NationalWatch

North Carolina has removed over 700,000 individuals from its registered voter list, officials say. 

The State Board of Elections announced Thursday that 747,000 people have been removed from voter rolls in the last 20 months due to ineligibility. 

“The county boards follow careful policies to ensure that only ineligible records are removed, not those of eligible voters,” the Board of Elections said in a press release.

NORTH CAROLINA GOP FOCUSING ON ‘HAND-TO-HAND POLITICAL COMBAT’ TO RAMP UP GROUND GAME IN BATTLEGROUND STATE

Absentee ballots are prepared to be mailed at the Wake County Board of Elections in Raleigh, North Carolina.  (Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

“Meanwhile, newly eligible voters are constantly being added to the registration rolls in our growing state,” the board added. “Currently, North Carolina has nearly 7.7 million registered voters.”

A common reason for removal from voter rolls was moving residences — either within the state without notifying election officials or to another state altogether.

Other removed individuals failed to vote in the last two federal elections and did not respond to follow-up notifications from the government seeking to confirm their registration.

NC RALLYGOERS ‘PRAYING’ THAT TRUMP WINS, SLAM DEM RHETORIC CALLING HIM A ‘THREAT’ AFTER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS

A voter casts their ballot at a polling station inside the Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina. (Allison Joyce/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Death, felony conviction, requests to be removed, and lack of U.S. citizenship were also listed as reasons for dropping individuals from voter rolls.

The Marist Poll released Thursday finds that Harris and Trump are tied at 49% among likely voters in North Carolina who were asked which candidate they were leaning toward. Of those polled who have made up their minds, 91% said they strongly support their choice.

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

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North Carolina sent out absentee ballots to military and overseas citizens ahead of the September 20 deadline. Other absentee ballots were sent by September 24 to voters who requested ballots by mail. Early voting begins October 17. (Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

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

North Carolina began absentee voting for registered voters on Tuesday, having begun sending absentee ballots to military and overseas voters on Friday. Applicants do not need to provide an excuse to receive a ballot. 

The state must receive a ballot application by Oct. 29, and that ballot must be delivered to county officials by Nov. 5.

Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo, Rémy Numa, Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

President Biden is resisting Republican demands to warn Iran in no uncertain terms that killing former President Trump would be an act of war.

The White House declined to comment on the specific demands but referred to a statement on the recent Iranian threats to Trump’s life.

“We consider this a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority, and we strongly condemn Iran for these brazen threats,” National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savitt said.

Savitt said Iran has long sought revenge against Trump and his officials for the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.

“We have ensured that appropriate agencies are continuously and promptly providing the former president’s security detail with evolving threat information. Additionally, President Biden has reiterated his directive that the United States Secret Service should receive every resource, capability and protective measure required to address those evolving threats to the former president.”

TRUMP BRIEFED ON ‘REAL AND SPECIFIC’ THREATS TO ASSASSINATE HIM

President Biden is resisting Republican demands to warn Iran in no uncertain terms that killing President Trump would be an act of war. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, top U.S. intelligence officials briefed Trump about threats from Iran to assassinate him, his campaign said. 

On Wednesday, Trump prodded Biden to warn Iran it was risking hot war with the U.S. with such threats.

“As you know, there have been two assassination attempts on my life that we know of, and they may or may not involve – but possibly do – Iran,” Trump said at a campaign event in North Carolina.

“If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country, in this case Iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens,” he added.

Trump said he and the nation had been “threatened very directly by Iran” and the regime needed to know the consequences of harming a U.S. political candidate.

“The best way to do it is through the office of the president, that [if] you do any attacks on former presidents or candidates for president, your country gets blown to smithereens, as we say.”

The White House said Iran has long been seeking revenge on Trump and his officials for the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, center. (Press Office of Iranian Supreme Leader/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

House Intelligence Chair Mike Turner also demanded Biden warn Iran.

“President Biden and Vice President Harris must make it clear to Iran that any attempt on President Trump’s life would be an act of war,” the Ohio Republican said in a statement Thursday. 

But it comes as Middle East watchers believe Iran could be weeks to months away from the capacity to build a nuclear weapon – fast approaching the capability to enrich uranium to the 90% threshold and with renewed activity at two nuclear weapons test sites. 

Trump also called it “strange” to see that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was in New York this week and was offered substantial protection as he attended the United Nations General Assembly.

DOES IRAN WANT KAMALA HARRIS TO WIN? EXPERTS WEIGH IN 

“We have large security forces guarding him, and yet they’re threatening our former president and the leading candidate to become the next president of the United States,” Trump said, referring to himself.

The U.S. is obligated to offer security to foreign heads of state at the General Assembly under its treaty with the U.N.

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Iran recently hacked the Trump campaign and obtained information that it then peddled to the Biden campaign and the media, U.S. intelligence officials revealed last week. 

Pezeshkian, who took office in July, ran on a platform suggesting that he would moderate the regime to get sanctions lifted from the West. 

Vice President Harris stops in battleground Arizona on Friday to hold a campaign event along the U.S. southern border with Mexico as the Democrat presidential nominee works to turn the issue of immigration and border security from a negative into a positive.

Harris has faced frequent attacks from her Republican opponent, former President Trump, and his allies who argue she’s weak on border security, an issue that many Republicans see as the vice president’s political Achilles’ heel. Harris has faced intense criticism over the surge of migrants across the nation’s southern border during the first three years of President Biden’s administration.

The Trump campaign, on the eve of Harris’ first border visit as a presidential nominee, called it a “political ploy.”

But Harris, with a stop in Douglas, Arizona, aims to show that she’s better prepared than Trump to tackle the combustible issue of immigration and what Republicans have spotlighted as the crisis at the southern border.

HARRIS LEANS IN ON BORDER SECURITY AND TRUMP RELISHES THE FIGHT

Vice President Harris, the Democrat presidential nominee, is shown at a rally in Glendale, Ariz., on Aug. 9, 2024. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The vice president is expected to speak about how she is pushing what she describes as the toughest bipartisan border security plan in a generation, a measure that includes new border agents and technologies to stop fentanyl trafficking.

And she’s expected to reiterate her argument that Trump “has been talking a big game about securing our border, but he does not walk the walk.”

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She has repeatedly pointed to a border security bill with some bipartisan support that had been making its way through Congress this year before Republicans turned against the measure after prompting from Trump.

Harris has said that the former president “tanked the bipartisan deal because he thought it would help him win an election” and has pledged that “as the president, I will bring back the border security bill that Donald Trump killed.”

Former President Trump speaks at the U.S.-Mexico border on Aug. 22, 2024, south of Sierra Vista, Ariz. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Since replacing Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket more than two months ago, Harris has described herself as a former “border state prosecutor” who took on international gangs and criminal organizations behind illegal drug, gun and human trafficking across the border.

The description comes as Harris and her campaign have also spotlighted a tougher stance on border security while still pushing for a pathway to citizenship for some migrants.

“We need a comprehensive plan,” Harris said Wednesday in an interview with MSNBC. “That includes what we need to do to fortify not only our border but deal with the fact that we also need to create pathways for people to earn citizenship.”

Biden tasked Harris in 2021 with leading the diplomatic outreach to tackle the “root causes” of migration in Central American countries. It led to her being dubbed the “border czar” both by the media and some Republicans, although the White House has rejected that description. And the vice president has been pilloried over her role as “Biden’s border czar” by Trump and his allies.

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Trump, as he runs to win back his old job in the White House, is calling for a major crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border and has suggested using police and the military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented migrants.

Speaking at a campaign event in North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump said Harris was traveling to the southern border for “political reasons.”

“When Kamala speaks about the border, her credibility is less than zero,” Trump said. “I hope you’re going to remember that on Friday. When she tells you about the border, ask her just one simple question: ‘Why didn’t you do it four years ago?’”

And Trump has said the policies of the Biden-Harris administration have allowed millions of people to enter the U.S. illegally.

In June, after the collapse of the bipartisan border security bill, Biden announced rules that bar migrants from being granted asylum when U.S. officials say the U.S.-Mexico border is overwhelmed. Following the implementation of the new rules through executive orders, arrests for illegal border crossings have plummeted.

Polls indicate that immigration and abortion are two of the top issues on the minds of American voters, following the economy and inflation.

And public opinion surveys, including those from Fox News, indicate that by double digits Americans believe Trump would do a better job than Harris handling the issue.

Trump last visited the border during a stop last month in Arizona, which is one of the seven crucial battleground states that will likely determine the winner of the presidential election.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

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

The House task force investigating the assassination attempts against former President Trump held its first hearing Thursday.

“They’ve done a lot of work behind the scenes. They’ve interviewed dozens of witnesses. They gathered thousands of documents. They’ve been doing the work to lead up to the hearing, and I know there’ll be a lot of interest in that,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday.

“The American people desire and deserve answers, and the task force is working around the clock to deliver them.”

