NationalWatch

With three weeks until Election Day, and Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump locked in a margin-of-error battle for the White House, the vice president is making a full court press for Black men.

The moves come just days after former President Barack Obama, in comments that went viral, admonished Black male voters for a lack of enthusiasm in support of Harris. Obama’s comments came as polls indicate Trump is making gains with Black men, who are traditionally some of the Democratic Party’s most reliable supporters.

Harris, in battleground Michigan on Tuesday, will take part in a town hall discussion in Detroit with radio talk show host Charlamagne Tha God, whose “The Breakfast Club” program is popular with Black listeners. 

HARRIS UNVEILS NEW AGENDA AS SHE COURTS BLACK MALE VOTERS

The Breakfast Club radio show co-host Charlamagne Tha God argued that the “America first” message resonates with voters, particularly in the current moment as a nation. (Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM YouTube channel)

Before sitting down for the town hall conversation, which will be heard on radio stations and on-line nationwide, the vice president will stop at a local Black-owned business, where her campaign highlights that she will “have a conversation with Detroit area Black men about how her ‘Opportunity Agenda’ will help equip them with the tools to achieve financial freedom, lower costs to better provide for themselves and their families, and protect their rights.”

Harris on Monday rolled out the new agenda, which aims to boost financial and career prospects for Black men. She highlighted her proposals on “The Shade Room,” which offers trending news to the Black community, and with Black newscaster Roland Martin.

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During a stop at a Black-owned coffee shop and record store in Erie, Pennsylvania, which is another crucial battleground state, the vice president also showcased her agenda – which includes providing 1 million loans that are fully forgivable to Black entrepreneurs and others to start a business, championing education, training and mentorship programs that help Black men get good-paying jobs in high-demand industries and lead their communities, including pathways to become teachers.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at East Carolina University on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Greenville, North Carolina. (AP Photo/David Yeazell)

Monday’s stops followed a weekend when Harris met in swing state North Carolina with Black faith leaders in Raleigh on Saturday and attended church services in Greenville on Sunday, followed by a conversation with Black farmers.

The Harris campaign notes that the vice president “will continue engaging with Black voters.”

The campaign also spotlights that it is also enlisting the support of influential entrepreneurs for what it calls an “Economic Freedom Talk” series with Black business owners.

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

The new effort comes as Democrats are increasingly concerned about wavering support among Black men, and in particular younger Black men, for Harris, who would make history if she is elected as the nation’s first female president.

The Trump campaign argued on Monday that “Kamala Harris is in full-blown desperation mode as she spends the waning days of the campaign attempting to stop the bleeding among voting blocs most traditionally aligned with Democrats. Nowhere is that more evident than in her outreach to Black Americans — voters of whom Democrats have taken advantage for generations.”

Former President Trump speaks at a campaign town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center & Fairgrounds on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024 in Oaks, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Harris and Trump are locked in a neck and neck race in the seven key battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided President Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump and will likely determine the winner of the 2024 White House race. Any erosion of support among Black voters, and in particular Black males, could prove costly to the vice president.

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Obama, speaking Thursday at a Harris campaign office in Pittsburgh, recollected the surge in support among Black voters that boosted him toward history in 2008 to become the nation’s first Black president. He bluntly said he could not understand why Harris was not enjoying the same level of enthusiasm, noting that the hesitation was “more pronounced with the brothers.”

“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses,” Obama said. “I’ve got a problem with that.”

Former President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event in support of Vice President Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh on Oct. 10, 2024. (Reuters/Quinn Glabicki)

Speaking directly to Black males, the former president said that “part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”

As expected, Black supporters of Trump quickly rebuked the former president.

“President Obama’s recent call for Black men to support Kamala Harris based solely on her skin color, rather than her policies, is deeply insulting,” the Black Men for Trump advisory board argued this weekend.

However, some Democrats also called out the former president for his remarks, arguing that Obama unfairly admonished Black men without striking a similar chord with other demographic groups that have also expressed increased support for Trump.

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

The longtime Democratic mayor of a major city in one of Pennsylvania’s most swing counties said he believes the GOP and the Trump campaign are connecting better with voters in this close race than the vice president and her campaign are. 

“I think the Democrats are being out-messaged by the Republicans,” Easton Mayor Salvatore “Sal” Panto, Jr., said during a Monday interview with Fox News Digital.

“In the one commercial where Kamala Harris is saying, ‘Well, that’s Bidenomics,’ I think that is hurting this because I think the Trump campaign has done a much better job of saying ‘things are really bad.’”

Easton is the county seat of Northampton County, about 70 miles north of Philadelphia. It flipped from voting for former President Donald Trump in 2016 to President Biden in 2020.

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Easton Democratic Mayor Salvatore “Sal” Panto Jr. in his office. (Charlie Creitz/Fox News Digital)

Panto, a popular, moderate Democrat who has served six terms in office over two nonconsecutive periods since 1984, added that when his party identifies something Trump says that is untrue, they should drill down on it.

“I know in running my own campaigns it’s easier to embellish the negative rather than the positive. And that’s what I think [Trump] is doing very well. I mean, we know that he lies about things, and we prove that he lies, but then it drops. And I don’t think they should let it drop,” he said.

“I get more of that on the Steven Colbert show at night than I do from the Kamala Harris campaign. I think she should be pointing out that his 2025 plan is much different than her plan. And she’s not afraid to talk about her plan. He hasn’t said ‘boo’ about his.”

Easton is one of the three cities – along with Allentown and Bethlehem – that make up the diverse and electorally crucial Lehigh Valley of the Keystone State.

Allentown is the largest — and the third such in Pennsylvania — while bi-county Bethlehem was long known for its steel mills and otherwise as a leafy college town that embraces its “Christmas City” identity every winter.

Easton, facing Phillipsburg, New Jersey, across the Delaware River, is a multifaceted city home to Lafayette College, the Crayola company, several historic sites and a few famous people, including former boxer champion Larry Holmes.

TRENDS ARE GOOD IN SWING COUNTY GOP CHAIR CALLS ‘LITTLE PENNSYLVANIA’: IT’LL BE A REPEAT OF 2016

The Centre Square at 3rd and Northampton Streets in Easton, Pennsylvania. (Reuters)

Panto said College Hill, where Lafayette is located, was once a Republican stronghold – though not a right-wing one per se – during his earlier terms in office.

“Today, Democrats and Republicans are 50-50,” he said, as Democrats in town lean conservative, and Republicans lean moderate in the vein of the area’s former Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa.

That voting bloc is crucial for both top-tier candidates this year, and both Harris and Trump have welcomed members of each other’s parties into their folds. 

Harris recently welcomed the endorsement of former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and while in office, Trump celebrated party-switches by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J.

In that regard, Panto said political extremes hurt both parties, and that College Hill’s “liberal Republicans” and the city’s moderate Democrats tended to complement with each other in Easton’s case.

“I don’t believe in the fringes. I think the fringes are hurting both political parties … I believe the economy is going to be the biggest thing [this election],” he said. 

“Inflation is down, interest rates are down and investments are up. But that’s not the message. I think Democrats are very poor at messaging. I think Donald Trump is much better at messaging, and it’s always easier to be divisive and talk about the negative. People like to hear the negative. They don’t like to hear the positive.”

PA TOWN ROILED BY TALK OF MIGRANT HOUSING IN CIVIL-WAR-ERA ORPHANAGE BUILDING

Easton, Pennsylvania, is seen from above the former Lehigh Valley Railroad viaduct on the city’s South Side. (Reuters)

With its swing status, the Lehigh Valley has become festooned with billboards, particularly for Harris and many by third-party PACs or supporters, including along Interstate 78 and US-22, which see thousands of commuters and travelers per day.

“I never ran a national campaign, so I know you pick out your points, and you’ve got to just experiment. But I see the billboards in the Lehigh Valley, and they say Kamala Harris voted for [increasing the] minimum wage. Minimum wage doesn’t matter,” he said.

“Nobody’s paid minimum wage because you can’t get employees. The unemployment rate is down to 2.1%. I mean, [what] they need to talk about in the Valley is lowering the price of goods … not increasing the minimum wage.”

He noted that with the formerly-industrial Lehigh Valley’s rebirth as a commercial center for warehousing and the like, there are labor jobs paying more than $23 per hour regardless of federal minimums. 

The election will likely come down to GOTV or “get out the vote” efforts by the campaigns, Panto predicted.

He quipped that when he is up for re-election, his critics are often very energized to vote – and that that dynamic of voting “against” someone is not ideal in any respect.

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“That’s not a reason to vote. The reason to vote is a vote for the best person. And I think if you look at the experience and the vision, Kamala Harris should win,” he said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.

Voters who spoke with Fox News Digital in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, emphasized the economy’s outsized role in the 2024 election next month, citing the struggles being felt by Wisconsinites across the state. 

“I just know I was much better off when Trump was president,” retired teacher Sharon Kaufman told Fox News Digital. 

She explained that she considered how her family was doing under both the Trump-Pence administration and the Biden-Harris administration, and also looked “at all our investments and life and bills” before coming to that conclusion. 

Tim Moss, who works for an alcohol distributor, explained, “the economy in and of itself is another big thing that the young people [and] older people are all stressing about.”

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Voters in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, explained why they are backing former President Donald Trump in 2024. (Reuters)

“I think we’ll be able to at least afford groceries” under Trump, Moss predicted. 

“Gas prices were a lot better. Food prices were way down,” said Diana Altwies, a forklift operator. “I went to the store the other day, I bought hardly anything, and I came home with maybe two bags of stuff, and it was over $50.”

According to Sue Matuszak, who is retired, she could not imagine how families — such as those of her six grown children — manage to raise their own kids in the current economy. “I don’t know how families really do it now,” she said. 

Matuszak’s husband, also retired, stressed that Trump is “a businessman,” and “that’s what we need in our government.”

‘DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO HE IS’: WISCONSINITES TALK HARRIS’ MIDWESTERN RUNNING MATE, TIM WALZ

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are each fighting to win swing state Wisconsin, which has gone both Democrat and Republican in the past two elections. (Reuters/IStock)

Altwies described Trump, who she supported in 2016 and 2020, remarking, “he’s got a little bit of a loud mouth on him, but he tells it like it is.”

