Top Stories Tamfitronics
A hurricane, an intensifying war and a looming strike present a battery of new crises for Harris
+2
Harris and Trump are scrambling to revise travel plans and tactics as they face a real-time test of how they cope with unexpected crises: a trifecta of life-threatening weather, a war and a looming dockworkers strike that could drive up prices.
Harris’ challenge is to shape a government response without politicizing a moment that calls for bridging national divisions.
Trump’s dilemma is that any condemnation he delivers may call attention to his own actions in 2017, when he blithely tossed paper towels to Puerto Rican residents reeling from Hurricane Maria.
Read the full story here.
Trump claims the Biden-Harris administration is denying hurricane assistance to his supporters
Trump claimed without evidence that the Biden-Harris administration is “going out of their way to hurt” Trump voters in rural North Carolina who were affected by Hurricane Helene.
“They’re not getting water, they’re not getting anything,” Trump said in an interview with his former adviser Kellyanne Conway that aired tonight.
Earlier today at a news conference, NBC News’ Garrett Haake asked Trump about a similar claim he made on Truth Social accusing the federal government and Democratic governors of withholding relief.
“Just take a look,” Trump said before he refused to answer follow-up questions.
DNC projects messages on Trump Tower ahead of VP debate
Ahead of the vice presidential debate between Vance and Walz in New York tomorrow, the Democratic National Committee projected messages on Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.
The projections went up just after 9 p.m. ET and read: “Project 2025 HQ,” “Go Coach Walz,” “Trump is a chicken” and “Trump on Vance: ‘what an idiot,’” appearing next to the Trump Tower sign. The messages were projected on the scaffolding and building adjacent to the midtown Manhattan skyscraper.
“As Vance takes the debate stage to attempt to make up for Trump’s own lackluster debate performance, these projections on Trump Tower NYC are a reminder that Trump and Vance are out for themselves while Trump remains afraid to go back on that debate stage and be held accountable by Vice President Harris for his failed record and his dangerous agenda,” DNC Deputy Communications Director Abhi Rahman said in a statement.
Trump compares missing migrant children to the Holocaust
In an interview today with his former adviser Kellyanne Conway, Trump compared missing migrant children to the Holocaust.
Trump claimed hundreds of thousands of “children are missing. Remember that stat. That would be a stat that — it’s sort of like the Holocaust,” he said. “Many of those children are dead; you’ll never see them again.”
The Nazis killed 6 million Jews in the Holocaust.
Trump made a similar comparison between missing migrant children and the Holocaust in an interview with “Dr. Phil” McGraw in June.
‘It’s very complex’: Biden struggles with being out of the national conversation
+3
Biden has privately complained to allies that his name and his accomplishments have virtually disappeared from the national conversation and about how quickly the party that he has served for more than five decades appears to have moved on from him, according to six people familiar with his comments.
Biden has noted at times that Harris, who took his place at the top of the Democratic ticket in July, hasn’t been mentioning him in her campaign speeches lately, including when she talks about an economy he believes his policies set on a positive trajectory, these people said.
And he was particularly stung by one of the recent notable times when she did talk about him — during this month’s debate with Trump, three of the people familiar with his comments said.
Read the full story here.
Voters blame ‘extreme’ rhetoric for contributing to attempt on Trump’s life
Reporting from Washington
A majority of voters blame “extreme political rhetoric” from some politicians and media figures for contributing to the assassination attempt targeting Trump in Florida this month, according to the latest NBC News poll, part of a rising trend across a decade-plus of violent attacks on political figures.
Slightly more than half of respondents, 54%, agreed that “extreme political rhetoric used by some in the media and by political leaders was an important contributor” in the days after a gunman was spotted on the fence line outside Trump’s golf course and arrested after fleeing. Another 37% said it was more of an “incident caused by a disturbed person,” and 6% volunteered that it was “some of both.”
Republicans blamed extreme rhetoric 76%-18%, going along with Trump, who quickly blamed Harris’ statements against him for inspiring the attempt. Harris said, “I will be clear: I condemn political violence. We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence.”
Read the full story here.
Iran’s history of elaborate election interference efforts before the Trump campaign hack
On Friday, U.S. authorities accused three Iranian men of stealing and leaking files from Trump’s 2024 campaign, the largest “hack and leak” election influence operation since Russia’s breach of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and Democratic organizations in 2016.
