Today’s notice: Topsy-turvy. The Harris camp makes a last-ditch push to win over the Cheney Republican. Steve Scalise measures the (policy) drapes. Trump sings a new tune on absentee voting.
Four Days on the Hunt for the Republican Harris Voter
Liz Cheney promised conservatives she believes Kamala Harris when the vice president says she’ll be a president for all Americans. George Conway, at a stop in Pittsburgh, sang a parody of “Honky Tonk Women” that labeled Harris one of the “law and order women” who, when it comes to Donald Trump, is going to “give him, give him, give him the law and order blues.” Mark Cuban, stumping for her in Grand Rapids, again promised to oppose Harris if she goes through with part of a tax plan the Biden administration supports. A giant bus labeled “Republican Voters Against Trump,” paid for by the PAC run by Sarah Longwell, caught around a dozen middle fingers from passing traffic as it rolled through the Alabama part of Pennsylvania.
As closing arguments go, “Some Name-ish Brand Republicans Like and Trust the Democrat” is a weird one. But it’s one Never Trumpers and Democrats are taking very seriously. The polls are the polls, and many people who are really scared of Trump are worried. In Erie County, Pennsylvania, the Democratic Party chair says Republicans who dislike Trump may just be the difference between victory and defeat.
And so the forces have descended on the “blue wall” states to sell Harris as the kind of president a moderate Republican could love. It requires something beyond just reminding voters of why they didn’t like Trump in the past, as Longwell told us aboard her bus: “She does have to overcome the ‘San Francisco liberal’ thing. … They don’t know what San Francisco liberal means exactly. It’s not a selection of policies. It’s a thing they reflexively don’t like.”
In Grand Rapids, Doug Emhoff said Harris was a capitalist and asked flat out: “What more do you need to know?” Longwell, Cuban and Cheney seem happy with what they’re hearing from Harris. But the clock is ticking, and Third Way gave NOTUS an exclusive polling analysis showing Harris trailing Joe Biden’s 2020 numbers with moderates despite her “doing everything she needs to do on that front.”
Read Evan’s story on the campaign to turn out GOP votes for Harris here.
Scalise’s First 100 Days
Steve Scalise isn’t waiting for Trump to win in a couple of weeks to begin plotting out the possible start of a Trump administration with the House in GOP hands.
“I’ve already talked to President Trump about the top priorities he would want,” Scalise told NOTUS’ Reese Gorman at the southern border on Monday.
Those priorities: “Clearly, there’s some things he can do through executive action, like end catch and release,” Scalise said. “On day one, he would start negotiating ‘Remain in Mexico,’ but he would need additional funding to get back to constructing the wall, and we could put that in something like budget reconciliation.”
From there, onto issues like health care… life gets more complicated.
Read the rest of Reese’s interview here.
Front Page
- Both Parties See Their Weakness in This Battleground Pennsylvania County: Democrats think they have a winning ground game in Erie County, but they’re concerned about their message. Republicans think they have a winning message, but they’re concerned about their ground game.
- Josh Hawley Was a Key Figure on Jan. 6. So Why Are Dems Ignoring It in His Senate Race? A look at Democratic strategy in a unique race.
- New Study Shows Kamala Harris Falling Behind With Moderates — Slightly: A Third Way survey shared with NOTUS shows trouble.
Trump Suddenly Not Worried About Election Integrity*
*In western North Carolina, that is.
The former president, standing across the highway from the now-receded Swannanoa River in Asheville, in front of piles of wreckage from the flash floods, said he’s been pleased with how early voting has been conducted in North Carolina. The state has eased its absentee and in-person voting rules in areas affected by Hurricane Helene, including exceptions to voter ID laws.
Trump has previously called mail-in voting a “big scam” and a “disaster.” In 2020, he also baselessly said that increased absentee voting was a way for Democrats to cheat in the elections. But with many deeply conservative counties in western North Carolina in the middle of storm recovery, Trump welcomed the emergency changes to loosen the restrictions he once championed.
“These tend to be Trump areas,” Trump said Monday. “And that the people would come out like that, I think it’s a great sign.”
—Anna Kramer, reporting from Asheville, North Carolina
One Awkward Moment…
Trump repeated several false claims about FEMA’s hurricane response during his Asheville visit. When he was asked directly about the implications of spreading misinformation, he doubled down: “I think you have to let people know how they’re doing,” Trump said.
Standing behind him throughout was Rep. Chuck Edwards, the Republican lawmaker who represents much of the area damaged by Hurricane Helene and has been trying to debunk some of the myths Trump pushed Monday.
—Anna Kramer, reporting from Asheville, North Carolina
Number You Should Know
+297,824
That’s the Democratic voter registration advantage over Republicans in Pennsylvania as of Monday. Yesterday was the last day to register to vote in the state. Republicans have gained significant ground in closing that gap, though. At the end of April, Democrats’ advantage was over 395,000 voters over Republicans, according to state elections data.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by … not us.
- The Very Real Scenario Where Trump Loses and Takes Power Anyway by Kyle Cheney, Heidi Przybyla, John Sakellariadis and Lisa Kashinsky at Politico
- In this red California county, Biden beat Trump by just 14 votes. What happens next? by Hailey Branson-Potts at Los Angeles Times
- DeSantis’ office drafted threats to Florida TV stations over abortion ads, lawyer says by Lawrence Mower and Ana Ceballos at Miami Herald
- The House Race Where Democrats Desperately Want the ‘Democrat’ to Lose, by Rick Rojas for The New York Times
Be Social
Michigan voters get a wilder sticker.
Canton Township, Mich. — Found in the wild. pic.twitter.com/2h1knmhqD5
— Chad Livengood (@ChadLivengood) October 21, 2024
Tell Us Your Thoughts
What would make the best I Voted sticker?
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