’S SUPREME COURT ISSUES PIVOTAL RULING ON MAIL-IN BALLOTS SENT WITHOUT POSTMARK

Elon Musk leaping in air at Trump rally

Elon Musk jumps on the stage as former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Musk’s attorneys had requested the case be heard in federal court, delaying an original hearing scheduled for Thursday. 

Attorneys for the Tesla founder and Trump supporter also used this as a pretext for his failure to show up at an originally scheduled court date in Philadelphia.

They accused Krasner’s office of creating a “circus atmosphere” by naming him in the suit.

In a filing on Thursday night, Krasner urged the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia to “immediately” remand the lawsuit back to the state, noting that the lawsuit brought against Musk rests solely on state law claims and has no basis for removal. 

The push to have a federal court oversee the case “is a stunt to obtain a procedural advantage,” he said, and “run out the clock” until the election.

Until the hearing occurs, Musk and the PAC are likely free to continue their daily giveaways.

gavel stock image

Attorneys for Elon Musk and the Philadelphia district attorney’s office are battling over venue and other issues related to a lawsuit against the Tesla founder’s $1 million giveaways. (iStock)

“Brazenly, they have done so every day since the filing of the Complaint — including this morning, the day of the scheduled hearing,” Krasner said Thursday in filing the emergency request.

The legal battle comes as Musk’s America PAC has awarded $1 million prizes to 14 people to date — which it said it plans to do through Election Day.

Musk had billed the $1 million daily giveaways as an effort to increase voter registration across seven major swing states, and claimed its daily winners are selected at “random.” 

But the district attorney’s office contested this, noting: “Though Musk says that a winner’s selection is ‘random,’ that appears false because multiple winners that have been selected are individuals who have shown up at Trump rallies in Pennsylvania.”

BATTLEGROUND STATE’S HIGH COURT REJECTS GOP CHALLENGE TO PROVISIONAL BALLOT RULES

closeup shot of Elon Musk in blue and navy MAGA hat

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk listens as former President Trump speaks at a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The lawsuit notes that all lotteries in Pennsylvania are required to be “operated and administered by the state.” Musk’s daily giveaways, the suit claims, run afoul of that law. 

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The Tesla founder and CEO has come under increased scrutiny for the daily giveaways.

Last week, the Justice Department sent a letter to Musk warning that the giveaway scheme might violate federal election laws, which criminalize paying voters to register or participate in elections. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. 



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Trump makes ‘peace on Earth’ appeal to Arab-American voters in key battleground state


Former President Donald Trump made a brief stop in the heavily Arab-American city of Dearborn, Michigan on Friday, in a continued effort to hold out an olive branch for the Islamic community in the battleground state.

Visiting The Great Commoner coffee shop in Dearborn, Trump cast himself as an alternative to President Biden’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza and Lebanon following the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7.

“We have to get this whole thing over with,” Trump said, speaking of the continuing conflict in the Middle East. “We want to have peace. We want to have peace on earth.”

TRUMP, HARRIS HEAD TO BATTLEGROUND STATES OF MICHIGAN AND WISCONSIN

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump visits The Great Commoner cafe, November 01, 2024, in Dearborn, Michigan. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump spoke confidently of winning the swing state of Michigan, saying that his campaign “wants their votes.”

“We have a great feeling for Lebanon and I know so many people from Lebanon, Lebanese people and the Muslim population, they’re liking Trump, and they’ve had a good relationship with him,” he said. “This is it, this is where they are, Dearborn.”

“We want their votes, and we’re looking for their votes and I think we’ll get their votes,” he said.

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump visits The Great Commoner cafe

With five days until the election, Trump is campaigning on Friday in the battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump’s visit is a continuation of his outreach to the Arab and Muslim community.

His efforts have earned the endorsements of Bill Bazzi, the first Muslim and Arab American mayor of Dearborn Heights, and Amer Ghalib, the Yemeni American mayor of Hamtramck.

WATCH:

Residents in Dearborn, the home to one of the largest Muslim communities in the United States, previously shared with Fox News Digital their strong disappointment in the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict.

TRUMP CRITICISM OF LIZ CHENEY AS ‘RADICAL WAR HAWK’ FRAMED AS CALL FOR VIOLENCE BY ‘IRRESPONSIBLE’ MEDIA

“We are really disappointed in what happened in Gaza the last one year,” Rezul, a registered Democrat, previously told Fox News Digital. He said that the Arab community is concerned about the Muslims “dying in Gaza.”

