September 12, 2024, presidential campaign news

Vice President Kamala Harris boards Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Thursday, September 1, as she travels to North Carolina for campaign events.

Kamala Harris just roasted her opponent on national television. After months of anticipation, the world’s biggest pop star finally endorsed her. She is swimming in a veritable ocean of cash. So why is Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell still feeling anxious about November’s election?

Burned before by overconfidence, Democrats this cycle are running against two opponents. Yes, Donald Trump is the name opposite of Harris’ on the ballot. But it is complacency in their own ranks that many of Harris’ allies are working just as hard to protect against in the final sprint toward Election Day.

Polls provide one reason why. Surveys in battleground states indicate an extraordinarily close contest, perhaps the closest in recent memory, which many Harris allies fear is being obscured by the swell of momentum on Harris’ side.

Trump’s stranglehold on his own supporters is another. Harris’ aides view his base of support as highly motivated and note his favorability is higher than when he lost the 2020 election.

Yet perhaps the biggest motivator — embossed on the minds of so many operatives who now are working to elect Harris — is the memory of 2016, when Hillary Clinton’s campaign believed it was coasting to victory only to see support in the so-called “blue wall” crumble.

Democrats are hardly in despair. Last month’s convention in Chicago was practically euphoric in its celebration of a new nominee that, unlike President Joe Biden, does not seem predestined to lose. And Harris herself has embraced the new sense of joy among the party, casting it as the alternative to Trump’s divisiveness.

Yet in practically every conversation, public or private, Harris aides and the candidate herself have interjected with a reality check. They have tempered expectations, tamped down on confidence and announced themselves as the underdog, despite their ostensible success in orchestrating an unprecedented candidate swap 100 days before the election and consolidating new Democratic enthusiasm.

Keep reading here about where things stand in the Harris campaign.

Huddled at their campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, the day after the debate, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign aides determined the event would likely do little to change the overall trajectory of the race.

Their earlier projections that the results in November will amount to a razor-thin margin — likely to be as close or closer than the results in 2020 — remain the same.

Instead, they have developed a plan for the coming days and weeks that will place Harris directly in front of battleground state voters, beginning Thursday in North Carolina and continuing Friday in Pennsylvania.

Those stops for the “New Way Forward” tour aren’t just to any battleground state. They’re the states where voting is already about to get underway. And a campaign official tells CNN that’s no coincidence.

North Carolina, a purple state where Harris and running mate Tim Walz will make two stops Thursday, is racing to reprint and send out mail-in ballots after the state’s Supreme Court ruled Monday to exclude Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has exited the race. About 161,000 people have already requested mail-in ballots, according to the NC Board of Elections. Trump won the state in 2020 by less than half that number of votes.

Next week, Harris will participate in a roundtable with rank-and-file members of the influential Teamsters union, which has been withholding an endorsement for the first time in decades. She will also participate in a Q&A session with members of the National Association of Black Journalists, with whom Trump appeared in late July and remarked that Harris “turned Black.”

The campaign is expecting to rake in millions in new funds, with a Harris-helmed fundraiser in Washington on Saturday, an Oprah-headlined virtual event next week and several other high-dollar events in the works, according to people familiar with them. That cash, the campaign has said, must be quickly tabulated and quickly deployed in states where voters are beginning to head to the ballot box.

In addition to rallies, Harris also plans more local media interviews in swing states and appearances that bring her into direct contact with voters.

Keep reading here about Harris’ campaign plans.

Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris brought an immediate, tangible boost for two key websites promoting voter registration, the latest signal of the superstar singer’s political potency. 

The link that Swift shared in her Instagram story late Tuesday routed fans to Vote.gov, which is the federal government’s voting registration site. 

That marked a significant spike to the site’s average traffic. For instance, from September 3 to 9, the site received about 30,000 visitors per day. Vote.gov received “a total of 726,523 visitors between September 10-11, 2024,” the spokesperson noted. 

The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization Vote.org also saw a significant spike in engagement around the debate and Swift’s endorsement. 