For her, this demonstrates that Trump is fearless when it comes to speaking his mind and shows he is not afraid to stand up to anyone. 

“Kamala, she just seems all giggly and hasn’t really done anything they claim they have,” she said.  

Some of the other issues motivating these voters to support Trump again are safety, foreign policy, immigration and abortion. 

FOR WISCONSIN DEMS, A 2024 WIN IN THE BATTLEGROUND STATE IS YEARS IN THE MAKING

Former President Donald Trump rallied in the traditionally blue enclave of Dane County in Wisconsin. (Getty Images)

“I don’t like to see the babies that are destroyed every year,” Matuszak said, explaining that abortion was an important issue for her. 

Kaufman, on the other hand, explained, “I truly believe it should be with the woman and letting her figure out what she needs to do. It’s a hard decision no matter what.”

Despite advertising and messaging from Democrats claiming Trump would institute a federal ban on abortion, Kaufman said she does not believe such claims. 

Matuszak also pointed to immigration, telling Fox News Digital, “I am so disappointed about the open borders that we have.”

“I think if that doesn’t get stopped, I think our country is really going to go down,” she added. 

Nobody who spoke with Fox News Digital in Waukesha County said they supported the Harris-Walz ticket.

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Americans vote at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens polling place on Nov. 8, 2022 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

The voters described seeing Trump and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, signs frequently throughout Waukesha County, which they said was on par with both 2016 and 2020. 

They also said they have seen very few signs promoting Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn. 

Fox News Digital observed a plethora of signs in general in the county, with the majority appearing to be in support of Trump-Vance and other Republicans. However, in the downtown area of the city of Waukesha, a college town, there were clusters of Harris-Walz signs. 

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Waukesha County was ranked as one of the top 15 battleground counties to watch across the country, per U.S. News and World Report. The Milwaukee suburban county has developed this reputation given its shift over the last decade. While Republicans have an edge throughout the area, their lead has shrunk in the county during the Trump-era. 

Waukesha County’s movement politically has followed a trend away from Republicans that other affluent suburbs have also experienced. 

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

Former Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., traded blows on electric vehicle mandates and border security during their Senate debate in the critical swing state of Michigan.

“It’s ruining our car industry,” Rogers said of mandates related to buying and producing electric vehicles (EV) during Monday’s debate, starting one of the most heated exchanges of the event. “You’re promoting Chinese technology in America.”

The two candidates in Michigan’s critical Senate race have sparred over the issue of EV mandates throughout the campaign, highlighting how critical the issue is in a state that will play a major role in deciding the presidential election and control of the federal legislature.

Rogers has attempted through two debates in the race to tie President Biden and the Democratic Party’s support for EVs to Slotkin, who has countered that her support for the technology will ensure that Michigan remains competitive in the future of auto manufacturing.

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The Michigan Senate race between Elissa Slotkin and Mike Rogers is more competitive than initially predicted. (Associated Press)

Rogers said Democrats such as Slotkin are “killing the car business” when it comes to promoting EVs, accusing his opponent of voting for a “mandate” on EVs “at least three times.”

While there has been no mandate that Americans must purchase EVs, the Biden administration has pressed emissions standards that could force automakers to ensure that up to two-thirds of their new vehicles sold are zero-emissions by 2032. According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, Slotkin voted against legislation that would have blocked the new standards, but has expressed openness to rewriting them if they would hurt U.S. automakers.

 “I want that manufacturing here. I don’t care what you drive, I want to build them,” Slotkin said during Monday’s debate.

Candidates blame each other for border crisis

The two candidates also attempted to cast blame on the other for the situation at the southern border, with Slotkin accusing Rogers and Republicans of a campaign to kill Biden’s border legislation before it could get through Congress.

“What’s going on at the southern border is a symptom of a broken immigration system,” Slotkin said, accusing Republicans of using the “border as a political issue than actually do the real work and get things done.”

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Rogers instead blamed Democrats on the issue, calling Biden’s legislation a “terrible bill” that would have allowed for continued legal crossings, while Slotkin questioned how Rogers could claim to know better on the issue than the national Border Patrol union, which threw its support behind the deal.

Tense exchange over abortion

The debate also highlighted the two candidates’ competing views on abortion, with Slotkin doubling down on campaign ads that have accused Rogers of supporting several pieces of anti-abortion legislation.

“He has shown us who he is, don’t trust him on this issue,” Slotkin said.

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Rogers countered by arguing that he supported leaving the question of abortion to the voters in each state, promising not to do anything in the Senate that would undo the will of voters in Michigan who voted to make abortion a right in the state.

“I won’t do anything when I go back to the United States Senate to undo the vote of the people,” Rogers said.

Candidates disagree on gun control, mental health

Another tense exchange saw the two candidates trade blows over gun reform, with Slotkin acknowledging her own history with firearms but calling for tougher legislation to “go after the number one killer of children in our communities.” 

Former President Trump campaigns with Senate candidate Mike Rogers at the Ryder Center for Health and Physical Education at Saginaw Valley State University in Saginaw, Michigan, Oct. 3, 2024. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

“It’s really, really easy to understand why politicians, in the face of murdered children, don’t do anything. They don’t do it because they receive campaign donations and they’re scared,” Slotkin said. “They’re scared because they don’t want to lose their election, and it’s terrible.”

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Rogers countered that the issue mostly centered on the country’s struggles with mental health, and that “banning guns isn’t going” to solve the issue.

Promises to put more money back in voters’ wallets

Inflation and the economy were another major issue during the debate, with Rogers appealing to voters to remember if they were better off under the leadership of Republicans four years ago.

“Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Rogers asked. “My opponent voted 100% with Biden-Harris (Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the Democratic presidential nominee) on all of the things that have raised your prices.”

Slotkin responded by pointing to her support for bringing supply chains back to the U.S., which she argued would help bring prices down. She also hit Rogers on his lack of support for allowing the government to negotiate lower pharmaceutical prices, something she said would help alleviate the pressure on middle-class families.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin after speaking at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22, 2024, in Chicago. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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The Senate race in Michigan will be one of the closely watched nationally and features one of the few tight races that could determine control of the upper chamber this election.

According to the Fox News Power Rankings, the Michigan Senate race leans in the Democrats’ favor. According to the Real Clear Politics polling average, Slotkin currently holds a slim 1.9 lead over her Republican opponent. 

Even so, the race has shifted significantly since Sept. 19, when Slotkin held a 5.1 advantage over Rogers in the average.

Republicans have showed optimism about the race, with Axios reporting Tuesday that the Republicans’ Senate Leadership Fund will pour another $10.5 million into Rogers’ campaign for the home stretch of the election.

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

The Virginia governor’s office is hitting out at what it says is an “unprecedented” lawsuit by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in response to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s efforts to remove noncitizens from its voter rolls.

The DOJ is claiming that Youngkin violated the National Voter Registration Act with an executive order that required the election commissioner to regularly update the state’s voter lists to remove individuals who have been “identified as noncitizens” and had not responded to a request to verify their citizenship in 14 days. 

Virginia has announced that it has removed more than 6,000 individuals between Jan 2022 and July 2024.

THOUSANDS OF NONCITIZENS REMOVED FROM VOTER ROLLS, DOZENS OF LAWMAKERS WANT ANSWERS FROM GARLAND

Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The complaint says federal law says that states must complete their maintenance program no later than 90 days before an election under a clause known as the Quiet Period Provision. The complaint notes that voters were identified as possible noncitizens if they responded “no” to questions about their citizenship status on certain forms submitted to the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

“This systematic voter removal program, which the State is conducting within 90 days of the upcoming federal election, violates the Quiet Period Provision,” the DOJ said.

The Justice Department seeks injunctive relief that “would restore the ability of impacted eligible voters to vote unimpeded on Election Day,” and “would prohibit future quiet period violations,” the DOJ said in a statement.

DOJ SUES VIRGINIA FOR ALLEGEDLY PURGING NONCITIZENS FROM VOTING ROLLS TOO CLOSE TO ELECTION 

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks during Day 1 of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on July 15, 2024.  (REUTERS/Jeenah Moon)

However, in a memo obtained by Fox News Digital, the governor’s office called the DOJ’s move an “unprecedented lawsuit” that targets the state “for appropriately enforcing a Virginia law, signed by then-Gov. Tim Kaine in 2006, that requires Virginia to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls – a process that begins when an individual themselves indicates they are a noncitizen during a DMV transaction.”

The memo is penned by Richard Cullen, counselor to the governor, and says that Virginia’s process has taken place under both Republican and Democratic governors. It also argues that the 90-day quiet period is not relevant “since Virginia conducts an individualized—not systematic—review per Virginia law in order to correct registration records.”

It also says the process is mandated by law and not subject to the governor’s discretion. The memo also says that individuals are notified twice of their cancelation by mail and email and that the state also offers same day voting registration if someone incorrectly indicated they were a noncitizen. Youngkin previously called the lawsuit “a desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of the elections in the Commonwealth, the very crucible of American Democracy.”

DOJ: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT STOLE US CITIZEN’S IDENTITY TO VOTE IN MULTIPLE ELECTIONS, OBTAIN AMERICAN PASSPORT

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks during the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Monday, July 15, 2024. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Virginia order and the subsequent lawsuit are the latest battles over concerns about potential noncitizen voting from Republicans and potential disenfranchisement from Democrats and the administration.

The DOJ sued Alabama last month over the state’s purging of alleged noncitizen voters.

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Meanwhile, dozens of lawmakers in the House and Senate sought more information from the DOJ over what they saw as a “serious threat” to election integrity from the potential of noncitizen voting.

In August, Republican lawmakers pushed for the SAVE Act, which aimed to require states to obtain proof of citizenship in person when registering an individual to vote and require states to remove noncitizens from voter rolls, to be attached to a spending bill extension to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the fiscal year.

The DOJ itself recently announced that it had charged an illegal immigrant with stealing a U.S. citizen’s identity to vote in multiple elections and fraudulently obtain a U.S. passport. 

Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump cut a Pennsylvania town hall short on Monday, stopping questions from the audience after two medical emergencies unfolded in the crowd. 

The campaign town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center & Fairgrounds in Oaks, Pennsylvania, first came to a halt when South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, the event’s host, was discussing Vice President Kamala Harris’ appearance on “The View” and slamming the Democratic nominee’s support of President Biden’s energy policies. 

“Hold it. A doctor, please,” Trump interjected, noticing a commotion in the crowd. “Doctor, thank you very much. We have incredible people. They come here hours before, and it’s a little hot.”

“They’re there with us all the way. We got to respect them,” Trump continued, referencing his supporters. “And you take your time, doctor. Take your time. Thank you very much. We always have great doctors in the audience. We’ve never had too much of a problem. Look at the quality of care we have. It’s incredible when you think that these people, first responders, our first responders are amazing.” 

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Former President Donald Trump holds a town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center on Oct.14, 2024, in Oaks, Pennsylvania. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The incident was not captured on camera, though the New York Post reported that “a heavyset middle-aged man was wheeled out on a stretcher with his shirt cut open.” 

“Let’s wait till they take care of this incredible person who I guarantee you is a great patriot, I guarantee it,” Trump said. “Everybody in this room is a patriot.” 

The Republican presidential nominee requested that “Ave Maria” be sounded over the loudspeaker like it had at his recent comeback rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in honor of firefighter Corey Comperatore, the rallygoer killed during the first assassination attempt on Trump’s life on July 13. 

“We’ll be praying for him,” Noem said of the man wheeled out before taking another audience question. 

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Trump began his response about border security before the crowd yelled again about another medical incident. The former president stood up and looked into the crowd, stating “Take your time, doctor.” 

Supporters cheer as former President Donald Trump holds a town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center on Oct. 14, 2024 in Oaks, Pennsylvania. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

“I wish we could open those doors,” Trump said. “For security reasons, they can’t. But you know what I said? Just open them. Because anybody comes through those doors, you know what’s going to happen to them.” 

“It looks like, sir, she’s on her feet and walking out. Let’s encourage her,” Noem said. “I know it’s really warm in here. Everybody agrees that it’s really warm in here. We’ve got a lot of people who love America. I’m going to ask that if you have a chair, maybe sit so everyone around you can sit and still see the president.” 

Former President Donald Trump holds a town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Oct. 14, 2024 in Oaks, Pennsylvania. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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“They’re both okay. Yes, they’re both. They’re both in good shape. And that’s wonderful,” Trump said of the two audience members who needed medical attention.

Trump then decided not to take more questions from the crowd, calling on organizers to play music in the venue instead.

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump on Tuesday again requested that his New York criminal case be transferred to federal court, citing the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling and arguing that he cannot be prosecuted for official acts he performed as president. 

Trump’s lawyers first requested in August to shift New York v. Trump to federal court, but U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected the request in September. 

Trump’s attorneys are arguing that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office “violated the Presidential immunity doctrine in grand jury proceedings, and again at trial, by relying on evidence of President Trump’s official acts during his first term in Office.” 

Trump lawyers argued that the “use of official-acts evidence in grand jury proceedings and at trial violated the Constitution and threatens the ability of all future Presidents to fulfill that role.”

TRUMP ASKS FEDERAL COURT TO TAKE OVER BRAGG CASE WEEKS BEFORE SENTENCING

Former President Donald Trump, left, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. (Emily Elconin/Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump pleaded not guilty. 

A Manhattan jury found the former president guilty on all counts during an unprecedented six-week trial in New York City earlier this year. 

Trump’s attorneys have already moved to appeal the verdict. 

Trump attorney Todd Blanche said the verdict should be overturned, also citing the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity granting presidents limited immunity for official acts.

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In his arguments for dismissal, Blanche argued that Bragg offered official acts as evidence during the six-week-long unprecedented criminal trial. Blanche said that included official White House communications with staffers like Hope Hicks, Madeleine Westerhout and others. 

The Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States that a former president has substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts in office but not for unofficial acts. The high court said Trump is immune from criminal prosecution for “official acts” but left it to the lower court to determine exactly where the line between official and unofficial is.

Image of Judge Juan Merchan imposed over a courtroom. (AP)

Judge Juan Merchan will also now make a decision on Nov. 12 on Trump’s motion to vacate.

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Trump’s initial sentencing was set for July 11 — just days before the Republican National Convention, where he was set to be formally nominated as the 2024 GOP presidential nominee, but Merchan agreed to delay that until Sept. 18. 

Last month, Merchan granted Trump’s request to delay sentencing until after the presidential election. The sentencing is now scheduled for Nov. 26. 

Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report. 

As Election Day creeps closer, Vice President Kamala Harris has sought to define herself as a champion of small businesses, which she has called “the engines of our economy.”

However, does the vice president’s record match her rhetoric? Voters who rank the economy as their top issue in this election do not seem to think so. The Harris-Walz campaign has lagged behind rival former President Donald Trump, who, as of Oct. 1, held a nine percentage point lead over Harris in trust on this issue, according to the Fox News Power Rankings. 

To undercut Trump, Harris has proposed a wide range of policies to boost small businesses, with an ambitious goal of 25 million new business applications by the end of her first term, should she be elected president. She hopes to outpace the 15 million applications filed during Trump’s first term. Harris has pledged to give startup businesses a $50,000 tax deduction and steer venture capital toward local entrepreneurs in rural parts of the country to meet that goal. 

“I believe America’s small businesses are an essential foundation to our entire economy,” Harris said at a Sept. 4 rally in North Hampton, New Hampshire, where she outlined her vision for an “opportunity economy.”

 JAMES CARVILLE ADMITS HE’S ‘SCARED TO DEATH’ ABOUT ELECTION DAY

Vice President Kamala Harris walks onto the stage during a campaign event at Throwback Brewery. (Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Her proposals include low and no-interest loans to small businesses, simplifying how businesses can file taxes, increasing the number of federal contracts with small businesses and increasing taxes on “billionaires and big corporations” to fund these programs. Harris’ tax deduction plan has won praise from some economists, including Nicholas Creel, an assistant professor of Business Law at Georgia College and State University, who called it “potentially transformational.” 

Creel told Fox News Digital her plan would help people “justify the risky prospect of starting a new business and making sure more of those new businesses survive.” 

Other supporters point to Harris’ work as vice president and senator to boost minority-owned businesses in poorer communities. 

“As Vice President, Harris established the Economic Opportunity Coalition, an unprecedented public–private partnership that has poured billions of dollars of critical investment into historically underserved communities. As Senator, she secured a transformative $12 billion for Community Development Financial Institutions and other community lenders, providing capital to small businesses around the country, including to rural communities,” said Lindi Li, a Democratic strategist and member of the Harriz-Walz National Finance Committee. 

Li’s family owns commercial and residential real estate in Pennsylvania.

“My family and I run a small business ourselves and the Biden-Harris administration has been incredibly supportive, always extending a listening ear,” she told Fox News Digital. 

‘WE BELIEVE IN DONALD TRUMP’: MORE THAN A DOZEN MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS ENDORSE FORMER PRESIDENT

Vice President Harris leaves after a Rose Garden event at the White House to mark National Small Business Week on May 1, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Hundreds of venture capital investors have signed on to the Harris economic agenda as well. 

“VP Harris’ support for small businesses and startups is genuine and began long before this campaign,” said Gayle Jennings O’Byrne, CEO of Wocstar Capital. “I had the opportunity to speak with her earlier this year when she came to North Carolina to announce $32 million in investments into women and minority-led venture capital funds, including mine. Over 825 of the nation’s top venture capitalists, myself included, believe in her commitment so strongly that we publicly signed a pledge titled ‘VCs for Kamala.’”

Republicans are predictably far less optimistic about Harris’ plans. Critics point to high inflation under the Biden-Harris administration, brought about by excessive government spending during the COVID-19 pandemic, as harmful for existing businesses. 

“Vice President Kamala Harris has certainly positioned herself as an advocate for small businesses, with notable initiatives like increasing the startup tax deduction and focusing on underserved communities. However, the reality on the ground tells a more complicated story,” said Ryan Waite, a Republican political consultant. 

Waite argued the Biden-Harris record has exacerbated inflationary pressures and undermines any support for small businesses Harris aims to provide. Year-over-year price increases peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, though inflation has since fallen to around 3% – still above the Federal Reserve’s target 2% rate. 

“Entrepreneurs need more than just access to capital. They need a stable economic foundation to thrive. So far, the administration has fallen short in addressing these immediate concerns, and many small businesses aren’t seeing the benefits of these policies as quickly as VP Harris would have us believe.”

The Harris-Walz campaign and White House did not respond to requests for comment. 

The Harris voting record

Then-Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris speaks at a U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee press conference on election security at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 20, 2018. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

Harris’ campaign website claims she was a strong advocate for small businesses as both a U.S. senator and later as vice president. She was California’s junior senator from 2017-2021, when Trump occupied the White House, during which time she opposed the GOP economic agenda.  

Harris voted against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which slashed corporate taxes and provided tax relief for small businesses with the Qualified Business Income Deduction, in addition to changes in individual tax deductions and the family tax credit, which affects the economy overall.

As one of the more liberal members of the Senate, Harris co-sponsored the Raise the Wage Act of 2019. Introduced by self-described democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the bill would have increased the federal minimum wage to $15. Republicans opposed the effort, arguing it would increase costs on businesses that rely on low-skill or entry-level labor. It passed the House but died in the Senate.

TRUMP, HARRIS LOCKED IN DEAD HEAT IN 7 BATTLEGROUND STATES, POLL FINDS: ‘COULD NOT BE CLOSER’

On a more bipartisan note, Harris voted for the CARES Act of 2020, a $2 trillion coronavirus relief package that created the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan initiatives to help small businesses survive COVID lockdown mandates. The final bill passed nearly unanimously, 96-0-4.

Later that year, Harris secured passage of the Jobs and Neighborhood Investment Act, which was included in the COVID-related stimulus package passed in December 2020. The legislation provided $12 billion to community development financial institutions (CDFIs), which direct capital to businesses in minority and low- and moderate-income communities. 

