Vance and Walz visiting Arizona as early voting begins in the battleground state
(WASHINGTON) — Vice presidential nominees Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz will campaign in Arizona on Wednesday as early voting begins in a state that could decide the presidential race and control of the Senate.
Both Vance and Walz will hold rallies in Tucson on Wednesday. Vance will also participate in a town hall later in the day in Mesa hosted by the Conservative Political Action Conference, while Walz will hold an event in Chandler with Senate candidate Rep. Ruben Gallego and Jim McCain, son of former Republican Sen. John McCain.
With less than a month until Election Day, the race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to win the battleground state remains tight. According to FiveThirtyEight’s latest forecast, Trump leads Harris by just over 1 percentage point in the state.
The Trump campaign said Vance will encourage Arizonians to vote early in this year’s election, a sharp departure from the rhetoric Trump used in 2020 when he questioned mail-in ballots and voting early.
Wednesday’s swing for Vance is his third visit to the state since becoming Trump’s running mate in July and Walz’s trip is his second since he was picked by Harris to be her running mate in August.
Harris and Trump will also visit Arizona later this week — Harris will campaign there on Thursday and Trump on Sunday.
In 2020, Trump narrowly lost the state to President Joe Biden by just over 10,000 votes. As ABC News has previously reported Trump attempted to pressure then-Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to overturn the results of the presidential race.
Trump dispatched former Vice President Mike Pence to pressure Ducey to find fraudulent votes in the state, and while Pence did call Ducey multiple times in the aftermath of the election, he did not follow those orders.
Speaking on the “Ruthless” podcast last Thursday, Vance shared that he feels good about the campaign’s chances in Sunbelt states such as Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina, but that more work needs to be done in the Rust Belt states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
Arizona’s first day of early voting also coincides with the Senate debate between Gallego and Republican Kari Lake in a race that will help decide which party controls the Senate in 2025.
Currently, Gallego leads Lake by just under 8 percentage points, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Lake, who lost the Arizona gubernatorial race in 2022, alienated many moderate Republicans by feuding with Ducey and upsetting supporters of the late Sen. McCain. Lake has also continued to deny the validity of the 2020 and 2022 elections but has changed how she approaches her campaign, trying to court those moderate Republicans she lost in 2022.
Ducey endorsed Lake in August, saying that too much is at stake in this election cycle.
“I will be voting for Republicans up & down the ballot in November — and both Donald Trump and Kari Lake have my endorsement,” Ducey posted on X. “Differences aside, there is too much on the line and only a Republican in the White House and a majority in the House and US Senate can ensure it.”
A spokesperson for Gov. Tim Walz did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment on this story.
(WASHINGTON) — A United States Capitol Police Officer, who defended the Capitol during the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, vividly recounts the events of that day, describing it as a profoundly devastating experience for himself, his fellow officers and the nation as a whole.
Former Capitol Police Officer Winston Pingeon spoke with ABC News about the trauma of Jan. 6.
“It’s hard to relive and talk about moments like this,” Pingeon said. “I had that moment right there that I might die right here on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.”
Pingeon and his team, dressed in full riot gear, rushed to the Capitol’s west front that day, the site of some of the most brutal violence against police officers that day.
“I remember hearing radio calls of officers yelling for help that the line had been breached,” Pingeon said. “They sounded panicked and like they really needed help. So, in my mind, that was one of the first indicators, ‘hey, maybe this is not just a normal protest.'”
Pingeon recalls his team being outnumbered and says he was punched in the face by rioters who had descended on the Capitol that day to protest the certification of the 2020 presidential election results, fueled by false claims about election fraud spread by Former President Donald Trump.
“I was knocked on my back,” Pingeon said. “My helmet came down and felt like someone was on top of me and I couldn’t see anything. And I remember just thinking, I have to protect my gun, because they stole my baton.”
Pingeon wasn’t injured as severely as other officers, but he has invisible scars that may never fully heal.
He returned to work shortly after the riot and served in the Capitol Police for another nine more months as the memory of Jan. 6 became politicized. He has since left law enforcement.
“Right after Jan. 6, it seemed like everybody was on the same page,” Pingeon said. “This is not OK. Then very quickly the narrative shifted. And that was really difficult to see.”
Approximately 140 Capitol Police officers were injured by rioters, making it one of the most violent days for law enforcement in recent U.S. history.