Iran’s influence efforts using hacked material from the Trump campaign follow what the U.S. says was a series of brazen influence operations in 2020, all authorized by Tehran’s senior leadership. Iran has consistently denied such allegations.
Iran, like China and Russia, constantly creates fake accounts on U.S. social media platforms in attempts to shift Americans’ opinion, U.S. intelligence officials say. It’s unclear that such operations have had much effect.
Read the full story here.
Democrats sue Georgia election board over new rule requiring hand-counting of ballots
Democrats want a judge to block the Georgia State Election Board’s newly passed requirement for counties to hand-count ballots cast on Election Day, arguing the eleventh-hour move is unlawful and could cause “chaos” in the battleground state.
The board’s controversial 3-2 vote this month “changes the rules of the game in the ninth inning,” read the suit, which was filed by the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Party of Georgia, with support from Harris’ campaign.
“In sum, the Hand Count Rule is contrary to the Election Code, exceeds the Board’s rulemaking authority” and “violates foundational limits on agencies that are intended to avoid precisely the scenario here—an unelected body unilaterally making significant changes to the law without notice or explanation,” the suit says.
Read the full story here.
State judge strikes down Georgia abortion ban
+2
A judge in Fulton County, Georgia, struck down the state’s six-week abortion ban today, allowing the procedure to resume and making it legal up to 22 weeks of pregnancy.
The state law, known as the LIFE Act, was signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019 but didn’t take effect until July 2022, after it faced a legal challenge and the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his ruling that a review of “our higher courts’ interpretations of ‘liberty’ demonstrates that liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to contro l her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices.”
Read the full story here.
House Republican subpoenas DHS for documents on Walz and China
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas today for documents that he said pertained to alleged ties between Walz and the Chinese Communist Party.
The subpoena letter referred to a “non-classified” Microsoft Teams group chat with DHS staff members that allegedly includes relevant information for the Republican-led committee, which in August launched a probe into what it called Walz’s “extensive” engagement with China.
Comer today gave DHS until Oct. 7 to produce the requested documents. DHS and the Harris-Walz campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Walz has had experience with China going as far back as his graduation from college, after which he taught American history and culture for a year in the city of Foshan as part of a Harvard program. He and his wife, Gwen, took groups of high schoolers to the country for years and even spent their honeymoon in China.
His familiarity with China drew immediate criticism from Republicans when he was chosen as Harris’ running mate.
Walz has criticized China’s government and advocated for human rights issues in the country, co-sponsoring pro-democracy bills and resolutions when he was a member of Congress.
Hurricane Helene scrambles mail and early voting plans in North Carolina
Hurricane Helene has caused significant disruptions for election officials in North Carolina and across the Southeast, scrambling preparations for early and mail voting that have been in the works for months.
In western North Carolina, one of the areas hit hardest by the storm, election officials were working Monday to evaluate what changes needed to be made in a key presidential battleground state where mail ballots started going out last week and early in-person voting is scheduled to begin in three weeks.
North Carolina officials mailed 190,000 ballots last week, some of which may be delayed or destroyed by flooding. Mail service is suspended to many areas, which will halt the transport of the ballots. And there’s more pressure for voters to get their ballots in early this year: State legislators recently eliminated a grace period that allowed ballots with on-time postmarks to be counted even if they arrived three days after the election.
Read the full story here.
Biden rips Trump for falsely claiming president never spoke to Georgia governor
Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner
Asked about Trump’s false claims that Biden had not spoken to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Biden said Trump was “lying.”
“Let me get this straight. He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying,” Biden said. “I’ve spoken to the governor, I spent time with him, and he told me he’s lying.”
Biden called Trump’s comments “irresponsible.”
“I don’t know why he does this, and the reason I get so angry about — I don’t care about what he says about me,” Biden said. “I care what he communicates to people that are in need, implies that we’re not doing everything possible. We are. We are.”
White House says Biden spoke to S.C. governor and Asheville mayor
The White House said Biden spoke by phone today with South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and Asheville, North Carolina, Mayor Esther Manheimer.
Biden received updates on the recovery efforts and discussed federal support for the area affected by the storm.
Harris says she plans to visit storm-damaged areas ‘as soon as possible’
After she returned from Las Vegas this afternoon, Harris spoke at the FEMA headquarters, thanked FEMA employees for their hard work and received a briefing from FEMA officials.
Harris said she has spoken to governors of affected states and local officials.
