Gov. Roy Cooper says Harris has ‘excellent’ chances in battleground North Carolina, will be helped by governor’s race

(INDIANA, Penn.) — Former President Donald Trump appears to be trying out a new line in an effort to appeal to women — a group where polls show he is behind.

In a rally in battleground Pennsylvania on Monday, Trump said that he will be a “protector” of women and repeated a claim that they “will no longer be thinking about abortion” if he wins the White House — though he often brags about his role in the Supreme Court’s decision to overrule Roe vs. Wade, which secured the constitutional right to abortion. He said similar remarks on social media and a rally over the weekend.

In an effort to court women voters, Trump said at his rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Monday evening that he will make the country safer for women and claimed that women are “poorer, less healthy, less safe, more stressed, depressed and unhappy” than they were four years ago.

“I want to be your protector. As president, I have to be your protector,” Trump said.

He touted his abortion policy suggesting that women will no longer be thinking about it — and celebrated his appointment of three U.S. Supreme Court justices who helped overrule Roe vs. Wade.

“You will no longer be thinking about abortion,” Trump said. “Because we’ve done something that nobody else could have done. It is now where it always had to be, with the states and a vote of the people.”

Abortion remains a top issue for voters — especially women — in the upcoming election. Both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are working to connect with voters on the topic in what’s expected to be a close contest in November.

And polling shows Trump has some ground to cover with women. Harris leads Trump by nine points (53% to 44%) among women, according to a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll.

Monday was not the first time Trump has said women will “no longer be thinking about abortion” if he becomes president again. Trump made the same claim in a social media post late Friday night, which he then repeated during a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Saturday afternoon.

“Women will be happy, healthy, confident and free,” Trump said at the North Carolina rally of winning the election. “You will no longer be thinking about abortion, because it is now where it always had to be with the states and with the vote of the people. The people are now voting, and many of those votes are far more liberal than we thought.”

Trump added that women’s “lives will be happy, beautiful, and their lives will be great again. So women, we love you. We’re going to take care of you.”

Trump is working to appeal to women, which come after a jury last year found him liable of sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll. Also, the former president has made demeaning comments about women in the past.

In response to Trump’s latest comments about protecting women, the Harris campaign said “Trump snapped” and that “women aren’t stupid.”

“Trump thinks he can control women — he’s wrong,” Harris campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement Saturday. “He’s terrified that women across the country will vote like our lives and freedoms depend on it, because they do. Women aren’t stupid.”

Harris, who could become the first female president, focused on abortion policy during campaign events in Georgia last week. During them, she slammed Trump on his abortion stance, arguing that it’s impossible to do what’s in the best interest for women and children and also enforce abortion bans.

Polling suggests Harris is gaining momentum nationally, leading Trump 48.3% to 45.6%, according to 538’s polling average. However, a set of New York Times/Siena College polls show a tighter race with Trump leading in the battleground states of Arizona and North Carolina.

Women at Trump’s North Carolina event shared their reactions to the former president’s remarks on the topic.

Sarah Cooper from Wilmington, North Carolina, said that “abortion is an important topic, but we’re glad that he has brought it back to the state level. It really shouldn’t be a federal issue.”

Laura Hinton from Rocky Point, North Carolina, told ABC News that she has “mixed emotions” on abortion.

“I have mixed emotions on the abortion topic in general, because I had to do a medical procedure. So when that happens, I think it definitely needs to be there to protect us, allowing us to make that decision, to keep us safe,” Hinton said.

Still, she said her feelings on abortion would not prevent her from voting for Trump.

“As far as the ballot box this time, I don’t know that would stop me from voting for him, even if that were the case, because, again, he’s put it back in the state’s hands, not in the federal aspect of it.”

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Will McDuffie and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The race for the White House is heading into the final stretch with most polls showing Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump neck-and-neck in key states with just about two weeks to go.

John Kelly says Trump fits definition of a ‘fascist’

John Kelly, who served as chief of staff in Trump’s administration, described the former president as a “fascist” during an interview with the New York Times.

“Well, looking at the definition of fascism, it’s a far right, authoritarian, ultra nationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized hypocrisy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief, natural, social hierarchy,” Kelly told the newspaper. “So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks will prove work better in terms of running America.”

Kelly also said he believed Trump would “love” to be a dictator, and that he was comfortable saying Adolf Hitler “did some good things, too.” Kelly also claimed Trump referred to veterans who lost limbs as “losers and suckers.”

The Trump campaign pushed back in a statement.

“John Kelly has totally beclowned himself with these debunked stories he has fabricated because he failed to serve his President well while working as Chief of Staff and currently suffers from a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. President Trump has always honored the service and sacrifice of all of our military men and women, whereas Kamala Harris has completely disrespected the families of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, including the Abbey Gate 13,” said campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung.

Harris tells Telemundo how her economic plan will benefit Latinos

Telemundo, the Spanish-language television network, released clips on Tuesday of an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris — part of a more extensive conversation that will be aired on Wednesday.

In the clips, she comments primarily on her economic position and plan, describing herself as a “pragmatic capitalist.”

“I am a capitalist. I am a pragmatic capitalist,” she can be heard saying in one of the clips.

She went on to describe the need for leadership in America that actively works with the private sector “to drive new industries and build up small-business owners, to allow us to increase home ownership, to allow people and their families to build intergenerational wealth.”

She also stated that a new approach would need to understand “that some of the best jobs that we have available don’t necessarily require a college degree.”

In a separate clip, when asked how that plan might affect Latino men, Harris answered, “A lot of my agenda is about creating opportunity for people to succeed. So, for example, part of the agenda that I’ve already presented, I am very aware how it would affect Latino men.”

She explained that it involved building a strong economy that supports working people, and especially small-business owners, and added: “I know that Latino men often have a more difficult time having access to the big loans from the big banks because of relationships, because of things that are not necessarily grounded in their qualifications. So, I am focused on what we can do to bring more capital to community banks that will understand the community and be able to give those kinds of loans.”

Returning to her thoughts on the importance of families establishing generational wealth, she also said that part of her economic plan that would impact Latinos would be $25,000 down payment assistance for first-time homeowners.

