September 11, 2024, presidential campaign news

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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.

Philippe Reines, the former Hillary Clinton aide who portrayed Trump during debate prep with Kamala Harris, has shared a photo of his costume and make-up from the run throughs.

Philippe Reines, a former Hillary Clinton aide who played the role of former President Donald Trump in Kamala Harris’ debate preparations, celebrated the vice president’s performance at Tuesday’s debate while reflecting on how Trump has changed since his first presidential run eight years ago.

Reines told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” Wednesday that Harris was successful in carving out the space to remind viewers of Trump’s record while sharing her own plans for the next four years.

Reines, who also played Trump in Hillary Clinton’s debate preparations in 2016, argued that that Trump’s messaging is now “all over the board” and described him as a “malfunctioning appliance.”

Reines also gave insight that Harris initiating a handshake with Trump was “not a matter of rehearsal.”

Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine appears on CBS News on Wednesday, September 11.

Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine weighed in on the false claims promoted by the Trump campaign that Haitian migrants in Ohio are killing and eating family pets.

Asked about the false claims during an interview with CBS on Wednesday DeWine said: “This is something that came up on the internet, and the internet can be quite crazy sometimes.”

Former President Donald Trump repeated the false claim during Tuesday’s debate that had been amplified this week by right-wing media figures and echoed by Republican leaders.  

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country and it’s a shame.” 

In a statement to CNN, a spokesperson for the City of Springfield said: “There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

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 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. 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. acknowledged in a Fox News interview Wednesday that while he believed former President Donald Trump won the debate, Harris “clearly won the debate in terms of her delivery, her polish, her organization and her preparation.” 

Kennedy predicted the debate may cost Trump support in upcoming polls. 

“I think on substance, President Trump wins in terms of his governance,” Kennedy said. “But he didn’t tell that story.”

Kennedy, who dropped out of the presidential race last month and endorsed Trump, highlighted the exchange on economic policy as “an extraordinary lost opportunity” by the Republican nominee, arguing Trump should have emphasized more strongly the consequences of rising inflation but instead became “distracted.” 

Kennedy predicted Trump will see a dip in support in post-debate polling, particularly among independent voters. He also undercut Trump’s claim that rapid reaction polls on the debate universally show he won the debate. 

“Polling over the next week is going to show, you know, probably a slight drop in his support, particularly among independents,” he continued. 

When asked if he had any reservations about endorsing Trump, Kennedy said he still believes Trump is the better candidate on policy. 

“I was listening to the substance, and on the substance, President Trump wins,” he said.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appears on CNN on Wednesday, Septemb

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday she was “proud” of Kamala Harris’ debate performance and hit back at Donald Trump, who name-checked her during Tuesday night’s debate over the January 6, 2021, insurrection.

“I was so proud of her,” Pelosi said of Harris, adding that Trump “looked foolish last night. I thought [Harris] looked presidential.”

Trump, during the debate, incorrectly claimed that then-Speaker Pelosi was responsible for inadequate security at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and that she rejected his call to send in the National Guard.

Pelosi pointed out Wednesday that the speaker of the House has no authority over the deployment of the District of Columbia National Guard, which reports to the president. She added that she pleaded with then-President Trump to send in the National Guard “and he never did, until finally he did hours later.”

“We’re dependent on the president who has incited the insurrection and refused to send the National Guard,” she said, adding, “You know what? We don’t agonize, we organize. We just us have to win, we have to win big.”

(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 Wednesday morning.

Here are the key headlines to know:

Rep. Ralph Norman speaks with CNN's Manu Raju on Wednesday, September 11.

Several House Republicans defended former President Donald Trump’s performance in last night’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, insisting that he was able to communicate his views on the economy, despite moving away from the issues at times.

Conservative Rep. Ralph Norman accused the debate of being biased and told CNN’s Manu Raju that Harris did not have to meet high expectations.

Norman also baselessly suggested that Harris possibly knew the questions that the moderators would ask ahead of time, but was unable to offer any evidence to back this up.

“I think she knew the questions. I think she had her lines rehearsed, but the American people, whatever she says, they’re feeling it at the pump. They’re feeling it, you know, with crime, the policies haven’t worked, she’s been a part of it,” he said.

Rep. Anthony D'Esposito speaks with CNN's Manu Raju on Wednesday, September 11.

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito a vulnerable New York Republican, praised Trump’s performance and said the former president “did a good job of talking about the issues that matter most to the American people, while Kamala Harris continued to pivot back and forth and spin what it is that she’s trying to portray now.”

Rep. John Duarte speaks with CNN's Raju Manu on Wednesday, September 11.

On the issue of abortion, Rep. John Duarte of California, another vulnerable Republican, argued that Trump “was clear that he wants abortion to be kept in the states,” and didn’t need to explicitly say he is against a national ban.

Duarte also said that Trump, “did a great job communicating the economy, communicating inflation being so low under his presidency” and dismissed concerns that Trump focused too much on his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

“I don’t think that’s what voters are voting on. Voters are voting on inflation and opportunity right now, and right now, the American people are seeing out-of-control inflation and their opportunities are falling apart in the job market,” Duarte said.

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 debate in Philadelphia hosted by ABC News and aired across 17 television networks 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.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the spin room ahead of the debate at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, on Tuesday, September 10

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to attend his first campaign event as a Trump surrogate since endorsing the former president last month, according to a news release from the Donald Trump-JD Vance campaign.

Kennedy will appear with former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard in a moderated discussion at a “Team Trump Reclaim America Tour” event in Glendale, Arizona, on Saturday.

"At the Shanksville Fire Station, @POTUS spoke about the country's bipartisan unity after 9/11 and said we needed to get back to that. As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap. He briefly wore it," White House spokesman Andrew Bates explained via X.