Harris also took several votes on amendments that impacted businesses. She voted for an amendment that would extend and expand paid sick and paid family and medical leave mandates on small businesses; against an amendment to ensure that supplemental unemployment insurance compensation created in the CARES Act would not exceed employer compensation; and she opposed the nomination of Linda McMahon to be Administrator of the Small Business Administration in February 2017.

Outside of Congress, Harris consistently supported “Small Business Saturday” during her time in the Senate, and she regularly visits small businesses while traveling and on the campaign trail.

Work in the Biden administration

Flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Administrator of the Small Business Administration Isabella Casillas Guzman, President Biden signs the Paycheck Protection Program extension in the Oval Office of the White House on March 30, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)

As vice president, Harris has mainly served as a spokeswoman and advocate for “Bidenomics.” However, at a pivotal moments, she has cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate to pass signature legislation called for by President Biden. 

In the early days of the administration, Harris pushed through the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package that built upon the CARES Act. She also campaigned on behalf of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Though an infrastructure deal had evaded the Trump administration, the Biden-Harris law has since allocated nearly $454 billion in funding, including over 56,000 specific projects and awards across more than 4,500 communities nationwide, Forbes reported. 

Again in August 2022, Harris was the tie-breaking vote in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which extended tax credits for health care plans through the Affordable Care Act and implemented additional tax credits to help small businesses save money on energy costs. 

GOP lawmakers have criticized the IRA for ramping up government spending without significantly reducing carbon emissions or inflation. 

KAMALA HARRIS FEATURED ON COVER OF VOGUE IN GLOWING PROFILE: ‘NATIONAL RESCUE’

In support of the Biden administration’s small business initiatives, and building on her work in the Senate, Harris has led calls for the federal government to expand capital access to underserved communities. The administration followed through by permitting new applications for Small Business Lending Company licenses for the first time in 40 years – which allows lending organizations to use government guarantees when underwriting small business loans, reducing risk to the lender and effectively subsidizing costs to the borrower. 

In 2022, Harris established the Economic Opportunity Coalition, a group of financial institutions and companies that joined together “to address economic disparities and accelerate economic opportunity in communities of color and other underserved communities.” Member institutions have set a goal for $3 billion of investments into CDFIs and minority depository institutions, which support businesses in those communities.  

The White House has placed a strong emphasis on supporting minority entrepreneurs and claims statistics show its programs are working. “Data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances shows that between 2019 and 2022, the share of families owning a business increased by 9%, with particularly large increases among Black and Hispanic households,” the White House has said. 

The administration has noted with approval that the percent of Black households owning a business between 2019 and 2022 has more than doubled after falling between 2007 and 2019. 

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Javier Palomarez, founder and CEO of the United States Hispanic Business Council, calls the Biden-Harris record on small businesses “mixed.” 

“On one hand, they championed the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure law, which has been a key achievement and boost for small businesses. The once-in-a-lifetime investment presented countless opportunities for small businesses, especially hispanic businesses, ranging from construction and extraction to transportation and more,” Palomarez told Fox News Digital.

“On the other hand, the Biden-Harris administration has taken no action on policies such as Research and Development (R&D) amortization for businesses,” he added. 

“Vice President Harris has a mixed record with small businesses under Biden, and has worked to distance herself from that record. However, the Vice President should come up with realistic solutions and do more to speak directly to the concerns of small businesses like interest rates, the cost of living, energy prices and supply chains.”

Georgia and Utah began early voting on Tuesday, joining the vast majority of states that have already kicked off the 2024 election.

With the two new entries, 46 states and Washington, D.C., have begun some form of early voting. Here’s how to send your ballot.

MICHAEL MOORE WARNS KAMALA HARRIS TO NOT GO ‘CENTRIST’

Georgia is one of the most competitive states this cycle

Georgia has voted Republican in all but two elections in the last four decades. The first was former President Clinton’s landslide win in 1992, and the second was 2020, when President Biden brought the state back to the Democrats by 11,779 votes.

A win for either candidate here would make their path to victory easier. The Peach State has 16 electoral votes on offer, and with recent polls showing a tight race, it’s ranked “Toss Up” on the Fox News Power Rankings.

Dozens of states now offer early voting. (Fox News Digital)

Democrats do well in metro Atlanta, home to more than half the state’s population, and particularly its densest counties, Fulton and DeKalb. There is a higher concentration of Black and college voters there.

The surrounding suburban areas also help Democrats run up the vote, but the further out you go, the more competitive the counties become. Cobb County (Biden +14) and Fayette County (Trump +7) are great examples, just north and south of Atlanta.

Republicans win big with rural voters, who can be found just about everywhere else. The GOP won all but 30 counties in the last election, with many of the largest victories in the sparse northwest and southeast regions.

A sign showing the way for voters stands outside a Cobb County voting building during the first day of early voting, Oct. 17, 2022, in Marietta, Georgia. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

How to vote in Georgia

This is a guide to registration and early voting. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, please go to Vote.gov and the election website for Georgia.

Voting by mail

Georgia began absentee voting Tuesday. Residents do not need to provide an excuse to receive a ballot. State officials must receive a ballot request by Oct. 25, and that ballot must be delivered to state officials by Nov. 5.

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Early in-person voting

Georgia offers early voting beginning Oct. 15 and running through Nov. 1.

Voter registration

The deadline for registering to vote in Georgia was Oct. 7.

How to vote in Utah

This is a guide to registration and early voting. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, please go to Vote.gov and the election website for Utah.

Voting by mail

Residents do not need to provide an excuse to receive a ballot in Utah. State officials will proactively send ballots to eligible voters beginning Oct. 15 through Oct. 29, and those ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 4 if sent by mail or delivered in person to state officials by Nov. 5.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN TOUTS ‘TRUMP FORCE 47’ GRASSROOTS RECRUITMENT EFFORT 100 DAYS OUT FROM ELECTION DAY

Fifteen states are starting or expanding their early voting programs this week. (Fox News Digital)

Early in-person voting

Utah offers early in-person voting, but the start dates vary by location. Check the state’s website for more information.

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Voter registration

Utah residents can register to vote online or by mail through Oct. 25. They can also register in person during early voting, Oct. 22 through Nov. 1, and on Election Day.

EXCLUSIVE – As the GOP fights to win back the Senate majority, the leading super PAC that supports Republican incumbents and candidates says it hauled in $114.5 million during the July-September third quarter of 2024 fundraising.

And the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), in sharing its fundraising figures first with Fox News on Tuesday, reports having $112 million cash on hand as of the end of last month.

The group, which is aligned with longtime Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, noted that its fundraising the past three months included a $28 million contribution from One Nation, its allied non-profit organization.

And SLF touted that its haul over the past three months brings to $181 million its fundraising for the entire 2024 election cycle – and that it has raked in more this cycle than it did at the same point in the 2022 midterms.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION SHOW 

“Our goal from the outset of the cycle was to win back the majority by helping recruit great candidates and raising enough money to help them compete against entrenched, well-funded Democrats. As we approach Election Day, our donors have continued to support our efforts in these battleground contests, and we’re grateful for their generosity,” SLF President and CEO Steven Law told Fox News in a statement.

Democrats hold a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate, which includes three independent senators who caucus with the Democratic conference.

SIX KEY SENATE SEATS THAT COULD FLIP IN NOVEMBER 

That means Republicans need a net gain of either one or two seats to win back the majority – depending on which party controls the White House after this year’s presidential election.

The math and the map favor the GOP in 2024. Democrats are defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs. 

One of those seats is in West Virginia, a deep-red state that former President Trump carried by nearly 40 points in 2020. With moderate Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Manchin, a former governor, not seeking re-election, flipping the seat is nearly a sure thing for the GOP.

Republicans are also aiming to flip seats in Ohio and Montana, two states Trump comfortably carried four years ago. And five more Democrat-held seats up for grabs this year are in crucial presidential election battleground states.

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With Democrats trying to protect their fragile Senate majority, they received another headache in February when former two-term Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland launched a campaign for an open seat in the heavily blue state.

SLF says that it and the allied group American Crossroads have reserved $228.5 million in television, radio and digital ads across Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan and started spending that money as of Labor Day. 

The two groups are spending a combined $82.5 million in Ohio, where longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is fighting for his political life against GOP challenger Berie Moreno, and $47.9 million in Montana, where polls indicate that Republican challenger Tim Sheehy holds a slight lead over Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.

SLF is spending $52 million in Pennsylvania, where polls point to Republican nominee Dave McCormick closing the gap against Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.

The group is also dishing out $23.6 million in a very competitive race in Wisconsin, where Republican Eric Hovde is challenging Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, and $22.5 million in Michigan where former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers is facing off against Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin in the race to succeed longtime Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

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

MARICOPA COUNTY, AZ – Arizona is expected to be one of the most closely watched and highly competitive swing states in the upcoming presidential election and the state’s largest county will play a critical role in deciding who wins that state and ultimately the White House.

Maricopa County, which surrounds Phoenix in south central Arizona and is home to over 4.5 million people, is widely considered one of the key battleground counties in the United States due to its diverse political breakdown and will deliver 11 crucial electoral votes to either former President Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Maricopa County is our largest and most populous county in Arizona,” Arizona GOP Chairwoman Gina Swoboda told Fox News Digital. “It contains over 60% of our voters statewide. It’s about a third Democrat, a third Republican, and a third Independent. That fluctuates a bit. But essentially, we’re a third, a third, a third.”

“We have what I would call a dense urban core in Phoenix. And then we have suburbs and it’s growing. It’s consistently one of the highest growing counties in the United States. It’s a diverse county just because of the makeup, we’ve got urban and then we’ve got the suburbs and then we have what were kind of little, little towns becoming cities very rapidly. So when you have that kind of growth, that puts a lot of pressure on a community and because it’s 60% of the vote of the state, it gets a lot of attention.”

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Arizona’s 11 electoral votes will be critical in deciding who wins the White House in 2024 (Fox News )

Swoboda told Fox News Digital that if you’re looking to run for office in Maricopa County you’ve got a “broad swath of the electorate” and you “have to speak to their issues.”