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow, Conor J. Finnegan, Will McDuffie

Biden says of Trump: ‘We gotta lock him up. Politically, lock him up’

President Joe Biden said former President Donald Trump poses a “genuine threat” to American democracy, during a visit to New Hampshire Democratic Party headquarters, saying, “We gotta lock him. Politically lock him up.”

The remarks came after Biden listed Trump’s proposals such as doing away with the Department of Education, taking on the federal civil service and the Supreme Court’s recent decision granting presidents broad immunity. Biden said: “I mean, so I know this sounds bizarre. It sounds like – if I said this five years ago, you’d lock me up.”

Then Biden said, referring to Trump, “We gotta lock him up. Politically lock him up. Lock him out, that’s what we have to do.”

“Lock her up” was an oft-repeated line by Trump and his supporters in 2016, a reference to Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information on her private email server.

Trump’s campaign quickly seized on Biden’s comments, calling on Vice President Kamala Harris to condemn the remarks and pushing claim that it shows Trump’s legal battles are purely political — charges prosecutors have repeatedly denied.

“Joe Biden just admitted the truth: he and Kamala’s plan all along has been to politically persecute their opponent President Trump because they can’t beat him fair and square,” Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary of the Trump campaign, said in a statement. “The Harris-Biden Admin is the real threat to democracy. We call on Kamala Harris to condemn Joe Biden’s disgraceful remark.”

— ABC News’ Justin Gomez, Lalee Ibssa, Soorin Kim, Kelsey Walsh

Jill Stein says ‘voters should vote for themselves’ in response to new Harris attack ad

Jill Stein, the Green Party’s presidential candidate, told ABC News Live “Voters should vote for themselves,” in response to Vice President Kamala Harris’ team running an attack advertisement against her. The ad, which started airing in the last week in some swing states, claimed that “a vote for Stein is really a vote for Trump.”

“Voters are being told over and over again that you don’t own your vote, that politicians own your vote,” the candidate who ran for the White House in 2012 and 2016, said in an interview on Tuesday.

“We do not have a lesser evil candidate, we have two greater evils,” Stein added, about Americans casting a vote for either former President Donald Trump or Harris.

A large part of Stein’s campaign has focused on slamming Harris for the Biden administration’s response to the Israel-Hamas war.

In the 2016 election, the serial candidate received almost 1.5 million votes, enough votes in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to exceed Trump’s margins of victory.

Stein said that if she wasn’t on the ballot, a “vast majority of those voters would not have come out to vote.”

-ABC News’ Shannon Caturano

Tulsi Gabbard announces she’s joining Republican Party

Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard announced Tuesday she is officially joining the Republican Party.

Gabbard made the announcement during an appearance on stage at a rally for former President Donald Trump in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Gabbard has been stumping for Trump on the trail and recently advised him ahead of his Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Her announcement Tuesday marks a further political shift after her run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.

“I’m proud to stand here with you today, President Trump, and announce that I’m joining the Republican Party,” Gabbard said, calling the Republican Party the “party of equality” and “common sense” even as Trump repeatedly used insults to make personal attacks against his opponents during his own remarks.

“I am joining the party of the people … and the party that is led by a president who has the courage and strength to fight for peace,” Gabbard said.

“I’m looking forward to casting my vote for President Trump, because you are our best and only hope in this election to lead our country toward a future where every one of us can live in a truly free, peaceful and prosperous nation,” Gabbard continued, stressing that “every single vote will count.”
 

Eminem takes the stage at Harris rally in Detroit

Eminem took the stage at a Harris rally in Detroit, Michigan, on Tuesday where he introduced former President Barack Obama.

“I’m here tonight for a couple of important reasons,” Eminem said before sharing how much the city means to him. “Going into this election, the spotlight is on us more than ever,” he said of the swing state.

The Grammy-winning artist encouraged the crowd to “get out and vote.”

Eminem went on to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, saying she supports a future where “freedoms will be protected and upheld” before introducing Obama to the stage.

Walz, Obama energize crowd to get out and vote at Wisconsin rally

At an energetic but not completely packed joint campaign rally to mark early voting in the swing state of Wisconsin on Tuesday, former President Obama and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz made their pitch for the Democratic ticket while blasting former Trump’s behavior and character with just two weeks until Election Day.

The rally was held in Madison’s Alliant Energy Center, which is able to hold more than 10,000 people. The event space was not completely filled — only about two-thirds of the seats and floor space was taken.

Walz took aim at Trump and questioned his ally billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk, who Walz claimed was “the real running mate.”

“So look, Elon’s on that stage, jumping around, skipping like a dip*** on these things,” Walz said to laughs.

“Seriously, where is Senator Vance, after he got asked the simplest question in the world at the debate, did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election? And after two weeks, he finally said, ‘No, he didn’t.’ That’s where he’s been spending his time,” Walz said.

Obama then came on stage and embraced Walz.

“Love that dude. Love that man. The kind of person who should be in politics,” Obama said.

At three points during Obama’s remarks at the Madison rally, which was billed as an event where the Democrats pushed early voting on the first day that in-person locations opened in Wisconsin, the former president utilized his old, famous saying: “Don’t boo, vote!”

The crowd started to chant “Vote!” at the end of Obama’s remarks.

“So whether this election is making you feel excited or scared or hopeful or frustrated or anything in between, do not sit back and hope for the best. Do not think this is a distraction or a joke. Get off your couch and do what? Vote,” Obama said. “Put down your phones and do what? Vote. Vote for Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States. Vote for Tim Walz as the next vice president of the United States, vote for [incumbent Sen.] Tammy Baldwin and this whole incredible Wisconsin Democratic ticket.”

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray

Harris declines to discuss ‘hypotheticals’ on possible Trump pardon

Harris declined to discuss a possible pardon of Trump, who was convicted in May in a New York court of 34 criminal counts.

“I’m not going to get into those hypotheticals. I’m focused on the next 14 days,” she told NBC’s Hallie Jackson.

Asked if doing so could help the country move on, Harris said, “What’s going to help us move on is I get elected president of the United States.”

