‘Blue wall’ reinforcement
None of the seven primary battlegrounds have tipped so far in one direction that either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump can afford to take their foot off the gas. Both candidates are scrapping for every inch of ground for a map that was shaken up by President Joe Biden ’s eleventh-hour exit from the race.
But like the rest of the map, swing states are judged on a sliding scale, with some more favorable to Trump and others more favorable to Harris. The respective campaigns have to be realistic about their chances of success so they don’t wind up throwing good resources at voters who have moved too far away from them.
With a little less than nine weeks until Election Day, Michigan appears to be solidifying its recent history as a Democratic stronghold and positioning itself as a relatively safe place for Harris to bank 15 Electoral College votes.
In our latest Battleground Ballots installment, White House Reporter Naomi Lim broke down the uphill battle Trump and Republicans have to win in the Wolverine State, which has adopted a raft of early-voting rules.
“Chief among the changes is that every municipality in Michigan is now required to offer early voting for at least nine consecutive days starting on the second Saturday before Election Day and ending on the Sunday before Nov. 5 for at least eight hours each day. That is in addition to no-reason absentee voting, which Michigan has had statewide since 2019,” Naomi wrote.
“It will be the first time the state utilizes early voting in a general election. But because of the wide-ranging changes in the state's election law, it is not known what election-related problems could pop up on Election Day,” she wrote.
Introducing new voting laws is never a simple process. Overhauling a system leading up to a presidential election that has had as many twists and turns as 2024 could add another layer of doubt to the final results in Michigan, regardless of who is victorious.
State officials are confident they have planned to keep election conspiracy theories from proliferating, though.
More voters are allowed to submit absentee ballots this year than before — one of the new laws included allowing no-excuse absentee ballots — but election officials are also allowed to start counting results well before Election Day.
“Under a new law implemented this year, Michigan municipalities with populations of more than 5,000 people can start tabulating absentee ballots eight days before Election Day, although results cannot be generated, printed, or reported before 8 p.m. on Nov. 5,” Naomi wrote. “All municipalities can then start processing absentee ballots on the Monday before Election Day.”
Late revisions of vote totals after mail-in ballots were added to in-person tallies were the basis for most of Trump’s election fraud complaints in 2020. Michigan recognized that opening up early voting could lead to similar tabulation delays and is trying to head off prolonged fights like the ones in Arizona and Georgia last cycle.
Click here to catch up on everything you need to know about the battleground of Michigan.
Can you hear me now?
Republicans are returning to their tried and true method of building an electoral case against members of the Biden administration with a hearing in California tying Harris to the surge in illegal immigration in recent years.
Since Republicans regained control of the House in 2022, the Judiciary and Oversight committees have held dozens of hearings to apply pressure on the president, especially regarding his relationship with his son, Hunter Biden . The hearings were seldom successful in producing attacks on the president that stuck — he was chased from his reelection contest by members of his own party more than any of the dirt Reps. James Comer (R-KY) or Jim Jordan (R-OH) managed to kick up.
The tactic was useful for creating conversations, though. And right now, Republicans want to get voters talking about Harris’s role in the border crisis, especially after their sustained attack on her role as the Biden administration’s “border czar” — and her attempt to downplay it.
Immigration Reporter Anna Giaritelli laid out the first of a handful of hearings Republicans plan to hold in the coming days, with the first happening in Harris’s home state of California.
“Starting Friday, GOP-led House committees will begin a series of hearings that appear to aim at holding Democrats' feet to the fire for policies implemented under the Biden administration that Republicans say have harmed the public, according to the chamber's newly released schedule of events for the coming weeks,” Anna wrote.
“Republicans have pivoted recently from referring to the illegal immigration influx as the 'Biden border crisis' to the 'Biden-Harris border crisis,' as stated in the hearing announcement. The move refocuses the border crisis as being the fault of not only President Joe Biden but Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee,” she wrote.
Field hearings along the southern border aren’t a new feature for House Republicans. Groups have made several trips to various locations in recent years to use as a backdrop to launch attacks on the scattershot policies of Biden and Harris when it comes to addressing historic surges in illegal crossings.
“Tomorrow’s field hearing continues the series of hearings that Judiciary has conducted in every region of the country. The Issa team has worked and planned on making this happen in the San Diego region all the way back to, well ... back when Biden was still running for president,” Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) spokesman Jonathan Wilcox told Anna.
Issa was a key member of the team that pushed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas .
Friday’s field hearing will be followed up by events back in Washington, D.C., too.
“Next week, the committee will return to Washington following a lengthy summer recess. Judiciary Republicans have laid plans to hold a hearing on Capitol Hill with victims or family members who were victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants admitted into the country under Biden and Harris,” Anna wrote.
Other hearings will include:
Judiciary Committee meeting to hear about the consequences of various “soft-on-crime policies” House Energy and Commerce Committee investigating the Biden-Harris energy agenda and how it has affected spikes in consumer costs House Oversight Committee investigating Gov.
Tim Walz’s (D-MN) “long-standing connections” with China
Click here to read more about the flurry of hearings pressuring Harris and Democrats.
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Conservative group launches ad campaign thanking governors for banning DEI initiatives
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Hunter Biden’s plea was different than Donald Trump’s
Trump gets a timeline for DC court appearances
Polling is … a bit of a toss-up
For your radar
Biden will travel to Detroit, Michigan, to speak about his Investing in America agenda at 3:15 p.m. before traveling to Philadelphia en route to Wilmington, Delaware.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will gaggle on Air Force One with acting Labor Secretary Julie Su.
Harris has nothing on her public schedule.
Trump will make a voluntary appearance in a Manhattan courtroom as his lawyers argue to appeal the $5 million verdict in the E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse case. He will also hold a press conference at Trump Tower at noon.
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