Barring a late addition to the schedule, Tuesday night's vice presidential debate between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz could be the last debate of the 2024 campaign between the Republican and Democratic tickets.
Both Vance, a GOP senator from Ohio, and Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, have embraced the traditional role of attack dog for the person at the top of the ticket. That could be on full display during the vice presidential debate in New York hosted by CBS News.
Although conventional wisdom says the matchup between the candidates with second billing on the ticket seldom have much impact, polls are so tight that it could sway voters on the margins. It also could be the last head-to-head matchup between the tickets because Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, haven't agreed to a second meeting.
A new AP-NORC poll found that Walz is better liked than Vance, potentially giving the Republican an added challenge.
Although Vance has said he didn’t “have to prepare that much” for the debate because he had “well-developed views on public policy," he had been doing debate prep sessions with his wife, Usha Vance, senior aides, and Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., who has played Walz, according to a person familiar with his preparations who requested anonymity to discuss strategy.
Walz’s debate prep included sessions hunkered down in a Minneapolis hotel, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg standing in for Vance, according to a person familiar with the process who requested anonymity to discuss the campaign’s internal dynamics.
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Even on former President Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday, Trump could not pass up reprising his longstanding jab at the Georgia Democrat.
In Waunakee, Wisconsin, Trump was lambasting Democratic President Joe Biden, calling him “the worst president,” and declaring Carter “the happiest man because Carter is considered a brilliant president by comparison.”
It was hollow praise for the one-term president defeated for reelection in 1980 by Ronald Reagan, but who has gone on to become a respected world figure since his presidency.
All without even a nod to Carter’s birthday and status as the longest-living former president, who has also been living in hospice care for 19 months.
Two former Wisconsin Republican governors who together won seven elections told Trump supporters at a rally Tuesday that it’s critical for the former president to bolster GOP turnout in one of the most liberal counties in the battleground state.
Former Govs. Tommy Thompson and Scott Walker told hundreds of Trump supporters inside a metal manufacturer in Waunakee that winning Wisconsin means campaigning in Democratic areas like Dane County. Trump was to speak there later Tuesday.
President Joe Biden won 75% of the vote in 2020 in Dane County, beating Trump by 181,000 votes in the county while carrying the state by fewer than 21,000.
Thompson, who was elected governor four times, said he told Trump to win Wisconsin he had to “go where the opposition is,” including Dane County, which is home to liberal state capital of Madison.
“And, the retort was, ‘Isn’t Madison very liberal?’” Thompson said. “Yes, but Dane County has the third most Republican votes in the state of Wisconsin and all we have to do is increase them.”
Walker, who won two elections and a recall election, encouraged Trump supporters in Dane County to “go beyond your comfort zone” and talk with people who don’t normally vote Republican.
“Remind them with this simple truth: life was better when Donald J. Trump was president of the United States,” Walker said.
Trump was scheduled to speak about the economy Tuesday in the critical swing state of Wisconsin.
The former president was visiting a manufacturing facility in Waunakee, a suburb of Wisconsin’s capital city of Madison in the Democratic stronghold of Dane County. Later he planned to hold an event at a museum in the state's largest city of Milwaukee, with hopes of reaching that city's conservative suburbs, where his support has softened.
Dane County, the location of Trump’s first stop, is Wisconsin’s fastest-growing county and an economic engine for the state, fueled by jobs in the health care and tech industries. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin.
“President Trump’s appearance will be a big shot in the arm for demoralized conservatives here,” the Dane County Republican Party Chairman Brandon Maly posted on X, the social media platform, when the visit was announced. He has said Trump must get at least 23% of the vote in Dane County to have a chance of winning statewide.
Democratic presidential candidates have long come to Dane County to hold massive rallies to fire up the base. Harris campaigned there on Sept. 20, holding a rally in Madison that attracted more than 10,000 people.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Harris cut short a campaign visit to Las Vegas to return to Washington for briefings while Trump headed to Georgia to see the storm’s impact.
Hurricane Helene’s death toll is more than 130 people and rising, with some of the worst damage caused by inland flooding in North Carolina.
In addition to being humanitarian crises, natural disasters can create political tests for elected officials, particularly in the closing weeks of a presidential campaign.
Presidents typically avoid racing toward disaster zones so they don’t interfere with recovery efforts. The White House said Harris would visit impacted areas “as soon as it is possible without disrupting emergency response operations.”
President Joe Biden planned to survey the devastation on Wednesday.
A GoFundMe campaign launched by former president Donald Trump to help the victims of Hurricane Helene has raised more than $1 million.
The website calls the effort “an official response for MAGA supporters to offer their financial assistance to their fellow Americans impacted by Hurricane Helene” and promises that all donations will be directed to those who have been impacted by the devastation.
Trump earlier Monday paid a visit to Valdosta, Georgia, and said he had brought with him supplies, including fuel, that will be distributed by the Christian relief group Samaritan’s Purse.
Former President Trump criticized the Biden administration’s response to the widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, even as his supporters have called for cuts to federal agencies that warn of weather disasters and deliver relief to hard-hit communities.
As president, Trump delayed disaster aid for hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico and diverted money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in order to finance an effort to return undocumented migrants to Mexico. And Project 2025, backed by Trump supporters, would restructure FEMA to limit aid to states and says that the National Weather Service, which provides crucial data on hurricanes and other storms, “should be broken up and downsized.”
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President Biden criticized Trump for “lying” about federal contacts with Georgia officials during the response to Hurricane Helene. Trump falsely claimed during a Monday tour of the damage that Biden hadn’t been in touch with the state’s Republican governor. “He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying.”
“I don’t know why he does this,” Biden continued. “I don’t care about what he says about me, but I care what he what he communicates to people that are in need. He implies that we’re not doing everything possible. We are. We are.”