-ABC News’ Will McDuffie, Fritz Farrow and Gabriella Abdul-Hakim

Harris evades questions on Biden’s decline

Harris was asked about President Joe Biden’s mental state during an interview with NBC’s Hallie Jackson on Tuesday.

Asked by Jackson whether she had seen “anything like what happened at the debate night behind closed doors,” Harris did not answer directly.

“It was a bad debate. People have bad debates. He is absolutely…”

“Well, that’s the reason why you’re here and he’s not running for the top of the ticket,” Jackson responded.

“Well, you’d have to ask him if that’s the only reason why,” Harris said.

“What do you think?” Jackson asked.

“I am running for president of the United States, Joe Biden is not, and my presidency will be about bringing a new generation of leadership to America that is focused on the work that we need to do to invest in the ambitions and aspirations of the American people.”

-ABC News’ Will McDuffie, Fritz Farrow and Gabriella Abdul-Hakim

Biden warns Trump will eliminate Inflation Reduction Act, Obamacare if elected

President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders teamed up Tuesday afternoon at an event in Concord, New Hampshire, to tout a new report showing Medicare enrollees saved nearly $1 billion on their prescription drugs so far in 2024 through the Inflation Reduction Act.

Biden warned that this progress could be undone if Trump wins in November.

“Trump and MAGA Republicans want to eliminate the Inflation Reduction Act, which we’re talking about, the big bill which made all these savings possible, raising prescription drug prices again for millions of Americans,” he said.

Biden said Trump and the GOP have tried to replace the Affordable Care Act 51 times and mocked the former president for having only a “concept of a plan.”

Biden said if Harris isn’t elected, Trump will “kick 45 million people off their health insurance,” give tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans, get rid of the Department of Education and gut Social Security and Medicare.

“He’ll hurt hard-working people,” he said.

-ABC News’ Justin Gomez

Vance pushes GOTV message in Arizona

In his fourth visit to the swing state of Arizona, vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance had one simple message to voters: get out and vote for Trump.

“Here’s the scenario that I want you to consider, and I don’t mean to give you nightmare fuel here, but I’m going to do it,” Vance said. “We wake up on November the 6th and Kamala Harris is barely elected President of the United States by a 700-vote margin in the state of Arizona. Think about that and ask yourself what you can do from now until then to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

Asked by local reporters what’s the strategy to get across the finish line with those who are still undecided, Vance asked them to look at the former president’s record, arguing that America was in a better position with him as commander-in-chief.

Asked if he’s confident in the Arizona election system and if he’s going to accept the results of the 2024 election, Vance said he thinks “that we’re in a better place than we were in 2020.”

-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie

Harris says she believes Trump could declare victory before all votes counted

Harris acknowledged Tuesday that “of course” it is possible that Trump could declare victory before all the votes are counted next month.

“This is a person, Donald Trump, who tried to undo a free and fair election, who still denies the will of the people, who incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol and 140 law enforcement officers were attacked, some who were killed,” Harris told NBC’s Hallie Jackson in a clip of their interview that was released Tuesday afternoon.

Harris said that she and her team “will deal with election night and the days after as they come, and we have the resources and the expertise and the focus” on that scenario.

-ABC News’ Will McDuffie, Fritz Farrow and Gabriella Abdul-Hakim

Over 19M Americans have voted early as of Tuesday afternoon

Over 19 million Americans have voted early as of Tuesday afternoon, according to data from Election Lab at the University of Florida.

Roughly 7.1 million votes have come in through early in-person methods while the remaining votes have been cast through mail ballots, the data showed.

There is a large showing of early votes in the swing state of Georgia which has seen record early vote turnout since early in-person voting began last week.

As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 1.84 million Georgians, roughly one in four registered voters, have cast their ballot, with over 1.74 million votes cast at early voting polling places across the state according to Georgia’s Secretary of State office.

-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd and Ivan Pereira

Trump to appear on Joe Rogan’s podcast Friday: Sources 

Trump is set to tape an interview for the popular “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast Friday at Rogan’s Austin, Texas, studio, multiple sources told ABC News.

Rogan’s podcast garners a vast amount of viewership each week and ranks as one of the most-listened-to podcast on Spotify.

The interview comes as Trump has been engaging in more long-format media appearances and podcasts and works to appeal to young male voters, a key group of Rogan listeners.

Earlier this cycle, Rogan and Trump got into a back-and-forth spat on social media after Rogan expressed his support for then-candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during on an episode over the summer.

“He’s the only one who makes sense to me,” Rogan said of Kennedy in an August episode.

“He doesn’t attack people. He attacks actions and ideas, but he’s much more reasonable and intelligent.”

In response, Trump posted on his social media platform that “it will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC Ring??? MAGA2024.”

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soorin Kim and Kelsey Walsh

Cheney keeps up fire on Trump over Jan. 6

Former Rep. Liz Cheney tore into Trump on Tuesday over the Jan. 6, mob attack on the U.S. Capitol and his tariff policies.

Speaking with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, Cheney excoriated Trump as unfit for office and a threat to American democracy for his role in sparking the mob, echoing an argument she’s been making on the campaign trail with Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate.

“I believe he’s unfit, and he’s dangerous, but I made the decision beyond that to endorse Vice President Harris. And it is certainly the case that there are policies on which we disagree, but she is somebody who’s devoted her life to public service. She is somebody who, even if you disagree with her, and maybe especially if you disagree with her, I can tell you, she will listen,” Cheney, of Wyoming, said at the Detroit Economic Club.

“You all in business, when you think about, what are you looking for in somebody you hire, you’re looking for somebody that you can trust, you’re looking for somebody who’s going to be responsible, who’s going to operate in good faith,” she told the audience. “You certainly wouldn’t hire somebody who was unstable and erratic. And we need to think about this election in those terms.”

-ABC News’ Tal Axelrod

Bruce Springsteen to headline concerts at events with Obama, Harris, campaign says

Bruce Springsteen is bringing his greatest hits to the campaign trail as he is set to headline concerts in key swing state cities with Harris and former President Barack Obama, a senior campaign official told ABC News.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician will perform in Atlanta on Thursday with Harris and Obama as part of a get-out-the-vote event followed by another show in Philadelphia with Obama in attendance, the official said.