Four officers who responded to the Capitol attack have since died by suicide.
Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died after suffering multiple strokes hours after he was pepper sprayed by rioters. The Washington DC medical examiner ruled he died of natural causes, but said his experience on Jan. 6 played a role in his condition.
Despite the deaths and injuries to officers, a months-long investigation by ABC News found conservative figures, including Trump, have begun to downplay the violence on Jan. 6, painting that day as a largely peaceful protest and recasting imprisoned rioters as “hostages.”
Derrick Evans, a former West Virginia House of Delegates and congressional candidate who served three months in federal prison for charges related to Jan. 6, repeated many of those false claims in an interview with ABC News.
“Do I think that anyone should be fighting police officers? No, I do not,” Evans said. “I think it’s wrong to do that. The police officers are the ones that really started the whole violence over there.”
Winston Pingeon reacted strongly.
“That’s not true,” he said when ABC News played video of Evans’ comments for the former Capitol Police officer. “We were there protecting. We were there to hold a line. We’re not pushing back unless we’re pushed on first. So its completely ridiculous.”
Multiple accused rioters from Jan. 6 have claimed they were incited to violence by police, but none have been successful in court.
Evans was convicted of trespassing at the Capitol and attempting to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election, a charge the Supreme Court has recently found was applied in an overly broad manner to Jan. 6 criminal cases.
“I don’t even think [Jan. 6] is really worth remembering. It’s been blown out of proportion by the media,” he said.
Meantime, the former president and his allies have made rewriting the history of Jan. 6 a centerpiece of his campaign, often saying a large number of capitol rioters deserve to be pardoned.
“If they’re innocent, I would pardon them,” Trump told ABC’s Rachel Scott during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Convention.
A pardon is exactly what Capitol rioter Rachel Powell told ABC News she’s waiting for behind bars.
“If Trump gets that, he’s promising that he will pardon us, if he gets in and they don’t steal the next election,” Powell said.
Powell called ABC News from federal prison, where she is currently serving a more than four-year sentence for her actions on Jan. 6.
Several of Powell’s fellow Jan. 6 inmates feel the same, she told ABC News. Powell sent ABC News a photo, taken inside of her correctional facility, showing her and three other Jan. 6 inmates smiling, with the words “Trump 2024” written in marker on top.
“I would want to know why they did what they did, and I’d be curious to know if they have remorse today. I think that’s what I would want to know,” Pingeon said. “Because loyalty to one man, to alter your life negatively, to go to prison for years. I mean, I would ask them: Was it worth it?”
(WASHINGTON) — Democrats again helped Republicans get a short-term government funding bill over the finish line on Wednesday to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month.
The measure is largely an extension of current funding levels but includes $231 million in additional aid to the Secret Service to help protect presidential candidates during the election.
The bill passed by a 341-82 margin, with 209 Democrats voting for it. While 82 Republicans voted against the bill, 132 voted with Speaker Mike Johnson, who saw his funding plan voted down last week as Democrats rejected the inclusion of the controversial SAVE Act.
The SAVE Act, pushed by Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, would have required proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. Democrats said that measure was unnecessary because it’s already a crime for noncitizens to vote. Although Johnson said there was “no daylight” between him and Trump on the funding bill, Trump called several hardline House Republicans in recent days, trying to get a last-minute change to the plan.
Before the vote, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pointed out that it has been House Democrats that have helped Republicans avoid shutdowns during the current Congress.
“Can anyone name a single thing that extreme MAGA Republicans in the House have been able to do on their own to make life better for the American people? A single thing? Just one,” he asked. “Can the American people name a single thing that extreme MAGA Republicans have done to make their lives better? Zip, zero. So that is the track record that will be presented to the American people,” he said.
Former President Donald Trump had called on congressional Republicans to allow the government to shut down over the SAVE Act.
Johnson told ABC News, “I am not defying President Trump” when asked if the former president approved of the new solution to avoid a shutdown.
“I’ve spoken with him at great length, and he is very frustrated about the situation,” Johnson said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “His great concern is election security, and it is mine as well. It is all of ours.”
Johnson asserted Trump “understands the current dilemma” with House Republicans and said, “there’s no daylight between us.”
The White House and congressional Democrats all slammed Johnson’s attempt to tie the voter eligibility legislation to government funding, noting that it’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.