Those key issues during this election cycle, according to Swoboda, are the economy and immigration. 

“Inflation is number one and when we say inflation in Arizona, we’re one of the hardest hit states in the country for our prices going up,” Swoboda said. “But part of that is affordable housing. And that’s a huge issue in the state of Arizona, particularly in rapidly growing Maricopa.”

President Joe Biden won the state of Arizona by less than 1 half of 1 percent in the 2020 election and the results in Maricopa County were also slim with Biden beating former President Trump by 2 %.

The Harris-Walz campaign has been active in the county over the last few months and the Arizona campaign team told Fox News Digital that they have knocked on 90,000 doors, made over 1.7 million phone calls, and have 15,000 volunteers that have completed a shift in the county.

ENIGMATIC VOTER GROUP COULD SPLIT TICKET FOR TRUMP, DEM SENATE CANDIDATE IN ARIZONA

Signage directs voters to a ballot drop box for early voting outside of the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center ahead of the Arizona midterm elections in Phoenix, Arizona on November 3, 2022.  ((Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images))

“Vice President Harris, Governor Walz, Second Gentleman Emhoff, and Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz all visited Arizona in September,” the campaign said. “Recently, Vice President Harris visited Douglas, Arizona to tout her policies to keep Arizona’s border secure, marking her eighth visit to Arizona this year.”

Polling has increasingly shown that Trump leads Harris with low propensity voters which has become an increased focus in the Trump ground game. The same is true in Arizona, specifically Maricopa County, where Turning Point Action, which has taken the lead in organizing Trump’s GOTV efforts, has launched programs like “Commit 100” and “Chase the Vote” to mobilize those voters.

A spokesperson for Turning Point Action told Fox News Digital that it is actively targeting 400,000 low propensity voters in Arizona and that Republican voter registration efforts in Arizona over the last two years has “put the state in a very difficult mathematical spot for Democrats.”

Immigrants line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on December 07, 2023 in Lukeville, Arizona.  (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

A spokesperson for the RNC told Fox News Digital that Republicans have “doubled” the GOP voter registration advantage in Arizona since 2020 and that the RNC has almost a dozen offices across the state as part of its Trump Force 47 initiative to “meet voters where they are.”

Nationwide, immigration is one of the most important issues to voters according to the polls and that’s no different in Arizona where voters who spoke to Fox News Digital said immigration is a top concern despite differing opinions on which candidate would best handle the unfolding crisis.

“We have to have swifter incarceration at the border,” Mary from Phoenix told Fox News Digital. “And if there’s a suspicion that they’re going to commit a crime, lock them up.”

Mary said that it was “infuriating” that the recent bipartisan border deal died in Congress and said that if Harris is elected, “She will get it signed.”

Nick from Sun City West told Fox News Digital that Harris’ immigration policy has been “dismal at best.”

Former President Trump and vice presidential candidate U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, appear on the first day of the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024.  (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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“Control the border,” he said. “At least keep the border safe. Keep people from being able to get in that aren’t supposed to be able to come in unless they come in through the regular normal channels.”

Trump holds a razor-thin two-point edge over Harris in battleground Arizona, according to a recent public opinion poll.

Fueling the former president’s margin appears to be support from voters age 50 and over. Trump stands at 49% among likely voters in Arizona, with Harris at 47%, according to an AARP poll conducted Sept. 24-Oct. 1 and released on Tuesday. According to the survey, Green Party candidate Jill Stein grabs 1% support, with 3% undecided.
 

“In some ways, it’s like a state of its own because 65, 68% of our entire state population in Arizona resides in Maricopa County,” Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake told Fox News Digital. “It’s one of those mega counties. I frankly also think it’s a mega county, but it’s a mega county. And so it’s a really important county. What happens in Maricopa County can affect the entire country and really the entire world, because we know whatever way Maricopa County can take the whole country that way, because it’s so massive, it can take the whole state that way. And so it’s an important county.”

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Hannah Ray Lambert contributed to this report

The Kamala Harris campaign rocket, which soared to dazzling heights when she got into the race, is losing altitude.

Despite raising a billion dollars, despite overwhelmingly positive coverage by the mainstream media, she has failed to deliver a compelling message and is especially struggling to win over Black and Latino voters. There’s no question that many Democrats, who grew accustomed to reading stories about who’ll be in the Harris Cabinet, are panicking.

Now you could look at the glass as half-full and say it’s remarkable that a relatively unpopular vice president, in a short period of time, is running neck and neck with Donald Trump. She is tied nationally in a new NBC College poll. But that’s a drop of five points for Harris since the last survey in September.

Trump is the ultimate Teflon candidate. The press may jump on him for refusing to release his medical records (as Harris just did) but demanding she take a cognitive test; for using incendiary language against illegal immigrants, or for vowing to protect women when it’s his Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe. 

NOW THAT KAMALA HARRIS IS DOING INTERVIEWS, PEOPLE ARE REMINDED THEY ‘DON’T LIKE HER’: LISA BOOTHE

The Harris campaign’s hype train appears to be screeching to a grinding halt – and regardless of whether they’ll admit it, Democratic intelligentsia are taking notice. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

It doesn’t matter. MAGA loyalists can’t stand the media, and they’re not going to change their minds at this late date. He has the advantage of having held the job. They remember Trump’s presidency with growing fondness, particularly for a strong economy and greater limits at the border, and brush aside any negative developments, especially Jan. 6. 

Harris has certainly made policy proposals and done a bunch of softball interviews. But she made a big mistake on “The View,” saying she couldn’t think of a single thing where she’d differ from Joe Biden. It was not intended as a gotcha question.

How can she grab the mantle of the change candidate and, with that sentence, cast herself as Biden 2.0? 

KAMALA 2.0’S CHALLENGE? MAKING MORE NEWS, AND NOT JUST WITH ULTRA-FRIENDLY HOSTS

If she feels loyalty to Joe, it’s misguided. As a veteran pol, he would understand if she said he did a good job but here’s several areas where I disagree with him and would do things differently–no word salad allowed.

Axios and others are reporting tension between the Harris and Biden camps – she’s replaced the president’s top strategists and spokesmen – precisely the kind of leaks that mark a sputtering campaign.

When people complain that they don’t really know Kamala, they’re really saying they’re not yet prepared to trust her with the nuclear codes. She still has to pass the commander-in-chief test. But she also has to seem warm and approachable. That’s a daunting challenge in a country that, unlike much of the world, has never elected a female president.

Kamala Harris’ last-minute media blitz would be better spent on enemy territory than on cracking beers open with Stephen Colbert. (Screenshot/CBS)

Here’s some British invective from Andrew Sullivan on his Substack:

“The more I listened to her in these interviews, the more worried I became that she doesn’t actually believe in anything…

“Her team either fears or knows she may not be up to it. And this is bleeding obvious. A presidential campaign where you rarely face the press, never deal with a hostile interview, and never hold a presser is a campaign defined by fear. You can smell it from miles away.”

Andrew, by the way, is voting for Harris, mainly because he’ll do anything to keep Trump out of the White House. 

Kamala keeps talking about being the underdog, but she’s run a very cautious campaign. The anxiety about making a mistake should be outweighed by the need to make news, at a time when Trump is back to dominating the news. Many days go by in which she’s a minor TV presence compared to the ratings-boosting Trump.

It’s smart that she’s now agreed to several network town halls, but she should have been doing these from the start, rather than reciting the same stump speech at rallies. Drinking beer with Stephen Colbert doesn’t quite cut it.

WHY VANCE EASILY BEAT WALZ IN DEBATE, SOFTENING HIS IMAGE IN THE PROCESS

And who would have thought that the woman of color would be lagging behind the usual Democratic margins among Blacks – particularly Black men – and Latinos?

Things reached the point where Barack Obama had to scold Black men for sexism, accusing them of not being comfortable with voting for a woman.

The battleground polls are tight, so obviously Harris can still win. But she basically needs to camp out in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin rather than trying to pick off these Sunbelt states. 

The Harris campaign, if it hopes to take things all the way, needs to remain laser-focused on campaigning in the Rust Belt – rather than the usually-competitive Sun Belt, states that former President Trump seems poised to easily run away with. (AP Photo/David Yeazell)

In fact, if she had put aside any personal friction and picked Josh Shapiro, she’d probably have more of an edge in his state. Instead, she went with Tim Walz, who’s not helping the ticket much no matter how many pheasants he hunts. He has, however, done well in two straight interviews with “Fox News Sunday.”

A major step forward: Harris agreeing yesterday to an interview with Fox anchor Bret Baier, on Wednesday in Pennsylvania. Some headlines are calling this a risky move, but Bret has vast experience with such interviews and will absolutely be fair. The upside for her: reaching the largest audience by far in cable news.

Bret said on the air that he believes there’s “a sense that they have inside the campaign, their strategy has to change, they’ve got to change. They’re losing Black males… I think that the campaign realizes they have to do more outreach.”  

SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES

Maybe this is all too much to lay on Kamala’s shoulders. Maybe she’s doing the best she can against a former president whose message is clear and simple: Stop illegal immigration, mass deportations, combat inflation, end wars in the Middle East. And an incumbent is always subject to the counter-charge: Well, why haven’t you done it already?

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The vice president simply hasn’t been able to generate the excitement that surrounded her initial campaign launch. Three weeks is a long time in politics, but whether Harris can reenergize her candidacy remains an open question.

Former President Bill Clinton said in a speech Sunday that Georgia nursing student Laken Riley’s murder would not have happened if the alleged killer, an illegal immigrant, was properly vetted.

While campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris in the Peach State, Clinton accused her rival, former President Trump, of tanking negotiations over a bipartisan border compromise in Congress because he wanted it to be a campaign issue.

He seemed to suggest that Riley’s death could have been avoided if Congress was able to pass a compromise – despite the alleged killer having already been vetted.

“She’s the only candidate who has actually endorsed a bill that would hold down immigration any given year to a certain point and then made sure we gave people a decent place to live, didn’t divide people from their children. And we did total vetting before people got in. Now, Trump killed the bill,” Clinton said. 

