Vice President Harris will be all over the airwaves in the coming days, as her campaign gambles on a more aggressive media strategy entering the stretch run to Election Day.
Harris’s campaign has so far sought to shield her from too many unscripted moments. Some Democrats have worried that the play-it-safe strategy could backfire, as polls show voters want to know more about the Democratic nominee.
For this week at least, Harris will be out in the media wild, although she’ll mostly visit with friendly outlets. -
Harris’s taped interview with CBS News’s “60 Minutes” will air tonight at 8 p.m. ET. Former President Trump canceled his planned interview with “60 Minutes,” saying they owe him an apology for reporting in 2020 that Hunter Biden’s laptop story was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
- Harris will bombard the airwaves Tuesday, with appearances on “The View,” “The Howard Stern Show“ and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
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Last week, Harris joined the popular “Call Her Daddy” podcast to discuss abortion rights. The episode aired over the weekend.
Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), is also ramping up his media appearances. The Harris-Walz ticket will get an assist later this week, when former President Obama makes his return to the campaign trail. - Obama, who is one of the most popular Democrats in the country, will stump for Harris in Pennsylvania on Thursday.
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Obama won Pennsylvania twice, before Trump became the first Republican presidential nominee to win there in nearly 30 years.
Harris’s media blitz comes with only 29 days until the election and amid growing signs of concern for Democrats in the “Blue Wall” states that will play an outsized role in determining the outcome. -
Harris met with Arab American and Muslim leaders in Michigan over the weekend, as she rushes to shore-up support among a key constituency in a pivotal battleground.
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A Harris official said she “heard directly their perspectives on the election and the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.”
- Democrats typically enjoy a 2-1 advantage among Arab Americans, but polls show Trump and Harris running even this election cycle.
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More than 100,000 Michigan Democrats voted “uncommitted” during the primaries to protest the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the war in Gaza. Detroit has one of the largest populations of Arab-Americans in the country.
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The “Abandon Harris” group pushing for voters to protest the Democratic ticket over the conflict in Gaza is endorsing Green Party candidate Jill Stein in the presidential race.
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania…
Harris is facing new challenges with union households and blue collar workers, who were once the backbone of the Democratic Party. -
Harris’s struggles to connect with union members is underscored by the decisions of the Teamsters and the International Association of Fire Fighters to sit out the 2024 election.
- Polls show Trump widening his margins among non-college educated voters, who make up a majority of the electorate.
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Via The Hill’s
Alexander Bolton: “Especially concerning for Democrats is that Harris isn’t even polling as well as Hillary Clinton did in 2016 among union voters. Notably, Clinton ended up losing two key states, Michigan and Pennsylvania, where unions represent more than 14 percent of the workforce.”
But there’s some good news for Harris…
CNN election analyst Harry Enten crunched the numbers and found Harris is leading Trump by 18 points among white college graduates, trouncing the margins posted by both President Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Via Enten on X: “Kamala Harris seems to be on track to put up the best numbers ever for a Democratic presidential nominee among white voters with a college degree & among all voters with a college degree. Those with a college degree are likely to make up a record high share of the electorate.”
Voters without a college degree are still expected to be a majority in 2024, but those with a college degree could make up about 40 percent of the voting population, which be a record high. Read more: |
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Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Jonathan Easley, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here. |
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© AP Photo/Markus Schreiber |
World marks Oct. 7 anniversary amid fears of wider war |
President Biden, Vice President Harris and former President Trump joined political leaders across the globe in marking Monday’s one-year anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel, which resulted in the massacre of more than 1,200 Israelis, with hundreds more taken hostage. Forty-six Americans were murdered on that day and 12 were taken hostage in Gaza.
Of those taken hostage, four were executed, four have been released, and four remain in captivity. -
“Today and every day, I think of the hostages and their families,” Biden said in a statement. “I have met the families of the hostages and grieved with them. They have been through hell.”
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Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, planted a pomegranate tree — a symbol of hope and righteousness in Judaism — at the Naval Observatory.
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Trump visited the gravesite of Menachem Mendel Schneerson in Queens, N.Y. He’ll make remarks from his golf course in Miami this evening.
Israel’s retaliation against Hamas has killed more than 40,000 in Gaza, while leaving millions displaced. A peace deal has been elusive and war has spread with frightening intensity in recent months. -
Israel faces new threats from Iran and its proxies.