She said she told them “I plan to be on the ground as soon as possible” without disrupting emergency response operations.
“The devastation from Hurricane Helene is immense,” Harris said. “Our nation is with you. We will do everything we can to help you recover and help you rebuild.”
Vance and Walz lean on their wives in different ways on the trail — and ahead of the VP debate
As Vance and Walz prepare to face off in their debate tomorrow, the vice presidential hopefuls have banked several months of campaigning across the country after their sudden elevations into national politics. So have two key players helping shape their messaging and public images: their wives.
While Usha Vance has acted more as a behind-the-scenes adviser, Gwen Walz has been hitting the campaign trail in key swing states as a spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign.
Originally from Minnesota, Gwen Walz, a former longtime public school teacher, has always played a big role in her husband’s political career. “We have always worked as a partnership,” she told the podcast “What If It Works” in an interview in July. “We do work really closely together, and there are issues where I do a lot of the work and share my thoughts and briefings with him.”
Read the full story here.
ACLU files lawsuit against ‘restrictive’ New Hampshire voting law
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire filed a lawsuit today challenging a new state voting law that would require proof of U.S. citizenship when people register to vote and photo identification when they cast ballots.
The law was signed on Sept. 12 by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who said the legislation “will instill even more integrity and trust in the voting process.”
The ACLU, whose lawsuit argues that the statute violates the First and 14th amendments, said today that the law is “among the most restrictive in the United States.”
“Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy — and laws like this, which create unconstitutional roadblocks to voting and which could stop thousands of eligible voters from participating in an election, have no place in our state,” Henry Klementowicz, deputy legal director at the ACLU of New Hampshire, said in a statement.
Jacob van Leer, staff attorney with the national ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, added that the law would “impose one of the strictest voter registration schemes in the nation and make New Hampshire a clear outlier among the states.”
Biden to visit North Carolina to survey Hurricane Helene damage
Reporting from Washington
President Joe Biden said today that he plans to visit North Carolina on Wednesday to survey the damage.
More than 100 people have died, according to an NBC News tally. At least 40 people died in western North Carolina’s Buncombe County, where the Asheville is located. Many people are reported to have no running water, electricity or cellphone or internet service.
Biden had saidyesterday that the storm damage was “tragic” and that his administration was trying to determine the number of victims.
Read the full story here.
The New York Times editorial board endorses Kamala Harris
The New York Times editorial board endorsed Harris, calling her “the only patriotic choice for president.”
The board opened its endorsement by stating, “It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump,” adding that he is both “morally” and “temperamentally” unfit for office.
The endorsement said the”unequivocal, dispiriting truth” that Trump is unfit for office leaves voters with “one patriotic choice” to stand behind Harris, “regardless of any political disagreements voters might have with her.”
Florida Sen. Rick Scott and N.C. Rep. call on Congress to come back to session early to respond to hurricane aftermath
+2
Reporting from Washington
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Rep. Wiley Nickel, D-N.C., are calling for Congress to come back to session to address disaster relief from Hurricane Helene.
Scott said in a statement that once FEMA finishes assessing damage from the hurricane, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., should reconvene the Senate.
Thet assessment from FEMA, however, could take some time.
“While I know from my experience with previous hurricanes that FEMA and SBA damage assessments take time, I am today urging Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to immediately reconvene the U.S. Senate when those assessments are completed so that we can pass the clean supplemental disaster funding bill and other disaster relief legislation, like my Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act, needed to ensure the full recovery of families in all impacted communities,” Scott said.
Nickel called on X for Congress to return to Washington “immediately” to pass a supplemental funding package for disaster relief efforts.
Voto Latino, SEIU partner to mobilize Latino voters in battleground states
Voto Latino, a civic engagement organization targeting Latino voters, is partnering with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to engage and mobilize Latino voters in eight battleground states, the groups told NBC News.
The partnership will include ev ents with elected officials, including a kickoff event Saturday tied to Hispanic Heritage Month, and digital services to help union members and others register to vote.
SEIU Executive Vice President Rocio Sáenz framed the initiative as a way to engage the union’s 3 million members, who are workers in health care, public services and property services.
“Latino workers are the heart and soul of many communities, showing up every day to keep this country moving. But it’s not enough to work hard—we must ensure their voices are heard loud and clear at the ballot box,” Sáenz said in a statement.