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN FLORIDA: SECRET SERVICE ‘REDLINES,’ PENNSYLVANIA TASK FORCE SAYS

The Trump assassination attempt task force, led by U.S. representatives Mike Kelly, left, and Jason Crow, right, is holding its first hearing. (Getty Images)

The task force was assembled after unanimous approval in the House, a rare feat in today’s partisan environment. 

Its scope was just expanded last week after a foiled second alleged attempt on Trump’s life, this time while the ex-president was golfing at his own course in West Palm Beach.

Thursday’s hearing, however, focused on the July 13 shooting at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

A 20-year-old gunman opened fire from a rooftop just outside the rally perimeter, killing one attendee and injuring others. Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet and was quickly evacuated offstage by Secret Service agents.

TRUMP HAS ‘PRESIDENTIAL LEVEL’ SECRET SERVICE PROTECTION, LAWMAKERS TOLD

Witnesses included Edward Lenz, commander of the Butler County Emergency Services Unit; Butler Township Police Patrolman Drew Blasko; Pennsylvania State Police Lt. John Herold; former Secret Service agent Patrick Sullivan; and the Allegheny County medical examiner, Dr. Ariel Goldschmidt.

Police stand over Thomas Crooks after he was shot. (Butler Township Police Department)

The task force, led by Chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and ranking member Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., has already sent out a flurry of information and document requests to local, state and federal officials.

Lawmakers hope to get to the bottom of how Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to position himself so close to the rally with his weapon despite being noticed by some attendees and even local officials long before he opened fire.

“The communication failures on the day of the event were clearly catastrophic [and] led to what we saw happen that day. So, I anticipate we’re going to hear testimony from people who were there, who were part of that process, who can give us information about how those breakdowns occurred,” Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla., a task force member, said on “Fox News Live” Sunday.

Trump was grazed in the ear during the assassination attempt. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The hearing came a day after the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee released a damning interim report detailing planning and security failures that occurred July 13.

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The report said the Secret Service did not have an adequate chain of command in place for approving security decisions ahead of the rally and failed to coordinate security specifically in relation to the building the shooter fired from.

It accused the Secret Service Counter Sniper Team leader of not going inside or on top of the building and said a sniper team charged with monitoring the area had an obstructed view, among other issues.

China’s growing influence in Michigan has brewed into a “huge issue of concern” for voters in the key battleground state, according to a Trump-backed House candidate sounding the alarm on “failed Democratic” policies in the Great Lakes State. 

“This is a huge issue of concern both from national security and economic security standpoint,” Republican House candidate to represent Michigan’s Tom Barrett told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview this week. “Here in Michigan, the Democrats are giving nearly $200 million of state tax money to a Chinese-backed, Communist Party affiliated company that’s going to come to Michigan to build a battery plant. They’ve already purchased a bunch of rural farmland to go out and build a Chinese Communist Party-backed battery plant in Michigan, not far from a military installation where I trained for countless hours during my career in the Army.”

Barrett is an Army veteran who previously served in Michigan’s state House and state Senate before launching his race to represent the 7th District in the U.S. House. Barrett earned Trump’s “complete and total endorsement” for the House seat earlier this year, and spoke to Fox News Digital about the top issues he’s highlighting from the campaign trail, including spiraling inflation, border policies, fentanyl overdose deaths, as well as China’s growing influence in the state. 

“While families are struggling in Michigan to make ends meet and just buy groceries, pay for their home heating costs, our state government, backed by my opponent, is sending nearly $200 million of their state tax money to a Chinese communist company just so they can come here and spy on us. This is rotten to the core,” Barrett said. 

MICHIGAN REPUBLICANS CONTINUE TO SPAR WITH DEMS OVER DEAL WITH CHINESE EV COMPANY IN KEY HOUSE RACE

Republican Michigan state Sen. Tom Barrett, his party’s nominee for Congress in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, speaks to supporters on the campaign trail. (Tom Barrett For Congress)

In 2022, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Gotion, a China-based manufacturer, would construct a $2.4 billion electric vehicle battery plant in a rural area of the state near Big Rapids. The announcement was met with outrage from residents, including local leaders working to reverse a water supply agreement that would have crippled the plant’s construction. Gotion sued the township, Green Charter, and notched a legal victory last month when a federal judge upheld a preliminary injunction allowing construction to continue. 

Barrett’s competitor this cycle, Curtis Hertel, worked as Whitmer’s director of legislative affairs from 2015 to 2023, before serving in the state Senate. 

“My opponent signed a nondisclosure agreement to negotiate sending this money to this Chinese company while he was a member of the state Senate and then later went to work as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s chief lobbyist. He’s listed in the Foreign Agents Registries Act filings with having secret conversations with this Chinese company about maneuvering through the legislature to get their funding approved,” Barrett said of his competitor and Democrats in the state. 

Hertell’s campaign and Whitmer’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for contact. 

Barrett pointed to remarks from former Obama administration CIA director Leon Panetta, who warned earlier this year that China would likely use the battery plant for espionage purposes. 

“I don’t think there’s any question that they’re going to take advantage of that situation,” Panetta warned in January when asked about the plant during a House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party hearing. “And I think we have to be very vigilant about what the hell is going on. That’s just the way they operate. They’ll establish a manufacturing unit, they’ll establish whatever they can, and then they will use that for their own intelligence purposes. They will use that for their own economic purposes.”

Barrett said the deal is not only a national security threat, but also risks American jobs. 

MICHIGAN REPUBLICAN TOM BARRETT LEAPS BACK INTO CRUCIAL HOUSE RACE AFTER SLOTKIN EXIT

“It is all in the pursuit of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s electric vehicle mandate that will systematically replace and eliminate existing manufacturing jobs in Michigan that make up the very fabric of our economy here. So we have a Chinese company threatening with national security concerns to replace American jobs in traditional manufacturing with electric vehicle mandates that are borne by the Biden administration. So this has so many problems. It’s an absolutely horrible deal,” he said. 

Former State Senator Tom Barrett, a Republican from Michigan and US Republican House candidate, speaking at a primary election night party in August 2024.  (Nic Antaya/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Michiganders are stepping up. They’re aware of this. It is terribly unpopular here. And we need to take this fight to the ballot box to make sure that we don’t let this go forward.”

Trump joined farmers during a panel earlier this week in another battleground state, Pennsylvania, where they discussed China’s recent purchases of American farmland and again enforcing a trade deal against China that benefits American farmers. 

“My first call, I’m going to call up President Xi. I’m going to say, ‘You have to honor the deal you made. We made a deal. You’d buy $50 billion worth of American farm product.’ And I guarantee you he will buy it. 100% he will buy it,” Trump said Monday during a campaign event in Smithton, Pennsylvania. 

SENATE GOP UNLEASHES CAMPAIGN BLASTING DEM CANDIDATE FOR HUSH AGREEMENT INVOLVING CCP-TIED COMPANY

Trump struck a trade deal with China in 2020 that included Beijing’s commitment to halt intellectual property theft, refrain from currency manipulation, cooperate in financial services and purchase an additional $200 billion of U.S. products over two years, including up to $50 billion of U.S. agriculture. 

“Second thing I’m going to do is, I’m going to say you have to give the death penalty to your fentanyl dealers who are sending fentanyl. You know, in China, they give the death penalty. They don’t have a drug problem because they give the death penalty,” Trump said. 

Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, looks on during a campaign stop to address Pennsylvanians who are concerned about the threat of Communist China to U.S. agriculture at the Smith Family Farm September 23, 2024 in Smithton, Pennsylvania.  (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Fentanyl and overdose deaths are again one of the top concerns for Americans this election cycle, with Trump tying the fatal drug to the influx of illegal immigrants who have poured over the southern border under the Biden-Harris administration. 

Barrett said his area and district are among the communities across the nation that have been rocked by the influx of the synthetic opioid from across the border. 

TRUMP AND VANCE TO HOLD FIRST RALLY IN MICHIGAN

“Every single community in America, in every town, not just in the district where I’m running, but every town in America has been touched and affected and devastated by the outcomes of illegal immigration and lax border policies that have flooded every community with fentanyl. And now the leading cause of death of Americans my age is fentanyl overdose. It’s a crippling and devastating tragedy. And we have to fix the problem,” he said. 

“We have to secure our border with more structures. We have to reinstate the remain in Mexico policy. We can’t allow the exploitation of asylum claims to overwhelm our social welfare system, to overwhelm our border security. We need to put Border Patrol agents on the border instead of processing asylum claims all day as they’re doing right now. And we need to get back to two policies that deter illegal border crossing,” he continued. 

Barrett is an Army veteran who signed his contract over the Christmas break of his senior year in high school. He spent 22 years in the Army, serving in the Iraq War, Guantanamo Bay, Kuwait, and at the DMZ separating North and South Korea. 

Republican House candidate and former Army pilot Tom Barrett is seen here in a campaign ad still. (Tom Barrett campaign)

Barrett pointed to his military career amid his calls to secure the border. 