But the “clean” short-term measure to avert a shutdown was praised by Democratic leaders and the Biden administration.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate would “immediately move” to pass the measure as soon as the House sends it over, and “if all goes well in the House, the Senate should be sending President Biden a bill before the end of today.
“Americans can breathe easy that because both sides have chosen bipartisanship, Congress is getting the job done,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “We will keep the government open. We will prevent vital government services from needlessly coming to a halt. We will give appropriators more time to fully fund the government before the end of the year. And I’m especially pleased we’re getting the job done with some time to spare.”
In addition to funding the government through Dec. 20, the bill includes funds to replenish FEMA and $231 million for the U.S. Secret Service in the wake a second apparent assassination attempt against Trump.
The White House Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday released a statement calling for “swift passage of this bill in both chambers of the Congress to avoid a costly, unnecessary Government shutdown.”
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — With about six weeks until Election Day, former President Donald Trump will deliver remarks on the tax code and U.S. manufacturing in battleground Georgia on Tuesday.
Vice President Kamala Harris has her own economic speech scheduled for Wednesday in Pennsylvania, another critical swing state. Later this week, she will travel to Arizona for some campaign events and to visit the southern border, according to a source familia with her plans.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Trump, in Georgia, hits on economy, immigration and more
In remarks in battleground Georgia focused on the economy and the tax code, Trump said dealing with immigration is first step in his economic plan.
In Savannah, Trump again said migrants with legal protected status in Springfield, Ohio, need to be deported and repeated his discriminatory and false argument that undocumented immigrants were stealing jobs from Black and Hispanic communities. He went on to call on local officials to “move the people back to the country from which they came.”
Trump spent much of his speech focused on increasing domestic production by tariffing other countries, telling Georgians they soon would be “stealing” jobs from other countries.
“Vote for Trump, and you will see a mass exodus of manufacturing from China to Pennsylvania, from Korea to North Carolina, from Germany to right here in Georgia, they’re going to come to Georgia, from Germany and a lot of other places,” he claimed.
“I’m outlining today, not only will we stop our businesses from leaving for foreign lands, but under my leadership, we’re going to take other countries’ jobs. Did you ever hear that expression before? Have you ever heard that? ‘We’re going to take other countries’ jobs.’ It’s never been stated before. We’re going to take their factories,” Trump claimed.
The former president also touched on Ukraine, just hours after President Joe Biden urged world leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly to never “waver” in support for Ukraine.
“I think that we’re stuck in that war unless I’m president. I’ll get it done. I’ll get it negotiated,” Trump claimed — a campaign pledge he often repeats but offers no specifics on how to accomplish.
Trump then seemingly praised Russia.
“That’s what they do, is they fight wars,” he said. “As somebody told me the other day, they beat Hitler, they beat Napoleon. That’s what they do. They fight and it’s not pleasant.”
ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soorin Kim and Kelsey Walsh
Nebraska governor won’t call special session to change electoral votes system
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen released a statement Tuesday confirming he has “no plans” to call a special session before the November general election — meaning that the Republican-led effort to change the state electoral college to winner-take-all is tabled, for now.
“My team and I have worked relentlessly to secure a filibuster-proof 33-vote majority to get winner-take-all passed before the November election,” Pillen said. “Given everything at stake for Nebraska and our country, we have left every inch on the field to get this done.”
“Unfortunately, we could not persuade 33 state senators,” he added.
Pillen specifically cited opposition from state Sen. Mike McDonnell, who on Monday said he would not support such a change before the 2024 election.
The switch would have likely benefitted Trump and made the electoral map more difficult for Harris.
-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd and Oren Oppenheim
Trump attacks Harris’ plan to visit the border
Trump is now weighing in on Harris’ plans to visit the southern border this Friday in Arizona, labelling the visit as “political” and accusing her of attempting to “con the public” of her border record.
“After almost four years, Border Czar Kamala Harris has decided, for political reasons, that it’s time for her to go to our broken Southern Border. What a disgrace that she waited so long,” Trump wrote on his social media, repeating his disparaging rhetoric on migrants.
While Harris has been to the southern border, the trip marks her first visit since lauched her campaign at the end of July.
Trump has made immigration central to his 2024 campaign, pledging mass deportations and a border shutdown among other hard-line policies. He visited the border last month, the same day Harris formally accepted the Democratic nomination for president.