The White House is offering an explanation of a photo circulating that shows President Joe Biden wearing a Trump hat at the firehouse in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, earlier Wednesday.

Inside the fire station, Biden briefly donned a Trump hat as an apparent gesture of bipartisan unity.

A White House spokesperson said the president was talking about how the country was united in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks and said it needed to return to that. He handed a hat to a man wearing a Trump cap as a gesture, and that man gave Biden his hat to briefly wear, the spokesperson said.

Pictures show Biden smiling widely while wearing the hat.

Joan London knew when Tuesday’s debate began she would not vote for Donald Trump. But when it ended, she was in a most unfamiliar place: ready to cast her first vote for a Democrat for president. In battleground Pennsylvania, by the way.

“Harris clearly won,” said London, an attorney who lives in conservative Berks County. “And I’m now voting for her even though I have many serious policy differences.”

London became a Republican when she turned 18, a fan of Ronald Reagan’s brand of conservatism. Earlier this year, she cast a primary vote for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, then switched her registration to independent because she sees Trump as an angry populist.

Until this week’s debate in Philadelphia, though, she planned to honor her conservative principles and write in some other Republican. But everything changed when the former president repeatedly refused to say he believed it was critical that the United States stand with Ukraine. Trump said he wanted to end the war, and suggested he could negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Several voters who are undecided or leaning toward Harris or Trump, but open to changing their candidate, gave Harris more positive reviews for her debate performance. Several though, significantly, said she was not specific enough in explaining her policy proposals.

“Kamala Harris says she wants to lift up the middle class, but how?” said Linda Rooney, a Haley primary voter who lives in the Philadelphia suburbs. She also voiced concern about Harris shifting her positions on fracking and other issues.

Cynthia Sabatini, a Reagan Republican and “never Trump” voter, plans to write in a conservative or vote third party unless Harris wins her over. The vice president did not do so Tuesday night.

“She is a good debater,” Sabatini said. “But in my opinion, she needs to answer questions on point.” Specifically, Sabatini said Harris failed out of the gate when asked whether she believed Americans are better off than they were four years ago and again on questions about the border.

Read more about what voters had to say about the debate.

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.

The post was updated with more details on the reaction from Vote.org

Sen Chris Coons speaks with reporters on Wednesday, September 11.

Democratic Sen. Chris Coons praised Vice President Kamala Harris’ performance in last night’s debate, noting that she was up against a “uniquely difficult” opponent in former President Donald Trump.

Asked whether the debate moved the needle at all for voters, Coons argued that it did by mobilizing Harris’ supporters and possibly swaying some undecided voters.

“I also think it will move what is a very small number of unpersuaded voters, or voters who’ve gone back and forth,” he said.

The senator from Delaware also criticized Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets.

“That was a misleading story that had, I would argue, ill intent, that had already been debunked, and was deployed almost on cue by Donald Trump to make what was a fairly vicious anti-migrant slur,” Coons said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for a cognitive test to be given to Donald Trump, saying his debate performance Tuesday night left him doubting the former president’s mental acuity.

Jeffries pointed to Trump’s echoing of false claims that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are eating residents’ pet dogs and cats.

“It was hard to follow some elements of the debate when the Republican nominee is making up stories about people eating cats and dogs. You can’t make this stuff up,” Jeffries said.

Sen. JD Vance appears on Fox News on Wednesday, September 11.

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance dismissed the impact of Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Vice President Harris, arguing she is a billionaire and is “fundamentally disconnected” from the interests and problems of most Americans.  

“When grocery prices go by up by 20%, it hurts most Americans. It doesn’t hurt Taylor Swift. When housing prices become unaffordable, it doesn’t affect Taylor Swift or any other billionaire. It does affect middle-class Americans all over our country,” Vance told Fox News. 

Swift signed her endorsement as “Childless Cat Lady,” in obvious reference to Vance’s controversial past comments. Vance said his pitch to women voters is that former president Trump will return public safety and an affordable cost of living.

“Donald Trump delivered policies that lower the prices of groceries, lower the prices of housing, and most importantly, Donald Trump delivered public safety in our country,” Vance said. 

As the vice presidential debate approaches in October, Vance said he is aiming to be “as well-versed in the policy” as possible.

“The way that I think about this is it’s an opportunity,” Vance said. “I get 90 minutes to talk to the American people about how Donald Trump can make their lives better.” 

“We’re going to talk about a lot of policy. I’m trying to read and just understand as much as possible, you know, what Tim Walz has done, what policies he supported, and how it’s so different from the prosperity and peace that Donald Trump delivered,” Vance said. 

A new ad launched by the Trump campaign on Wednesday features clips of Kamala Harris’ high-profile interview with CNN earlier this month, while slamming the vice president and the Biden administration over inflation.

The ad opens with a clip of Harris saying that “Bidenomics is working” — a soundbite frequently referenced in pro-Trump ads — and proceeds to clips of news coverage about inflation, including one from Harris’ CNN interview, in which she is pressed on the cost of living.

“When it comes to the economy, groceries were less expensive, housing was more affordable when Donald Trump was president,” CNN’s Dana Bash says in the interview clip. The ad’s narrator picks up, “Yet, Harris still says Bidenomics is working. No, it isn’t.”

The economy and inflation have been a major point of attack for Trump and his Republican allies, in addition to their emphasis on immigration and crime. Several of the most recent ads from the Trump campaign have focused on prices, including one saying that “Kamala Harris cast the tie breaking vote that created America’s inflation,” a reference to the party-line vote on the Inflation Reduction Act.

The new ad began airing this afternoon in Georgia, and the Trump campaign’s quick deployment of soundbites from Harris’ first major interview since becoming the Democratic nominee underscores the Harris campaign’s cautious approach to press availability, another point of criticism from Republicans. 