On Wednesday, there were over 27,000 new registrations and over 80,000 people who verified their registration status on Vote.org, a spokesperson said. 

Swift encouraged her supporters to register to vote and research early voting information. 

“I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday night.

With margins expected to be tight in battleground states this November, Swift’s capacity to shake up the presidential race could make a difference. 

Swift also urged fans to register to vote while accepting an award at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday. Vote.org doesn’t have post-VMA data at this point.

Sen. Chuck Schumer speaks at a news conference on the Project 2025 agenda, on Thursday, September 12, at the Capitol in Washington, DC.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer continued on Thursday to tie former President Donald Trump to the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a conservative policy roadmap for a Republican presidential administration.

Trump has said that he is unfamiliar with the project, which Schumer called, “an American nightmare. The most conservative, unhinged and extreme agenda we’ve seen in modern times.”

He added, “Trump’s first term in office wouldn’t hold a candle to the ideas in Project 2025.”

Schumer and several of his Senate Democratic colleagues pointed to parts of the proposal that are “laying the groundwork for a national abortion ban,” and note that it includes a plan to abolish the Department of Education. They also argued that the mortgage policies would “make it harder for Americans to own a home.” 

“This is sinister stuff,” said Schumer. “The vast majority of Americans oppose them, yet it is precisely what the hard right is promising the American people if Donald Trump returns to office.”

Pressed on Republicans’ insistence that Trump would not sign a national abortion ban —although Trump did not explicitly rule it out at Tuesday night’s presidential debate – the majority leader said, “look at everything he’s said over the years…No one believes him. Everybody knows what he’s going to do.”

More about Project 2025: The 920-page document was organized by The Heritage Foundation think tank and developed in significant part by people who served in Trump’s administration. Trump has publicly distanced himself from the initiative, calling unspecified Project 2025 ideas “seriously extreme.”  

Project 2025’s proposals for right-wing policies and a radical reshaping of the executive branch have become frequent targets of Democratic criticism. A Harris campaign official previously said the campaign has “made a deliberate decision to brand all of Trump’s policies” as “Project 2025,” since they believe “it has stuck with voters.” 

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance said he believes former President Donald Trump’s across-the-board tariff proposals are part of a negotiation tactic and claimed that tariffs are “not always” inflationary. 

“When people say these tariffs are going to have an effect, Donald Trump already imposed specific tariffs on specific industries. You didn’t see the negative consequences come to light. In fact, what you saw was rising wages and rising take home pay. So, when people say you can’t do this in a narrow way, you can’t do it in a broad-based way, I just think that doesn’t actually fit with reality,” Vance said. 

Trump has said that if elected, he would impose tariffs of up to 20% on every foreign import coming into the US, as well as another tariff upward of 60% on all Chinese imports and 10% across-the-board tariff on imports from other nations. He also said he would impose a “100% tariff” on countries that shift away from using the US dollar.

What experts say: Maury Obstfeld, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told CNN that such high levies would raise prices on consumers, especially if they were applied widely — although he cautioned that it’s unclear under what conditions Trump would impose 100% tariffs. Christine McDaniel, a former senior trade official in the George W. Bush administration, called the idea “crazy” and “silly season campaign rhetoric.” Alex Durante, an economist at the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank, told CNN that 100% tariffs would threaten the economy.

Merrick Garland speaks at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, on Thursday, Sept. 12.

Attorney General Merrick Garland slammed efforts to turn the Justice Department into a “political weapon” during a fiery speech Thursday to department staff and US attorneys from across the country.

Garland decried the “escalation of attacks” against career staff in years through “conspiracy theories, dangerous falsehoods, efforts to bully and intimidate career public servants by repeatedly and publicly singling them out, and threats of actual violence.”

The attorney general’s comments come as former President Donald Trump has claimed that the Justice Department has been weaponized against him amid his criminal prosecutions and suggested that he would politicize the department should he return to the Oval Office.

