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Vice President Harris was on clean-up duty Wednesday after President Biden stumbled into a gaffe at the worst possible moment for her campaign.
In Biden’s garbled remarks during a Latino get-out-the-vote event on Zoom, the president appeared to call Trump’s supporters “garbage,” a line that was reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 remarks calling half of Trump’s supporters “deplorables.”
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“First of all, he clarified his comments, but let me be clear: I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” Harris told reporters on her way to a rally in North Carolina, one of three swing states she was visiting Wednesday.
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The White House sought to immediately correct the record Tuesday night, claiming Biden was only referring to the comedian at a Trump rally who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
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Biden later tweeted his own clarification.
Still, Harris and Democrats do not want the controversy to fester, with every utterance magnified in the final hours before Election Day.
- Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) went on CNN in the moments after Biden’s remarks went viral on social media.
- “I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn’t support,” he said.
Biden has largely been sidelined by the Harris campaign, underscored by his appearance on a Zoom event as Harris made her big closing argument in front of 75,000 people at the Ellipse near the White House.
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At a speech in New Hampshire last week, Biden said of Trump, “we gotta lock him up,” before correcting himself to say he meant it as a metaphor that Trump should be “politically” locked up.
- Biden will campaign Friday for Harris in Pennsylvania, where he’ll rally union workers.
GOP ON ATTACK: Republicans are all over Biden’s gaffe, which trampled on Harris’s big closing speech and moved the news cycle beyond shock comic Tony Hinchcliffe’s remarks about Puerto Rico at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday.
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Trump tied Harris to Biden’s remarks during a rally on Wednesday in Rocky Mount, N.C.: “This week, Kamala has been comparing her political opponents to the most evil mass murderers in history, and now speaking on a call for her campaign last night, Joe Biden finally said what he and Kamala really think of our supporters. He called them ‘garbage,’ and they mean it … My response to Joe and Kamala is very simple — you can’t lead America if you don’t love Americans.”
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Trump is fundraising off the remarks, after being informed of them in real-time while onstage at an Allentown rally on Tuesday night with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). “We are not garbage, we are patriots,” Rubio said.
- Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) said on X: “This is disgusting. Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half of the country. There’s no excuse for this. I hope Americans reject it.”
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Downballot Republicans running in swing states sought to tie their opponents to the remarks. Businessman Eric Hovde is up with an ad against Sen. Tammy Baldwin (R-Wis.) in their hotly contested Senate race. “Remember when Hillary Clinton called you a deplorable? … well Tammy Baldwin hates you too,” the narrator in the ad states.
DUELING RALLIES: Trump and Harris shadowed one another across the swing states Wednesday, holding dueling events in North Carolina, where about 3.4 million people have already voted.
This evening, Trump and Harris will be holding dueling events in Wisconsin, where almost 1 million ballots have already been cast.
- Trump will campaign in Green Bay alongside Packers legend Brett Favre.
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Harris will campaign in the college town of Madison with an indie rock line-up that includes Mumford & Sons, Gracie Abrams and members of The National.
💡 Perspectives:
RealClearPolitics: It’s too early to draw conclusions about early voting.
The Liberal Patriot: Both parties ignore working class voters.
The Hill: Republicans need real election solutions, not conspiracy theories.
The Hill: Who will decide this election – does it even matter?
The Hill: What South Texas can teach the GOP about winning Hispanics.
Read more:
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Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Jonathan Easley, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.
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Election court battles heating up
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The Supreme Court is increasingly being drawn into the 2024 election, as a flood of lower court cases work their way to the top.
Over the past 24 hours, the Supreme Court has weighed in on two cases that could impact the election in swing states:
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The high court ruled that Virginia can purge its voter rolls of about 1,600 people the state claims are non-citizens. The ruling is a blow to the Biden administration after the Department of Justice convinced lower courts to halt the voter roll purge so close to the election. Democrats are furious, saying there’s evidence some of the purged voters are U.S. citizens. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) argued all of those purged had self-identified as non-citizens, and their names are being removed under a law that was passed and enforced under prior Democratic governors. The three liberal justices dissented in the 6-3 decision.
- The Supreme Court also denied Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request to be taken off the ballots in Michigan and Wisconsin. Kennedy has instructed his supporters in battlegrounds not to vote for him, and instead to vote for Trump.
There are still several election cases before the Supreme Court, as well as new cases arriving at lower courts every day:
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The Republican National Committee’s (RNC) challenge to who can cast provisional ballots in Pennsylvania is pending a decision by the Supreme Court.
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The Trump campaign brought a lawsuit in suburban Philadelphia to extend in-person voting after several voters said they were sent home while waiting in line to cast a ballot.
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The RNC’s overseas ballot challenge in North Carolina was rejected by an appeals court.
Via The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld: “The disputes are just some of the dozens of legal battles playing out in courts across the country surrounding this year’s presidential contest. Some of those cases, as well as new ones filed after Election Day, could ultimately reach the Supreme Court.”
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© Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP
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Elections roundup: More than 57 million have voted
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Americans are heading to the polls in huge numbers, with the latest data from The University of Florida’s Election Lab finding that more than 57 million have cast ballots early.
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Amid fears of violence and election chaos, The New York Times reports the incendiary devices that started fires at the ballot boxes in Washington and Oregon earlier this week were marked with the words “Free Gaza.”
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Almost 500 damaged ballots were retrieved from the burned box in Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s (D-Wash.) swing district. Perez is locked in a tight reelection battle.
The battle for the House is going down to the wire, with The Hill/Decision Desk HQ giving Republicans a 54 percent chance of maintaining their majority.
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The Hill’s Mike Lillis and Mychael Schnell report that retirements have complicated Democratic efforts to win back the House, pointing to four open seats that are making their push for a majority more difficult.
Republicans are much greater favorites to win back the Senate, but who will lead them if they do?
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The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports that it’s down to Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas).
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Both are campaigning across the country hoping to earn goodwill with their colleagues before the vote to determine who will succeed longtime Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Read more:
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“Bezos declines to stand up to Trump,” by David Remnick for the New Yorker.
“Journalism dies in lockstep,” by Heather MacDonald for the City Journal.
“Election betting prediction markets provide valuable information,” by Charles Fain Lehman for the Free Press.
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6 days until Election Day.
82 days until Inauguration Day 2025.
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Wednesday
- Trump holds a rally in Green Bay, Wis., with Brett Favre.
- Harris holds a rally in Madison, Wis., with Gracie Abrams and Mumford & Sons.
Thursday
- Harris campaigns in Arizona and Nevada.
- Trump campaigns in New Mexico and Nevada, and is interviewed by Tucker Carlson in Arizona.
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There a story you think should be getting more attention? Something people should be talking about? Drop me a line: jeasley@thehill.com
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