EARLY VOTING BEGINS IN ILLINOIS, NORTH DAKOTA, FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN

“I spent a year of my life deployed during Operation Enduring Freedom to Guantanomo Bay, Cuba, where there were terrorists that we were securing in that facility. And they told us straight to our face, that they wanted to come to America and kill Americans. I believe them. We need to keep them out of our country. We’ve had hundreds on the terror watch list that we already know have crossed into this country just during this administration. We need to remove them and we need to make sure that we don’t allow any further terrorists into our country,” he said. 

Barrett is in the lead in his race against Hertell, but underscored he’s not taking anything for granted while 

“I think President Trump is very well poised to win Michigan. We know this is going to be a very close race and absolutely nothing we can take for granted. The seventh Congressional District in Michigan, where I’m running, is also highly competitive. And we also have a very competitive United States Senate race in Michigan,” he said. 

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“This really is going to shape the direction of our country. And we can go down the same failed path we’ve been on already with the high cost of living and groceries that are unaffordable for families, and mortgage rates that don’t allow a young couple to begin their own family. Or we can turn the corner. Secure our border. Get our costs of living under control, get crime under control, put our foreign adversaries back in check where they belong, and really forge a new path for America.”

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

New York City Mayor Eric Adams may soon resign or be forced out of office in the coming days after facing an indictment on corruption charges this week.

The line of succession for mayor of the Big Apple means the office would temporarily go to Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Williams would then have three days to set the date for a special election, and he would serve as mayor until the new mayor is elected.

Williams is a former community organizer who previously served on the city council. Willams and Adams clashed earlier this year over a police reform bill that Williams had co-sponsored. Adams vetoed the bill, and Williams blasted him as a “fearmonger.”

If Williams were for some reason unable to serve as mayor, then the office would go to Brad Lander, the city’s comptroller, according to Fox 5. Labner is already running against Adams for mayor in the 2025 election.

ADAMS OFFICE LASHES OUT AT FBI EMPLOYEE WHO MIGHT HAVE ‘IMPROPERLY LEAKED DETAILS’ OF CORRUPTION PROBE

New York City Mayor Eric Adams could resign in the coming days, making Jumaane Williams, currently the public advocate, the mayor temporarily. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)

A Manhattan grand jury indicted Adams on federal criminal charges on Wednesday following a campaign corruption investigation.

NEW YORK CITY MAYOR ERIC ADAMS INDICTED

Federal prosecutors allege the 64-year-old illegally received foreign and corporate campaign donations for a decade in exchange for influence. Adams countered with a video statement saying any charges filed against him would be “entirely false, based on lies,” and insinuated that his criticism of the Biden administration’s disastrous border policies made him a target for retaliation.

Federal prosecutors say Adams accepted foreign payments in exchange for influencing policies. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

While Adams has not been arrested, sources said agents seized the mayor’s phone and raided his home Thursday morning. It was not immediately clear whether Adams was at Gracie Mansion when they arrived.

FBI RAIDS HOME OF NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS’ CHIEF FUNDRAISER BRIANNA SUGGS, SOURCE SAYS

On top of campaign donations, Adams allegedly received other perks, including free flights on Turkish Airlines to destinations in Europe and Asia, free hotel stays and free high-end meals. In one instance, he allegedly asked about flying to Chile’s Easter Island on a Turkish jet – but he couldn’t because it did not offer a route connecting New York and the South American country.

READ THE INDICTMENT:

In some cases, he is accused of creating a fake paper trail to make it look like items had been paid for, and he is accused of deleting text messages to and from co-conspirators about the purported scam.

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Speaking to reporters Thursday, Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, called the fake paper trail “just a clumsy cover-up.”

Fox News’ Michael Ruiz contributed to this report

The United States Secret Service, which has been the subject of heated scrutiny after two assassination attempts against former President Trump that many believe were avoidable, is now facing even more heat as it prepares to send employees to an LGBTQ-focused event at Florida’s Walt Disney World.

The Secret Service is expected to send staff to Disney World on Oct. 7-10 as part of the Out and Equal Workplace Summit that includes breakout sessions, a gala and various events aimed at promoting LGBTQ diversity in the workplace. 

“Individually and as a collective community, we can break down barriers, bring everyone along, and illuminate the way forward where workplaces—and the world—are rich in inclusion and belonging, and innovation and opportunity are unlocked, for LGBTQ+ people and for all,” the Out and Equal Workplace Summit’s website states.

“And through the Out & Equal Workplace Summit, we will harness, nurture, and grow that light. We will remind our collective community and the world of the brilliance and power we hold. We will remind them that we are an unstoppable, radiant force.”

SECRET SERVICE STRUGGLE TO PROTECT PRESIDENTS WON’T SEE ‘IMMEDIATE’ END EVEN WITH MORE MANPOWER: RETIRED AGENT

The Secret Service is sending staff to an LGBTQ event at Disney World next month. (Getty Images)

A RealClearPolitics reporter posted an email earlier this month reportedly from the Secret Service encouraging agents to nominate others to go on the trip to Florida as part of the agency’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, however, a Secret Service spokesperson clarified, “Due to its current operational tempo, the U.S. Secret Service is limiting participation in conferences to only those personnel who have no impact on current protective operations.”

“Two U.S. Secret Service administrative staff members, who are responsible for the implementation of federal special emphasis programs, are attending the 2024 Out & Equal Workplace Summit. These personnel are not law enforcement.”

As the Secret Service continues to face various investigations and reports into massive failures in adequately protecting Trump from two assassination attempts, along with serious concerns about the agency’s staffing levels, American Principles Project President Terry Schilling told Fox News Digital the event in Florida is the last thing it should be allocating resources toward. 

“To say this is a bad look for the Secret Service might be the understatement of the decade,” Schilling said. “There have now been two near-assassinations of a former president in the last two months. The readiness and basic competence of the agency is now rightly under scrutiny. Is this really the right time to be sending staff members to Disney World?”

TOP SECRET SERVICE AGENT IN PITTSBURGH SAYS HE WAS KEPT IN DARK ON ‘CREDIBLE’ THREAT AHEAD OF BUTLER RALLY

Former President Trump was injured during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Schilling continued, “Even worse is what this says about the priorities of the Secret Service. At a moment when the agency should be focusing on hiring the best personnel possible, they are instead continuing to focus on the failed and unpopular principles of DEI. If the last couple months have made anything clear, it’s that the Secret Service doesn’t need more nonbinary-identifying agents. Rather, it needs more “good” agents.”

A preliminary report on the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs released on Wednesday ripped into newly revealed missteps that went into the Secret Service’s planning and execution of security at the event during which a spectator was killed, two others were seriously wounded and Trump was struck on the ear.

The Secret Service is currently operating with about 400 fewer employees than what Congress has authorized, according to a report this month. 

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Acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. (Michael A. McCoy for the Washington Post via Getty Images)

“A person’s sexual preferences should have zero bearing on their ability to protect our nation’s leaders,” Schilling told Fox News Digital. “So, why is the Secret Service spending so much time and resources obsessing over LGBTQ+ issues? This is a serious scandal that the agency needs to address immediately.”

Editor’s note: This story’s headline has been updated to clearly reflect that Secret Service staff and not agents are participating in the Disney World summit.

FIRST ON FOX: A group of Republican senators is unveiling a new bill that would cease all permanent normal trade relations with China and double the tariffs on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) goods. 

The bill would, over five years, increase tariffs by 100% on imports deemed “strategic” to national security by the Biden administration in an effort to force the growth of the domestic market for national security-related goods. 

It would boost tariffs on non-strategic goods by a minimum of 35%. 

The bill, led by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and cosponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., would also grant the president the authority to institute further tariffs, quotas and bans on specific Chinese goods. It would end “de minimis treatment” for China, or the value threshold below which imports are not subject to customs duties. 

The revenue generated from this, according to the bill, would go towards farmers and manufacturers injured by potential Chinese retaliation, the purchase of key munitions important to a Pacific conflict, and paying down the debt.

A group of Republican senators is unveiling a new bill that would cease all permanent normal trade relations with China and double the tariffs on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) goods. ((Photo by Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via Getty Images))

GOP SENATORS EYE COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO CURB CCP INFLUENCE 

“This comprehensive repeal of China’s PNTR [Permanent normal Trade Relations] status and reform of the U.S.-China trade relationship will protect American workers, enhance our national security, and end the Chinese Communists’ leverage over our economy,” Cotton said in a statement. 

“Giving Communist China the same trade benefits that we give to our greatest allies was one of the most catastrophic decisions that our country has ever made,” said Rubio.

Economists forecast that China’s GDP is expected to grow by nearly 5% in 2024. The U.S.’s forecasted GDP growth is half that. 

The legislation falls in line with one of Trump’s top priorities: during the presidential debate this month, the former president said again that he would impose a 60% tariff on Chinese goods and a 10% baseline tariff on all imported goods. Vice President Kamala Harris scoffed at that plan as a “a sales tax on the American people.”