More concerts will be announced, the official said.

“The Boss” announced his support for Harris saying she and Gov. Tim Walz have “a vision of this country that respects and includes everyone, regardless of class, religion, race, your political point of view or sexual identity, and they want to grow our economy in a way that benefits all” and that former President Donald Trump, “doesn’t understand the meaning of this country, its history, or what it means to be deeply American.”

Campaign advisers see these major mobilization events as massive opportunities to harness voter enthusiasm to get out the vote before Election Day.

–ABC News’ Will McDuffie, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Fritz Farrow

Trump takes questions from vocal supporters at Latino event, attacks Harris’ intelligence

Trump took friendly questions from Latino supporters during a roundtable aimed at courting minority voters in Florida on Tuesday.

The questions came from many longtime supporters including Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue, pastor ​​Apostle Guillermo Maldonado and “Sound of Freedom” actor Eduardo Verastegui, who spent a lot of their time praising the former president.

Trump talked about immigration for the first time about 30 minutes in, and used false claims about immigrants crossing into the country, calling them a “military supreme.”

The crowd was relatively calm given the ballroom set-up; however, Trump did get applause when he brought up “men in women sports,” where he doubled down on more transphobic rhetoric.

“So there’s a sickness going on in our country. We have to end the sickness, and we have to start because she’s a radical left,” Trump said of Harris.

Trump also repeatedly made racial and ethnic jokes and attacks during the event.

The former president also went after Harris’ intelligence, calling her “slow” and “stupid.”

He also continued to make his baseless claim that there might not be another election if Harris wins.

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soorin Kim and Kelsey Walsh

Trump hits Harris as ‘lazy as hell’ for not being on the trail

Trump returned to his Doral, Florida, golf club to host a roundtable with Latino community members Tuesday and used the opportunity to criticize Harris for not having any campaign events that day.

The roundtable was supposed to be focused on Trump’s appeal to Latino Americans, but during his opening remarks, Trump gave a generic, rambling stump speech where he complained about his heavy campaign schedule compared to Harris’. The vice president is off the trail on Tuesday and taping interviews for NBC News and Telemundo.

“She’s sleeping right now. She couldn’t go on the trail. You know, you think when you have 14 days left, you wouldn’t be sleeping. She’s not doing anything today,” Trump said, not mentioning her TV interviews scheduled for Tuesday.

As the topic of exhaustion came up into the final stretch of the campaign, Trump kept going after Harris for taking days off as he talked about how much he was campaigning.

“Who the hell takes off? You have 14 days left, and she’ll take a couple of more days off too. You know why she’s lazy as hell, and she’s got that reputation,” he said.

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soorin Kim and Kelsey Walsh

DOJ launches voter assistance site for hurricane victims

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division launched a webpage on Tuesday that compiles information to help voters in states impacted by recent hurricanes Helene and Milton to have access to the ballot.

The resources are aimed to help voters in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia.

“The site identifies and provides links to various state changes made to accommodate voters who have been displaced, lost their identification documents, have had polling sites moved or who are unsure where or how they can vote. It also provides contact information so that voters can reach local voting officials who can provide the most specific and up-to-date guidance,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

Harris highlights key tie-breaking vote over prescription drugs

Vice President Kamala Harris, who cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, called Tuesday’s Health and Human Services report on cost-savings for prescription drugs evidence of the administration’s mission to deliver accessible health care to everyone.

The report showed 1.5 million Medicare enrollees saved almost $1 billion on prescription drugs in the first half of 2024 as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act.

“All Americans should be able to access the health care they need — no matter their income,” Harris said in a statement.

The Inflation Reduction Act for the first time put a cap on what Medicare enrollees spend on out-of-pocket costs for their medications and a lower cap that goes into effect next year ($2,000) and is estimated to impact 19 million people.

The administration estimated that this year’s cap saved impacted Medicare enrollees an average of $1,802, and that when the cap lowers further, the savings will be higher.

Harris highlighted the combination of other efforts the administration is also making to bring down the cost of prescription drugs, like capping insulin at $35 and negotiating on contracts with pharma companies so the government pays less for drugs.

-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett

Senate Dems release report on early voting

Democratic senators, led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Rules Committee Chair Amy Klobuchar, released a report Tuesday urging Americans to cast their ballots as soon as possible and warning that election results may not be known on Election Day.

“Just like 2020, Donald Trump and his allies continue to refuse to commit to accepting the results of the election if he loses while pushing dangerous and divisive rhetoric to sow discord and undermine confidence in our election process. Americans losing faith in the results of our elections doesn’t just risk another January 6th but puts our very democracy at risk,” Schumer said in a statement with the release of the report. “Senate Democrats remain committed to ensuring all Americans can vote without fear or intimidation.”

The report details the early voting and mail-in ballot count procedures, including details on how and when some swing states count their ballots.

Using these details, the report asserts that “early vote counts may create the appearance that one particular candidate is ahead but that may change depending on whether in-person or mail-in vote totals are reported first. Americans should be prepared to reject misinformation and be patient about results in places where counting ballots may take longer.”

Trump still refuses to accept that he lost the 2020 election and has encouraged voters to cast ballots for him on Nov. 5 so that his margin of victory is “too big to rig.”

-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin

ABC News’ John Karl to speak with Liz Cheney

Former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney will sit down with ABC News’ Chief Washington Correspondent and Co-Anchor of “This Week” Jonathan Karl at the Detroit Economic Club on Tuesday afternoon.

Part of the event will be streamed on ABC News Live.

Karl’s discussion with Cheney comes a day after she hit the campaign trail with Harris for a series of moderated conversations in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, in which they sought to appeal to white suburban women who vote Republican.

Trump courts Latino voters, Harris off the trail

Trump will hold a roundtable at the Latino Summit at his Doral golf club in Miami. The event was postponed because of Hurricane Milton and comes as the former president seeks to eat away at Harris’ edge with Hispanic voters, particularly males.

Trump will later head to Greensboro, North Carolina, for a rally.

Harris, notably, has no public events scheduled for Tuesday, spending her afternoon instead doing interviews with NBC News and Telemundo.

Former President Barack Obama joins Minnesota Gov. and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz for a rally in Madison, Wisconsin.