Vote Latino co-founder and President Maria Teresa Kumar echoed Saenz, calling the election “a historic moment for Latino workers.”
“This partnership is critical for providing our community with the tools and resources they need to make their powerful voices heard,” Kumar added.
Trump falsely claims Kemp has not been able to reach Biden
+3
Following a closed-door storm briefing with emergency response officials, Trump twice falsely claimed that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is unable to reach Biden to discuss storm recovery, despite the White House — and Kemp himself — confirming that the two leaders spoke last night.
In an exchange as Trump approached the lectern in Valdosta, a reporter told the former president at the start of a question that Kemp had spoken with Biden, which Trump interrupted by saying: “No, he hasn’t.” Then, moments later, Trump reiterated the same false claim during his remarks.
“The governor needs to — he’s been trying to get them, and I’m sure they’re going to come through, but he’s been calling. The president hasn’t been able to get him, but they’ll come through I’m sure,” Trump said.
Following his remarks, NBC’s Garrett Haake asked Trump what he was referencing in claiming on Truth Social that he has received reports “about the Federal Government, and the Democrat Governor of the State, going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.”
First pointing to himself in the middle of the question, Trump replied: “Just take a look.”
Trump says after surveying Georgia storm damage that campaigning doesn’t matter during a crisis
Trump said after he surveyed damage from Hurricane Helene at a furniture store in Valdosta, Georgia, that he came down with “truckloads of things,” seemingly in coordination with the aid organization Samaritan’s Purse, which is run by Franklin Graham, the son of the late Christian evangelist Billy Graham, who spoke alongside Trump.
“We have a lot of truckloads of different items, from oil to water to all sorts of equipment that’s going to help them,” Trump said in Valdosta, which is in the southern part of the state, near the Florida border.
He said that he also plans to visit hard-hit North Carolina and that he had just spoken to Elon Musk to discuss implementing his Starlink satellite network for people to access the internet.
Trump, who was wearing a MAGA hat and had criticized Biden and Harris’ response to the hurricane in recent days, said in his remarks that now isn’t the time for campaigning.
“Our country is in the final weeks of a hard-fought national election, but in a time like this, when a crisis hits, when our fellow citizens cry out in need, none of that matters,” he said. “We’re not talking about politics now.”
“We have to all get together and get this out,” Trump added. “We need a lot of help. They have to have a lot of help down here. We look out for one another, we pull together, we pitch in, we persevere, and we pull it through. That is really the American spirit.”
Trump also suggested that the storm was a surprise because it’s “so late” in the hurricane season. According to NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, hurricane season runs from June through November.
“That’s a big one, and the devastation wrought by this storm is incredible, it’s so extensive,” he said. “Nobody thought this would be happening, especially now it’s so late in the season for the hurricanes.”
First to NBC News: AFL-CIO launches ad campaign across seven battleground states in support of Harris
The AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the U.S., said it launched a seven-figure digital and streaming ad campaign for Harris and Walz today in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — its largest ad buy of this election cycle.
NBC News was first to report the labor group’s ad buy.
“This is the most consequential election in American history for union families,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement. “That’s why we’re laser-focused on ensuring that the union voters who will decide this election know the stakes and know the stark contrast between Kamala Harris’ and Donald Trump’s policies on our jobs, our unions, and our contracts.”
Shuler said the digital ad campaign mirrors conversations happening among union members across various communities.
The labor group said the ad campaign will repeatedly reach more than 2.5 million union voters “on the kitchen-table issues that matter most to working people: support of unions, lowering costs, retirement security, health care, worker safety and more.”
The AFL-CIO also said union voters in the swing states will get the ads on platforms such as Hulu, Max and Meta, as well as on news websites.
With control of the Senate at stake, the group also launched ads this week supporting Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Jon Tester in Montana — who face tight re-election races against Republican challengers Bernie Moreno and Tim Sheehy, respectively — as well as independent Dan Osborn in Nebraska, who is running against Republican Sen. Deb Fischer.
Congress isn’t expected back during recess for Hurricane Helene funding
+2
While Biden said earlier today that he “may have to request” Congress come back to Washington before its scheduled return in November to address disaster aid in the wake of Hurricane Helene, there is no expectation that Congress will need to do so, multiple people familiar with the situation have told NBC News.
It is rare for Congress to cut a recess short to address an emergency or a disaster, and lawmakers are not scheduled to return to Washington until Nov. 12.