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 this 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.

Several senior Senate Republicans gave former President Donald Trump poor marks for his debate performance last night.

Here’s what they said:

Others were more critical.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a day of service commemorating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in St. Paul, Minnesota on Wednesday.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz participated in a day of service commemorating the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in St. Paul on Wednesday, where he spoke pridefully about Minnesotans coming together in the wake of the tragedy, greeted volunteers and packed donation boxes.  

Appearing in his official capacity as Minnesota governor, Kamala Harris’ running mate recalled learning about the attacks on the morning of September 11 in a classroom at Mankato West High School, where Walz taught before entering politics. He said he remembers experiencing “that moment of disbelief” and watching “young faces try and comprehend the horror that was in front of them.”

He also reflected positively on the state responding to the tragedy by coming together as a community. 

Walz’s remarks were followed by brief remarks from Cindy McGinty, whose husband died in the World Trade Center on September 11 and helped organize a national day of service commemorating the day. Walz then sealed packages of oatmeal and helped put them in boxes to be donated as part of the day of service.

Harris, President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance are also commemorating the anniversary of the attacks today. All four leaders were in New York on Wednesday for a commemoration event at Ground Zero in Manhattan.

Kamala Harris campaign aides huddled at their Wilmington headquarters Wednesday in the immediate aftermath of the first Harris-Donald Trump debate Tuesday night, strategizing over how best to capitalize on the momentum they felt after the primetime face-off. 

But despite the vice president’s team feeling pleased with how the debate went last night – both in terms of what they saw as a strong performance from Harris as well as Trump losing his composure at multiple points – the Harris campaign is emphatic that the debate did not change the trajectory of the race. 

Multiple aides tell CNN that post-debate discussions in Wilmington continue to center around the core assumption that Election Day will be extremely close, and that the hardest work remains ahead of them in the weeks to come.  

Another aide said from here on out until November, the campaign will continue to operate as though the Harris-Trump race is a 50-50 race. 

As for Tuesday night’s debate, the campaign is plotting ways to amplify Trump’s answers that they believed were most substantively problematic. Those answers, aides said, include the former president’s refusal to take a position on a national abortion ban as well as his comments on the January 6 riot.

After receiving Taylor Swift’s endorsement Tuesday night, the Kamala Harris campaign quickly began selling “Harris-Walz friendship bracelets” in tribute to the mega star. 

Those bracelets have quickly sold out, aides tell CNN. The campaign store page for the “pack of two adjustable, waterproof bracelets with clay beads” — going for $20 each — currently displays a message that the bracelets have in fact sold out. 

The campaign says it is taking pre-orders with the next expected release date of September 24.

More on Swift’s endorsement: Shortly after Trump’s debate with Harris, Swift wrote on Instagram, “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election.”

“Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most. As a voter, I make sure to watch and read everything I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country,” she said.

Swift signed off on the post by calling herself a “childless cat lady,” alluding to a phrase previously used by Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, to criticize Democrats.

Trump reaction: The Trump campaign responded to Swift’s endorsement of Harris, saying that it is “more evidence that the Democrat party has become the party of the wealthy elite.”

“President Trump will fight for the American worker, the struggling family who can’t afford groceries and gas, and the angel families who have lost loved ones due to Kamala’s open border policy. Taylor Swift may not understand those problems but President Trump does,” campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

This post has been updated with reactions from the Trump campaign.

The top election officials from six states testified Wednesday on Capitol Hill about efforts torun a clean and fair election, as some of the first ballots for the 2024 presidential election are being mailed out. 

The six officials – three Republicans and three Democrats – stressed that the election season is already in full swing, with tens of millions of voters expected to cast early ballots before Election Day in November. 

But sharp partisan divides were also on full display. Some Republicans raised fears about widespread voting by non-citizens, even though that doesn’t happen in US elections. And Democrats blamed former President Donald Trump for threatening the safety of election workers by peddling the lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, acknowledged that it’s “rare” for non-citizens to cast ballots — a break from Trump and other right-wing influencers like Elon Musk, who claim this phenomenon is swamping the country, and have used this lie to question the legitimacy of the 2024 results before any ballots have even been cast. 

LaRose said his office caught about 600 instances last year of non-citizens registering to vote, in a state where nearly 6 million people voted in the 2020 presidential race.  

Prodded by GOP lawmakers, the Democratic election officials agreed that non-citizens and undocumented immigrants shouldn’t vote in federal elections. They pointed out that this is already illegal, it happens rarely, and it is easily caught because of the extensive paper trail in voter registration. 

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, accused Republicans of spreading “paranoia around a fake problem.” He said that in his time as an election official, he has seen how these attempts to stop non-citizens from voting actually end up disenfranchising thousands of eligible voters. 

“I take no pride in the idea that we have denied eligible citizens the right to vote, in far greater numbers than we would have prevented the vanishingly rare non-citizen voting is alleged to be happening across the United States of America,” Fontes said. 

It’s not one election, but 51, that pick the US president. Every state and the District of Columbia has its own rules and deadlines for voting and for counting votes.

The first voting officially was already supposed to be underway with mail-in ballots in the key state of North Carolina, but that process was delayed by courts that ruled ballots must be reprinted without the option of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump.

Absentee ballots are now officially available in Alabama, although, somewhat ironically, it is a state that discourages early voting. Others will follow in the weeks to come.

When do voting by mail and early voting start? Most states will not offer mail-in ballots until later in September or October. The next firm date on the calendar is September 19, when ballots are supposed to be available in the key state of Wisconsin. For all states, ballots must begin to be sent to military and overseas voters by September 21.