Trump and Harris prepare for flood of legal activity around election

Harris and Trump are preparing for a flood of legal activity before and after the election after the former president launched an avalanche of lawsuits seeking to overturn his loss in 2020.

Earlier this year, the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign announced what they described as an “historic” “election integrity” program that an RNC official said in recent months has engaged in over 130 election lawsuits across 26 states, and recruited approximately 5,000 volunteer attorneys who are ready to be activated on Election Day.

Democrats, for their part, have intervened in “dozens of baseless Republican lawsuits to debunk their lies and defeat them in court,” according to an internal memo prepared by Harris’ chief attorney, Dana Remus.

Read more here from Olivia Rubin, Will Steakin and Lucien Bruggeman.

Nevada Republicans outpace Democrats in in-person early voting, trail in mail-in voting

Republicans are outpacing Democrats in in-person early voting in Nevada while Democrats are outpacing Republicans in mail-in voting, the Nevada Secretary of State Office’s latest report shows.

The latest report, updated Monday night, reflects early in-person voting and mail-in voting turnout in the first three days. It showed 52% of in-person early voters so far have been Republicans, while 28% were Democrats. Of all mail-in ballots cast so far, 43% so far have been Democrats and 30% Republicans.

The pattern reflects trends from the 2020 presidential election, when Republicans outpaced Democrats in early in-person voting and Democrats outpaced Republicans with mail-in voting.

In total, 245,356 mail-in ballots and early in-person ballots had been cast as of Monday night, with just under 40% of them being Republicans and 36% of them being Democrats.

In-person early voting in Nevada began on Oct. 19.

-ABC News’ Soorin Kim

Elon Musk’s PAC pays out 3rd $1 million check to voter

Elon Musk’s America PAC said late Monday that it handed out a third $1 million check to a voter who has signed its petition backing the Constitution.

The PAC said in a post to X that the check was given to Shannon Tomei from McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, posting a photograph of Tomei holding the check.

“Every day until Election Day, a person who signs the petition will be selected to earn $1M as a spokesperson for America PAC,” it added.

Musk shared the announcement and congratulated Tomei. In other posts, he has been urging people to register to vote in Pennsylvania — a crucial battleground state in next month’s presidential election.

The first two winners were announced during a town hall in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, with Musk handing over the checks to the winners on stage. It’s unclear how the third check was delivered.

Musk has thrown his weight behind former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, describing Trump as the only candidate “to preserve democracy in America.”

-ABC News’ Soorin Kim

Harris takes jabs at Trump’s dance moves, calls him ‘increasingly unstable’

Vice President Kamala Harris and former Rep. Liz Cheney capped off their battleground tour in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in their bid to appeal to moderate Republicans and independents.

During the final event on Monday, Harris continued to draw a contrast between herself and former President Trump and even poked fun at his dance moves during his campaign rally last week.

Harris, who called Trump’s onstage dancing a “solo dance,” said that it was proof that the former president is “increasingly unstable.”

“What we see about him in public, whether it be his rallies or, as you said, the — what would it be called? — just a solo dance? I don’t know,” said Harris, drawing laughter from the crowd.

“I think it does lead us, and it should lead us, to observe that he is increasingly unstable,” Harris said.

Harris was referencing Trump’s town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, last week where two medical emergencies in the crowd interrupted the event, which eventually turned into what his campaign at the time called an “impromptu concert.”

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim

Tim Walz reacts to ‘Daily Show’ appearance with Jon Stewart while fundraising in NYC

Fresh off his taping of the “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Gov. Tim Walz told a crowd at the Standard Hotel in New York City on Monday night that the experience was “great” but that the comedian’s monologue at the start of the show was filled with what he considered “doom.”

“I’m like, ‘Quit with the doom.’ You know?” Walz said.

“Yes, Donald Trump is horrible, and the stakes are incredibly high, and women’s lives are at risk, and they demonize immigrants. And then he goes to McDonald’s to try and distract us, even though, the day before that, he said, you know, ‘We need to do something against the enemy from within,’” he went on.

“But there’s an antidote to this,” he concluded, explaining that there was more than enough positivity in the support he has been receiving as he campaigns in battleground states.

At the fundraising event, Walz was introduced by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Hochul told the crowd that she got to know Walz when they were both representing red districts as Democrats in Congress.

She said that she gives Vice President Kamala Harris “a lot of credit” for choosing Walz as a running mate, whom she called “a genuine human being.”

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray

Trump recalls assassination attempt while courting religious voters in North Carolina

At a Believers and Ballots event in North Carolina Monday, former President Donald Trump worked to court religious voters.

Trump talked about his spiritual journey with the crowd as he emphasized a faith background we don’t often hear him talk about.

“But as I look back at my life’s journey and events, I now recognize that it’s been the hand of God leading me to where I am today,” said Trump.

The former president reflected on the assassination attempt made against him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania over the summer.

“My faith took on new meaning on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, where I was knocked to the ground, essentially by what seemed like a supernatural hand,” Trump said.

“I would like to think that God saved me for a purpose, and that’s to make our country greater than ever before,” he added.

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa

Judges in Michigan and North Carolina reject challenges to overseas votes

Judges in Michigan and North Carolina on Monday ruled against legal challenges that attempted to disqualify votes cast by eligible American voters overseas.

Republican plaintiffs claimed that election offices in those two states, as well as in Pennsylvania, had created loopholes that would allow ineligible people to vote through overseas absentee ballots.

In Michigan, the judge dismissed one of three suits filed, calling it in his opinion “an 11th-hour attempt to disenfranchise these electors.”

In North Carolina, the judge denied a request by plaintiffs to set aside the ballots of overseas voters until a time at which their individual eligibility could be verified. Superior Court Judge John Smith wrote in that instance that there was “absolutely no evidence that any person has ever fraudulently claimed that exemption and actually voted in any North Carolina election.”

His ruling also stated conclusively that, “This court has weighed the hypothetical possibility of harm to plaintiffs against the rights of the defendants and finds that on balance the equitable discretion of this court should not be invoked to treat an entire group of citizens differently based upon unsupported and speculative allegations for which there is not even a scintilla of substantive evidence.”

A ruling on a similar lawsuit in Pennsylvania is expected soon.

-ABC News’ T. Michelle Murphy and Ivan Pereira

Trump spends millions on anti-trans ads despite lack of voter interest

Donald Trump and his Republicans allies are aggressively pushing anti-trans messaging in the final stretch of his campaign — despite the fact that transgender issues are among the least important issues motivating voters to head to the ballot box, according to a Gallup poll.

The Trump campaign and Republican groups have spent more than $21 million on anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ television ads as of Oct. 9.

Additionally, in recent months, Trump-aligned political groups have flooded the airwaves with ads disparaging policies that support the transgender community.

Despite the small size of the transgender population in the U.S., these issues have played a key role in many Republican campaigns on both the state and federal levels.

Trump’s own political agenda, titled Agenda 47, is laden with transgender-based proposals, including a ban on transgender participation in women’s sports, an end to gender-affirming care funded by federal or state dollars, and more.

ABC News has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on his ad spending.

-ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca and Soo Rin Kim

Walz to travel to Kentucky, North Carolina and Pennsylvania later this week

After Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz campaigns in Wisconsin on Tuesday (where he’ll be joined by former President Barack Obama for a rally in Madison), he’ll remain out on the trail this week.

On Wednesday, Walz will speak at an evening fundraiser in Louisville, Kentucky.

On Thursday, he will spend the morning making political stops in Durham, North Carolina — just a week after he visited the city with former President Bill Clinton. He’ll then make local stops in Greenville, North Carolina, in the afternoon and hold a rally in Wilmington that night.

On Friday, Walz will campaign in Philadelphia, where he’ll speak at a fundraiser in the city around noon.

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray

Harris says she wakes up in middle of night from election stress

Harris said she finds herself waking up in the middle of the night from the stress of the final days of the election, when asked how she handles stress and anxiety during a discussion in Michigan on Monday.

“You know, I wake up in the middle of the night, usually these days. Just to be honest with you,” Harris told Maria Shriver, who moderated the discussion between the vice president and former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney in Royal Oak. “But I work out every morning. I think that’s really important to just kind of, you know, mind, body and spirit.”

“Say more about that,” Shriver pressed Harris.

“I work out, I try to eat,” Harris responded. “You know, I love my family, and I make sure that I talk to the kids and my husband every day.”

“My family grounds me in every way,” she added.

The exchange started with Harris making something clear: She’s not taking edibles.

“Everybody I talked to says, you know, I have to turn off the news, I can’t read anything, I’m meditating, I’m doing yoga. I’m so anxious. I just don’t even know. I’m eating gummies, all kinds of things, you know?” Shriver said to Harris, asking, “What are you doing?”

“Not eating gummies,” Harris said to laughs from the crowd.

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Will McDuffie

Liz Cheney makes a case for conservatives to back Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris participated in a series of moderated conversations with former Rep. Liz Cheney in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin on Monday.

In those appearances, Cheney made a case for conservatives to vote Democrat in the upcoming election and support Harris’ bid for the White House.

“What I would say is that if people are uncertain, if people are thinking, ‘Well, you know, I’m a conservative, I don’t know that I can support Vice President Harris,’ I would say, I don’t know if anybody is more conservative than I am,” said Cheney, who was the third-ranking member of the House Republican Conference from 2019 to 2021.

Cheney also warned Republicans considering voting for Trump that Congress would not be a check on him.

“For anybody who is a Republican who is thinking that, you know, they might vote for Donald Trump because of national security policy, I ask you, please, please study his national security policy,” Cheney said. “Not only is it not Republican — it’s dangerous. And without allies, America will find our very freedom and security challenged and threatened.”

“And one final point on this: Don’t think that Congress can stop him,” Cheney added.

In Malvern, Pennsylvania, Cheney said she thought there would be Republican voters who would cast their ballots for Harris — even if they did not reveal it publicly.

In Michigan, she went further, encouraging voters to do just that, saying, “If you’re at all concerned, you can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody, and there will be millions of Republicans who do that on Nov. 5, vote for Vice President Harris.”

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow, Will McDuffie and T. Michelle Murphy

Trump pushes false claims that Democrats are trying to cheat in election

Rallying in Greenville, North Carolina, on Monday, Trump launched baseless claims about possible fraud in the 2024 election — despite earlier in the day saying he hadn’t seen evidence of it.

At one point during the rally, Trump turned to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley to ask him about election security.

“He’ll stop the cheating. He’s going to stop the cheating,” Trump said to Whatley. “Are they cheating? Michael, they’re trying, but are they? They’re not going to get away with it, right? … They got away with it in plenty of places.”

Earlier in Asheville, North Carolina, Trump told his supporters that he hasn’t seen any evidence of cheating in the election thus far, but added, “I know the other side and they are not good.”

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Kelsey Walsh and Soo Rin Kim

More than 1.5M have voted early in battleground Georgia

The office of the Georgia Secretary of State announced Monday that more than 1.5 million voters have voted early in person in Georgia as of Monday afternoon.

“Georgia voters know we’ve made it easy to cast a ballot. It’s really that simple,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement.

In-person early voting started in the key battleground state on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

As of Monday afternoon, more than 15 million early votes have been cast nationally, including almost 5 million in-person early votes, according to an analysis by the Election Lab at the University of Florida.

-ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim

Harris reiterates she worked at McDonald’s after Trump stunt

On her way to her moderated conversation in Michigan, Harris was asked if she had worked at a McDonald’s while deplaning Air Force 2.

“Did I? I did,” she said.

Her past experience at McDonald’s has become a fixation of Trump’s, who over the weekend worked the fryer at one of the chain’s restaurants in the Philadelphia area.

Trump has claimed Harris never worked at the fast food giant. Harris, in introducing herself to voters this campaign, has told the story of working there between her freshman and sophomore years at Howard University in an effort to contrast her working-class roots with Trump’s background.

-ABC News’ Gabrielle Abdul-Hakim

Cheney gives Harris backup on abortion

Harris got backup on a hot-button cultural issue from an unlikely source Monday — conservative former Rep. Liz Cheney.