“So just as an American Muslim, I can’t support and people like me can’t support the current administration and Kamala,” Shadi, a Trump supporter, said.

Trump Harris

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. (Photo illustration) (Fox News)

The final push:

This weekend, Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will make a final push to convince undecided voters before Tuesday.

Harris will have stops in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin before wrapping her campaign Monday in Pennsylvania.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Trump will be traveling to Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Virginia. He’ll end his campaign with stops Monday in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Fox News Digital’s Joshua Nelson contributed to this report.





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Battleground state face-off: Harris, Trump hold dueling rallies miles apart


MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump held competing rallies at the same Friday night, just a few miles apart in battleground Wisconsin’s largest city.

With just four days until Election Day, the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees made their final stops in Wisconsin, where nearly all the latest public opinion polls indicate a margin-of-error race between the two candidates.

“We got four days to get this thing done. Four days. No one can sit on the sidelines,” the vice president emphasized to her supporters. “For you who have not yet voted, no judgment, but please get to it when you can.”

NOVEMBER SURPRISE: DISMAL JOBS REPORT HANDS TRUMP INSTANT AMMUNITION TO FIRE AT HARRIS

Kamala Harris walking on stage

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a campaign rally at the Wisconsin State Fair Expo in West Allis, Wis., Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The Harris campaign said that over 12,000 packed into the Wisconsin State Fair Park Exposition Center, in West Allis, just yards outside the Milwaukee city limits.

Trump, holding court at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum – the same arena where he accepted his party’s presidential nomination during the Republican National Convention in July – told his supporters “I want your damn vote.”

VICE PRESIDENT KEEPS HER DISTANCE FROM BIDEN IN FINAL STRETCH TO ELECTION DAY

Speaking ahead of Harris at her rally was popular rapper and songwriter Cardi B, who told the crowd she hadn’t planned on voting in the presidential election until Harris replaced President Biden in July atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket.

“I wasn’t going to vote this year. … But Kamala Harris joining the race, she changed my mind completely,” the entertainer said.

former President Trump on stage at rally

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

The rallies were Harris and Trump’s final appearances in Wisconsin ahead of Election Day – and it was the second time this week that the major party nominees held rallies on the same day in Wisconsin.

“As of this weekend, the way to predict the winner is to flip a coin. It’s that close,” University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor emeritus Mordecai Lee told Fox News.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION

The Democratic and Republican Parties’ vice presidential nominees — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, respectively — have also both crisscrossed Wisconsin, and major surrogates — including former Presidents Obama and Clinton for Harris — have parachuted into the Badger State. Obama returns on Sunday.

Both campaigns and their aligned committees and super PACs have also flooded Wisconsin airwaves with TV ads in the closing stretch leading up to Election Day next week.

crowd shot of Milwaukee Harris-Walz rally

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, holds her final rally in Wisconsin ahead of Election Day, in Milwaukee on Nov. 1, 2024 (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

Wisconsin, along with Michigan and Pennsylvania, are the three Rust Belt states that make up the Democrats’ so-called “blue wall.”

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Democrats reliably won all three states for a quarter-century before Trump narrowly captured them in the 2016 election over Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton to win the White House.

Four years later, in 2020, President Biden swept all three states by razor-thin margins to put them back in the Democrats’ column and defeat Trump. In Wisconsin, Biden carried the state by just over 20,000 votes out of more than 3.2 million cast.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.



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House Oversight ramps up demands for White House to release accurate Biden ‘garbage’ transcript


The House Oversight Committee is applying pressure on the White House to release accurate transcripts, after they allegedly altered President Biden’s remarks after he called Trump supporters “garbage.”

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Oversight Chair James Comer, R-KY, sent a letter to the White House counsel’s office Friday demanding they preserve all documents related to the transcript.

“To date, the White House has not issued a corrected transcript, and the false transcript remains on the White House webpage,” they wrote.

THE FATAL FLAW IN KAMALA HARRIS’ SPEECH, MARRED BY BIDEN’S ‘GARBAGE’ COMMENT

Biden and Trump

Biden and Trump (Getty Images)

The top members condemned the White House’s alteration of the official transcript, writing that the stenography office cannot “simply rewrite President Biden’s rhetoric.”