GEORGIA GOP CHAIR SHARES 2-PRONGED ELECTION STRATEGY AS TRUMP WORKS TO WIN BACK PEACH STATE

Former President Bill Clinton’s speech in Columbus, Georgia, heavily featured the issue of the border. (Getty Images)

“You had a case in Georgia not very long ago, didn’t you? They made an ad about it, a young woman who had been killed by an immigrant. Yeah, well, if they’d all been properly vetted that probably wouldn’t have happened.”

“And America isn’t having enough babies to keep our populations up, so we need immigrants that have been vetted to do work – there wouldn’t be a problem,” he added.

Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), meanwhile, previously publicly confirmed that people who are encountered trying to cross the border illegally are vetted and screened.

The alleged killer was encountered by CBP on Sept. 8, 2022, after entering near El Paso, Texas, and was “paroled and released for further processing.,” Fox News Digital was previously told.

The bipartisan border deal also only failed earlier this year, years after the Venezuelan national accused of killing Riley entered the country, still under the Biden administration’s watch.

Clinton later praised the current administration’s handling of the border and illegal immigration during a campaign stop in Georgia on Monday.

“For the last three years, the Biden-Harris administration has done increasingly tough things, trying to control the border. And illegal crossings have gone down every year for three years. Our friends in the other party don’t want to talk about that,” Clinton said.

TRUMP VS HARRIS ROUND 2? VOTERS IN KEY GA COUNTY REVEAL IF THEY WANT SECOND DEBATE

It is notable that the former president’s speech largely focused on the border in Georgia, a state President Biden won by less than 1% in 2020.

The issue of illegal crossings at the border has become a political lightening rod in this election cycle. Democrats in tight races – both for the presidency and congressional and local positions – are emphasizing their support for tougher border security measures as Americans across the country have seen their area infrastructures strained by a deluge of people seeking shelter in the U.S.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at East Carolina University, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in Greenville, North Carolina. (AP Photo/David Yeazell)

However, Republicans have long criticized Democrats’ handling of border security, citing the record number of border crossings since Biden took office. They have continued to do so during the campaign by arguing Harris has failed to live up to her informal “border czar” title.

Despite several instances of high-profile use in the media, Clinton accused Republicans of bestowing the title on Harris – which he dismissed as inaccurate.

“They want to attack Kamala Harris and blame her for anything they managed to keep from happening. Like they claim she was the ‘border czar,’ that’s not what her jobs are,” Clinton said.

“Her job was to go down to these other countries that were sending us a lot of people and trying to get them, to enroll them in a legal process while they were still in the country so they wouldn’t be illegally trafficked, show up our border, had to be cared for on one side of it or another, and then we’d run the risk of having people get in here who weren’t properly vetted. That’s what she tried to do.”

GEORGIA DEMS CHAIR REVEALS MESSAGE TO UNDECIDED GOP VOTERS AS HARRIS WORKS TO BUILD BROAD BASE

Former President Bill Clinton also accused former President Trump of not actually wanting to fix the border.

He also accused former President Trump of working to derail the bipartisan border compromise that failed in the Senate, and which House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., deemed “dead on arrival” in the House. 

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“He said, ‘Oh my God, we can’t fix the border. What am I going to do for TV ads? Who am I going to demonize every day? I don’t get into politics to solve problems. I get in it to create problems and blame other people for doing,’” Clinton said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign for a response.

The former president is on a campaign swing through rural America on behalf of Harris’ 2024 bid.

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

Former President Trump’s campaign hinted at Election Day transportation options for those impacted by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in the southeastern region of the United States. 

“As President Trump said when we were on the ground in Georgia surveying the damage – may I add he went there before Kamala Harris or Joe Biden did – he said we care most about lives, protecting lives, saving people’s livelihoods. Their businesses were destroyed, their homes were destroyed.” Trump Campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends First.”

“With that said, it’s very important that voters are not disenfranchised, and our campaign leadership sent out a letter to state and local officials on the ground in North Carolina saying, ‘You need to provide as many accessible voting locations as possible on the ground.’ Our campaign is reviewing how we can possibly provide transportation for voters who need to get to the polls and ensuring they have access to the ballot box,” Leavitt added. “They have faced this destruction through no fault of their own. And this is Trump country. This is western North Carolina. These are our people. We’re focused on taking care of them and making sure that their right to vote still remains even in the wake of this disaster.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) for more information. The Washington Examiner reported last week that there are nearly 1.3 million registered voters across the 25 countries in western North Carolina designated a federal disaster area after Hurricane Helene. Trump carried North Carolina in the 2020 election by merely 75,000 votes. 

HARRIS CAMPAIGN DEPLOYS BILL CLINTON TO KEY STATES 22 DAYS FROM ELECTION DAY

Debris is seen in front of a home with a Trump 2024 campaign sign in Lake Lure, North Carolina, Oct. 2, 2024, after the passage of Hurricane Helene. (Allison Joyce/AFP via Getty Images)

In an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” last week, RNC co-chair Lara Trump said the committee sent out a memorandum to Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and the North Carolina General Assembly that provided 10 recommendations on ensuring voter access after the disaster. 

“We don’t want people who have gone through a horrific tragedy like a hurricane who have really lost so much already to lose their ability to vote in this election,” Lara Trump said. 

A view from Team Trump Bus Tour featuring House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, Hogan Gidley, Kash Patel, Chad Wolf, Abel Maldonado and Brooke Rollins in Charlotte, North Carolina on Oct. 10, 2024. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)

North Carolina State Board of Elections officials announced that 75 of the 80 early voting sites planned across the 25 counties that fall within the federal diaster area of western North Carolina will reopen on Thursday, when early voting is set to begin in the Tar Heel State. 

‘CAN’T WAIT TILL THE LAST MINUTE’: NC CONGRESSMAN RAISES ALARM ON VOTER ACCESS IN AREAS HARD HIT BY HELENE

“This is absolutely outstanding that our county boards of elections have pulled this off in western North Carolina, given the devastation and destruction left by Helene,” State Board Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said at a press conference last week, according to the Carolina Journal. “We will be ready even in western North Carolina thanks to the extremely hard work of county election officials across the state and dedicated state board officials as well.”

The state election officials are still coordinating with North Carolina Emergency Management and FEMA to secure portable restrooms, generators and trailers and other support for the 540 polling places located within the 25-county area of devastation ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5. 

People walk past a destroyed church in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene flooding on Oct. 6, 2024, in Swannanoa, North Carolina. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The state legislature approved $5 million in emergency funding for the State Board of Elections to deal with the storm’s effects, and state lawmakers also expanded emergency measures put in place by the election board that allow counties to modify early voting days and locations.

On Friday, the Buncombe County Board of Elections approved new times and locations for early voting. 

Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., sounded the alarm on voter access in an interview with Fox News Digital last week, expressing concern after his district was one of those badly impacted by Hurricane Helene.

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“Folks are still in the process of putting their lives together, desperately trying to get their power back on, trying to get in touch with their loved ones, trying to dig out from the debris and not really thinking that there’s an election coming up here in three weeks or so,” Edwards said. 

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and Matteo Cina contributed to this report. 

WISCONSIN— One conservative group taking Wisconsin by storm is tapping a strategy previously emphasized by former President Barack Obama in order to win the 2024 presidential election for Republicans. 

“It’s narrowing down our organizing to the ward and then mobilizing,” Turning Point Action National Enterprise Director Brett Galaszewski told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

The group’s ballot-chase program involves “neighbors talking with other neighbors.”

‘DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO HE IS’: WISCONSINITES TALK HARRIS’ MIDWESTERN RUNNING MATE, TIM WALZ

Turning Point Action has made a large investment in contributing to pro-Republican ground game efforts in Wisconsin. (Reuters)

He explained that there is more value in approaching people as their neighbor or someone they have a relationship with than as a stranger who may not be from the area. 

“It’s the community organizing model that Obama talked about in 2008,” Galaszewski said. “You know, we laughed at Obama in 2008, as conservatives, when he said, ‘I’m a community organizer.'”

But that strategy, he said, is “going to make a huge difference here.”

FOR WISCONSIN DEMS, A 2024 WIN IN THE BATTLEGROUND STATE IS YEARS IN THE MAKING

Obama emphasized his past as a community organizer on the campaign trail. (Michelle Gustafson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Obama stressed his past as a community organizer during his presidential campaign in 2008, cutting an ad in which he referred to his experience organizing after winning the Democrat nomination that summer. 

As Galaszewski noted, Republicans at the time ridiculed Obama’s emphasis on his community organizing as a credential in his bid to be commander-in-chief. 

Turning Point Action is running a robust ground game operation in key states, such as Wisconsin, alongside various other groups, hoping to supplement the Republican Party’s efforts. The group has the largest such operation in Wisconsin, as many expect the state to be crucial in deciding the presidential election. 

SEE IT: WISCONSIN DAIRY FARMER SAYS ‘NO QUESTION’ TRUMP ADMIN WAS ‘MUCH BETTER’ THAN BIDEN-HARRIS

Trump and Harris are each fighting to win swing state Wisconsin, which has gone both Democrat and Republican in the past two elections. (Reuters/IStock)

The all-hands-on-deck approach is beneficial for Republicans to make up some of the financial disparity between the former President Trump campaign and Vice President Harris’ and the Democrats’ war chest. 

As Turning Point Action begins its on the ground ballot-chasing, they aren’t racing to knock as many doors as possible. Instead, they are targeting specifically identified people. The group has determined that the best way to turbocharge turnout is to focus on “disengaged and low-propensity conservatives.”

“We no longer see this as a war of persuasion among swing voters,” said Galaszewski. 

TRUMP, REPUBLICANS VENTURE TO BLUE AREAS IN WISCONSIN TO BOOST GOP TURNOUT

A woman dons a cheese hat with an American flag on it in Wisconsin. (Reuters)

Many people don’t value their votes as much as those heavily involved in politics, he explained.

“That’s something that we know the left has really homed in on — targeting those voters with low-ballot value and making it work.”

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Conservatives who may not be planning to vote are the ones Turning Point Action thinks can pave the path to a Republican win. “It’s a numbers game in Wisconsin,” he added. 