While it is expected that disaster funding will be depleted faster than normal because of Helene, Congress just passed a government funding bill that included a provision to allow the front-loading of funding to meet the current needs, a spokesperson for the Senate Appropriations Committee said.
But with current government funding set to expire by Dec. 20, the medium-to-longer-term funding needs to address the damage left by Helene are likely to require a supplemental disaster aid package, multiple people said.
Individual assistance from FEMA would most likely need to be requested first, which could take several weeks. At that point, if there is a funding issue, FEMA would let Congress know, the sources said. But the full assessment and request could take over a month given the scope of the damage, and it’s not yet possible to predict how large the request will be.
Congressional appropriators had considered including additional disaster funding in the short-term government funding bill that passed last week, but they could not coalesce around a deal to do so. That disaster funding would have been to assist previous or ongoing natural disasters around the country, as well as to prepare for damage from Helene. Appropriators agreed they would instead address that aid when they returned.
Trump says he will be doing a ‘play by play’ of the VP debate tomorrow night on Truth Social
+2
Trump said he will doing a “play by play” of the vice presidential debate between Vance and Walz tomorrow night in a post to Truth Social.
“I will be doing a personal PLAY BY PLAY of the Debate tomorrow between the Brilliant J.D. Vance and the Highly Inarticulate ‘Tampon’ Tim Walz,” he wrote, using a nickname that misleadingly characterizes a Minnesota law that mandates that schools provide access to menstrual products in student restrooms.
Trump lobbed attacks at Harris questioning her mental acuity, said he hopes she will be listening to the VP debate, and accused her without evidence of fabricating facts and stories to distract from “administrative failure.”
During the presidential debate between Trump and Harris this month, Vance watched the debate from the Philadelphia convention center and spoke to the news media there on behalf of the campaign.
McConnell-aligned group pours $67 million into Senate races in battleground states
+2
The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will pour $67.5 million into key Senate races in the final weeks leading up to the November election, a spokesperson for the group confirmed to NBC News.
The spending is divided between the battleground states of Pennsylvania ($28 million), Wisconsin ($17 million) and Michigan ($22.5 million).
“We’re able to expand the Senate map because we have quality candidates who are keeping their races competitive. Keep it up!” the super PAC’s president and CEO, Steven Law, said in a statement.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news.
McConnell has taken particular interest in candidate quality. He has been publicly critical of Republican Senate candidates who won primaries during Trump’s presidency but were unable to win in general elections. Those candidates’ inability to win helped Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., become the majority leader, removing McConnell from the position in 2020.
Republicans seek to win back the majority from Democrats, who have a slim majority in the upper chamber.
Ryan Routh pleads not guilty to attempted Trump assassination charges
Ryan Routh pleaded not guilty in federal court in Florida today to attempting to assassinate Trump.
Routh pleaded not guilty to all five charges, including that he “did intentionally attempt to kill Former President of the United States Donald J. Trump, a major Presidential candidate.” He was shackled at his wrists, waist and ankles during the four-minute appearance.
He looked toward the seated media as he walked toward the defense table and twice gestured the same way, appearing to pantomime scribbling on a notepad and then pointing to himself.
Routh was arrested Sept. 15 after, prosecutors say, he was camped out with a gun near where Trump was golfing in West Palm Beach. The charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison if he is convicted. Asked whether he understood the charges, Routh said, “Yes, your honor.”
His attorneys waived a formal reading of the charges and officially requested a jury trial. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart — who approved the FBI’s search warrant for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 — presided over the arraignment.
The case will be heard before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who oversaw the criminal case that sprang from the search warrant and dismissed the charges against Trump this year.
Vance’s debate rehearsal was interrupted by storms over the weekend
About halfway through Vance’s debate rehearsal in Cincinnati over the weekend, storms knocked out the power at the site where he and his team were staging the practice session, a source familiar with Vance’s debate preparations said. The team used lanterns to light the room and their phones as timers during the second half.
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., participated in the session, playing Gov. Tim Walz.
“It was very apparent that Emmer took his prep role seriously,” a source familiar with the preparations said. “He had Walz’s rhetorical style down.”
Emmer, the source added, was also acutely familiar with the opposition research on both Vance and Walz, making for a thorough mock debate.