Neither Trump nor his allies were mentioned by name. But Trump and his associates have publicly discussed plans to dismantle the department and its law enforcement components like the FBI, or to prosecute his political enemies.

“Our norms are a promise that we will not allow this nation to become a country where law enforcement is treated as an apparatus of politics,” Garland added to applause.

Garland also thanked the prosecutors and Justice Department staff for refusing to “bend to politics” and “break under pressure.”

Read more about Garland’s remarks.

The Harris campaign is launching a new abortion-focused ad Thursday, capitalizing on what officials believe was one of the most pivotal exchanges between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump during Tuesday’s presidential debate.

Harris’ team prepared the vice president to confront Trump on nationwide abortion restrictions. Her aides argue the preparation paid off, crediting her needling him on reproductive rights for throwing him off balance the rest of the debate.

And now, they’re turning that moment into an ad that will run in battleground states, including in Arizona and Nevada where Trump heads this week.

The newly released ad includes both candidates’ responses on abortion on the debate stage.

“I did a great service in doing it. It took courage to do it, and the Supreme Court had great courage in doing it,” Trump said, referring to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Harris, in response, ran through personal stories of women struggling to get health care while navigating abortion restrictions.

“I think the American people believe that certain freedoms, in particular, the freedom to make decisions about one’s own body should not be made by the government,” she said.

Continue reading about Harris’ new ad.

Sen. JD Vance addresses the audience at a campaign rally on August 20 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance defended former President Donald Trump’s debate performance, and he didn’t explicitly say if he believes there should be a second one. 

It wasn’t clear which poll Vance was referencing. In a CNN flash poll, 63% of registered voters who watched Tuesday’s debate say Vice President Kamala Harris outperformed Trump. Among the group, 31% described themselves as Democrats, 39% as Republicans and 30% as independents or members of another party. 

Vance was asked if he had any frustration on what Trump was focusing on in the debate versus what he could have said about Harris. 

Vance said he disagrees with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who said that Trump lost the debate.  

“When you see how the undecided voters react, that’s what actually matters the most. But it’s telling that immediately after the debate, Kamala Harris came out and said, yes, I’d like to do another debate,” Vance said. 

Vance has two fundraisers in New York City today, according to a source familiar.

Springfield, Ohio’s City Hall was forced to close Thursday “due to a bomb threat that was issued to multiple facilities throughout Springfield today.”

It’s unclear what the nature of the threat was; officials were alerted to the threat via email at 8:24 a.m, ET, according to the city.

Springfield has been the center of false claim pushed by former President Donald Trump and others that Haitian migrants in the community are stealing and eating pets.

City officials have told CNN they have seen no evidence of that happening.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced on Thursday a grant program that would support new farmers in Minnesota to buy equipment or improve infrastructure on their farm. 

The new grant funding comes as Walz seeks to appeal to agriculture workers, farmers and rural voters while campaigning around the country as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. 

Under the new program, beginner farmers would be allowed to apply for up to $20,000 grants to purchase farm equipment or improve infrastructure like irrigation systems or livestock buildings. The program expects to award $800,000 in total. 

Harris’ running mate has often highlighted his rural upbringing in Nebraska and his connection to rural voters through his time representing rural Minnesotans in Congress and as governor.

In an interview with WCMU, a public radio station in Michigan, Walz touted his connection to people in “ag districts” and spoke on how he hopes to win their support. 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal listen as Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks during a news conference at the Capitol on July 30 in Washington, DC.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal warned his fellow Democrats not to get complacent after Vice President Kamala Harris’ debate performance — citing Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016. 

“I’m deeply concerned that this race is going to be neck and neck right to the finish, and the euphoria that a lot of people are feeling right now, while justified, perhaps, after her tremendous performance in the debate, may lead to complacency or overconfidence,” he told CNN.

Asked how Harris can protect herself against that trend, the Connecticut Democrat continued, “You avoid that trap by sounding the alarm and raising awareness about past complacency — we have only to look at Hillary Clinton to see how complacency and overconfidence can lead to disaster, especially after a good debate.” 