Earlier this month, China instituted new export controls on a batch of minerals that are critical to the U.S. defense industry, including antimony products. 

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., author of the bill, said it would “protect American workers, enhance our national security, and end the Chinese Communists’ leverage over our economy”

The legislation falls in line with one of Trump’s top priorities: during the presidential debate this month, the former president said again he would impose a 60 percent tariff on Chinese goods.  (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The little-known flame-retardant metal is used in ammunition, infrared missiles, nuclear weapons and night vision goggles, as well as batteries and photovoltaic equipment. China produced nearly half of the world’s antimony last year.

BIDEN ROLLS OUT NEW CHINA TARIFFS 

In 2000, the U.S. Congress voted to grant China permanent normal trade relations. The designation fundamentally changed China-U.S. trade relations: American consumers gained access to low-priced Chinese imports and between 2001 and 2021, the value of goods imported from China quadrupled to $500 billion.

“More than two decades ago, Washington elites granted China most favored nation trading status, enabling Beijing to exploit our working class. Congress must revoke this sweetheart deal to protect American workers from our greatest adversary and to bring back the millions of manufacturing jobs shipped overseas,” said Hawley. 

The Biden administration earlier this month finalized plans to increase tariffs on certain Chinese-made products: the tariff rate would double for electric vehicles, go up 50% on solar cells and 25% on EV batteries, critical minerals, steel, aluminum, face masks and ship-to-shore cranes beginning September 27, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Tariff hikes on other products, like semiconductor chips, are expected to go up over the next two years. 

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Trump implemented sweeping tariffs on about $300 billion worth of Chinese-made products. Biden kept those in place and slapped more tariffs on about $15 billion of Chinese imports. 

China is widely expected to respond with tariffs on U.S.-made goods. 

Oklahoma’s top elected education official said Thursday he is very close to his goal of placing a Bible in “every school” in the Sooner State to both combat “woke” curricula in today’s textbooks and ensure students have access to an incredible “historical document.”

In a phone interview with Fox News Digital, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said that America’s founders called upon the Bible when organizing the Republic, and therefore it is key that today’s generation understand the texts from which the country they live in came from.

Walters said exclusively that his department has now allocated $3 million of its budget to the endeavor and announced that he will be asking for an additional $3 million in an upcoming legislative appropriation to the Republican-majority legislature to meet his goal.

“There were several mechanisms that could have been used here,” he said. “Districts could have used the money already allocated for it. They could have used their textbook funds. But what we’re doing is we, as the state Department of Education, we’re saying we’re going to purchase the Bible for every classroom with $3 million.”

Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said he is close to realizing a funding goal that could put a Bible in every state public school classroom. (Getty Images)

“That is what will be a new announcement today: We are actually going to purchase them, deliver them to the schools. And then number two, we’re going to be asking for $3 million moving forward to continue to supply the schools with Bibles moving forward.”

Asked about any pushback from legislators or constituents, Walters said that on the whole, parents are excited to see the Bible back in schools, so that their kids are “going to have an understanding of the role the Bible played in American history.”

He noted that, decades ago, Bibles in non-parochial schools were the norm. However, while speaking with Fox News Digital, Walters noted that a faint din of protesters could be heard outside his window.

Walters tells Fox News Digital that his aim is for Oklahoma students to “have an understanding of the role the Bible played in American history.” (iStock)

“We saw the Supreme Court being weaponized against the Bible in the classroom and prayer in school back in the 1960s. And again, with the help of the teachers’ union, they were able to drive it out of our schools,” he added.

A directive from Walters in June had said that school districts will be required to incorporate the Bible in their curriculum, but Thursday’s announcement was notable in that his office now has, and will continue to secure, the funding so that the state can provide the text directly.

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Former President Trump has spoken out against “wokeness,” including in schools, and has also spoken about the importance of the Founding Fathers and what they called upon to build the country.

Walters said, he is taking those ideas and running with them.

“I think you’re going to see that there’s a trend moving forward that other states are going to follow Oklahoma’s example,” he said.

Ask House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer about Gov. Tim Walz, a fellow Minnesotan and Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, and the five-term Republican congressman jokingly takes a shot.

“I didn’t realize that Tim Walz and I are around the same age. He looks so much older,” the 63-year-old Emmer said about the 60-year-old Walz.

Emmer was answering a question during a Fox News Digital interview about whether Emmer was playing the role of the Minnesota governor in debate prep with GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio because they’re both from the same state and similar ages.

Emmer, a one-time college hockey player and attorney who serves as the No. 3 Republican in the U.S. House, shared that he and Vance had not yet [as of Thursday afternoon when he spoke to Fox News Digital] conducted a mock debate.

FOX NEWS TO SIMULCAST THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, speaks to supporters during a campaign event at the Northwestern Michigan Fair grounds Sept. 25, 2024, in Traverse City, Mich. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“We’re going to get together at some point,” he said, declining to add any details or specifics on the mock session with Vance ahead of Tuesday’s vice presidential debate in New York City.

But Emmer, who steered the House Republicans’ campaign committee in the 2020 and 2022 cycles, had plenty of criticism of Harris and Walz.

WHICH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HOLDS THE EDGE ON THE ECONOMY?

“It’s an honor to be asked to play a very small part in helping JD and President Trump expose the failures of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”

Emmer argued “the hardest part of playing Walz … is trying to tell lies with a straight face, because that’s what he does. He’s good at the debate game, but there isn’t substance there. There’s a lot of air.”

Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the House majority whip, speaks at a rally featuring former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center July 27, 2024, in St Cloud, Minn. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Emmer and Walz overlapped for four years in the House before Walz won election in 2018 as Minnesota’s governor.

“I do know him probably as well or better than most on the Republican side. And I can tell you that Minnesotans, people at home, know better than anyone that we can’t afford four years of a Harris-Walz administration in the White House,” Emmer emphasized.

And Emmer claimed “it’s very clear today that the Tim Walz that was here in Congress was literally, he was a fraud. He was playing the character of a Greater Minnesota ag-friendly outdoorsman who really cared about the people. Since then, he’s made it very clear to people in Greater Minnesota that he has very little interest in them.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION SHOW

“It doesn’t get reported enough, but under Walz, Minnesota’s taxes have skyrocketed. Violent crime is up all over, and our communities are worse off,” Emmer argued. “No amount of Minnesota nice … is going to make up for Tim Walz’s failed policy record.”

Emmer claimed that “Walz is an empty suit who has worked to turn Minnesota into Harris’ home state of California. … This guy is Gavin Newsom wearing a flannel shirt.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic Party’s 2024 vice presidential nominee, speaks onstage at a Harris-Walz campaign rally at Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pa., Sept. 21, 2024 (Caroline Gutman for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

A Republican hasn’t carried Minnesota in a presidential election since President Richard Nixon’s 1972 landslide re-election over a half century ago. It was the only state President Reagan lost in his 1984 re-election landslide.

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Asked if Minnesota is in play in the presidential race, Emmer said, “Are we going to be close enough that Donald Trump has a chance to be the first Republican presidential candidate to win Minnesota since 1972? I think the answer is yes.”

Emmer noted that polls suggest Harris’ margin in Minnesota over Trump has dropped since she named Walz as her running mate early last month.

“He’s not popular in Minnesota. I think by picking Tim Walz, they may have put Minnesota in play,” Emmer argued.

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

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday declined to answer questions on Vice President Kamala Harris’ gun ownership and previous support of a mandatory gun-buyback program when announcing that President Biden would sign new executive action to address gun violence. 

The Harris campaign has not responded to multiple requests this week from Fox News Digital seeking answers on what type of gun Harris owns, in what state the vice president is registered and when she last went to a gun range. More than two weeks have passed since Harris declared at the ABC News Presidential Debate in Philadelphia that she and her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are gun owners.

Jean-Pierre said at the White House press briefing that Biden and Harris would be holding an event announcing new executive action to combat the gun violence epidemic. In a press release, the White House said that Biden and Harris would announce a new executive order “directing federal agencies to improve school-based active shooter drills and combat the emerging threats of machinegun-conversion devices and unserialized, 3D-printed firearms, as well as additional executive actions that advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s agenda to reduce gun violence and save lives.” 

“On the gun event today, what kind of gun does the vice president have? And when did she buy it?” Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich asked at the briefing.

“That’s something for her office to speak to,” Jean-Pierre shot back. 

HARRIS CAMPAIGN WON’T GIVE DETAILS ON TYPE OF GUN SHE OWNS, LAST TIME SHE WENT TO RANGE

Vice President Kamala Harris looks on during the ABC News Presidential Debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Sept. 10. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Harris told former President Trump to “stop with the continuous lying” after he claimed the Democratic presidential nominee “has a plan to confiscate everybody’s gun.” She vowed on the debate stage that “we’re not taking anybody’s guns away.” But while serving as San Francisco district attorney in 2005, Harris supported Proposition H, which would have banned handguns within city limits and would have required that residents turn in the handguns that they already owned by a certain deadline or face mandatory jail time, Heinrich noted, asking again Thursday whether the White House would give details on Harris’ gun ownership. 