Each state has its own rules and deadlines for how and when to request a mail-in ballot and by when those ballots must be returned. In some states, mail ballots must be in the hands of election officials before polls close, but others will count ballots that arrive after Election Day if they were postmarked earlier.

Washington, for instance, is one of the handful of states that conducts nearly all of its voting entirely by mail and will accept a mail-in ballot until results are certified in late November so long as it is postmarked by Election Day.

Early voting may also be done in person in most states, but that process does not get underway until later in September. Widespread early voting will begin on September 20 in Minnesota, South Dakota and Virginia.

For specifics on your state, visit CNN’s Voter Handbook, which has the dates for every state. And read more here about voting in the 2024 election.

Several Senate Democrats expressed concern about the tightness of the presidential race, despite Vice President Kamala Harris’ performance in Tuesday night’s debate.

He added, “The electoral college/popular mismatch is getting more significant, rather than less significant,” noting that the swing states are “all very, very close,” and said that they have to win by a large enough margin that they can easily dismiss claims by former president Donald Trump that the election is rigged.

“You want to win big to overcome the electoral college effect. You want to win big so that every reasonable person knows you won, and his lonely complaints about, that he should have won are really just lonely,” said Kaine.

Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, also said that he is concerned about the closeness of the race. “This race is going to come down to, you know, just a few 1,000 votes probably,” he said.

“Everybody is all hands-on deck. Everybody is. We have a campaign that’s not taking any vote for granted,” he added.

What the latest polling shows: Harris averages 49% support across recent polls while Trump stands at 48%, according to the latest CNN Poll of Polls. That average suggests no clear leader in the race just eight weeks until Election Day.

The CNN Poll of Polls is an average of the six most recent non-partisan, national surveys of registered or likely voters that meet CNN’s standards and ask about a 2024 presidential general election between Harris and Trump.

Meanwhile, CNN polls across six battlegrounds found Georgia and Pennsylvania are key toss-ups.

Senate Republican Whip John Thune said on Wednesday it would be “prudent” for Donald Trump to talk about the future and not continue to say that the 2020 election was stolen, a baseless fraud claim that the former president repeated in the presidential debate Tuesday. 

Asked if Trump took Harris’s bait during the debate, such as when she challenged the size of Trump’s rallies, Thune downplayed the impact the debate will have on voters.  

“I just think the debate isn’t going to change much and she still has to answer for her record,” he said.

Thune said he and most Senate Republicans support Ukraine in in its war with Russia when he was asked about Trump’s refusal to say if Ukraine should win.

“My position is that we want Ukraine to win the war. For sure. I will let him speak for his position but we had 32 out of 49 Republicans who voted to support Ukraine in their efforts to defeat the Russians,” he said.

Sen. Mitt Romney speaks to CNN's Manu Raju on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, September 11.

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, a former GOP presidential nominee himself, said he’s concerned that former President Donald Trump refused to say that Ukraine should win the war against Russia during Tuesday night’s presidential debate.

Romney also said that he doesn’t think the debate will move the needle. “There are a few exceptions to that, but in last night’s debate I thought President Trump prosecuted his case as he wanted to. I think the Vice President was able to demonstrate that people’s questions about could she answer questions from the media or not, those were answered well. She spoke well and clearly, and I think she prosecuted her case as well,” he told CNN.

Romney, a frequent critic of Trump, called the debate a “classic President Trump performance,” and added that Harris was able to introduce herself to the American people.

“Most people didn’t know her terribly well, other than a few clips that that were not flattering that you might see on the internet,” said Romney. “And people saw, ‘Oh, actually, she’s an intelligent, capable person who has a point of view on issues,’ and she demonstrated that time and again.”

The Utah Republican said it was “no surprise” that the baseless claims about Haitian migrants eating pets came from Trump, adding that the former president should “just stick to the issues.”

Several Republicans refused to discuss the debate, including Sen. Todd Young, who has refused to back Trump. “I’ll talk to you after the election,” he said.

Former President Donald Trump, center and Sen. JD Vance pose for a photo with firefighters from Engine 4 Ladder 15 on the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on Wednesday in New York.

Former President Donald Trump and his running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance visited firefighters at Engine Company 4 Ladder Company 15 in New York City, where they stayed for about 45 minutes.

They came to the station after the 9/11 commemoration ceremony held at Ground Zero. 

Trump and Vance moved their way through the station, shaking hands, taking pictures and visiting with people. They all took a group photo with Trump and Vance standing in the middle with a large FDNY sign behind them. Trump waved to reporters across the street. He raised his fist and gave a thumbs up. 

Five Danish firefighters were at the fire station “to show some respect for the firefighters,” Kasper Hinge said.

“The first thing he said was who are these good-looking guys or good-looking gentlemen,” Hinge, one of the firefighters told CNN about their interaction with Trump.

“Then we told him that we were firefighters from Denmark and he looked me in the eyes and said, ‘oh, your country has other problems,’” he said. “Then he left, and I’m not sure what he meant about it.”

Hinge said he was a little starstruck by Trump’s visit but “we’re not that much into American politicians.” Asked if they believe foreign leaders are laughing at Trump, as Vice President Harris said during the debate on Tuesday night, another firefighter said, “Some might.”

Specifically in Denmark, another said, “I don’t think so, because you know it’s one of the most powerful people in the world.”

Vance departed about 10 minutes before Trump, who stayed and talked with more people. 

Right-wing activist Laura Loomer stood outside on the side of the fire station with Trump co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita. She was seen getting off the Trump plane in Philadelphia Tuesday before the debate.

This post has been updated with details from the Danish firefighters.

Trey Forrest, Absentee Election Coordinator for the Jefferson County/Birmingham, Alabama Division, prepares absentee ballots for the November election on Tuesday, September 10, in Birmingham, Alabama.