“In this case, it appears the White House is doing so to safeguard Vice President Harris’s presidential campaign,” they wrote.

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Stefanik and Comer referred to an AP report, which cited an internal email from the head of the stenographer’s office, that noted that the press office “conferred with the president” to change the transcript.

The shocking comment came during Biden’s remarks to Latino activists regarding comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s comments at a Trump rally. Hinchcliffe referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”

tony hinchcliffe

US comedian Tony Hinchcliffe speaks during a campaign rally for former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 27, 2024. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden, according to a transcript prepared by the official White House stenographers, told the Latino group on a Tuesday evening video call, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

The transcript released by the White House press office, however, rendered the quote with an apostrophe, reading “supporter’s” rather than “supporters.”

The White House insisted that Biden was criticizing Hinchcliffe’s comments – and not the huge swath of Americans supporting a Trump presidency.

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The letter from the GOP leaders shared their “concern with the latest reporting of the White House’s apparent political decision to protect the Biden-Harris Administration, instead of following longstanding and proper protocols.”

‘GARBAGE’ TRUMP SUPPORTERS? AMERICANS REACT TO PRESIDENT BIDEN’S ‘OUT OF TOUCH’ COMMENTS

The transcript standard states that: “If there is a difference in interpretation, the Press Office may choose to withhold the transcript but cannot edit it independently. Our Stenography Office transcript — released to our distro, which includes the National Archives — is now different than the version edited and released to the public by Press Office staff.”

Exterior of the White House

The White House, seen from the park side. (Soeren Stache/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Now, Stefanik and Comer are demanding that the White House:

  1. Produce all documents and internal communications regarding President Biden’s statement and the release of the inaccurate transcript.
  2. Release the accurate version of the transcript the White House Stenographers submitted to NARA.
  3. Immediately make available the White House Stenography Office’s top supervisor for a briefing to the Oversight Committee.

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Unearthed documents contradict vulnerable House Democrat’s rhetoric about championing eviction ban


Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who has a long history of defending squatters’ rights and decrying foreclosure evictions during the 2008 recession, has filed eviction notices against multiple tenants of properties she owns.

One of those eviction petitions, filed in 2021 in Toledo municipal court, was against a tenant for “non-payment of rent,” and that same tenant faced another eviction from Kaptur in 2023 for failing to pay rent. 

That same tenant faced a possible eviction from Kaptur in 2024.

‘LEFT BEHIND’: VULNERABLE DEM INCUMBENT IN KEY SWING STATE SLAMMED FOR PUTTING ‘KNIFE IN BACK’ OF WORKERS

Marcy Kaptur

Rep. Marcy Kaptur has filed evictions against her tenants despite fighting for eviction moratoriums.  (Getty Images)

Kaptur, running for her 22nd term in Congress, also filed an eviction petition against another tenant in 2024 for a noise complaint, animal complaint and for an unauthorized person living on the property.

All of the eviction filings were eventually withdrawn by Kaptur. 

VULNERABLE HOUSE DEM UNDER FIRE FOR INTRODUCING ONLY 5 BILLS THAT BECAME LAW IN 41 YEARS: ‘HASN’T DONE SQUAT’

Marcy Kaptur with reporters

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, speaks to reporters outside the U.S. Capitol Sept. 30, 2022 (Getty Images)

Kaptur’s eviction filings come with a backdrop of the congresswoman vocally speaking out against evictions during her time in Congress. 

During the COVID pandemic, Kaptur repeatedly pushed for the enactment and extension of eviction moratoriums to prevent landlords from removing tenants. In one letter Kaptur signed, she declared, “Keeping Americans affordably and stably housed during this pandemic is both a moral imperative and a public health necessity.”

Kaptur co-sponsored legislation, H.R. 6347, to establish an eviction moratorium until six months after the COVID-19 emergency declaration expired.

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Marcy Kaptur at event

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, speaks at the VFW Post 2529 Annual Corn Roast in Sandusky, Ohio, Aug. 20, 2022. (Bill Clark)

“Possession is 99% of the law; you stay in your house.” Kaptur said on the floor of the House of Representatives in 2009 after the 2008 housing crisis. “So, I say to the American people, you be squatters in your own homes. Don’t you leave.”

In 2017, Kaptur slammed Trump Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin for allegedly profiting from foreclosures and complained that “Mr. Mnuchin profited personally off of kicking people out of their homes.