“So can the White House get us an answer on that? Because she hasn’t, and her campaign officials also haven’t answered that question, even on television,” Heinrich said. 

“When it comes to the VP and owning a gun, she can speak for herself. The campaign could speak for that. Her office can speak for that. I’m not — that’s for them to speak to,” Jean-Pierre said. “There is no conflict here when we’re saying that we want to see responsible gun ownership. That’s what we want to see. Responsible gun ownership. I think that is what’s important here.” 

Decrying gun violence as “an epidemic in our country,” she continued: “Think about our schools, our grocery stores. It’s an epidemic. We have done the work. We have seen violent crimes go down because of the work that this president and this vice president has done. There is an office to prevent gun violence. And that is something that she leads.”

HARRIS SURPRISES SOCIAL MEDIA BY SAYING SHE’S A GUN OWNER

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre listens as Administrator of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency Deanne Criswell speaks about Hurricane Helene in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

“We’re asking for responsible gun ownership. That’s what we want to see. That’s what’s important here. And if people don’t, don’t want to, don’t understand that, I don’t know how to further even explain that to them,” she said. “Our kids, our schools. There’s an epidemic here. There’s an epidemic. There are drills happening in our schools right now. That’s something that the president’s going to speak to that is traumatizing some of our kids because of this epidemic. And so that should be the focus. How do we make sure that we end this epidemic? We want to see responsible gun ownership. That’s what we want to see.” 

Heinrich noted that the question was not about responsible gun ownership. She reiterated that she asked about a measure Harris supported “that would have required that non-law enforcement or military residents of the city turn in their handguns — so, no gun ownership, or face possible mandatory jail time versus what she’s saying now and then also not answering the question of her gun ownership.” 

Clips have also surfaced of Harris, while San Francisco’s district attorney, telling legal gun owners then that “just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn’t mean we’re not gonna walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs,” while speaking about the proposal. 

Vice President Kamala Harris listens as former President Trump speaks during the ABC News Presidential Debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Sept. 10. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

“Again, that’s something that she’s going to have to speak to,” Jean-Pierre said. “What I can speak to, this moment in this time, what we’ve been trying to do for the last three and a half years is making sure that we are dealing with an epidemic that is existing in our communities, that we see in our schools, that we see in, in grocery stores. It is an epidemic here. And what we’re trying to do is prevent gun violence.” 

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“And we have seen that go down. We have, because of this work, because of the executive actions, because of a bipartisan legislation that was able to be done under this administration to deal with gun violence, something that we hadn’t seen in 30 years. So there is some bipartisan support here to deal with a responsible way of having gun ownership. We need to do more here. We need to do more,” she said. 

Judges on a New York appeals court appeared open-minded and receptive to the possibility of reversing or reducing the $454 million civil fraud judgment in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against former President Trump. 

Trump appealed the civil fraud ruling that demanded he pay more than $450 million. The former president’s attorneys called New York Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling “draconian, unlawful, and unconstitutional.” 

TRUMP’S $454M JUDGMENT BOND SLASHED BY MORE THAN HALF IN APPEALS COURT RULING

Engoron ruled that Trump and other defendants were liable for persistent and repeated fraud, falsifying business records, issuing false financial statements, conspiracy to falsify false financial statements, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. 

A five-judge panel on a New York appeals court in Manhattan heard oral arguments on the appeal on Thursday.

The former president did not attend the oral arguments but was instead represented by his legal team.

Trump attorney D. John Sauer argued that James’ lawsuit stretched New York consumer protection laws and said there were “no victims” and “no complaints” of Trump’s business from lenders and insurers. 

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference National Town Hall in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 21, 2023.  (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Congressional Black Caucus Foundation)

Sauer said the cause “involves a clear-cut violation of the statute of limitations,” pointing to transactions used in the non-jury civil fraud trial that dated back more than a decade. 

TRUMP VOWS TO FIGHT NEW YORK AG CASE ‘ALL THE WAY UP TO THE US SUPREME COURT,’ AS DEADLINE TO POST $454M LOOMS

Sauer said that if the verdict is not overturned, “people can’t do business in real estate” without fear. 

The Appellate Division typically rules about a month after arguments are complete, meaning a final decision could come before Election Day on Nov. 5. 

Judge Peter H. Moulton questioned if James’ lawsuit turned into “something it was not meant to do.” 

Moulton said the “immense penalty in this case is troubling.”

But the state argued that there is evidence to support the verdict. 

TRUMP BARRED FROM OPERATING BUSINESS, ORDERED TO PAY OVER $350 MILLION IN NY CIVIL FRAUD CASE

In September 2023, before the non-jury trial began, Engoron ruled that Trump and the Trump Organization had committed fraud while building his real estate empire by deceiving banks, insurers and others by overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing.

Trump was hit with an initial penalty of $355 million. That sum is quickly increasing via interest accruals of approximately $112,000 a day until paid in full, now sitting around $470 million.

Justice Arthur Engoron presides over the civil fraud trial of former President Trump and his children at New York State Supreme Court in New York City on Nov. 13, 2023. (Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images)

Trump, the 2024 GOP presidential nominee, and his legal team had appealed and requested a stay on his $454 million civil fraud judgment. Trump’s legal team said the initial requested bond was “unprecedented for a private company,” and said to post it in the judgment’s full amount was a “practical impossibility.” 

An appeals court slashed Trump’s bond payment in March, and the former president paid $175 million. 

Trump has vowed to fight the case “all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.” 

Trump and his family denied any wrongdoing, with the former president saying his assets had been undervalued. Trump’s legal team insisted that his financial statements had disclaimers, and made it clear to banks that they should conduct their own assessments.

Former President Trump speaks to the media as he arrives for the start of his civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court in New York City on Oct. 2, 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Throughout the trial, Trump attorneys brought witnesses, including former Deutsche Bank top executives, who testified the banks sought additional business from Trump, whom they viewed as a “whale of a client.”

Trump’s defense also brought in expert witnesses, including New York University accounting professor Eli Bartov, who reviewed the Trump financial statements at issue in the case and said he found no evidence of accounting fraud.

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Bartov testified last month that Trump’s financial statements did not violate accounting principles, and he suggested that anything problematic — like a huge year-to-year leap in the estimated value of his Trump Tower penthouse — was simply an error.

“My main finding is that there is no evidence whatsoever of any accounting fraud,” Bartov testified. Trump’s financial statements, he said, “were not materially misstated.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: Three more Republicans are crossing the aisle to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the White House.

Former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan., former Kansas state senator and Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger and Deanell Reece Tacha, a retired federal judge, condemned the current state of the GOP in a statement shared with Fox News Digital Thursday.

“This election presents a stark choice that is not easy for any of us. The Republican Party of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bob Dole, Frank Carlson, Jan Meyers, and generations of Kansas leaders does not exist within the current Republican Party,” the former officials wrote.

“But, it requires Republicans speaking out and putting country over party when those values are at stake.”

HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN: THE EDGE IS CLEAR ON THIS KEY ISSUE

Retired Republican Sen. Nancy Kassebaum led a group of Kansas GOP women in endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris (Getty Images)

They added that the race between Harris and former President Trump presented a “stark choice,” but not an easy one.

“No candidate is perfect, and we do not pretend that we subscribe to all the policy positions taken either by the national parties or any individual candidates,” they wrote.

“However, we fervently believe that we must do our part to try to build a brighter future, which is why we will be voting for Kamala Harris and [Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz] in this election. We believe they most closely align with the aspirations of Kansans and reflect our rich history of working together ‘to the stars through difficulty.’”

All three have backed Democrats in recent elections, however.

HARRIS AND TRUMP DEADLOCKED IN PENNSYLVANIA AS FORMER PRESIDENT TRAILS IN OTHER ‘BLUE WALL’ STATES: POLL

Kassebaum, who now goes by Nancy Kassebaum Baker, served in the U.S. Senate from December 1978 through January 1997. 

She was the first woman elected to represent Kansas in the chamber, and her career included a stint as chair of the Senate Labor Committee.

Deanell Reece Tacha was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit by former President Reagan in 1985 (Getty Images)

Tacha was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit by former President Reagan in 1985 and served as chief judge from 2001 until 2008.

Praeger served as the Kansas Insurance commissioner from 2003 to 2015.

Harris’ campaign has made a point of courting Republicans in a bid to widen her appeal and cast Trump as an extreme and polarizing choice.

A majority of Republicans, particularly those still in elected office, do support Trump.  

The vice president has scored support from several notable GOP figures, however. Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Trump administration aides Stephanie Grisham and Olivia Troye have all publicly stated support for Harris.