Conservative activist Leonard Leo is threatening to withhold some of his $1 billion in funds from dozens of groups he supports unless they can demonstrate plans to “weaponize the conservative vision.”

In a letter obtained by CNN, Leo makes it clear he wants groups that are supported by his 85 Fund to take concrete action to “crush liberal dominance” if they want to continue to receive funding. 

The letter outlines how Leo believes left-wing activist groups have used their funds to “weaponize” their philosophy — and he would like to see groups that are supported by his 85 Fund do the same. Leo believes that conservative philanthropy needs to move “less in the direction of research, policy, and general education,” and instead use funding to “operationalize or weaponize the conservative vision.” 

In his letter, Leo says the Left has taken this “enormous” step in operationalizing their ideas.

Leo is known as one of the architects of Trump’s conservative Supreme Court. He helped Trump select Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Since taking the bench, the Trump’s appointees have been a part of several federal laws — including the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The letter cites groups like Students for Justice in Palestine, Voter Registration Project and World Professional Association for Transgender Health as a few organizations that have benefited from left-wing funding and are using the funds to mobilize their ideology. 

The letter does not specifically name any groups that Leo is threatening to withhold funding from. He added that the review of his funds was provoked by, in his opinion, the amount of his funds being put towards “ideation.” This letter was first reported by Axios. 

It’s easy to dismiss many presidential candidates’ campaign promises as empty, because Congress would need to approve them.

Tariffs are different.

Presidents have vast powers to lob tariffs on friends and foes, as former President Donald Trump demonstrated when he waged a trade war starting in 2018. That’s why some experts are alarmed and baffled by Trump’s latest threat to use his favorite economic weapon.

During a rally in battleground Wisconsin last weekend, Trump vowed to impose staggering tariffs on countries that snub the US dollar.

The US dollar remains the world’s reserve currency – essentially a super currency that helps international trade flow and the global economy to function. But Trump’s threat appears to be in response to China, Russia and other countries that have made noise about finding an alternative to the greenback.

Taking a hardline on protecting the almighty dollar might sound good on the campaign trail, but experts warn that such a massive tariff would likely backfire on the American people.

Read the full story.

Taylor Swift performs onstage at Wembley Stadium on August 15, in London, England.

Taylor Swift’s call to encourage people to register to vote may be having an impact, according to the General Services Administration (GSA), a federal agency that provides government services.

It was not immediately clear how many of those visitors registered to vote. 

Vote.gov, which is the link Swift shared in her endorsement, is the federal government’s voting registration site run by the GSA. The website directs voters to their individual states and territories to register to vote and provides answers to frequently asked questions.

Swift endorsed Kamala Harris in an Instagram post on Tuesday night.

Vote.org also saw a huge spike in engagement around the debate and Swift’s endorsement. A spokesperson for Vote.org told CNN there was a 585% jump in voters on the website between 9 p.m. through midnight ET, during the debate and shortly after Swift’s post endorsing the Harris-Walz campaign. 

While voter engagement across the country likely increased also due to the debate, the CEO of Vote.org attributed the spike, in part, to the Taylor effect. 

“Taylor Swift’s impact on voter engagement is undeniable,” Andrea Hailey, Vote.org CEO, said in a statement to CNN.

Former President Donald Trump appears in court with his lawyers Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and Susan Necheles for his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 28 in New York City.

New York’s highest court rejected two separate attempts to hear Donald Trump’s appeals on the gag order in his hush money case, according to a decision list posted Thursday.

The gag order, issued by Judge Juan Merchan in the criminal case against Trump, remains in effect, although Merchan lifted portions of it in June. Trump’s attorneys had challenged both the initial gag order and the modified gag order.

The judges wrote that they declined to hear the case about the modified gag order because “no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.”

Trump’s legal team had no immediate comment.

Trump was found guilty earlier this year of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. Sentencing in the case has been delayed until late November.

