Happy Friday! Election Day is four days away. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was in the Halloween spirit yesterday, dressing up as Ted Lasso for part of a weekly press conference. Who did it better, Beshear or Sen. Mitt Romney?
Up to Speed
- Former President Donald Trump appeared onstage Thursday night in Glendale, Arizona, for a conversation with Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host. Carlson asked Trump what he thought of Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman whom Carlson called “Dick Cheney’s repulsive little daughter,” campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump responded by saying the younger Cheney is a “very dumb individual” who opposes Trump because she supported the war in Iraq. “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay?” Trump said. “Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.” In response, Cheney posted on X Friday morning: “This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.” She then encouraged voters to support Harris.
- Harris’ final ad in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania features her sitting next to Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was on the shortlist to be her running mate, as the popular governor encourages his state’s residents to vote for the vice president. “Do you want more chaos, or, like me, are you ready for some common sense? That’s why I’m with Kamala,” Shapiro says in the spot released Friday. “I’ve known her for two decades. She’s practical, and she gets stuff done.” Harris then says she will “chart a new way forward” and promises to create jobs and lower living costs.
- Trump is making multiple blue state stops in the final days of the election, visiting New Mexico on Thursday and planning to hit Virginia on Saturday. “Don’t make me waste a whole damn half a day here, okay? I’m here for one simple reason, I like you very much and it’s good for my credentials with the Hispanic or Latino community,” he said to supporters in New Mexico. As for Virginia, an unnamed Republican strategist told the Washington Post that the play is more likely a way to project confidence nationwide than an actual attempt to win the Old Dominion. The visits from Trump come after he rented out Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday. Harris, meanwhile, campaigned last week in Texas, a reliably Republican, non-battleground state.
- The White House press office altered the transcript of President Joe Biden’s remarks earlier this week, softening his apparent trashing of Trump supporters, without the approval of its stenography department, the Associated Press reported Thursday. The stenographer’s transcript of the virtual remarks to a Latino voter turnout group Tuesday evening originally had Biden responding to controversial comments from a comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally by saying, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.” Per an internal email from a stenography supervisor obtained by the Associated Press, after conferring with Biden, the press office changed the transcript to have the president saying, “his supporter’s,” referring to the comment from the comedian that Puerto Rico is a “floating island of garbage.” Although the supervisor was not immediately available to approve the change, the press office released its version of the transcript to the public. In the email to senior White House press officials, the supervisor called the move a “breach of protocol” and noted that the press office’s transcript was different from the stenography office’s released to the National Archives.
‘Sí, Se Puede’: Harris Gets Out the Vote in Arizona
PHOENIX—Kamala Harris is heading into the final weekend of a neck-and-neck presidential campaign with the vibe of a candidate who believes she is going to win, even as devoted supporters worry the vice president may fall short to Donald Trump.
The vice president rallied more than 7,000 enthusiastic followers here Thursday afternoon before departing this key battleground state for similar events in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada. At what was essentially a supersized get-out-the-vote meet-up, several prominent Arizona Democrats, from Gov. Katie Hobbs to Sen. Mark Kelly, warmed up the stage for Harris with exhortations to vote early and to volunteer to knock on doors and man phone banks. The vice president completed the pitch, asking the crowd as she kicked off her remarks:
“Are we ready to do this? Are we ready to vote? Are we ready to win?” Harris asked.
The audience members, most of whom had lined up outside the Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre hours earlier and stood for the entirety of Harris’ nearly 30-minute stump speech waving placards that read “La Presidenta,” and “Freedom,” and “Latinos con Harris/Walz,” answered each question with a roaring “Yes!”
“We need you to vote, Arizona, because we have five days left—five days left,” the vice president continued. “We have work to do. But we like hard work. Hard work is good work. Hard work is joyful work and make no mistake: We will win. And we will win because we know that it’s very clear—when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for.”
In 2020, Joe Biden defeated then-President Trump in Arizona by a mere 10,457 votes out of nearly 3.4 million cast, becoming the first Democrat to win the Grand Canyon State since Bill Clinton in 1996. How crucial are Arizona’s 11 Electoral College votes? A few hours after Harris left the state, Trump arrived for an event with Tucker Carlson in suburban Phoenix. Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, are both headed back to Arizona on Saturday.
Of the seven swing states poised to decide the 2024 election, Arizona appears among the toughest for Harris. Trump has led here in most public opinion polls since before the vice president took over for Biden as the Democratic nominee. As of Thursday, the former president led Harris by 2.4 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average of Arizona surveys (the two are statistically tied nationally.) That’s not lost on Harris supporters, who are hopeful but nervous. Early voting started here on October 9; it ends today.
“While others think that Kamala has a great chance, I am still very uncomfortable with how narrow I believe it is,” Kim Glass, an attorney and committed Harris voter, told Dispatch Politics while waiting in line to enter the rally. Asked if the vice president might benefit from support from female voters that is even higher than the strong showing anticipated by most publicly available polls, Glass said: “I hope so.”