EARLY VOTING BEGINS IN ILLINOIS, NORTH DAKOTA, FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN

Troye is one of several people who headlined a Republicans for Harris event Thursday alongside former representatives Barbara Comstock, R-Va., and Denver Riggleman, R-Va.

A new Marist College poll found Harris and Trump neck and neck in three critical states.

Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., is among Republicans who already have declared support for Harris. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The two candidates are tied at 49% among likely voters in North Carolina, while Trump slightly edges Harris in Georgia and Arizona 50% to 49% in both states.

Those statewide polls were conducted Sept. 19-24.

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Asked for comment on the Kansas Republicans’ endorsement, the Harris campaign sent Fox News Digital a broader statement on the Republicans for Harris initiative.

“The Vice President is bringing together voters from across the political spectrum by running a campaign about freedom, democracy and opportunity,” said Austin Weatherford, National Republican Outreach Director.

“Our Republicans for Harris program is taking that unifying, inspiring message to anti-Trump Republicans, moderates and independents. While we’re seeing a surge in support, we aren’t taking anyone for granted.”

The Trump campaign said of the Harris endorsement, “Nobody knows who these people are, and nobody cares.”

A federal judge this week issued New York Attorney General Letitia James a preliminary injunction that bars her from taking action against pregnancy clinics that promote abortion pill reversal on the grounds it would restrict protected free speech. 

The ruling came amid a lawsuit by the Thomas More Society on behalf of two pro-life ministries, Summit Life Outreach Center and the Evergreen Association. The lawsuit argues that James has targeted pregnancy centers with threats of prosecution for sharing information about abortion pill reversal, which she has said is unproven.

“These small nonprofits, which exist to compassionately serve women and offer them alternatives to abortion, deserve to have their speech elevated—not chilled,” Peter Breen, Thomas More Society’s executive vice president and head of litigation, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “This court order makes clear Ms. James cannot censor pro-life speech purely because she dislikes it.”

HARRIS CALLS FOR ELIMINATING FILIBUSTER TO PASS ‘ROE’ ABORTION BILL INTO FEDERAL LAW

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference National Town Hall. James has sued several pro-life pregnancy centers over their promotion of abortion pill reversal.  (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Congressional Black Caucus Foundation)

Fox News Digital has reached out to James’ office. 

In his order, Judge John Sinatra Jr., a Trump appointee, wrote that James is barred from preventing the clinics from promoting abortion pill reversal on their websites and social media platforms. 

Medicinal abortion involves taking mifepristone and following it with treatment of misoprostol days later, but pregnancy clinics have advised that those who change their minds and want to continue the pregnancy can do so by abandoning the second drug and instead taking doses of progesterone. 

In May, James filed lawsuits against 11 pregnancy centers that promoted the abortion pill reversal procedure, accusing them of engaging in fraud, deceptive business practices and false advertising. She claimed the groups were “spreading dangerous misinformation by advertising … without any medical and scientific proof.”

DEMS LOOK TO FORCE VOTES ON EMERGENCY ABORTION AS ABORTION PILL DEATHS MAKE HEADLINES

Mifepristone and Misoprostol pills are pictured Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018, in Skokie, Illinois.  (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Despite not being named in James’ lawsuit, Summit Life Outreach Center and the Evergreen Association said her targeting of other pregnancy centers had put them at risk. 

Barbara Bidak, the executive director of Summit Life Outreach Center, said her staff works “tirelessly to provide life-affirming options for women in need.”

“We’re incredibly pleased a federal judge has now made clear that Attorney General Letitia James’ legal attacks on our state’s pro-life ministries unconstitutionally chills our First Amendment right to share the lifesaving message of Abortion Pill Reversal—which gives pregnant moms in the middle of a chemical abortion a second chance to choose life.”

Breen said the pro-life ministries have a constitutional right to share information about abortion pill reversal, and that “their message is saving thousands of lives.”

The Thomas More Society is representing the 11 clinics in a separate case. Last month, a federal judge in that case ruled the clinics were protected by the First Amendment. 

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

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“Based on a careful application of the preliminary injunction factors, especially as they relate to Plaintiffs’ First Amendment Free Speech claim, motion for a preliminary injunction is granted,” the judge wrote. 

Fox News Digital’s Peter Aitken contributed to this report. 

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

What’s happening…

-Trump assassination task force holds first house hearing…

-Vance takes jab at Harris for “working class family” claim…

-Trump-Vance have done significantly more interviews then Harris-Walz…

Mickey, Minnie and Goofy

The United States Secret Service, which has been the subject of heated scrutiny after two assassination attempts against former President Trump that many believe were avoidable, is now facing even more heat as it prepares to send employees to an LGBTQ-focused event at Florida’s Walt Disney World.

The Secret Service is expected to send agents to Disney World on Oct. 7-10 as part of the Out and Equal Workplace Summit that includes breakout sessions, a gala and various events aimed at promoting LGBTQ diversity in the workplace. 

“Individually and as a collective community, we can break down barriers, bring everyone along, and illuminate the way forward where workplaces—and the world—are rich in inclusion and belonging, and innovation and opportunity are unlocked, for LGBTQ+ people and for all,” the Out and Equal Workplace Summit’s website states.

“And through the Out & Equal Workplace Summit, we will harness, nurture, and grow that light. We will remind our collective community and the world of the brilliance and power we hold. We will remind them that we are an unstoppable, radiant force.”…Read more

People walk next to Mickey Mouse along Main Street in front of the Sleeping Beauty Cast at the Disneyland theme park on April 11, 2023, in Anaheim, California.  (Gary Hershorn)

White House

ACTION ON GUNS: WH Press Call on New Actions to Reduce Gun Violence …Read more

STOP THE FLOW: Biden urged to crack down on oil companies doing business with Venezuela …Read more

Capitol Hill

TAKING TO TASK: Trump assassination attempts task force holds first House hearing Thursday …Read more

DEEP FAKE IMPERSONATOR: Dem senator reportedly targeted by suspect impersonating Ukrainian official …Read more

PAROLE PUSHBACK: GOP senators vow to stop Biden admin’s ‘amnesty wand’ for illegal immigrants with US spouses …Read more

‘A BETTER WORLD’: Consumer watchdog group pushes Congress to dismiss Democrat calls to codify Chevron …Read more

ALL-OUT TRADE WAR: Republicans propose bill that would double tariffs on Chinese imports …Read more

Tales from the Trail

CLASS WARFARE: JD Vance takes apparent jab at Kamala Harris saying she’s from a working class family …Read more

NOTHING SPECIAL?: VP debate unlikely to sway race but could still have ‘indirect’ impact: experts …Read more

EARLY VOTING BREAKDOWN: Early voting begins in Illinois, North Dakota, Florida and Michigan …Read more

NAIL BITER: 3 battleground states are toss-ups with White House at stake: poll …Read more

KAMALA’S PROJECT 2025: Trump strikes back at Harris with far-left wish list …Read more

‘VOTERS NEED AN ANSWER’: NC gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson hires Trump-friendly lawyer to investigate porn website allegations …Read more

‘AGAINST OUR DAUGHTERS’: Cruz challenger hit with blistering 7-figure ad over vote on top culture war issue …Read more

PULLING AHEAD: Alsobrooks leading Hogan by wide margin in Maryland senate race …Read more

WHO’S MORE ACCESSIBLE?: Trump-Vance have done significantly more interviews than Harris-Walz …Read more

UNION STRONG: The numbers don’t lie: Teamsters in key battlegrounds support Trump over Harris …Read more

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – JULY 15: President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Sean O’Brien speaks on stage on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Delegates, politicians, and the Republican faithful are in Milwaukee for the annual convention, concluding with former President Donald Trump accepting his party’s presidential nomination. The RNC takes place from July 15-18. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Across America

‘PEOPLE ARE FIRED UP’: Republicans in NC reveal how they are getting out the vote ahead of November …Read more

‘DOUBLING DOWN’: Newsom vetoes homeless accountability bill …Read more

NEXT IN LINE: New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams would replace Eric Adams if beleaguered mayor is ousted …Read more

DATA CONTROL: FBI seizes Eric Adams’ phone as Dem mayor braces for federal case …Read more

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

The Federal Communications Commission expedited a decision to allow Democrat megadonor George Soros to obtain a major stake in more than 200 radio stations—a move the House Oversight Committee is investigating amid concerns of “politicization” and interference in the 2024 presidential election. 

The FCC seemingly approved a deal that would approve left-wing billionaire George Soros’ acquisition of more than 200 Audacy radio stations across America, irking a Republican commissioner who “objected.”

GEORGE SOROS CLOSER TO CONTROLLING 200 RADIO STATIONS DESPITE OBJECTION FROM TRUMP-NOMINATED FCC COMMISSIONER

The New York Post first reported that the FCC last week “adopted an order to approve Soros’ purchase of more than 200 radio stations in 40 markets just weeks before the presidential election,” potentially allowing the far-left kingmaker to reach more than 165 million Americans at a critical time.  