The group has hundreds of ballot-chasers working statewide in Wisconsin to turn out these potential voters. Some of them are salaried employees, whose full-time job is “to chase ballots in these territories.”

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

It’s pretty clear which states to watch to know whether Democrats or Republicans will control the Senate. Contests in Ohio, Montana, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are all battlegrounds. But it’s a different story to understanding which might control the House.

The path to power isn’t direct in the House.

A patchwork of districts – hopscotching from northern Maine to the tundra of Alaska – might decide the House majority.

So on election night, let me decode the signs to interpret which party may serve in the House majority in 2025.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: WITH NO GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, IT FEELS LIKE CHRISTMAS IN SEPTEMBER

President Biden delivers his State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, March 7, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

It’s about the math.

Let’s begin with the current breakdown in the House.

There are presently 432 House members. 220 Republicans and 212 Democrats. There are three vacancies.

Late Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Tex., and Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., died. Former Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., resigned. None of these are swing districts. So, if the House were at full membership with 435 seats, the breakdown would be 221 Republicans to 214 Democrats. The margin is seven. But Democrats only need a net gain of four seats to capture control. Also, note that some districts have morphed – especially in North Carolina – due to redistricting. In fact, Republicans could gain several seats there alone.

So here’s the charge for Democrats: hold seats they currently have – and pluck off a handful of seats as they skip around the map. Also, make up the difference from what they will likely lose in the Tar Heel State. This is not a comprehensive list. But it will provide a general feel for the evening. 

Here’s an early race to watch which could give a you a clue as to the direction of the House: Maine’s 2nd District.

A patchwork of districts – hopscotching from northern Maine to the tundra of Alaska – might decide the House majority. (Aaron Schwartz/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, faces Republican challenger and former NASCAR driver Austin Theriault. This is a massive, rugged, rural district which stretches north to the Canadian border. Golden is one of the most moderate – and vulnerable Democrats in the House. Former President Trump won the singular electoral vote by carrying this district in 2020. Maine employs a proportional system to divide its electoral votes.

If Golden holds this seat, that could serve as an early canary in the coal mine indicating that Democrats are in good shape. But if Theriault prevails, that might signal the House could drift the other direction.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN HINTS AT ELECTION DAY TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS FOR VOTERS IMPACTED BY HURRICANES HELENE, MILTON

Political analysts believe that Democrats lost the House in New York in 2022. That’s ironic because the former chairman of the Democrats reelection efforts two years ago, former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., hailed from New York. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is from Brooklyn. That’s to say nothing of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Empire State Democrats have an opportunity to make significant inroads if they perform well in House races this year. The fact that it’s a presidential election could also bolster Democratic performance in New York. Democrats already won back the seat occupied by former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., – who was expelled. But Democrats are angling to defeat freshman Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., and Nick LaLota, R-N.Y. A clean sweep in the early returns sends a message that Democrats are performing substantially well on the evening of November 5. Democrats will be disappointed if they don’t capture at least three of these seats.

Virginia is also a place where both parties have pickup opportunities. A sweep by either side could reveal the overall direction of the night.

Freshman Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., faces Democratic challenger Missy Cotter Smasal in the Tidewater area. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., is retiring to run for governor next year. Democrat Eugene Vindman faces Republican Derrick Anderson to succeed Spanberger. The parties could split these races, making Virginia a wash.

Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., attends a press conference with Republican leadership on Capitol Hill on September 18, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Veteran Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio and freshman Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio, are both defending battleground districts in a state which should go overwhelmingly for Mr. Trump. The fact that Republican Vice Presidential nominee and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, hails from the Buckeye State could influence voter turnout. It’s a boon if Republicans are able to topple either Kaptur or Sykes. And Republicans could be looking at a grand slam if both Democrats lose. However, Kaptur is the longest-tenured woman in House history. Republicans have been trying to defeat her for years. It’s far from clear that they can do so this year. 

Democrats also have a shot at winning a redrawn seat in Alabama. A federal court decided that Alabama violated the Voting Rights Act by packing Black voters into a single majority Black district. The court ruled that Alabama must retool its Congressional maps, making what was once a Republican district into one favoring Democrats. Shomari Figures hopes to capture that district for the Democrats.

In Iowa, Democrats are eyeing two seats – although winning either may be a stretch. One seat pits Democrat Lanon Baccam against Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa. Democrats also hope Christina Bohannan can unseat sophomore Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa. Miller-Meeks squeaked out a victory in 2020 by just six votes. But Miller-Meeks won by seven points in 2022. Democrats would be fortunate to knock off either Nunn or Miller-Meeks. But they definitely believe Bohannan has a bona fide shot at toppling Miller-Meeks.

In Colorado, Rep. Yadira Caraveo D-Colo., won her first term by about 2,000 votes. She’s up against Republican challenger Gabe Evans. But it’s believed a strong showing at the top of the ticket in blue Colorado could help Caraveo.

TRUMP ALLY TIM SCOTT MULLS BID FOR TOP ROLE AT SENATE CAMPAIGN ARM

In New Mexico, Freshman Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M. is in a rematch with former Rep. Yvette Harrell, R-N.M. This district is one of the swingiest in the country and bears watching. Former Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, D-N.M., flipped this district in 2018 after former Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., ran for governor. Harrell then defeated Torres Small in 2020. However, Vasquez flipped the district back to the Democrats in 2022. Harrell hopes to return the favor this fall.

Besides New York, California is where Democrats also hope to make up significant ground. It doesn’t hurt that the Democratic nominee for President used to represent the Golden State in the Senate and served as its attorney general. Moreover, a Senate race could boost Democratic turnout. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., is running against former Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres star Steve Garvey.

Democrats hope to unseat Reps. John Duarte, R-Calif., David Valadao, R-Calif., Mike Garcia, R-Calif., Ken Calvert, R-Calif., and Michelle Steel, R-Calif. They each represent battleground districts. Duarte won his race in an upset last cycle by fewer than 600 votes. Democrats unseated Valadao in 2018. But he returned to Congress in 2020.

Also, three other races could indicate whether it’s a Democratic or Republican night.

In Oregon, Freshman Rep. Lori Chavez-Deremer, R-Ore., runs against Democrat Janelle Bynum. Bynum has defeated Chavez-Deremer in previous contests for the statehouse. If Chavez-Deremer holds on, that could flash as a positive sign for the GOP.

Janelle Bynum is a Democrat running for Congress in Oregon. (Janelle Bynum for Congress)

Meantime, Freshman Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., was the biggest upset of the last election cycle. She eked out a victory over Republican Joe Kent by about 2,000 votes. Gluesenkamp Perez and Kent face off again. The district was Republican prior to last cycle. But it’s believed Kent veered too far toward the right, courting former President Trump and pro-MAGA forces. This race could be a bellwether to distill just how well the MAGA message resonates. 

Finally, control of the House could hinge on Alaska.

Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, won this at-large seat after Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska died in 2022. Young represented the state in the House for nearly half a century. However, Peltola has never been on the ballot at the same time as former President Trump. Mr. Trump defeated President Biden by ten points here in 2020.

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If Peltola prevails, that victory on solid GOP turf could go a long way toward Democrats flipping the House.

But, because so many of these races might be tight, it may be impossible to divine which party controls the House for a while. Two years ago, it took until mid-November.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ criticisms of former President Trump and her drawing of connections between his agenda and that of the conservative Project 2025 initiative spurred chants at an Erie, Pennsylvania, rally reminiscent of the 2016 White House race.

Shortly after the crowd erupted in “lock him up” retorts – similar to Trump rallygoers’ reaction to Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified communications during the 2016 cycle – Harris played a mashup of clips in which Trump warned of dangers from “the enemy within.”

“The worst people are the enemies from within… those people are more dangerous; the enemy within; than Russia and China. These people should be put in jail the way they talk about our judges and our justices,” Trump collectively stated in some of the television clips played.

“You heard his words,” Harris said after the montage. “He’s talking about the enemy within, Pennsylvania. He’s talking about the enemy within our country, Pennsylvania. He’s talking about how he considers anyone who doesn’t support him or who will not bend to his will, an enemy of our country. It’s a serious issue,” she said.

TRENDS ARE GOOD IN SWING COUNTY GOP CHAIR CALLS ‘LITTLE PENNSYLVANIA,’ PREDICTS REPEAT OF 2016

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a church service at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

In recent comments on the matter to Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, Trump spoke about such “enemies,” and quipped that while China and Russia are “dangerous” at times to deal with, “the thing that’s tougher to handle are these lunatics that we have inside like Adam Schiff.”

Schiff, a congressman from Burbank, Calif., is currently the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate against Republican retired MLB star Steve Garvey.

In Erie, Harris said Trump opened the door to using the military to “go after” groups, hypothesizing that they might include journalists critical of him, election officials he clashes with or judges that rule against his will.

The Democratic nominee said that, therefore, voting for Trump would be a “huge risk for America” and that her GOP opponent is “increasingly unstable and unhinged.”

Reached for comment, the Trump campaign rejected her warnings, expressing that it was the “Harris-Biden administration that weaponized our justice system to go after President Trump with trumped-up charges in an effort to silence their political rivals.”

“If Kamala wants to cry about ‘unchecked’ abuse of power, she should look in the mirror,” said Pennsylvania Team Trump spokesman Kush Desai.

PA TOWN ROILED BY TALK OF MIGRANT HOUSING IN CIVIL-WAR-ERA ORPHANAGE BUILDING

Meanwhile, Harris’ preceding comments about the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling in Trump’s favor led to the aforementioned “lock him up” chants.

Harris appeared to sidestep any agreement with such expression, telling the crowd, “hold on, hold on,” and advising that they make their voice heard instead at the ballot box.

“The courts will handle that. Let’s handle November, shall we?” Harris said.

“Look, anybody who said they would terminate the Constitution of the United States should never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States – never again.”

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Prior to the rally, Harris stopped at a local business, and was greeted upon arrival in Pennsylvania’s only beachfront city by Democratic Mayor Joe Schember and State Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, D-Erie, according to reports.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., offered the warm-up speech, and the Democratic nominee was ultimately introduced by Karen Kalivoda, a retired civil servant and Erie native.