Cheney — who has broken with Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot — still boasts a conservative record. But Monday, she waded into an issue that Democrats hope will help them win over voters on Election Day.

“I think there are many of us around the country who have been pro-life but who have watched what’s going on in our states since the Dobbs decision and have watched state legislatures put in place laws that are resulting in women not getting the care they need,” Cheney said, referencing the Supreme Court decision that scrapped federal abortion protections.

“In places like Texas, for example, the attorney general is talking about suing, is suing, to get access to women’s medical records. That’s not sustainable for us as a country, and it has to change.”

The remarks, made in a Philadelphia suburb, were notable as Harris looks to cement support among suburban female voters.

Harris works to earn Pennsylvania’s Republican votes alongside Liz Cheney

Harris is doing a series of moderated conversations with former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney in suburban cities in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin on Monday.

While in Pennsylvania, Harris and Cheney worked to pick off Republicans disaffected with their party’s nominee who may vote for the vice president and focus on the dangers Trump poses to the country and to democracy.

“There are months in the history of our country which challenge us, each of us, to really decide when we stand for those things that we talk about, including, in particular, country over party,” Harris said.

Cheney, a staunch Trump critic who endorsed Harris in September despite their party and policy differences, said “every single thing in my experience and in my background has played a part” in her supporting Harris.

“In this race, we have the opportunity to vote for and support somebody you can count on. We’re not always going to agree, but I know Vice President Harris will always do what she believes is right for this country. She has a sincere heart, and that’s why I’m honored to be in this place.”

Read more about Harris and Cheney’s events here.

-ABC News’ Will McDuffie, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Fritz Farrow

Trump appears on The Undertaker’s podcast

Trump continued his alternative media outreach effort by sitting down for a podcast interview with retired pro wrestler Mark Calaway, also known as “The Undertaker.”

During the podcast, Trump repeated his anti-trans rhetoric, promising to not allow “men playing in women’s sports” as Calaway brought up his teenage quarterback daughter.

“You don’t want to go and wrestle a guy like if you were doing that, because people do that — like your father — right? He’s a little too much to handle,” Trump said to Calaway’s daughter, who was present for the interview, after Calaway asked him about Title IX..

“I will get rid of it fast. Men playing in women’s sports is insane,” Trump said.

Republicans have invested heavily in ads targeting the transgender community this cycle.

-ABC News’ Soorin Kim, Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh

Walz on what he’d do differently from the Biden admin and appealing to voters

Tim Walz joined ABC’s “The View” on Monday, where he discussed what he would have done differently than the Biden-Harris administration — a questioned that Harris herself struggled with in her own appearance on the talk show.

The governor said that he wished one of their ticket’s proposals — an expansion on Medicare — “would have been proposed sooner.” He argued their campaign is focusing heavily on things like the care economy and child care affordability.

Walz also discussed how they can appeal to men and Black voters, two voting blocks where Trump is having success.

“As as vice president says, we have a responsibility to earn the votes from everyone and not make the assumption that men or women are going to be with us. I hear oftentimes about the Black community. Why would we assume that they were with us, unless we’re putting out proposals that positively impact their life?” Walz said.

He argued that they are trying to make voters aware of their proposals on housing, child care, small businesses and more.

Read more about Walz on “The View” here.

Trump won’t denounce violence against FEMA workers during North Carolina stop

Trump toured devastation caused by Hurricane Helene just outside Asheville, North Carolina, and later delivered remarks to the press where he began by slamming the job from the White House for their hurricane response, continuing to push false claims about FEMA assistance in the wake of violence against FEMA workers.

“The power of nature. Nothing you can do about it, but you got to get a little bit better crew in to do a better job than has been done by the White House. It’s been not good. Not good. I’m here today in western North Carolina to express a simple message to the incredible people of the state, I’m with you, and the American people are with you all the way,” Trump said.

Later, he pushed false claims about the allocation of FEMA assistance, once again falsely saying that money dedicated to hurricane relief was going to offer assistance to migrants unaffected by the storm.

“FEMA has done a very poor job … They had spent hundreds of millions of dollars doing other things, things that I don’t think bear any relationship to this money, there was, they were not supposed to be spending the money on taking in illegal migrants, maybe so they could vote in the election. Because that’s what a lot of people are saying. That’s why they’re doing it,” Trump falsely said.

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Kelsey Walsh and Soorin Kim

Sen. Bernie Sanders to join Biden in New Hampshire

In a strategic visit to boost Democrats’ presence in the purple state ahead of the election, President Joe Biden will be joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Tuesday in New Hampshire to talk about lowering the cost of prescription drugs, a senior administration official told ABC News.

The president is also expected to stop by a New Hampshire Democratic Party campaign office to support Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the official said.

The economy and costs are a top issue to voters in New Hampshire, polling shows, and Sanders, who made the high price of U.S. health care a central point of both his presidential campaigns, is a popular figure in the state, which neighbors his own.

Sanders and Biden will discuss new data on savings brought about by the administration’s hallmark Inflation Reduction Act, the senior official said. The act implemented significant price caps for Medicare enrollees, including a $35 cap on insulin already in effect and a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket drug costs that kicks in in 2025. The White House estimates the caps will bring about cost savings of $400 per year for nearly 19 million seniors.

-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett

Tim Walz to join ABC’s ‘The View’

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Harris’ running mate, will join ABC’s “The View” on Monday.

His interview comes after Harris herself appeared on the show as part of a media blitz earlier this month.

Walz recently quipped on Trump’s visit to a McDonald’s on Sunday as part of his mockery of Harris’ past employment there. Walz said he took “full responsibility” for the campaign stop after he once joked he couldn’t imagine the former president working a McFlurry machine.

Harris, Cheney to make the case to disaffected Republican voters

Harris is stumping with former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney on Monday in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. The two will hold a moderated conversation in each of the “blue wall” states.

Cheney endorsed Harris in early September, warning Trump posed a threat to democracy after what happened on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Donald Trump was willing to sacrifice our capitol to allow law enforcement officers to be beaten and brutalized in his name and to violate the law and the Constitution in order to seize power for himself,” Cheney said at her first joint appearance with Harris earlier this month.

“I don’t care if you are a Democrat or a Republican or an independent, that is depravity, and we must never become numb to it,” she continued. “Any person who would do these things can never be trusted with power again. We must defeat Donald Trump on Nov. 5.”

Trump to survey hurricane damage before rally in North Carolina

At noon, Trump will survey devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina.

He’ll later hold a 3 p.m. rally in Greenville before a 6:30 p.m. meeting with faith leaders in Concord.

Trump has criticized the Biden-Harris response to the storm, and spread misinformation about the federal government’s recovery efforts and assistance. Such misinformation, Biden and other officials have said, is harming those who need assistance and resulting in threats against FEMA workers.

Polls show close race between Harris, Trump

The latest polling averages from 538 show the two candidates running even in key swing states Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Trump, meanwhile, has a slight lead over Harris in Georgia and Arizona.

Overall, 538’s national polling average shows Harris ahead by just 1.8%.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump is projected to win the presidential race by ABC News, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in a frenzied contest to stage an improbable historic comeback.

Trump ended up with at least 279 electoral votes after clinching wins in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin. Harris has won at least 219 votes. The race was marked by literal history, including two assassination attempts and 34 felony convictions against Trump, already having been impeached twice and faulted for mismanaging the COVID-19 pandemic response.

Maybe even more memorable was President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race after a ruinous June debate in which he struggled at times to form sentences.

Trump’s victory underscores just how deep voters’ frustrations were surrounding inflation and immigration, Republicans’ two top issues this election cycle as polls consistently showed Americans’ unhappiness with how Biden handled them.

His return to the White House also suggests that Democrats were not motivated enough by the prospect of electing the first female president and that its base’s fury over the Supreme Court’s revocation of constitutional abortion protections has waned since 2022.

For Trump personally, the win offers both political vindication and legal protection. Since his win, he and his brand were soundly rejected in 2018, 2020 and 2022. And once in office, he’d be able to undermine criminal cases against him surrounding his handling of classified documents while out of office and efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

“I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honor of being elected your 47th president and your 45th president,” Trump said in his victory speech.

Trump’s victory is likely to set off transformations in both parties.

His win will likely help cement his “Make America Great Again” brand of politics as the dominant strand of Republicanism for the foreseeable future, with Vice President-elect JD Vance seemingly well positioned to carry on Trump’s mantle after the current administration ends in a little over four years.

Democrats, meanwhile, will likely have to sift through the rubble to understand what voters found so unappetizing about them that they’d choose instead to support a twice-impeached convicted felon who had already been voted out of office once.

The former and future president has not substantively outlined his goals for a second term — at his debate with Harris he boasted of having “concepts of a plan” when it comes to health care — though he has warned that he could go after his political opponents and journalists. He also could use his familiarity with the federal bureaucracy to help install civil servants who are loyal to him.

He will at least have a friendly, GOP-controlled Senate, though the House majority remains up in the air.

Among the chief policy areas where Trump could leave his imprint are on the world stage, where he has forecasted less support for Ukraine; on trade, where he has boasted of tariffs of as high as 100% on some imports, and on immigration, where he supports a mass deportation force and eliminating the Temporary Protected Status program.

He’s also vowed to “drill, baby, drill” and lower costs, though his tariffs would likely raise the price of many goods, economists say, and he promised to eliminate tax on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits for seniors.

Perhaps more than anything, though, Democrats will be on the lookout for any form of retribution from a candidate who repeatedly dubbed his detractors the “enemy from within,” though he never went after Hillary Clinton after leading chants of “lock her up” in 2016.

Trump’s victory this year was far from assured.

Republicans across the spectrum panned Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol to stop certification of the 2020 election, with even allies like Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., suggesting the party should move on from the former president and his brand. That nascent push was largely abandoned weeks later when then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., ventured down to Mar-a-Lago to make amends and discuss House strategy.

Republicans’ disappointing 2022 election results tore open those divides once again. After an anticipated red wave instead gave way to the loss of a Senate seat and only marginal House gains, GOP leaders wondered if the time had come to elevate other lawmakers as the party’s future.

Buzz mounted around Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a younger Republican and culture warrior who could synthesize Trump’s brawler style into more widespread appeal, with Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis calling him the party “leader.” Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence offered more traditional conservative credentials in a snapback of sorts to a pre-Trump party.

Millions of dollars flooded a crowded 2024 GOP primary field, with DeSantis in particular leaning on a historically well-heeled and involved super PAC to proselytize his fighter credentials.

None of it mattered.

Pence dropped out before the calendar even turned to 2024. DeSantis ended his campaign before the New Hampshire primary after falling far short of expectations in Iowa. And while Haley stuck around for months, even drawing thousands of votes in primaries after she ended her own campaign in March, no candidate ever held a candle to Trump’s share of the primary electorate.

All of the 2024 contenders endorsed Trump except for Pence and former Govs. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Chris Christie of New Jsersy, none of whom made close to a dent in the nominating contest.

Even though he dominated he clinched the nomination as the GOP’s dominant figure and former president, Trump’s campaign was ultimately anything but conventional.

Trump was dogged by a slate of investigations into his handling of classified documents upon leaving office, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and payments made to the porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. He was able to fend off or delay many of the federal investigations he faced, and while he was convicted in a New York trial of 34 felony counts over the Daniels payments, his sentencing was delayed until after the election.

Compounding on the history of the election were two assassination attempts against Trump, the first of which, in July, saw him grazed in the ear by a bullet. Trump was able to use the threats to juice his fundraising and expound on his victimhood narrative, though they did not lead to any fundamental polling shifts.

But perhaps more than anything, Trump’s campaign was roiled by chaos in the Democratic Party.

Trump appeared to initially struggle to figure out how to attack Harris once she took over as Democrats’ nominee, even continuing to go after Biden.

However, Trump eventually settled on a line of attack that Harris had four years to fix the country’s woes, mocking her argument about what she’d do on Day One, arguing that day one was in 2021.

Still, Trump kept Republicans nervous by mixing in messages of grievance up until the very end of the race, veering off a script on inflation and immigration that operatives believed was more effective in winning over persuadable voters.

In the end, though, Trump’s playbook was just enough to win.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.