“Does such a person actually deserve confirmation as secretary of the Treasury of the United States of America?” 

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Kaptur told homeowners in 2009, “You should stay in your home. It is your castle. It’s more than a piece of property. It’s your home.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Kaptur’s campaign for comment but did not receive a response.

“This proves what we’ve been saying about Marcy Kaptur all along. She is a hypocrite who changes her language just because she’s in a tight election for the first time in her 41-year career,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella told Fox News Digital. 

“Marcy Kaptur should be ashamed of herself for profiting off kicking hardworking Ohioans out of their homes.”

Kaptur, serving her 21st term in Congress representing Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, is considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the House. While the Cook Political Report ranks her race as “Lean Democrat,” redistricting following the 2020 census has Republicans believing they can flip the seat and ensure control of the House.

Kaptur is opposed by GOP Ohio State Rep. Derek Merrin.



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Trump clarifies he meant Cheney wouldn’t have ‘guts’ to fight a war with rifle comment after Dem backlash


Former President Trump on Friday clarified that he meant former Rep. Liz Cheney doesn’t have the “guts” to fight on the front lines of war after he received a backlash from Democrats over comments he made Thursday about having guns trained on her. 

“All I’m saying about Liz Cheney is that she is a War Hawk, and a dumb one at that, but she wouldn’t have ‘the guts’ to fight herself,” the Republican presidential nominee wrote on Truth Social. “It’s easy for her to talk, sitting far from where the death scenes take place, but put a gun in her hand, and let her go fight, and she’ll say, ‘No thanks!’ Her father decimated the Middle East, and other places, and got rich by doing so. He’s caused plenty of DEATH, and probably never even gave it a thought. That’s not what we want running our Country!”

Trump caused controversy when he called Cheney a “radical war hawk” at an event in Arizona on Thursday, adding, “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face. They’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, ‘Oh, gee, well, let’s send 10,000 troops into the mouths of the enemies,’ but she’s a stupid person and I used to have meetings with a lot of people and she always wanted to go to war with people.” 

Trump also told reporters at a campaign stop in Dearborn, Michigan, on Friday: “Even in my administration, she was pushing that we go to war with everybody, and I said if you ever gave her a rifle and let her do the fighting, if you ever do that, she wouldn’t be doing too well, I will tell you right now. But she’s a war hawk. She wants to go kill people unnecessarily. 

HARRIS SAYS TRUMP’S RIFLE COMMENTS ABOUT LIZ CHENEY ARE ‘DISQUALIFYING’

A split of Trump and Cheney

Former President Trump on Friday clarified that he meant former Rep. Liz Cheney doesn’t have the “guts” to fight on the front lines of war after he received a backlash from Democrats over comments he made Thursday about having guns trained on her.  (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson; Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

The remarks prompted accusations from liberals of violent rhetoric and that Trump was suggesting Cheney should face a firing squad. 

“He has increased his violent rhetoric about political opponents – Donald Trump has – and in great detail suggested rifles should be trained on former Rep. Liz Cheney,” Vice President Harris told reporters in a presser Friday. “This must be disqualifying. Anyone who wants to be President of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president.”

TRUMP CRITICISM OF LIZ CHENEY AS ‘RADICAL WAR HAWK’ FRAMED AS CALL FOR VIOLENCE BY ‘IRRESPONSIBLE’ MEDIA

Cheney, a Republican, endorsed Harris for president in September and has been campaigning with the Democratic nominee. 

Trump speaking

Trump caused controversy when he called Cheney a “radical war hawk” at an event in Arizona on Thursday, adding, “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face. They’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, ‘Oh, gee, well, let’s send 10,000 troops into the mouths of the enemies,’ but she’s a stupid person and I used to have meetings with a lot of people and she always wanted to go to war with people.”  (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Cheney responded to Trump’s Thursday remarks on X Friday, writing, “This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.” 

She added the hashtags “#Womenwillnotbesilenced” and “#VoteKamala.”

Harris and Cheney

Cheney endorsed Harris for president in September and has been campaigning with the Democratic nominee.  (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

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Republicans have also accused Democrats of increasing the possibility of violence against Trump with rhetoric accusing him of being “fascist” and a “threat to democracy.”

The former president was shot by a would-be assassin in July and was targeted by another suspect near his home in Florida. 