Voting for the 2024 general election officially begins today as absentee ballots start going out in Alabama. 

Eligible voters can also now request and cast an absentee ballot in person. 

In Alabama, voters must have a valid excuse to vote absentee (either by mail or in person) so a relatively small number of ballots are cast that way. 

The voting season was supposed to start last Friday with mail ballots going out in North Carolina, but that process is delayed as the state reprints ballots after the state supreme court ruled officials must remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name.

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris shake hands at the beginning of the debate on Tuesday.

Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris in a virtual coin toss before their presidential debate – but that’s about all he won.

From the opening moments Tuesday night, when the vice president strode over to Trump’s podium and all but forced him to shake her hand, she dictated the terms of their critical clash exactly eight weeks before Election Day.

From Harris’ point of view, the night could hardly have gone better.

She came across as fresh and energetic and brimmed with a positive future vision. Trump glowered and ranted and blasted America as a failing nation and seemed off his game.

The vice president, who has sometimes struggled in spontaneous situations, delivered the most imposing performance of her political career. Trump, who had gone into the debate predicting he’d prove boxing champ Mike Tyson’s maxim that “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth,” was himself stunned by multiple jabs and landed few in return.

At a time when nearly a third of voters suggested in one recent poll that they wanted to know more about Harris, the vice president’s performance seemed more likely to expand her coalition. Trump, meanwhile, didn’t make much effort to change perceptions about his dystopian intentions among the key swing state voters who will decide the election.

While it’s too early to say whether Harris’ performance will translate into new momentum, her campaign will be optimistic that she’s improved her chances among, perhaps, 200,000 movable voters who will decide the next election in a handful of states.

Read the full analysis.

Rodney Vassel puts gas in a truck at a station on June 11 in Chicago. 

Oil prices are near three-year lows. Gas prices are sinking below $3 in many parts of America. So why were Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump talking so much about expanding oil production during Tuesday night’s debate?

Harris, criticized for her previous stance against fracking, noted that she represented the tie-breaking vote in the Senate to open new fracking leases in 2022. Though Harris also repeatedly touted her support for clean energy solutions, she correctly acknowledged that under the Biden administration, the United States has been producing more oil than any country has in history.

Meanwhile, Trump, who supports a rapid expansion of oil production, attacked Harris for policy proposals that he said would decimate America’s fossil fuel business: “If she won the election, the day after that election, they’ll go back to destroying our country and oil will be dead. Fossil fuel will be dead,” Trump said.

Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, told CNN in a phone interview on Wednesday that he’s “not at all concerned” about the fossil fuel industry getting destroyed because Americans still rely on oil for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

For all the candidates’ talk of promoting fossil fuel production, it’s not clear that America needs drastically more oil. (And climate scientists say that’s the exact opposite of what the planet needs).

US crude prices settled below $66 a barrel Tuesday, their lowest level since December 2021, before bouncing back a bit Wednesday.

Gas prices are at a six-month low, according to AAA. Meanwhile, OPEC+, a group of major oil-producing nations, is so worried about excessive supply and weak demand in China that it delayed plans to ramp up production.

US oil production has already spiked to a record of 13.4 million barrels per day, according to weekly federal data.

Lipow said it would be “difficult” to get US output dramatically above 14 million barrels per day because all of the most efficient and cheapest places have already been drilled.

Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, is also skeptical that US output can spike.

“As a rule, the president doesn’t have the power to quickly ramp up US oil production. The industry operates all out,” said McNally, who served as an energy adviser to former President George W. Bush.

After closing statements, former President Donald Trump spoke for about 42 minutes and 52 seconds, while Vice President Kamala Harris spoke for about 37 minutes and 36 seconds.

While the debate was designed to offer both candidates an equal chance to respond to questions, they could choose not to use the maximum allotted time. The moderators also allowed more time for responses after some exchanges.

Here’s how long each candidate used:

Watch CNN’s Daniel Dale fact-check claims made by former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris during an ABC News presidential debate.

Gov. Roy Cooper speaks to members of the media in the spin room following the presidential debate on Tuesday.

Winning a debate hardly guarantees winning an election, but North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said he believes Kamala Harris will move the needle in his battleground state after her strong showing in Philadelphia.

The vice president’s answers on protecting abortion rights and health care, Cooper said, could be key to bolstering Democratic efforts to deliver the state in a presidential race for the first time since 2008. 

“She was really strong on health care,” Cooper told CNN after the debate. “Donald Trump would take it all away, don’t let him fool you.”

Cooper, who has known Harris for nearly two decades, said he was surprised Trump took the bait on the size of his crowds and more.

“For sure,” Cooper said. “I think she knew that this was a vulnerability of his, but to just become completely unraveled, unhinged and incoherent shows why he should not be president of the United States.”

Former President Donald Trump speaks during the presidential debate on Tuesday.

Former President Donald Trump laid into ABC News on Wednesday morning after his rocky debate performance, stating the network should have its broadcast license revoked.

ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis fact-checked Trump throughout Tuesday night’s presidential debate, quickly correcting the record for millions watching at home after the Republican pushed falsehoods on abortion, migrants and the 2020 election.

“It was a rigged deal as I assumed it would be because when you looked the fact they were correcting everything and not correcting with her,” Trump said Wednesday.

The former president also suggested, without evidence, that Vice President Kamala Harris was provided the debate questions in advance.

Trump ultimately delivered more than 30 false claims during the debate, CNN’s preliminary count found, while Harris shared just one false claim, though she also added some claims that were misleading or lacking in key context.

Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt called last night’s debate “a big success for President Trump.”