Vanessa Vega, a teacher and passionate Harris voter with Mexican and Puerto Rican roots, said her anxiety is being fueled by signs she sees in her community that Trump might enjoy substantially more support from Latinos than he did in 2020. Four years ago, he won 32 percent of this critical bloc nationally—37 percent in Arizona, according to exit polls. Per CNN, Harris leads Trump by 13 points among Latinos in polling averages; that’s compared to the 26-point advantage Biden achieved in 2020.
“My children attend parochial school and so the Latinos there are very heavily Catholic and … I’ve heard the conversation [that they back] Trump because of the abortion stuff,” Vega told us while waiting for the rally to begin. “I’m surprised when they’re like: ‘I think I’m going to vote for Trump because we don’t want a woman president and we believe that abortion is wrong.’” Of the race overall, she added: “I’m really surprised it’s as close as it is.”
Like many Harris (and Trump) rallies in the closing days of the race, Thursday’s featured a special celebrity guest, in this case, the Grammy Award-winning norteño band Los Tigres del Norte. The group’s set had the amphitheater on its feet, and the energy carried over to Harris, who was introduced by Rep. Ruben Gallego, the Democrat favored to outpace Republican Kari Lake in the race for Arizona’s open Senate seat.
Harris ad-libbed with the crowd, acknowledged a protester angry about the Biden administration’s support for Israel, and offered a mostly affirmative case for her candidacy. She focused on reducing the cost of household goods and housing, even as she took expected swipes at Trump. “We can picture the Oval Office, right? And if he is elected, on day one Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemy’s list. On day one, when I am elected, I will walk in with a to-do list.
“And on top of my list—sí, se puede, sí,” she added, responding to chants from the crowd that translate to: “Yes, we can.” Harris continued: “On top of my list, in that spirit, is bringing down your cost of living.”
Though Harris may ultimately fall short, this gathering of ardent supporters—among them black, whites, and Latinos, white collar professionals and blue collar tradesmen—could not have been more enthusiastic, or responsive, to the vice president’s pitch. Indeed, some of them sounded as optimistic about a possible Harris victory as she seemed to be while delivering her stump speech. “I’m sure she’s going to make it,” said Edwin Peralta, 53, who sells and installs flooring.
Mark Stevens, a middle-aged Harrs supporter who voted for Trump in 2016, told us he sees the vice president winning Arizona as “very possible.”
He reasoned that if Biden could win four years ago, Harris certainly has a shot this time around. “My personal feeling is, she has a lot more to offer than he did—or certainly would now. I don’t think he’d have had a chance in a million of winning Arizona—or the presidency, to be honest,” Stevens said. “I think a lot of people will come out and vote because of her as opposed to maybe not voting for Biden even though they don’t like Trump.”
Eyes on the Trail
- President Joe Biden travels to Philadelphia today to deliver afternoon remarks on his administration’s accomplishments for organized labor. On Saturday, Biden campaigns in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
- Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns today in Wisconsin, stopping in Janesville and Little Chute (near Green Bay) before hosting an evening rally in West Allis, in greater Milwaukee. On Saturday, the Democratic nominee hosts rallies in Atlanta and Charlotte. On Sunday evening, Harris is hosting a campaign rally in East Lansing, Michigan.
- Former President Donald Trump hosts a campaign rally this afternoon in Warren, Michigan. In the evening, the Republican nominee campaigns in Milwaukee, returning to the Fiserv Forum arena, site of this past summer’s Republican National Convention. On Saturday, Trump hosts an afternoon campaign rally in Salem, Virginia, before traveling to North Carolina for rallies in Gastonia and Greensboro.
- Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz campaigns today for Harris in Michigan, with stops in Detroit, Flint, and Traverse City. On Saturday, the Democratic vice presidential nominee campaigns for Harris in Las Vegas before traveling to Arizona for stops in Flagstaff and Tucson.
- Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio hosts a Trump campaign rally this afternoon in Portage, Michigan. In the evening, the Republican vice presidential nominee headlines a Trump campaign rally in Selma, North Carolina. On Saturday, Vance hosts a morning campaign rally in Las Vegas, then travels to Arizona for a rally in Scottsdale.
- Second gentleman Doug Emhoff campaigns today for Harris in West Chester, Pennsylvania. On Saturday, Emhoff makes additional stops in Pennsylvania, campaigning for the vice president in Lancaster and Altoona.
- Eric Trump this evening hosts a “Team Trump on Tour” event in Douglasville, Georgia. On Saturday afternoon, Trump’s son hosts a similar event in Carnegie, Pennsylvania.
- The Team Trump Women’s Tour goes to Atlanta on Saturday evening for an event headlined by Republican National Committee co-chair and Trump daughter-in-law Lara Trump, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and others.
Notable and Quotable
“Mark Cuban, a really dumb guy, who thinks he’s ‘hot stuff’ but he’s absolutely nothing, is now out there saying that I don’t surround myself with strong women. Actually, he is very wrong, I surround myself with the strongest of women – With the understanding that ALL women are great, whether strong or not strong.”
—Former President Donald Trump in a post on X, after billionaire investor Mark Cuban commented on former U.N. Ambassador and GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley not having campaigned with the Republican nominee, October 31, 2024
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