- The U.S. has ramped up its involvement, sending troops to the region as Israel launches an incursion against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Fallout from the year of unrest has roiled the U.S. political scene, provoking a rift in the Democratic Party over U.S. support for Israel.
Many on the left are furious that the Biden administration continues to supply arms and funding for Israel’s campaign in Gaza.
“I will always fight for the Palestinian people to be able to realize their right to dignity, freedom, security, and self-determination,” Harris said in a statement. “We also continue to believe that a diplomatic solution across the Israel-Lebanon border region is the only path to restore lasting calm and allow residents on both sides to return safely to their homes.” The latest: -
The House on Monday passed a bipartisan resolution condemning Hamas.
- The U.S. slapped Hamas’s funding network with new sanctions, with Treasury Secretary
Janet Yellen vowing the U.S. will go “relentlessly” after Hamas and other Iranian proxy groups’ ability to “finance their operations and carry out additional violent acts.”
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According to new research from Brown University, the U.S. has spent
$22 billion on fighting in the Middle East over the past year.
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Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli crowds held competing rallies across the country Monday.
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Instances of anti-semitism have soared to a record high.
While political leaders solemnly marked the Monday anniversary, the war continued apace. Read more:
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Florida braces for Hurricane Milton as Southeast recovers from Hurricane Helene
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President Biden signed a disaster declaration Monday for Florida as Hurricane Milton prepares to make landfall, the second major storm to hit the Sunshine State in recent weeks. As Milton prepares to make landfall, six states in the Southeast are still reeling from Hurricane Helene. - President Biden ordered an additional 500 troops to western North Carolina. That’s on top of the 1,000 troops Biden ordered to the region last week.
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Over the weekend, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced $100 million for repairs to infrastructure in the state.
While there is an ongoing humanitarian crisis, the political aspect of the hurricane recovery is inescapable this close to an election. -
NOTUS reports that campaign operations have effectively halted in some part of North Carolina, a critical battleground state where the candidates are effectively tied in the polls.
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Damage from Hurricane Helene threatens to disrupt the voting process on a number of fronts. The Hill’s Julia Mueller reports: “Flooding, stormy conditions and power outages have displaced residents, interrupted postal services and impacted election offices across the Southeast. The fallout could complicate early and mail voting in some places and demoralize voters from casting their ballots.”
- Florida and Georgia — two additional battlegrounds in the race for the White House and control of Congress — were also hit hard by Helene.
Republicans have blasted the Biden administration over the federal response to Helene, while Democrats are worried about the spread of misinformation surrounding relief efforts. -
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called the federal response a “massive failure,” pointing to the hundreds still missing to argue that the government should have been better prepared.
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Former President Trump appeared over the weekend with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (Ga.) to highlight ongoing relief efforts. Trump and Kemp have feuded bitterly in the past, but they’ve recently patched things up in their shared goal to defeat Vice President Harris.
- Democrats are furious at Trump over claims meant to politicize the hurricane relief efforts. Trump has claimed that the Biden administration has been “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.” He also said FEMA is spending money to house illegal immigrants, instead of using it on residents who have been displaced by the hurricane.
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FEMA administration Deanne Criswell disputed those claims over the weekend. “It’s frankly ridiculous and just plain false,” she said. “This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people. You know, it’s really a shame that we’re putting politics ahead of helping people, and that’s what we’re here to do.”
- The Charlotte Observer’s Editorial Board knocked Trump over what it described as his “falsehoods” surrounding the storm recovery.
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“One year ago, terrorists stole my son,” by Idit Ohel for The Free Press. “Israel has killed more than 41,000 in Gaza. Biden can end this massacre,” by Diana Buttu for USA Today. “A year of anguish for the hostages in Gaza and their families,” by Daniel Silverberg for The Liberal Patriot. |
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29 days until the 2024 general election.
105 days until Inauguration Day 2025. |
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Monday - Harris’s interview with “60 Minutes” airs tonight on CBS at 8 p.m. ET.
- Trump will give remarks marking the one year anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel from his Doral golf course in Miami.
Tuesday - Harris is in New York for appearances on “The View,” “The Howard Stern Show,” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
- Biden is in Milwaukee to tout a plan to replace lead pipes. He’ll then travel to Philadelphia to campaign for Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.).
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