ABC News’ Soorin Kim, Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh
Harris planning a visit to southern border this week: Source
Vice President Harris is planning to visit the southern border during her visit to Arizona on Friday, according to a source familiar.
This would be Harris’ first visit to the southern border since she jumped to the top of the ticket at the end of July.
Immigration has been a big issue in the 2024 race, with Donald Trump and Republicans inaccurately calling Harris the “border czar” and blaming her for the border crisis. Harris, in turn, argues that Trump and Republicans are at fault for killing the bipartisan border bill earlier this year.
Harris has overseen the Biden administration’s efforts to address the root causes of migration as vice president, and visited the border in 2021, after she came under fire for not having done so.
Trump expected to return to Butler for a rally on Oct. 5: Sources
Trump is expected to return to Butler, Pennsylvania, the city of his first assassination attempt, next Saturday for a rally, according to multiple sources familiar with his plans.
The rally is scheduled for Oct. 5.
Trump has long promised to return to Butler to honor the victims who died at his July rally.
“I WILL BE GOING BACK TO BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, FOR A BIG AND BEAUTIFUL RALLY, HONORING THE SOUL OF OUR BELOVED FIREFIGHTING HERO, COREY, AND THOSE BRAVE PATRIOTS INJURED TWO WEEKS AGO. WHAT A DAY IT WILL BE — FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT! STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS,” Trump wrote on his social media platform in July.
NBC News was first to report the news.
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders, Lalee Ibssa, Kesley Walsh and Soorin Kim
Harris won’t attend the Al Smith dinner, a presidential campaign staple
Vice President Harris will not attend the Al Smith dinner next month in New York, breaking with tradition of major party nominees sharing laughs at the benefit dinner, and will instead be on the campaign trail, a campaign official confirmed to ABC News.
“She is going to be campaigning in a battleground state that day, and the campaign wants to maximize her time in the battlegrounds this close to the election,” the official said.
The dinner, which benefits Catholic Charities, is scheduled for Oct. 17. It has become a traditional stop on the presidential campaign trail, with both the Republican and Democratic nominees attending and delivering remarks full of roasts. In recent years, both nominees attended the gala, including in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020. (The latter was virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic.)
The official also added that Harris’ team informed the dinner’s organizers she would be absent, but was willing to attend in a later year as president.
ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabrielle Abdul-Hakim and Will McDuffie
Melania Trump to sit for her 1st interview of 2024 election cycle
Former first lady Melania Trump will sit down for her first interview of the 2024 election cycle with Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt as she continues to promote her new book.
The interview is set to air on Thursday, Fox announced on Monday.
While Melania Trump has remained relatively quiet this campaign cycle, mainly appearing with the former president at closed-door events, she has been more active online recently as she launches her forthcoming memoir, “Melania.”
Her book is scheduled to be released on Oct. 8. Her website describes it in part as “the powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has defined personal excellence, overcome adversity, and carved her own path.”
ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soorin Kim and Kelsey Walsh
Trump again says it’s too late for another debate amid challenges from Harris
Trump is again ruling out another debate against Harris, arguing it would be “a very bad thing” for the country.
“Well, I’ve already done two debates, and they, you know, we’re good, but to do a third one, everybody’s voting now, and it’s very late to be doing a third debate,” Trump told Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin in a phone conversation that aired Monday morning.
Harris said over the weekend she accepted an offer from CNN for a debate on Oct. 23.
Her team has also noted that there have been presidential debates in years past in the final weeks before Election Day.
“The final 2020 debate was October 22,” the Harris campaign wrote on X. “The proposed CNN debate is October 23.”
Trump also debated Hillary Clinton for a third time around the same timeframe: Oct. 19, 2016.
Trump slightly leads in Arizona, about even in North Carolina: Polls
A set of New York Times/Siena College polls found Trump slightly leads Harris in Arizona and they are about evenly matched in North Carolina.
Among likely voters in Arizona, Trump leads Harris 50% to 45% in a head-to-head matchup. In a six-way matchup with other candidates, Trump still leads Harris 48% to 43%.
In North Carolina, Trump also leads Harris among likely voters 49% to 47%. He also leads by 2 percentage points in a six-way matchup. The lead, however, is within the poll’s margin of error.
Arizona and North Carolina are considered crucial battlegrounds this election, along with Georgia. According to 538’s polling average, Trump is ahead slightly in each of the three Sun Belt states.