Leavitt deferred to Trump when asked about the potential for more debates, telling CNN News Central host John Berman, “all of the debates that we have announced on this campaign — and there have been many of them — have come from President Trump directly, so I will let him make an announcement on this front.”

“I haven’t talked to the president since he made those remarks,” she said.

Leavitt rejected a suggestion from Berman that Vice President Kamala Harris got under Trump’s skin during the debate, saying, “I don’t think that happened at all.” She criticized the ABC News debate moderators, as the former president and other campaign surrogates have done since last night.

When asked about Trump’s assertion that he will produce a health care plan “in the not too distant future,” Leavitt said, “I don’t have a date for you this morning, but I’ll definitely get back to you with one as soon as I can.” She later added that Trump’s plan is based on the “free market” in contrast to “Kamala Harris’ radical healthcare plan,” which she called “socialism.”

Philippe Reines, the former Hillary Clinton aide who portrayed former President Donald Trump during debate prep with Kamala Harris, shared a photo of his costume and make-up from the run throughs.

In the picture, he wears a long red tie and a full face of bronzer, keeping with his method-acting style of debate prep. 

In a tweet, he wrote that it was time for a “facial,” a “haircut” and a “spiritual cleanse.”

Can I vote early? What deadlines should I know about? Do I need to show an ID?

Voters will soon start casting ballots for the 2024 presidential election as in-person, early voting is set to begin in several states later this month.

There’s still time to get your voting questions answered. Check out our personalized voter guide for information on how to register to vote, mail-in and early voting, and much more in your state.

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced off on facts, dueled on policy and traded barbs during the presidential debate hosted by ABC News on Tuesday, in which Trump also veered off on a tangent about immigrants eating pets.

Here are 27 quotes to understand what happened during their showdown in Philadelphia:

This comes from the middle of the debate, but it is perhaps the most important line because this debate was, in every possible way, different than the one between Trump and President Joe Biden in June. That debate eventually ended Biden’s reelection campaign. This one gave Harris an opportunity to laugh at Trump, tell him he was weak and get under his skin in multiple ways.

He’s talking here about Harris’ “opportunity economy” plan, but it is a line, replete with insult, that expresses Trump’s theme for the night – which was to tie Harris to Biden and also make her appear to be too willing to change her policy proposals.

Read 25 more quotes from the debate here.

Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden attend a 9/11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero in New York on Wednesday.

Vice President Kamala Harris has condemned the killing of American activist Aysenur Eygi, who was killed at a protest last week in the occupied West Bank, and offered sharp rhetoric aimed at the Israel Defense Forces.

Harris called Eygi’s death a “horrific tragedy that never should have happened.”

Harris also called for “full accountability.”

CNN has asked Harris’ office if she plans to reach out to her family.

Earlier on Wednesday, President Joe Biden also said he was “outraged” by Eygi’s death and said Israel must “do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again.”

Harris campaign senior adviser David Plouffe offered a roadmap of some of the key moments from former President Donald Trump at Tuesday’s debate that the Harris team plans to harness in the days ahead. 

Those moments include Trump’s comments on healthcare:

On abortion:

Trump recently said he would not support a ballot referendum to expand abortion access in his home state of Florida, where abortion is now illegal in most cases after six weeks. The ballot measure that Florida voters will take up this fall would make abortion legal in the state up to the point of viability, which many experts believe is around 23 or 24 weeks of a pregnancy.

And on Ukraine:

Plouffe told CNN’s John Berman that those are “three key moments we’ll see a lot about in the coming days and weeks.”

Vice President Kamala Harris shakes hands with former President Donald Trump during a remembrance ceremony in New York on Wednesday.

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris shook hands after arriving for the 9/11 memorial ceremony on Wednesday morning.

The handshake comes in the wake of the two presidential candidates meeting face-to-face for the first time last night at ABC News’ historic presidential debate, where they traded barbs over inflation, abortion, immigration and foreign policy.

The two shook hands last night at the debate, too.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have arrived at Ground Zero, according to pool reporters.

Biden and Harris will honor the solemn 9/11 terror attacks anniversary at each of the 9/11 memorial sites today and are not expected to deliver formal remarks, but will interact with families of the fallen.

Former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance arrive at a ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in the Manhattan on Wednesday.

Former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance arrived at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City, where they are attending the 9/11 commemoration ceremony at Ground Zero. 

Trump will also travel to Shanksville later today, according to a source familiar with his plans.

Former President Donald Trump is seen in the spin room after the debate on Tuesday.

Wall Street sure is acting like Donald Trump lost the debate Tuesday night.

Investors swiftly penalized Trump’s social media business following the former president’s widely panned debate performance. Other so-called Trump trades, including bitcoin and Coinbase, went into reverse Wednesday, while bonds and Asian currencies rallied. And some funds that own solar and other clean energy stocks rose sharply.

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group plunged 10% in premarket trading Wednesday, leaving them on pace to open at the lowest level since the Truth Social owner went public in late March.

The sharp selloff represents an immediate reaction to the ABC presidential debate, where Vice President Kamala Harris successfully threw Trump off his game.

It’s the exact opposite of the reaction in Trump Media’s share price on June 28 after President Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in the CNN debate. Trump Media initially spiked 10% that day, before fizzling and ending in the red.

David Muir and Linsey Davis moderate the presidential debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis fact-checked Donald Trump during Tuesday night’s presidential debate, quickly correcting the record for millions watching at home after the Republican pushed falsehoods on abortion, migrants and the 2020 election.

The decision to live fact-check the candidates during the high-stakes telecast marked a departure from recent debates and stood in contrast to the first presidential matchup of the 2024 season, hosted by CNN and moderated by anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. During the June debate, the moderators did not correct false claims made by Trump and President Joe Biden. Instead, the network provided a fact check online and on television following the telecast. 