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Over 150,000 veterans and military family members recruited to staff polling places for Election Day


Veterans and military families are falling in by the thousands to staff polling places across the country, according to a veterans’ coalition.

Vet the Vote coalition recently announced that after its recruitment efforts, 163,000 veterans and military families will work on Election Day to help facilitate the vote.

This number far exceeds the 63,500 veterans and military family members who were successfully recruited to work in polling places during the 2022 midterm elections, when the campaign was first launched.

MAJORITY OF VETERANS POLLED SUPPORT RE-ELECTION OF DONALD TRUMP: ‘WE WANT TRUMP BACK’

According to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), 917,694 poll workers worked during the 2016 election and a majority of jurisdictions polled reported that it was “very difficult” or “somewhat difficult” to obtain a sufficient number of poll workers.

“Vet the Vote is a national non-partisan, nonprofit campaign to recruit veterans and military family members to be the next generation of poll workers,” reads their mission statement.

Poll worker and voters in Massachusetts

A poll worker, center, works at a table as voters prepare to cast their ballots during early voting in the general election, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

The coalition represents 43 advocacy groups and other organizations. It has recently partnered with sponsors like NASCAR, the NFL and the NBA.

BRIAN MAST: I’M A WOUNDED WARRIOR. I’VE SEEN DONALD TRUMP CARE FOR VETERANS. THAT’S WHY I’M VOTING FOR HIM

“Our community makes for a good workforce” to take on the nuts and bolts of running one of the more than 132,000 polling stations expected to be recording votes next Tuesday, said Ellen Gustafson, a Navy spouse and co-founder of the Vet the Vote organization to Military.com.

According to Gustafson, the especially charged political environment going into next Tuesday has posed a challenge uniquely suited to veterans and military families.

Poll worker holds American Flag in Las Vegas

A poll worker holds an American flag near a voting booth at a polling location inside Seafood City Market during the last day of early voting in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. Donald Trump and his allies are telling supporters that they’re on pace for a runaway victory barring fraud, setting the stage for outrage and legal challenges if the election doesn’t break in favor of Republicans. (Ian Maule/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Yeah, we sure are hearing about threats. There are people questioning the integrity of our elections,” said Gustafson to Military.com, and “that includes questioning the integrity of the poll workers who do the work. I think we are comfortable with the idea that sometimes situations are challenging and the first goal is to de-escalate.”

Most poll workers sign up for long days, with most starting out at 5:30 am. Over half of poll workers in 2016 according to the EAC were aged 60 or over.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. 

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Vet the Vote did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.



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Supreme Court upholds Pennsylvania provisional ballot ruling, in a major loss for GOP


The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a state court ruling that allowed for the counting of certain provisional ballots, in a major setback for the state GOP and Republican National Committee just four days before the election.

The Republican National Committee and the state GOP filed an emergency appeal to the nation’s top court last week seeking to temporarily halt a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that ordered the state to count voters whose provisional ballots had been incorrectly filled out or were missing an inner “secrecy” envelope. 

Attorneys for the Republican Party urged the Supreme Court to grant a full stay of the state’s decision, writing in a final reply brief submitted Thursday evening that such an order would “prevent multiple forms” of “irreparable harm” to the state. 

At a minimum, the court was urged to grant a “segregation order” to allow the ballots to be set aside and counted separately. 

“The actual provisional ballots contain no identifying information, only a vote,” the GOP’s lawyers wrote. “Once ballots are separated from their outer envelopes, there is no way to retroactively figure out which ballots were illegally cast. In other words, once the egg is scrambled, it cannot be unscrambled.”

THE 1.6M VOTERS WHO COULD DETERMINE THE US ELECTION DON’T CURRENTLY RESIDE IN THE COUNTRY

voting table and voter van

A person walks past Montgomery County’s voter services van in King of Prussia, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.  (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

At issue is a lower court ruling in Butler County, Pa., where a local election board had disqualified provisional ballots cast by two residents in the 2024 primary election. That duo joined the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in a lawsuit that sought to have their votes counted, which ultimately was the outcome granted by a state Commonwealth Court and upheld last week by a 4-3 Pennsylvania Supreme Court majority.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court noted in its ruling that provisional votes can be counted only after a person’s eligibility to vote and the rejection of their mail-in ballot are confirmed. 