Walz’s team calls debate prep camp ‘Camp North Star’
Ahead of the vice presidential debate tomorrow night, Walz’s team has been calling debate camp “Camp North Star,” referring to the Minnesota governor staying true to his folksy nature as a contrast to Vance, a source familiar with the matter said.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also surprised Walz’s team by showing up to debate prep in a cheap red tie instead of casual attire, the source said.
During debate preparations, Walz has been enjoying northern Michigan by taking time to go hiking, having pizza in downtown Harbor Springs and visiting a local farm.
Many of the TVs at the debate camp have been streaming professional and college football games, with staff showing up in their teams’ gear (including the Georgia Bulldogs, Green Bay Packers, Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs). Staff has also been tossing a football around on the lawn between sessions.
Speaking to reporters during his trip to Pond Hill Farms in Harbor Springs, Michigan, yesterday, Walz said debate prep has been “good — going great. This is the fun part.”
Trump campaign microtargets digital ads in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District
We got a reminder last week that sometimes the spotlight in the presidential race focuses on one congressional district.
Starting last Thursday, the Trump campaign began its first digital ad campaign specifically targeting Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. That’s notable because Maine, like Nebraska, awards one Electoral College vote to the winner of each district.
Even though Maine has backed the Democratic presidential nominee for decades, the state’s 2nd district is a swingy one, and backed Trump in each of the last two elections.
It’s not a big chunk of change: about $6,100 (Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, provides spending estimates but not exact spending figures). But in the fight for every Electoral College vote, it’s worth keeping tabs on.
One note: the ads originally had a typo in them (referencing Virginia instead of Maine), which the campaign fixed yesterday.
Montana voters list abortion rights, border security and limiting federal government as top issues
Montana voters told NBC News that the most important issues to them include abortion rights, border security, ending foreign wars and limiting the federal government.
Rebecca Egeline, 24, a college student in Helena who plans to vote for Harris, said the key reason she is voting in the November election is “because I want to keep my right to abortion in Montana,” adding that the issue is “an important” and “the biggest one.”
Sarah Thaggard, 34, a custodian and cake decorator in Helena who supports Harris, and Kristen Thomas, 34, a stay-at-home mother from Missoula, also said reproductive rights are their most important issues.
“Absolutely massive with the repeal of Roe v. Wade,” Thaggard said, referring to the issue of reproductive rights.“It’s the first time in my life where I’ve actually felt that my reproductive rights were in question and under attack, and so it’s really important to me that women have a say in their own bodies.”
James Richmond, 50, a veteran and IT consultant in Helena who supports Trump, said that stopping wars abroad and border security are the most important issues to him.
“I served for over 20 years in the Army, fought in two wars. I’m tired of watching my brothers and sisters get bashed and die. … So stopping the endless wars, which Trump is for. His first four years, no wars, no conflicts, the Abraham accords going to finally have peace. And then the border,” Richmond said, adding that he grew up in Texas and doesn’t recall people having “flood across the border like that.”
John Ribic, 77, a retired cardiologist in Helena who voted for Trump in 2016 but is abstaining from voting in the presidential race in November, said he wants the federal government to stay out of a lot of issues in Montana.
Ribic, who is leaning toward voting for Republican Senate candidate Sheehy in the Montana Senate race, said Sheehy is “looking to try to get government out of health care, and try to get getting government out of a lot of issues that are important to me.
“And I’m not one that’s in favor of handing out things to people. I think you should work for what you get,” Ribic said. “And so Sheehy, you know, in my opinion, is Republican, and I’m strongly Republican, and he wants to try and get the federal government out of Montana as much as possible. So I’m leaning in that direction at this particular time.”
During a rally in Erie, Pa., Trump suggested that “that one really violent day” and “one rough hour” could end shoplifting crimes. He even pointed out Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., who was in the crowd, saying that if he were in charge, there wouldn’t be the crime that exists today.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester set to debate Republican challenger Tim Sheehy tonight
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., is set to square off against Republican political newcomer Tim Sheehy in a debate tonight. The debate, which will begin at 9 p.m. ET, is the second and likely final debate of the hotly contested Senate race.
The debate will be held at the University of Montana in Missoula. Protests over Sheehy’s reported comments that allegedly contained derogatory rhetoric about Native Americans, particularly the Crow Tribe, and his opposition to abortions rights are expected on campus.
The first debate between Tester and Sheehy happened in June. Tester, who has not endorsed Harris, criticized Biden’s policies on environmental regulations and border security during the debate,
Trump to survey storm damage in Georgia
Trump is scheduled to visit Valdosta, Georgia, today, where his campaign said he’ll “receive a briefing on the devastation of Hurricane Helene, facilitate the distribution of relief supplies, and deliver remarks to the press.”