This is one of four criminal cases Trump faces while running again for president.

A nearly four-year-old legal effort by Black voters to convince a court to prevent former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party from potentially intimidating voters and poll workers is quietly coming back to life as the 2024 election approaches.

First brought in the days following the 2020 election, the lawsuit has moved slowly through the federal courts in Washington, DC, as Trump’s claims of presidential immunity from civil lawsuits were being litigated. It coincidently has landed before US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, the judge handling the federal election subversion charges against Trump.

But now, the case is beginning to show signs of movement.

The case could have enormous implications for this election and future ones: The voters are asking a federal judge to put Trump, his campaign and the Republican National Committee under court supervision that would require them to seek pre-approval before “engaging in any activities related to recounts, certifications, or similar post-election activities,” and to bar the defendants from intimidating voters, poll workers and other election officials.

If the plaintiffs ultimately prevail, their victory could provide them with a significant deterrence against potential intimidation and harassment of election workers and voters from Republicans as Trump and his allies signal that they will again try to undermine the results of the election.

Read the full story.

The Trump campaign is up with a new ad in Pennsylvania warning voters that Kamala Harris wants to ban fracking, despite Kamala Harris’ recent statements to the contrary, seizing on a key issue in the battleground state.

“Harris will ban all fracking,” the ad opens, over images of Harris’ high-profile interview with CNN earlier this month, her first sit-down as the new Democratic nominee. The ad proceeds to play a clip of Harris at a CNN Town Hall in 2019, taking a question from a voter.

“That will immediately put tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians out of work and send utility bills skyrocketing,” the ad’s narrator says. “Trump will protect clean energy fracking and protect the jobs it creates.” 

Harris was asked directly about her position on fracking at Tuesday’s debate, and she answered, “I will not ban fracking. I have not banned fracking as vice president of the United States. And, in fact, I was the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking.”

The new ad from the Trump campaign reflects the salience of the issue. Fracking is a major industry in Pennsylvania, the top battleground state this election cycle, drawing more campaign dollars than any other. And the debate over the industry’s economic and environmental impacts is one of several shaping the fierce contest in the commonwealth.

This comes as the Harris campaign on Wednesday released its first digital ad following the presidential debate featuring clips from her performance as it seeks to highlight the contrast with Trump.

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who served under Republican George W. Bush, told CNN News Central that he’s backing Democratic nominee Kamala Harris because he believes she is “most likely to be dedicated to trying to unite America. I don’t see that, that discipline, that willingness in Donald Trump.”

Gonzales said he felt the need to come out publicly against Trump “because of his lack of, as we see it, his lack of support, lack of willingness to abide by the rule of law,” adding that he believes Harris has “demonstrated fidelity to the rule of law.”

“I thought her performance during the convention was good. I thought her performance during the debate was outstanding, quite frankly,” he said.

Gonzalez first announced his support for Harris earlier this morning in a Politico op-ed.

Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell – who warned about Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016 – said she was “ecstatic” about Tuesday’s debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump until she had a conversation with a local official back home.  

“I was ecstatic like every other Democrat as I watched the debate. I thought she got under his skin,” she told Kasie Hunt of Harris on CNN This Morning. 

The Michigan Democrat warned that polls showing Harris leading Trump in her home state, a key battleground, may not be accurate.

“I think Michigan is a dead heat,” Dingell explained. 

Former President Donald Trump gestures during a campaign event at the Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee, Wisconsin, on September 7.

Election Day is less than two months away, and both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have a busy schedule of campaign events today following their presidential debate.

CNN poll of debate watchers found that registered voters who watched the presidential debate broadly agreed Harris outperformed Trump. Despite many saying that Harris won the showdown, the vice president still faces a tight race. Read fact checks and key takeaways from the night.

Trump said he is still weighing whether to debate Harris again, while the Harris campaign said it is entering a more aggressive phase as it seeks to build on momentum following the presidential debate and mobilize voters in key battleground states. 