“Counting Electors’ provisional ballots, when their mail ballots are void for failing to use a Secrecy Envelope, is a statutory right,” state Supreme Court Justice Christine Donohue wrote in the majority opinion, adding that the rule in question is “intended to alleviate potential disenfranchisement for eligible voters.”

In their response to the Supreme Court Wednesday, opponents argued that Republican plaintiffs had left out important case history in the state — primarily, that in the six years since Pennsylvania’s General Assembly had updated its voting law in 2019 to allow mail-in ballots, “most county boards of elections, and most Pennsylvania courts to consider the issue, have counted provisional ballots submitted by voters who had made a disqualifying mistake in attempting to complete their mail ballots.” 

In fact, Butler County was among the few counties that refused to count provisional ballots for votes that were lacking secrecy envelopes, until it became the subject of a lawsuit earlier this year by the two plaintiffs whose votes were not counted.

“Applicants, advancing a divergent interpretation of state law, asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to take the case and decide it before the 2024 General Election,” they wrote. “Last week the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did just that. That the RNC does not like the result is no reason for this Court to intervene on an emergency basis and disrupt the status quo on the eve of the election.” 

That was contested by Republican plaintiffs. In joining the state GOP in the lawsuit, lawyers for the Republican Party described the case as one of “paramount public importance, potentially affecting tens of thousands of votes in a state which many anticipate could be decisive in control of the U.S. Senate or even the 2024 presidential election.”

26 REPUBLICAN ATTORNEYS GENERAL JOIN VIRGINIA IN PETITIONING SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON VOTER ROLL

Supporters of Trump at rally

Supporters at a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Swensen for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The appeal comes as Republicans have filed nearly 100 election-related court challenges in recent weeks, legal challenges they say are aimed at preventing voter fraud through absentee and mail-in ballots. (Democrats, in return, have sought to position themselves as the party that supports free and fair elections, seizing on the Republican lawsuits as a means of disenfranchising voters.)

Many of the lawsuits have been filed in one of seven swing states considered pivotal for either candidate to win the presidency.

In Pennsylvania, the Republican Party’s decision to join a lawsuit over provisional ballots in the final days of the campaign is likely a strategic move, analysts said—a “placeholder” of sorts that allows them to cite a preexisting legal challenge in a swing state that they can point to in pushing for courts to act after an election.

It’s “absolutely” easier to get a court to involve itself in a case after an election if plaintiffs already have a legal challenge on the books, Andrew McCarthy, a former U.S. assistant attorney general for the Southern District of New York, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

In those cases, “you could at least look [judges] in the eye and say, ‘look. I’m not asking you to change the result of the election, I’m asking you to address the rules, which is what we tried to do before,’” McCarthy said.

This is especially important in Pennsylvania, the battleground state with the most electoral votes at stake in 2024. 

APPEALS COURT RULES AGAINST GOP IN CASE CHALLENGING 225K VOTER REGISTRATIONS IN NORTH CAROLINA 

man voting at voting carrel

Voters fill out their ballots on Election Day in Columbus, Ohio on November 7, 2023. Residents of Ohio voted November 7, 2023 to enshrine the right to an abortion in the Republican-run US state’s constitution, US media projected, in what could be a bellwether for an issue which is likely to dominate next year’s presidential race. (Getty Images)

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It is unclear how many residents in Pennsylvania will be impacted by the provisional ballot ruling, and the Republican Party did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.

Estimates have been murky at best: A 2021 study conducted by the MIT Election Data and Science Lab estimated roughly 1.1% of mail-in ballots were not counted due to missing secrecy envelopes. Mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania have been lower so far in 2024 than 2020, when many relied on that process due to COVID-19 precautions.

More recently, New York University law professor Richard Pildes estimated that the case could affect between 400 and 4,000 ballots in the state – though his “back-of-the-napkin” math focused solely on naked ballots, and not others sent with incomplete information.

In a close race, the wave of recent court cases has led some observers to fear the lawsuits will either disenfranchise would-be voters, keep one or the other candidate’s supporters from participating in the election or sow doubt about the election results.

But analysts told Fox News they doubt that any of these lawsuits will have a protracted impact on the 2024 election, despite the additional scrutiny and media coverage. 

“In the five presidential elections I’ve covered, I don’t think any pre-election challenge had a huge impact,” George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.

“I think we’re going to have a lot of litigation, but I would be surprised if we have any jugular hits,” Turley said.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.



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