Ahead of Tuesday night’s debate in Philadelphia, ABC News did not commit to live fact-checking, but as the event got underway both anchors stepped in to debunk false claims made by Trump on at least three occasions. 

Roughly 20 minutes into the debate, the former president claimed Democrats have advocated for abortion in the ninth month of pregnancy or were in favor of “executing” babies “after birth,” pushing a notorious and often-repeated false claim. Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, has said “execution after birth is OK,” Trump falsely claimed.

Moderator Linsey Davis immediately corrected the record on the abortion issue. “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born,” she said.

Later in the debate, Trump falsely claimed migrants in Ohio were killing pets and eating them, repeating a debunked claim that had been amplified this week by right-wing media figures and echoed by Republican leaders. 

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country and it’s a shame.”

Muir quickly corrected Trump on the claim.

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he didn’t know if he wanted to debate Vice President Kamala Harris again as he claimed he “won the debate.”

Trump said if Fox News were to moderate a debate, he “wouldn’t want” Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier as moderators because he didn’t think “were good last night,” as he apparently referenced their on-air reactions to his and Harris’ debate. 

Trump had previously agreed to participate in a debate hosted by Fox News with MacCallum and Baier moderating. Harris had not accepted that invitation from Fox. 

“I wouldn’t want to have Martha and Bret. I’d love to have somebody else other than Martha and Bret. I’d love to have, frankly, Sean [Hannity] or Jesse [Watters] or Laura [Ingraham], you know, somebody else. Let’s give other people a shot,” he said.

Trump baselessly suggested Harris was provided the questions in advance of the ABC presidential debate as he claimed the debate was “rigged.”

“They had a rigged show with somebody that maybe even had the answers, I mean, I’ll be honest, I watched her talk, and I said, you know, she seems awfully familiar with the questions,” Trump said. 

Taylor Swift poses for photos in February.

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday cast Taylor Swift as a “very liberal person” who “seems to always endorse a Democrat” after the music superstar said she is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

Shortly after Trump’s debate with Harris Tuesday evening, Swift wrote on Instagram, “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election.”

“Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most. As a voter, I make sure to watch and read everything I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country,” she said.

Swift signed off on the post by calling herself a “childless cat lady,” alluding to a phrase previously used by Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, to criticize Democrats.

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Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller repeatedly stressed that Donald Trump has already committed to additional presidential debates but refused to definitively say whether the Republican nominee would participate with NBC News on September 25 – instead arguing that the “onus” is on Kamala Harris to “quit playing games” and “she won’t show up.”

“I thought this was a bit perplexing because President Trump has already said that he is going to do three debates,” Miller told Kasie Hunt on CNN This Morning.

“We had the September 4 debate, which was going to be on Fox, and Kamala Harris was a no show. We had last night. And President Trump already said that on September 25, we would do a debate on NBC.”

He continued, “But now Kamala Harris seems to have memory holed that and rather than just saying, we’ll see you on September 25 on NBC, is now throwing out some fictional day in October.”

“So very clearly, we’re going to have to go back to the drawing board,” Miller added.

The Trump campaign senior adviser argued that the Harris campaign is calling for another debate because the Democratic nominee did not effectively break from President Joe Biden or explain why she hasn’t achieved her legislative goals over the past three and a half years she has been in office.

Pressed on Trump’s decision to stand by a baseless conspiracy about Haitian migrants eating pets at last night’s debate, Miller pointed viewers to “Federalist.com” for proof and argued that it was “three-on-one” – Harris and the ABC News debate moderators versus Trump.

Republicans gather at a wine bar to watch the presidential debate in Winnemucca, Nevada, on Tuesday.

Under the rules of Tuesday’s debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the candidates’ microphones were muted when it was not their turn to speak.

The pool reporter in the debate hall in Philadelphia was able to hear some of what was said when their mics were muted.

When Trump claimed that Democrats want abortion access in the ninth month, Harris said, “That’s not true.”

When Trump said he was a leader on in vitro fertilization, Harris said, “You have not.”

When Trump made the debunked claim about migrants in Ohio eating pets, Harris responded: “What? That is unbelievable.”

When Harris said Trump “doesn’t have a plan for you,” the former president responded: “That’s just a soundbite. They gave her that to say.”

A top Harris campaign official declined to say whether Vice President Kamala Harris would agree to a second September 25 presidential debate on NBC following Tuesday’s performance. 

Pressed by Hunt on whether she was willing to debate in October but not September, Fulks said that the “two campaigns are going to have to agree on a date,” declining to commit. 

He said that a second debate would “absolutely” allow Harris to continue to introduce herself to voters, but suggested that she is doing that in battleground states as she kicks off another tour. 

Harris, he added, is “going to be out and about doing interviews.”

“We know that that is a part, and we want to make sure that we are speaking to the press. But look – we have 50-something days here. Our priority has to be the American voters… And over the next several weeks, we have to campaign,” he said. 

Moments after Tuesday night’s debate ended, Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon issued a statement calling for “a second debate in October. Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?”

Fulks said the campaign is “honored” to have Taylor Swift’s endorsement. 

“We’re honored that somebody who has a platform like that would use their voice to speak out on that,” he said.

Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris both speak as they attend a presidential debate hosted by ABC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 10.

Registered voters who watched Tuesday’s debate are closely divided over which candidate better understands the problems facing people like them, according to a CNN poll of debate watchers conducted by SSRS, with 44% saying Harris does and 40% picking Trump. 

That marks a shift in Harris’ favor from prior to the debate, when 43% said Trump had a better understanding of their problems while 39% said Harris did. 

But voters who tuned in give Trump a 20-point advantage over Harris after the debate on handling the economy, 55% to 35% – a margin that’s slightly wider than before they took the stage in Philadelphia.