Here’s more on the campaign:

The Harris campaign on Wednesday released its first digital ad following the presidential debate featuring clips from her performance as it seeks to highlight the contrast with Donald Trump.

The ad, titled “Leadership,” aims to emphasize Harris’ message to “chart a new way forward,” and spotlights her commitment to bring “a sense of optimism about what we can do,” according to a news release from the campaign.

The 30-second slot shows Trump on the debate stage in what the Harris campaign referred to as “thrashing” the country.

“We’re a failing nation. A nation that is dying. We’re a nation that’s in serious decline,” Trump said.

“What I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country. One who brings a sense of optimism about what we can do. We all have so much more in common than what separates us. And we can chart a new way forward,” Harris said. 

The ad will air across digital platforms and is part of the Harris campaign’s $370 million investment in digital and television reservations between Labor Day and Election Day.

Former President Donald Trump speaks during the debate on Tuesday.

Ex-President Donald Trump is equivocating over the possibility of a second debate with Kamala Harris after his dud display in their first showdown prompted his team and conservative media allies to mount a frantic cleanup operation.

It’s far too early to say whether the tangle in Philadelphia substantially changed the race as Harris beseeches remaining movable voters in swing states to ditch the chaos of the Trump era. But in the aftermath of Tuesday’s debate, both campaigns are surveying the impact of a critical clash before more than 60 million viewers eight weeks from Election Day.

Trump, who took multiple victory laps following President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance in late June, found himself facing the kind of inquest endured by his erstwhile rival. While the ex-president’s campaign will not suffer the same fate as Biden’s shuttered reelection effort, the debate was the latest sign that Trump is still failing to focus on the new challenges posed by Harris and make his own best case.

The vice president was basking in a fresh jolt of euphoria among Democrats who perceive an oft-doubted political figure growing in stature with every test she passes. Harris’ campaign is also leveraging the endorsement of Taylor Swift, which could open a new seam of interest among the pop megastar’s loyal fanbase.

And her allies are reinforcing the tone of mockery and attempts to goad Trump that emerged at the Democratic National Convention and that the vice president carried into the debate. Philippe Reines, a former Hillary Clinton aide who played Trump in Harris’ debate prep, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Wednesday that the ex-president has slowed mentally since 2016 and compared him to a “malfunctioning appliance.”

Read Collinson’s full analysis.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia, on August 29.

The Harris campaign says it is entering a more aggressive phase as it seeks to build on momentum following the presidential debate and mobilize voters in key battleground states. 

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris will kick off her “New Way Forward” tour through swing states, beginning with two rallies in Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina. On Friday, Harris will hold events in Johnstown and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, a state she has reiterated she needs to win in November.

The campaign is expected to launch new TV and digital ads featuring key moments from the debate. The day after Harris’ performance, staffers spent hours poring through debate footage to identify key moments to highlight key issues among voters while offering a stark contrast between Trump.

The campaign released its first digital ad yesterday featuring clips from her performance. The ad, titled “Leadership,” aims to emphasize Harris’ message to “chart a new way forward” and spotlights her commitment to bring “a sense of optimism about what we can do,” according to a press release from the campaign.

More media dates: The vice president is expected to hold more media engagements in the coming days, including in local markets through swing states. It comes as she has faced mounting criticism for not holding more interviews. Next week, she will also participate in a discussion with journalists at the National Association of Black Journalists. Harris was unable to attend NABJ’s annual convention due to a prior obligation and opted to reschedule her speaking engagement.

Top Harris surrogates will also have a robust schedule on the trail, with less than two months until Election Day. Today and tomorrow, Gov. Tim Walz will campaign in Michigan and Wisconsin, while Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff attends events in Arizona and Nevada. Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz will travel to Manchester, New Hampshire, and Maine to campaign, including headlining an Educators for Harris-Walz event and visiting a phone bank. The “New Way Forward” tour is also set to include surrogate events to target key voter groups today.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are back on the campaign trail today as they make their pitch to voters with less than two months until Election Day.