He’ll be visiting a furniture store at 2p.m. in Valdosta, a town in southern Georgia, close to the border of Florida.
The Harris campaign has said it believes the vice president has a chance to win the election Georgia, which Biden won in 2020.
New VP debate ad ‘narrated by a cat’
Ahead of the vice presidential debate, a left-leaning coalition released a new ad “narrated by a cat” to contrast Vance and Walz’s records, calling Harris’ running mate “cat-approved.”
The ad, shared first with NBC News, was released by the Care Can’t Wait Action coalition, which pushes for investments in areas including child care and paid family and medical leave.
“The Care Can’t Wait Action cat lays out how Kamala Harris’s pick for Vice President Tim Walz has a purrrrrrfect record on care including paid leave, child care, and home care for seniors and people with disabilities,” the group said in a press release.
The ad jumps off of controversial comments from Vance in 2021, in which he criticized the Democratic Party for being run by “childless cat ladies” who “want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”
The ad will be streaming and digital video platforms in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, targeting voters under 40 years of age who have cats. The coalition is spending five figures in each state on the ad buy.
Trump and Harris compete for the Latino vote in very different ways
TUCSON, Ariz. — Harris’ West Coast swing, aimed at ginning up support among Latino voters, is a sign of the larger emphasis she and Trump have placed on pursuing the nation’s second largest racial or ethnic group. But they’re chasing those votes in very different ways.
Trump, whose campaign is barely advertising in Hispanic media, according to AdImpact, is wrapping his appeal to Latino voters in a broader message of prosperity and nostalgia for the pre-pandemic economy under his presidency, while also leaning on high-profile endorsers. Harris’ campaign is pouring more money and effort into advertising, targeted messaging and on-the-ground organizing.
Polling has found that most Latinos prefer Harris over Trump, an advantage Harris’ campaign and voters alike have linked in part to her own upbringing as a daughter of immigrants.
Read the full story here.
Harris cancels Las Vegas events and returns to D.C. for FEMA briefing on Hurricane Helene
Harris has canceled planned campaign stops in Las Vegas today and is flying back to Washington, D.C., for a FEMA briefing on Hurricane Helene, a White House official said.
Harris will be briefed on federal and state-level responses to Helene, which has devastated parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, the official said.
Harris has spoken with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and contacted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, the official said. The vice president intends to visit communities affected by the hurricane as soon as it’s possible to do so without disrupting emergency response operations.
Poll: Democrats’ advantage with Latino voters continues to shrink
Harris is leading Trump among Latino voters. But that advantage has declined to Democrats’ lowest level in the past four presidential cycles, according to a new national NBC News/Telemundo/CNBC poll.
Overall, the poll shows that Harris has lost some ground with Latinos at a time when these consequential voters are more likely than the general electorate to cite the econo my and the rising cost of living as top priorities. On both of these issues, Latino voters give Trump the advantage, but a majority of them prefer Harris on temperament, competency and having the necessary mental and physical health to be president.
Read the full story here.
Speaking about Hurricane Helene at a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Harris said, “The president and I have told state and local leaders we will provide whatever help they need in the days and weeks ahead.”
Harris says she would ‘double’ DOJ resources to crack down on cartels
LAS VEGAS — Vice President Kamala Harris said yesterday that she would “double” Justice Department resources to crack down on cartels and cut the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., just hours after Trump repeated his false claim that she wants to legalize the drug.
“As president, I will double the resources for the Department of Justice to go after those transnational cartels and take action to stop the flow of fentanyl coming into our country, which is destroying entire communities,” Harris said in her speech here.
She made similar comments during her trip to the southern border in Arizona on Friday.
At a rally Saturday, Trump also discussed fentanyl, baselessly claiming Harris wants to legalize it.
Read the full story here.
Trump ramps up his pace of campaigning in the sprint to Election Day
+2
Former President Donald Trump is finally gearing up to an all-out sprint in his bid to reclaim the White House.
Trump, caught flat-footed when Democrats switched horses this summer, has held 26 campaign events this month — mostly rallies — which is more than the 21 he participated in during June and July combined, according to an NBC News analysis of his schedule. The ramp-up started in August, when he held 19 events.
Read the full story here.