The poll’s results reflect opinions of the debate only among those voters who tuned in and aren’t representative of the views of the full voting public. Debate watchers in the poll were 6 points likelier to be Republican-aligned than Democratic-aligned, making for an audience that’s about 4 percentage points more GOP-leaning than all registered voters nationally.

An 82% majority of registered voters who watched Tuesday’s debate say it didn’t affect their choice for president. Another 14% said it made them reconsider but didn’t change their minds, with 4% saying it changed their minds about whom to vote for. Debate watchers who supported Trump prior to Tuesday night were modestly more likely than those who supported Harris to say the debate had left them reconsidering.

Methodology: The CNN poll was conducted by text message with 605 registered US voters who said they watched the debate Tuesday, and the poll findings are representative of the views of debate watchers only. Respondents were recruited to participate before the debate and were selected via a survey of members of the SSRS Opinion Panel, a nationally representative panel recruited using probability-based sampling techniques. Results for the full sample of debate watchers have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points.

American singer and songwriter Taylor Swift performs on stage as part of her Eras Tour in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 24.

Taylor Swift has said she is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris in the race for president, ending speculation about whether the superstar singer would share her political views ahead of November’s election.

Swift signed off on the post by calling herself a “childless cat lady,” alluding to a phrase previously used by Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, to criticize Democrats.

In 2020, Swift announced her support for Biden and Harris in their bid for the White House.

Read the full story.

Smoke pours from the twin towers of the World Trade Center after they were hit by two hijacked airliners on September 11, 2001 in New York City.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks today with visits to each of the three sites that were hit.

Harris will join Biden for a commemoration event at Ground Zero in Manhattan this morning. The duo will then travel to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Flight 93 memorial.

Later in the afternoon, they will travel to the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, for another wreath-laying ceremony.

Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, are scheduled to appear at Ground Zero, too. Trump will also travel to Shanksville today, according to a source familiar with his plans. It’s unclear whether the two parties will cross paths.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, will also attend an event to commemorate the anniversary. His office did not say where the event will take place.

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks during a presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 10.

Most voters in a CNN focus group in Erie, Pennsylvania, say they thought Vice President Kamala Harris won the presidential debate on Tuesday.

The group of 13 voters had not yet decided on who to vote for before the debate. When CNN’s Phil Mattingly asked the group who won the debate, eight voters said Harris won the showdown. Mattingly noted that Erie is “the swingiest county” in the battleground state.

One voter said Harris was “more optimistic” and “more respectful” and could describe her plans more effectively.

But another voter, who said she felt Donald Trump won the debate, said she thought the former president is the candidate that could improve things like inflation and the economy.

One critical moment of the debate the voters reacted to was when Trump and Harris debated about abortion rights. One voter responded positively to Harris’ answer because the vice president’s “impassioned response” resonated with her. She said she still had a favorable reaction to the moment even though she said she doesn’t agree with all of the vice president’s positions on the issue.

Another voter said that although she also doesn’t agree with Harris’ stance on abortion, she thought it was “nice to see the passion and believability that she stands behind and then have something to gauge more of what she says on since she hasn’t spoken a lot, solidly about a lot of issues.”

On Trump’s strongest moment, one voter, who is a veteran, said he felt like the former president’s remarks about the Afghanistan withdrawal were strong.

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Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris debate on Tuesday.

Kamala Harris on Tuesday night baited Donald Trump for nearly all of the 1 hour and 45 minutes of their first and potentially only debate — and the former president took every bit of it.

The vice president had prepared extensively for their debate, and peppered nearly every answer with a comment designed to enrage the former president. Trump was often out of control. He loudly and repeatedly insisted that a whole host of falsehoods were true. The former president repeated lies about widespread fraud in the 2020 election. He parroted a conspiracy theory about immigrants eating pets, and lied about Democrats supporting abortions after babies are born – which is murder, and illegal everywhere.

Here are some takeaways from the debate:

A turning point when Harris jabs Trump over the size of his rally crowds: Harris came onstage with a clear plan: Throw Trump off his game. It was, by any measure, a dramatic success. When the vice president mentioned Trump’s criminal conviction and outstanding legal issues, he bit. When she called him out for sinking a bipartisan immigration bill, he bit harder. And when Harris suggested Trump’s rallies were boring, he nearly choked on the bait.

Rather than engage on the issues raised by the moderators, including a few that Trump considers some of his political strengths, the former president went on at length about the entertainment value of his rallies, claims the Biden administration was legally targeting him and, in a long, bizarre spell, insisted – against all available evidence, that migrants were eating Americans’ pets.

Trump indulges in conspiracy theories: Despite signals from even his running mate, Trump did not refrain from repeating the conspiracy theory du jour during the debate. The former president brought up the unfounded conspiracy theory that migrants from Haiti living in Springfield, Ohio, are eating people’s cats and dogs. He said at one point that “in Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of people who live there.”

When ABC moderator David Muir pointed out that city officials have denied any evidence that migrants in Springfield were eating pets, Trump doubled down, saying that “the people on television” were saying it. When pressed, Trump just said, “We’ll find out.” When the debate moved to crime, Trump claimed that crime was up in the United States contrary to the rest of the world. There too Muir pointed out that, according to FBI data, crime had declined in the past few years.

Fierce argument over abortion, a key issue for both candidates: The vice president, who has long been one the administration’s strongest surrogates on reproductive rights, was able to respond to the former president’s defense of his abortion policy in a way Joe Biden was not.

The former president, who appointed three of the Supreme Court judges who voted to overturn federal abortion protections, has sought to moderate his stance on the issue by criticizing six-week abortion bans and reiterating his support for exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. But he has also defended the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Read more takeaways from Harris and Trump’s first debate.