Harris is heading to North Carolina and will attend two campaign rallies in Charlotte and Greensboro as she kicks off her “New Way Forward” tour through swing states.

Trump is heading to Arizona, where he will deliver remarks in Tucson. The former president is also scheduled to attend a fundraising event in Los Angeles, California.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will travel to Michigan to hold a campaign event in Grand Rapids.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media in the spin room following the debate at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, on Tuesday, September 10.

As soon as Donald Trump exited the debate stage in Philadelphia Tuesday night, he immediately began quizzing those waiting in his viewing room about how the last 90 minutes had gone. While several praised him to his face, telling him he did a “great job,” that’s not what many of them are saying privately. 

Instead, those around Trump have described what happened on stage as a draw at best and a loss at worst. Several of them told CNN they were stunned that the former president failed to do a better job executing on the talking points he had prepared against Vice President Harris, her record and her policy reversals. 

Trump had done more debate prep ahead of his first meeting with Harris than he did for his debate with President Joe Biden earlier this summer, two people told CNN. Yet Trump didn’t make one of his central arguments against Harris — about why she hasn’t carried out the promises she’s making now in the last 3.5 years in office — until his closing argument, surprising many of them who have heard him make the argument in private and on the campaign trail. 

Instead, one person conceded, Trump took the bait every single time Harris offered it.

While multiple Trump allies described what happened Tuesday night as a “missed opportunity,” they have since started downplaying the debate’s overall significance, arguing it won’t shift his numbers with voters in states like Pennsylvania. 

Trump himself was noncommittal about a second debate Wednesday morning, though almost every ally of his who CNN spoke with said they believe he will ultimately agree to one. 

(Left to right): Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance attend the annual 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum on September 11, in New York City.

Voters and lawmakers are reacting to the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump as the countdown to Election Day continues in a very tight race.

The two candidates came face-to-face for a second time this week at an event commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks yesterday.

Here are the latest developments in the race:

Patrons watch the ABC presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, during a watch party at Union Pub in Washington, DC on Tuesday, September 10.

The first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump drew an estimated 67.1 million viewers across 17 television networks, according to Nielsen data.

Tuesday’s debate in Philadelphia, hosted by ABC News, was aired across 17 television networks and easily surpassed the 51 million who tuned in to the June debate hosted by CNN between Trump and President Joe Biden. 

While Tuesday’s debate drew the largest television audience of the year, it represents a drop in total audience from 2020, when more than 73 million people watched the first debate between Trump and Biden across all television networks. In 2016, a record 84 million tuned in to the first debate matchup between Hillary Clinton and Trump.

Viewership habits have changed dramatically since 2016, and Nielsen does not account for the myriad streaming and social media platforms that many also used to watch Tuesday’s debate. While fewer Americans watched the debate on television than in previous election years, millions more watched on digital platforms.

ABC drew the most viewers with more than 19 million people tuning in, followed by NBC with more than 10 million and Fox News with more than 9 million.

Former President Donald Trump said his team is still weighing whether he would engage in another debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, after her team immediately called for a second debate in October. 

“I would do NBC. I would do FOX too, but right now, we have to determine whether or not we even want to do,” Trump said, after visiting the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department in Pennsylvania.

“When you don’t win, it’s like a fighter — when a fighter has a bad fight gets knocked out or loses the fight, the first thing he says is we want a rematch. So, we won the debate according to every single poll, every single poll. Are we going to do a rematch? I just don’t know,” Trump said. “But we’ll think about it.”

CNN’s flash poll after the debate found that registered voters who watched it broadly agreed that Harris outperformed Trump.

As CNN reported this morning, a top Harris campaign official declined to say whether Harris would agree to a second September 25 presidential debate on NBC following Tuesday’s performance.

Trump said it was “very polite” between him and Harris Wednesday morning, who shook hands at the 9/11 commemoration ceremony.

“Just, uh, very polite, very polite,” Trump said, when asked what he said to Harris.