Month: October 2024

Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, held a rally on Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York City MSG, which seats 19,500 people, opened its doors around noon EDT to Trump supporters, many of whom camped outside overnight Saturday, with the event beginning around 5 p.m.

The Trump campaign described the Madison Square Garden rally as “historic” with a star-studded list of speakers including SpaceX’s Elon Musk, retired professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, TV personality Dr. Phil McGraw, and UFC chief executive Dana White; with additional speakers including former Democrats Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., House Speaker Mike Johnson, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Senior Trump advisors Dan Scavino and Stephen Miller, as well as several of Mr. Trump’s children.

In a surprise appearance, Trump’s wife Melania Trump introduced her husband, marking her first public political speech of this campaign cycle. Mrs. Trump has largely stayed away from campaigning this year, appearing with her husband only a handful of times throughout his latest presidential run. Trump’s speech included topics regarding immigration, his deportation plans, crime and the border.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris campaigned in Philadelphia, making stops in the western and northern parts of the city included speaking at a church service, visiting a barbershop and stopping at a Puerto Rican restaurant.

A new CBS News poll has the two presidential candidates neck and neck with nine days until Election Day, with Vice President Kamala Harris at 50% and Trump at 49% among likely voters. In battleground states, both are polling at 50%.

Editorial credit: Xackery Irving / Shutterstock.com

On Sunday, a federal appeals court refused to throw out a lower court order that ordered recently purged voters restored in Virginia, setting up a possible U.S. Supreme Court appeal.  In a court filing Friday, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and state Attorney General Jason Miyares, also a Republican, indicated in their motion the state planned to ask the Supreme Court to lift the injunction this week if the appeals court did not do so. U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles ruled on that motion that the move would be too disruptive to administer with just over a week until Election Day.

The decision by the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals (comprised of Democratic Fourth Circuit Judges Albert Diaz, Toby Heyten and Stephanie Thacker) said they are “unpersuaded” by lawyers for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin seeking to block an injunction obtained by U.S. Justice Department and civil rights groups.

According to court filings, about 1,600 people were removed from voter rolls in an Aug. 7 executive order from Youngkin. The appeals judges said neither the court nor the parties knew whether the people removed from the rolls “were in fact non-citizens” with at least some “eligible voters” had their registration canceled and didn’t know this was done. The three-judge panel’s order stressed that Virginia officials “remain able to prevent noncitizens from voting by canceling registrations on an individualized basis or prosecuting any noncitizen who votes.”

The ruling now sets up a Supreme Court fight over the purge program with early voting already underway in Virginia. Another federal court on Aug. 16 issued a similar ruling blocking a voter removal program in Alabama.

Editorial credit: Rob Crandall / Shutterstock.com