Hungarian-born US investor and Democrat donor George Soros wrote an op-ed in 2007 slamming  the U.S. and Israel for not recognizing Hamas’ election in Palestine. (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

According to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., the FCC expedited a required review of broadcast licenses by bypassing its standard procedures and processes. 

Comer and Langworthy penned a letter to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel requesting documents and communications to understand the FCC’s actions. 

Audacy Inc. owns more than 200 radio stations. Soros is attempting to purchase $415 million in debt in a chapter 11 reorganization of the company. 

Comer and Langworthy warned that Soros is a financier of organizations “advocating for speech restriction and censorship of conservatives online.” 

“He will ultimately become a ‘major’ shareholder when the bankruptcy deal concludes,” they wrote. 

But Comer and Langworthy warned that Soros has “sought to consolidate control over the airwaves.” 

“For example, Soros Fund Management is investing in podcast platforms and purchasing radio stations in major media markets, which has ramifications for what Americans hear and influences political dialogue in this country,” they wrote. “Indeed, 31 percent of all media consumption in the United States consists of audio, even more than television consumption at 24 percent.” 

CHIP ROY RAISES ALARMS ABOUT GEORGE SOROS’ PURCHASE OF RADIO GIANT AUDACY

Comer and Langworthy said that the Audacy Inc. deal would lead to the company being partially “directly or indirectly controlled” by “foreign individuals or entities holding more than one-fourth of the capital stock.” 

FILE – The seal of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seen before an FCC meeting to vote on net neutrality, Dec. 14, 2017, in Washington. The Federal Communications Commission is outlawing robocalls that contain voices generated by artificial intelligence. The decision sends a clear message that exploiting the technology to scam people and mislead voters won’t be tolerated.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

The deal would require FCC approval to determine whether “the public interest will be served by the refusal or revocation of such license.” 

“In carrying out this statutory mandate under the Communications Act, FCC has years-long established processes and procedures for adjudicating broadcast licenses in such situations, most recently updated in 2016,” they wrote. 

WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 11: House Oversight and Accountability committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.).  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The lawmakers reminded that during a hearing before their committee, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr noted FCC rules pertaining to foreign ownership of radio stations, and how the FCC, in this case, “is not following its normal process for reviewing a transaction.”

“Commissioner Carr further noted that ‘the full commission itself has never signed off on a shortcut like this. What we usually do is we require people to file a petition with us. We bring in national security agencies, they can review the foreign ownership… Here, they’re trying to do something that’s never been done before at the commission level,’” they wrote, adding that Carr “noted that the national security review could take ‘3 to 4 to 5 to 6 months’ saying further that ‘[i]t looks like we got the cart before the horse this time.’”

Comer and Langworthy said that “despite the unprecedented nature of this action, the FCC majority has apparently decided to approve licenses on an accelerated timeframe for a company in which George Soros has a major ownership stake, and with stations in 40 media markets reaching ‘more than 165 million Americans.’” 

“By all appearances, the FCC majority isn’t just expediting, but is bypassing an established process to do a favor for George Soros and facilitate his influence over hundreds of radio stations before the November election,” they wrote. 

Rep. Nick Langworthy.  (Getty Images)

Comer and Langworthy are demanding records between Jan. 7, 2024 and the present, and giving the FCC a deadline of Oct. 3. 

A Soros spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

An FCC spokesperson told Fox News Digital that it received the letter from Comer and “will respond as we regularly do.”

As for the Audacy transaction, the FCC spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the Audacy “application before the Commission pertains to a transfer from Audacy in bankruptcy, to Audacy post-bankruptcy.” 

“No decision is final until the Commission releases it, which we have not,” the spokesperson stressed. “Commission-level releases are made available on the main page of the Commission’s website. On a more general note, the Commission has a long-standing process for reviewing transactions that involve emergence from bankruptcy.”

According to officials, the licenses in question would not be transferred to Soros, but rather a transfer from Audacy as a debtor-in-possession to New Audacy. Soros would be a “major shareholder” but “he would not be the owner.” 

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Some inside the FCC object to the notion the move was some sort of shortcut or “fast-tracked” for Soros, pointing to a similar process used to under the previous administration in the bankruptcy proceedings of Cumulus Media in 2018, iHeart Media in 2019, Liberman Television in 2019, Fusion Connect in 2019, Windstream Holdings in 2020, America-CV Station Group in 2021, and Alpha Media in 2021. 

Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report. 

A key Pennsylvania swing county just a few miles southwest of President Biden’s birthplace has swung to the Republicans’ favor in voter registration figures, a county party district officer confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Luzerne County, home of the Democratic stronghold of Wilkes-Barre, and surrounded by working-class cities like Hazleton and Pittston, is now light red, with at least 83 more Republicans on the rolls than Democrats as of Thursday.

“We’d all like to thank the Democrats and the Democratic platform because they’re the ones that really inspired people to leave the party and become Republicans,” Luzerne County GOP 119th District Chairman T.J. Fitzgerald said Thursday.

“They get most of the credit, then, of course, the [GOP] grassroots and people themselves.”

WORKING CLASS WILL COME HOME TO HARRIS, RALLYGOERS IN WILKES-BARRE SAY

Fitzgerald, who represents the Nanticoke, Sugar Notch and Plymouth areas in the county party structure, said it was a combined effort of the Luzerne County GOP, Early Vote Action leader Scott Presler and the Trump Force organization that drove new registrants to file with the clerk’s office.

A Pennsylvania welcome sign greets drivers on U.S. 222 entering Peach Bottom, Pa., from Maryland in 2022. (Charlie Creitz)

Fitzgerald claimed there are also several thousand voter registration forms yet to be processed by county officials in Wilkes-Barre. The trend would suggest somewhere around two-thirds could go to the Republicans, he said, citing information from a recent meeting he attended.

Fitzgerald also leads the separate, grassroots group Luzerne County Republicans, adding the group’s work is likely to make a difference in key races this fall. He cited contests between Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Pa., and David McCormick and Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., against Rob Bresnahan.

“I think a lot of the state representatives are going to get the coattails of Donald Trump, and they’re going to come in as well,” he added.

While Luzerne is home to former Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., neighboring Lackawanna County is better known for Democrats Joe Biden and Casey and his late father.

Luzerne County Democratic Party Chairman Tom Shubilla reacted to the news by saying his focus is actually getting voters to the polls.

“This is something [the Republicans] have been talking about for a while,” he said. “We’re … making sure [voters] have returned their mail-in ballot or whether they could vote early … so that’s not really my primary focus.

PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS TAUNT HARRIS RALLYGOERS AS VEEP SUPPORTER HITS BACK: ‘WHAT ABOUT HAMAS’

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, listens as former President Trump speaks during a presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia Sept. 10, 2024.  (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

“I really don’t think that’s going to be a game changer one way or the other. … What if they don’t go?”

Shubilla said Luzerne has been a “purple county” for a long time and that Pennsylvania likes to vote “split-ticket.”

“Is this something I wanted to see? No. … But, at the end of the day, we are working hard to make sure our voters get to the polls.

“Even though maybe the registration numbers aren’t necessarily in our direction this time around, I have a feeling that we, at some point, we will overcome that number,” he said. “Again, we’re going to do amazing this election with Luzerne County.”

The county recently hosted Vice President Kamala Harris at Wilkes University, and Shubilla noted it was a “fun” event that attracted a large number of supporters.

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The former Central Scranton Expressway — now the President Biden Expressway — diverges from I-81 just north of the Lackawanna-Luzerne County line. (Charles Creitz)

“We got to see a lot of people get involved for the first time, or a very long time,” he said, adding some of those supporters may not have been as active since 2008 when Barack Obama entered the political scene.

In that regard, Luzerne County did vote for the Illinois Democrat before supporting Trump in both of his recent bids despite its Democratic majority in voter registration at the time.

Before then, the last Republican to win the working-class county was George H.W. Bush, against Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1988.

Lawmakers on the House task force investigating the attempted assassinations of former President Trump left their first hearing Thursday fuming at the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), making clear that Acting Director Ronald Rowe has even more questions to answer.

The panel heard from a former USSS agent as well as local and state law enforcement officials who were present at the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where one attendee was killed and Trump himself was shot in the ear. 

“I counted, I think, in the brief five or six minutes that I had, seven different ways in which they could have eliminated that threat, and they didn’t do it,” task force member Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “Which is really just so shocking, because I thought the Secret Service was the premier protective agency in the world, and clearly they’re not.”

Multiple lawmakers indicated tht they are looking to hear from Acting USSS Director Ronald Rowe again, particularly after Congress recently allocated $230 billion in additional funding for the agency.

TRUMP SHOOTING: TIMELINE OF ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW GUNMAN EVADED SECURITY

The Trump assassination attempt task force, led by Reps. Mike Kelly and Jason Crow, held its first hearing. (Getty Images)

“There are plans to have Acting Director Rowe in to really—I would like to have their internal investigation complete. And then also what I think all of us are looking for, the American people as well, is some accountability,” said task force member Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla.

Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., the top Democrat on the panel, said lawmakers were frustrated, but he made clear that it was not aimed at Thursday’s witnesses.

“It was the fault of the Secret Service, because the Secret Service is ultimately responsible for the protection at events like that. They did not do their job. They did not provide the clarity and the guidance to local law enforcement. That was pretty clear to me,” Crow told reporters.

SECRET SERVICE BOSS SAYS VITAL INFO NOT RELAYED OVER RADIO, DELAYING RESPONSE TO WOULD-BE RALLY ASSASSIN

During the first portion of the hearing, witnesses and lawmakers repeatedly signaled that a lack of clear communication of security plans from the USSS helped lead to a 20-year-old gunman being able to open fire on the rally from a rooftop just outside the security perimeter.

As lawmakers fumed about USSS shortfalls that allowed the fatal incident to occur, however, drama also played out behind the scenes, with Democrats on the task force apparently feeling blindsided by the GOP majority inviting two House Republicans to testify.

“This isn’t the way it should work,” one source familiar with task force Democrats’ discussions told Fox News Digital.

Sgt. Edward Lenz, Commander of the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, was among those testifying. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A second person explained their thinking, “All of us, in my understanding, have a very bipartisan and sober approach to this . . . we weren’t notified that this was going to be part of the process until late last night, and we feel like that’s not how we should conduct ourselves.”

The hearing saw two panels testify. The first group, which included the law enforcement witnesses, took up the majority of lawmakers’ time.

ATTEMPTED TRUMP ASSASSIN SEEN WALKING AROUND PENNSYLVANIA RALLY HOURS BEFORE OPENING FIRE

Democrats were absent for the second portion, testimony from Reps. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., and Cory Mills, R-Fla. The two Republicans, both military veterans with sniper experience, have been conducting their own “parallel” investigation into the shooting.

A third source familiar with the panel’s Democratic minority said that their leadership was not informed of Crane and Mills’ testimony until late Wednesday afternoon. Some Democratic lawmakers were not informed until Thursday morning, however.

GOP Reps. Cory Mills (pictured) and Eli Crane, both military veterans with sniper experience, were part of the second witness panel. (David Dee Delgado)

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“We did not receive notice of the second panel until late yesterday. We didn’t have an opportunity to present our own witnesses,” Crow said when asked about Mills and Crane. 

“[Task Force Chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa.] and I are still very committed to having this be bipartisan, consensus-based, and it’s my hope that we can return to that . . . approach going forward.”

Kelly similarly told reporters that this would not impede the task force’s bipartisan mission.

Waltz largely deferred to Kelly when asked about the discord but added, “From my perspective, we have a lot of expertise, and the more eyes on this, the better.”

The announcement by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters that it would not endorse either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Trump in the 2024 White House race earned some major headlines.

And the move by the powerful union with over one million U.S. members instantly gave the Trump campaign some ammunition to fire at Team Harris, because the Teamsters became the only one of the nation’s top ten organized labor organizations not to endorse the vice president in the race to succeed President Biden in the White House.

“The Teamsters carry a lot of weight,” Trump noted as he discussed the move by the union against an endorsement for the first time in over a quarter century.

2024 SHOCKER: WHY THE TEAMSTERS STAYED NEUTRAL IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN

President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Sean O’Brien speaks on stage on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

The Harris campaign, in an apparent move to downplay the news, pointed to endorsements from “many Teamsters locals and rank and file.”

This week, ahead of Trump’s stop in Savannah, Georgia, to outline his manufacturing proposals, the Harris campaign spotlighted the endorsement of the vice president by Teamsters Joint Council 75, which represents rank-and-file members in Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

WHY HARRIS CHARGED TRUMP’S ‘ONE OF THE BIGGEST LOSERS’

The Harris campaign touted that the vice president “has now been endorsed by local Teamsters unions representing more than 1.5 million active and retired members. This includes more than half a million members across battleground states of Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Nevada.”

But new numbers released this week by the Teamsters of their survey of rank-and-file members that was conducted July 24-Sept. 15 — broken down by state — shows Trump with far more support than Harris.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks about the tax code and manufacturing at the Johnny Mercer Theatre Civic Center, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Savannah, Ga. (AP/Evan Vucci)

Here’s the breakdown of the Teamsters rank-and-file vote in the seven crucial battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided President Biden’s 2020 election victor over Trump and will likely determine the outcome of the 2024 White House race.

 Arizona: Trump 57.3%  Harris 38.7%

 Georgia: Trump 56.3%  Harris 40.7%

 Michigan: Trump 61.7%  Harris 32.5%

 Nevada: Trump 59.9%  Harris 37.3%

 North Carolina: Trump 69.1%  Harris 29.2%

 Pennsylvania: Trump 65.3%  Harris 31.4%

 Wisconsin: Trump 57%  Harris 40.5%

According to the national Teamsters vote totals released last week at the time of the endorsement announcement, Trump’s support among the rank-and-file surged since Harris replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket over two months ago.

President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris at IBEW Local Union #5 on September 2, 2024, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

The union’s polling, prior to Biden dropping out, showed that the president was ahead of Trump among members, 44.3% to 36.3%, but that Trump held a 25-point margin of support over Harris. New figures showed that it was a similar story in the state voting as well, with Trump surging in rank-and-file support after Biden ended his re-election bid.

Biden has long been seen as arguably the most pro-union president in modern times, and he made history as the first president to walk the picket lines with striking workers.

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Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien, in explaining why the Teamsters decided not to endorse, said that “neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business.

“We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honor our members’ right to strike — but were unable to secure those pledges.”

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris addresses the Economic Club of Pittsburgh on the Carnegie Mellon University campus in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

The Harris campaign touted the vice president’s “strong union record” and argued that “while Donald Trump says that striking workers should be fired, Vice President Harris has literally walked the picket line and stood strong with organized labor for her entire career.”

Asked in an MSNBC interview on Wednesday whether the Teamsters were looking for more commitments before making any endorsement, Harris demurred and pivoted to an attack on Trump, charging that the former president during his administration “made a whole lot of promises that he did not meet and, one would argue, broke.”

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

FIRST ON FOX: A conservative super PAC is blanketing the airwaves with a new advertisement slamming Texas Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Colin Allred, who is locked in a high-profile race against Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz. 

The pro-Cruz Truth and Courage PAC is rolling out a $3 million dollar ad buy in Texas hitting the Democratic congressman over his previous support of allowing biological males to compete in sports against female opponents.

“Texas girls are tough,” the 30-second version of the ad says, as it shows young women training for various sporting events. “But they’re facing a new opponent they can’t beat by digging deeper.”

“Colin Allred could have stopped men from competing in women’s sports, but instead, he voted against our daughters,” the ad continues before it shows a man resembling Allred with the name “Allred” on his jersey, tackling one of the girls.

CRUZ INTERRUPTED BY ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATOR WHO YELLED, ‘F—ING JEWS’ DURING HEARING ON ‘HATE’

A pro-Cruz super PAC is spending $3 million to hit Rep. Colin Allred, left, on his position on boys in girls sports. (Fox News)

“What kind of man does that?”

There is also a 60-second version of the ad that shows him in a couple of photos with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. As the ad shows the photos, the narrator says Allred “voted against the Protection of Women and Girls Act of 2023. He stood with woke progressives and radical Democrats, not our daughters.”

The ad, which will also run in Spanish, cites Allred’s vote in Congress against The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023, which passed the House on a party line vote with President Biden saying he would veto it if it got to his desk.

“This is a disgusting, false attack, and another example of how Ted Cruz only wants to divide Texans,” Allred campaign spokesperson Josh Stewart told Fox News Digital. 

“He’ll say anything to distract from his dangerous abortion ban that is putting women’s lives at risk, trying to raise the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare and fleeing to Cancun during a deadly winter storm.” 

Cruz won his last Senate race by about three points in 2018, and some experts believe that this year’s race could be close again. 

While the Real Clear Politics polling average shows Cruz with a five-point lead in the race, there are some troubling signs for the Republican incumbent, including recent polls showing Cruz with a lead close to within the margin of error.

TEXAS DEM’S SENATE AD FEATURES BORDER WALL HE ONCE BLASTED AS ‘RACIST’

Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“Texas will stay red this November and Ted Cruz will win re-election,” Jimmy Keady, the founder and president of JLK Political Strategies, recently told Fox News Digital.

“But Republicans should not take the threat of losing this state lightly. As the Republican Party makes a play for blue states, Democrats are going to start making a play for red states… to hold these seats, Republicans will have to stay disciplined on messaging and prioritize candidate recruitment.”

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) questions U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe, during a hearing about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally, convened by the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees in Washington, D.C., on July 30, 2024. (ALLISON BAILEY/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee contributed to this report