On the other end of the Commonwealth, Trump was participating in a Pennsylvania town hall hosted by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem at an exposition center near King of Prussia.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz held a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Monday to shore up support just three weeks before the presidential election.

While warning the crowd about what he said is at stake if former President Trump were to take back the White House, the vice presidential candidate bragged about the unorthodox trio of supporters backing the Harris-Walz ticket.

“The road to the Super Bowl, the road to control of the Senate, and the road to the White House, goes right through the NFC North, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Look, you had a Lions fan, a Packers fan and a Vikings fan up here,” Walz said, referring to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Ivers, and himself. “The only thing more amazing is we got Bernie Sanders, Dick Cheney and Taylor Swift on the same ticket.” 

Cheney, who was vice president to former President George W. Bush, was vilified by Democrats for his hawkish defense of the Iraq War. But last month, Cheney made the stunning announcement that he planned to vote for Kamala Harris as president. 

TRUMP ALLY TIM SCOTT MULLS BID FOR TOP ROLE AT SENATE CAMPAIGN ARM

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a campaign event on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Green Bay, Wis.  (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

Taylor Swift also announced her endorsement of Harris last month, just minutes after the presidential debate between the two candidates. 

Walz used his speech in Green Bay on Monday to hash out a list of grievances against Trump and his running mate JD Vance, who he debated earlier this month.

Taylor Swift arrives before the start of an NFL football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New Orleans Saints on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.  (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

TRENDS ARE GOOD IN THE SWING COUNTY GOP CHAIR CALLS ‘LITTLE PENNSYLVANIA’: IT’LL ‘BE A REPEAT OF ’16′

Walz attacked Trump’s mental acuity and age, alleging that the former commander-in-chief has “been forgetting things.” 

“He’s confused. He’s a nearly 80-year-old man. He’s ranting and rambling until people get bored and leave his rallies,” Walz said. 

Tim Walz slammed Donald Trump for his age. (Reuters)

Walz appealed to men who were on the fence about who they planned to vote for. 

“I’m going to make a message to the guys here. You got any women you love in your life? Your wives, your daughters, your mothers, and friends? Let’s not forget their lives are literally at stake in this election,” Walz said, invoking Trump’s appointment of three Supreme Court Justices who were instrumentally in overturning Roe v. Wade. 

“He brags about it. He’s glad my daughter Hope now has fewer rights than her mother had,” Walz said. “That’s what he’s bragging about.” 

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Walz ended his speech by imploring the crowd to vote for Harris, likening them to the “underdogs.” 

“For Christ’s sake, I’m a Vikings fan,” Walz quipped. “We’re always the underdogs.” 

Vice President Harris is being accused of plagiarizing from several sources in her 2009 book on policing that was released while she was district attorney of San Francisco.

The book, “Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer,” was co-authored with Joan O’C Hamilton.

The so-called “plagiarism hunter,” Austrian professor Stefan Weber, found 27 times that Harris, the 2024 Democrat nominee for president, and her co-author allegedly committed some form of plagiarism. 

He found that “24 fragments are plagiarism from other authors, [and] 3 fragments are self-plagiarism from a work written with a co-author.” 

TRUMP ALLY TIM SCOTT MULLS BID FOR TOP ROLE AT SENATE CAMPAIGN ARM

Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Harris speaks during a church service at Koinonia Christian Center in Greenville, N.C., Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Manhattan Institute senior fellow and conservative activist Chris Rufo first reported on the allegation on Monday, pointing to multiple examples from Harris’ book in which entire sentences and phrases were apparently lifted from other sources without the use of quotations, though in some cases a footnote cites the source. 

‘THE LEFT HAS PERFECTED THIS’: CONSERVATIVES TAKE PAGE FROM OBAMA’S PLAYBOOK IN BATTLEGROUND WISCONSIN

Christopher Rufo is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. (Fox News)

“Taken in total, there is certainly a breach of standards here. Harris and her co-author duplicated long passages nearly verbatim without proper citation and without quotation marks, which is the textbook definition of plagiarism,” Rufo wrote. 

‘DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO HE IS’: WISCONSINITES TALK HARRIS’ MIDWESTERN RUNNING MATE, TIM WALZ

Fox News Digital independently verified that Harris’ book features verbatim and near-verbatim reproductions from a 2008 NBC News report, a press release from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a Wikipedia page and a report from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), among others.

Kamala Harris (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

A 2007 press release from John Jay reads: 

High Point had its first face-to-face meeting with drug dealers, from the city’s West End neighborhood, on May 18th, 2004. The drug market shut down immediately and permanently, with a sustained 35% reduction in violent crime. High Point repeated the strategy in three additional markets over the next three years. There is virtually no remaining public drug dealing in the city, and serious crime has fallen 20% citywide.

The High Point strategy has since been implemented in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Raleigh, NC; in Providence, RI; and in Rockford, IL. The US Department of Justice is launching a national program to replicate the strategy in ten cities.

Harris’ book includes the following:

High Point had its first face-to-face meeting with drug dealers, from the city’s West End neighborhood, on May 18, 2004. The drug market shut down immediately and permanently, with a sustained 35 percent reduction in violent crime. High Point repeated the strategy in three additional markets over the next three years. There is virtually no remaining public drug dealing in the city, and serious crime has fallen 20 percent citywide.

The High Point strategy has since been implemented in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Raleigh, North Carolina; in Providence, Rhode Island; and in Rockford, Illinois.

The U.S. Department of Justice is launching a national program to replicate the strategy in ten additional cities.

In another instance, a report published by BJA in 2000 says: 

Although West Palm Beach is less than 1 mile from Palm Beach, one of the most affluent cities in the country, 41 percent of the neighborhood’s 5,360 residents live in poverty and the unemployment rate stands at 20 percent. The physical characteristics of the community are striking: deteriorated houses and businesses, vacant lots with discarded mattresses and piles of trash, and litter strewn throughout the streets, sidewalks, yards, and parks. No new businesses have opened in the area, and few new houses have been built in recent years.

And Harris and her co-author wrote: 

Although West Palm Beach is less than one mile from Palm Beach, one of the most affluent cities in the country, more than a third of the town’s residents live in poverty, and unemployment is high. The community is full of deteriorated houses and businesses, vacant lots with discarded mattresses and piles of trash, and litter strewn throughout the streets, sidewalks, yards, and parks. At the time the community considered adding a court, no new businesses had opened in the area, and few new houses had been built in recent years.

LEAD COUNSEL HITS NEW DEM EFFORT TO ‘DELEGITIMIZE’ SUPREME COURT AMID SENATOR’S REPORT ON KAVANAUGH PROBE

Vice President Harris criticized former President Trump for not giving an interview to “60 Minutes” in advance of the election. (Getty Images)

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Harris is running against former President Trump, the Republican nominee. With the election less than a month away, many polls are showing the battle within the margin of error in critical swing states. 

Harris’ campaign and the White House did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication.

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

Voters in storm-ravaged parts of the Southeast could face new hurdles at the ballot box this year following the destruction wrought by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, back-to-back disasters that have sparked a flurry of new outreach from states, parties, and even campaigns themselves in a bid to expand voters’ access to the polls and ensure their votes are counted.

Though the efforts in the hurricane-hit southern states have taken very different shapes, the shared goal is to increase engagement and participation in the 2024 presidential race, in which candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump remain locked in a virtual dead heat with less than a month until Election Day.

In North Carolina, efforts have been focused on helping displaced residents access polling locations in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which barreled onto shore last month as a Category 4 storm, killing more than 220 people and causing billions of dollars in destruction.

The bulk of the storm’s destruction was concentrated in western North Carolina and in Georgia, two competitive states that could play a key role in determining the next president. Roughly 17% of North Carolina’s registered voters reside in the counties that were designated as disaster areas in the aftermath of Helene, Michael Bitzer, a professor of politics and history at Catawba College, previously told Fox News.

‘CAN’T WAIT TILL THE LAST MINUTE’: NC CONGRESSMAN RAISES ALARM ON VOTER ACCESS IN AREAS HARD HIT BY HELENE

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell speaks during a news conference at the White House. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

To that end, the North Carolina State Board of Elections voted last week to approve changes for 13 counties in the region, whose access to infrastructure, polling locations and postal services is believed to remain “severely disrupted” through Election Day. State election officials also announced coordination with FEMA and North Carolina Emergency Management to set up portable restrooms, generators and trailers to support the more than 500 polling places in the state’s western region — and an area of devastation that spans some 25 counties.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign also hinted at new efforts to help transport voters to the ballot boxes in hurricane-hit states. Speaking to Fox News in an interview Monday, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the campaign has been in contact with state and local election officials in the Southeast to survey the damage and ensure voters have access to the ballots.

The campaign leadership, she said “has sent a letter “to state and local officials on the ground in North Carolina saying, ‘You need to provide as many accessible voting locations as possible on the ground,'” Leavitt told Fox News, adding: “Our campaign is reviewing how we can possibly provide transportation for voters who need to get to the polls and ensuring they have access to the ballot box.”

In Florida, which was battered by both Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order granting election officials in hard-hit counties additional flexibility to alter their election procedures — including polling locations and requests for mail-in ballot addresses to be changed at the last minute.

Meanwhile, Democrats suffered a blow in Georgia last week after a federal judge ruled that she will not order the state to reopen its voter registration process or extend its voter registration deadline in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, rejecting arguments from the Georgia conference of the NAACP, the Georgia Coalition of the People’s Agenda, and the New Georgia Project, which said disruptions from the storm had unfairly deprived them of their right to register.

The ruling could have a major impact in Georgia, a key battleground state that narrowly selected Biden by just 12,000 votes in 2020. (A federal judge in Florida also rejected a similar request brought in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, filed by the Florida chapter of the League of Women Voters.) 

Federal judges in both states claimed that voters had ample time to register for the November election.

Biden speaks to reporters in front of damage from Hurricane Milton in Florida. (Getty Images)

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It is unclear what — or if — the Harris campaign is providing in terms of transport or options for voters in North Carolina or other states that were impacted by the natural disasters, or what specific actions might be taken by Trump’s campaign.

Campaign officials did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment.