A major House Democrats’ PAC announced it will be spending $4 million in the closing days of this election cycle in hopes of ousting a Republican incumbent in an otherwise deep-blue state.

House Majority PAC’s funds are the first major partisan investment in support of former New Jersey Working Families Party leader Sue Altman, according to the Huffington Post. Altman is facing off against Rep. Tom Kean, Jr., R-N.J., a Trump supporter known as a moderate Republican during his preceding state Senate tenure. 

Kean, buoyed by the district’s history of being slightly redder than other parts of the Garden State and having the name recognition as the son of former Gov. Tom Kean, is hoping to win his first reelection since unseating former Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., last cycle.

The western end of the district, along the Delaware River in Warren County, is often geopolitically linked to the reliably “swing” Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania. From there, Kean’s district branches northward to the Delaware Water Gap and eastward along US-22 through rural areas to the bluer Newark suburbs, notably encompassing former President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club.

NJ BATTLEGROUND HOUSE DISTRICT POLL FINDS TIGHT RACE

It is also one of a handful of districts won in 2020 by both President Joe Biden and a Republican congressional candidate.

The PAC’s first ad takes aim at Kean’s pro-life record during his time in Trenton, claiming he had supported “extremist” abortion policies.

Elon Musk’s America PAC has conversely invested millions in advertising favoring Kean, according to the New York Times.

A Monmouth Poll last week found Kean leading Altman by two points, within the margin of error. Kean’s advantages were on the subjects of the economy, jobs, crime and immigration, while Altman won respondents over on corruption and abortion, according to the survey.

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SPURS OFFICIALS IN NJ COMMUNITY TO DRAFT VIP SECURITY PLAN

A Kean campaign spokesman told NJ.com that “no amount of national Democrat money is going to spare Sue Altman from the consequences of her radical record.” The spokesman characterized Kean as a “moderate problem solver” and Altman as a “professional activist.”

Meanwhile, Altman campaign manager Rob West previously told NJ Spotlight News that polling has shown the race to be a “jump-ball.”

The Times and other outlets reported the race has become such a close concern, New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy urged House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., to help Altman via House Majority PAC.

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Kean’s seat remains one of few in the Garden State friendlier to Republicans than naught. Before it was slightly redrawn to include additional suburbs of New York City, Democrat Josh Gottheimer’s Skylands-area seat was held for many years by conservative Republican Scott Garrett.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., a former Democrat, represents the other corner of the state in Cape May, and was preceded for 25 years by Republican Frank LoBiondo. 

Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., has represented the upper portion of the Jersey Shore in Congress since 1981. He remains the longest-tenured congressman in state history.

This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin convened more than two dozen countries to discuss a “new world order” free from Western hegemony and the global dominance of the U.S. dollar. 

From Tuesday to Thursday, some two dozen members will descend on Kazan, Russia, for this year’s BRICS Summit — offering Putin his biggest global platform since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. 

By reducing reliance on the dollar, the alliance hopes to evade sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the West.

“The dollar is being used as a weapon,” Putin said at the summit. “We really see that this is so. I think that this is a big mistake by those who do this.” 

In a pivotal move, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the summit to showcase their hopes for a more harmonious relationship after decades of cross-border strife. 

It came days after China and India agreed to a deal meant to bring to a close their four-year military standoff over the disputed Himalayan region. 

UKRAINE BLASTS UN CHIEF OVER POTENTIAL MEETING WITH PUTIN AT BRICS, SAYS STAYED AWAY FROM KYIV’S PEACE SUMMIT

“Russia-China cooperation in international affairs is one of the main stabilizing factors in the world,” Putin told Xi at the summit. 

Meanwhile, India has been propping up Russia’s economy by purchasing discounted oil that has been sanctioned by much of the rest of the world. 

BRICS — which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — was an idea thought up by Goldman Sachs analysts to describe the growing economic hegemony of China and other emerging markets.

The group is rapidly expanding: Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia joined in January. Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia formally applied — Turkey being the first NATO member to take an interest in the group. Pakistan has also expressed an interest in joining the group.

The alliance now makes up half of the world’s population and 35% of global output. 

Some member states like Egypt receive U.S. military aid and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) hosts U.S. military bases. 

Russian officials already view the three-day summit as a massive success: Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said 36 countries confirmed participation and 24 will send representatives. 

CHINA-DOMINATED BLOC OFFERS IRAN, SAUDI ARABIA MEMBERSHIP IN MOVE THAT SEEKS TO UNDERMINE US

Russia is also courting more nations to join a payment system that would serve as an alternative to SWIFT, which has been used to sanction Russian officials by the West.

While Russia is pushing an anti-western agenda at the summit, members like Brazil, India and South Africa want a less combative tone. They believe the alliance should be used to tailor international institutions to meet the needs of the Global South. They believe they could work to reform the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to serve the needs of the developing world. 

Creating an alternative to SWIFT would require BRICS-based currencies and financial institutions to conduct international business — and so far BRICS members have not presented a clear plan to replace the dollar. 

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an address to the summit that BRICS must act as more than a “dialogue club,” and said that 15 years after the creation of the alliance, many of its goals remain unfulfilled. 

He tore into the West’s increasingly frequent threat of sanctions. 

“Over more than three decades since the collapse of the bipolar system, it has become increasingly clear that from the perspective of Western powers, peace, democracy, prosperity, and development can only be achieved through pathways defined by them,” he said.

“This monopolistic outlook has resulted in increased violence, war, and terrorism on the one hand, and unprecedented use of economic and political sanctions on the other.”

Dollar assets currently comprise around 59% of global foreign currency reserves, down from 70% in 1999. 

Former President Donald Trump has promised “100% tariffs” on nations that snub the U.S. dollar, arguing that losing the dollar as the world currency would be like “losing a war.” 

“I was a user of sanctions, but I put them on and take them off as quickly as possible, because ultimately it kills your dollar, and it kills everything the dollar represents. And we have to continue to have that be the world currency. I think it’s important. I think it would be losing a war, if we lost the dollar as the world currency,” he told the Economic Club in New York in September. 

“That would make us a Third World country. You’re losing Russia. China is out there trying to get their currency to be the dominant currency.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the Biden-Harris administration for not providing information that the Republican says he needs to verify the citizenship of 450,000 “potentially ineligible voters.” 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), its secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, as well as the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and its director, Ur Jaddou, are named as defendants. 

DHS says states wishing to verify citizenship can use the USCIS SAVE program and that it will not provide an “alternative process to any state.”

The federal lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Texas, claims that the Biden-Harris administration has refused to comply with federal law and answer “valid requests” for information from Paxton and Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson “for the citizenship status of the over 450,000 people on Texas’s voter rolls for whom the State cannot verify their citizenship status using existing sources.” 

Paxton says those over 450,000 people did not use a Texas-issued driver’s license or ID card to register to vote in the state, so “those voters never had their citizenship verified.” 

TEXAS AG OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO ‘SUSPICIOUS DONATIONS’ MADE TO HARRIS CAMPAIGN THROUGH DEMOCRATIC GROUP

Nelson wrote to Jaddou on Sept. 18 saying the Texas Secretary of State’s office compiled a list of individuals on Texas’ voter rolls whose citizenship could not be verified and asked for assistance in doing so. 

Paxton penned a similar letter to the USCIS director on Oct. 7, stating, “Although I have no doubt the vast majority of the voters on the list are citizens who are eligible to vote, I am equally certain that Texans have no way of knowing whether or not any of the voters on the list are noncitizens who are ineligible to vote.”

In a letter to Nelson on Oct. 10, Jaddou responded, saying that the “Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program is the most secure and efficient way to reliably verify an individual’s citizenship or immigration status, including for verification regarding voter registration and/or voter list maintenance,” and maintained that USCIS “currently cannot offer an alternative process to any state.”

“Since 2009, SAVE has been used by elections authorities in states for voter registration and/or voter list maintenance. Currently, ten states are registered to use SAVE for these purposes,” Jaddou wrote. “The process has been the same since the program’s inception.” 

“By inputting an individual’s name, unique DHS-issued immigration identifier, and birthdate, registered agencies can determine whether that person obtained U.S. citizenship through the naturalization process or, for certain other individuals born abroad, whether USCIS has information confirming their U.S. citizenship. Each registered agency determines the best process to obtain the required identifiers,” Jaddou explained. “The state elections authority must provide any individual who is not verified as a U.S. citizen through SAVE the opportunity to show documentation of their U.S. citizenship.”

 BIDEN ADMIN SLAPPED WITH MAJOR LAWSUIT OVER ALLEGED REFUSAL TO HELP STATE PURGE NONCITIZENS FROM VOTER ROLLS

Paxton’s lawsuit states that “pointing to the SAVE system” does not fulfill the Texas secretary of state’s request and Jaddou’s response does not satisfy USCIS’s “unambiguous obligations under federal law.” 

It also says that Jaddou has not responded to Paxton’s letter. 

According to Paxton, the SAVE program, designed to confirm a person’s lawful presence in the United States, “is not an adequate tool, on its own, for a state seeking to verify the citizenship status of an individual on the voter rolls.” That’s because it requires the use of a “unique DHS-issued immigration identifier,” which the lawsuit says is “information that is not maintained by, or readily available to, the Secretary of State of Texas or Texas’s voter registrars.” 

Texas’s statewide voter registration system “does not contain any “DHS-issued immigration identifier[s],” the lawsuit says, so even if the Texas Secretary of State “could obtain this data from the Texas Department of Public Safety, that effort would be limited to individuals who provided such information to obtain a driver license or personal identification card – and thus would not encompass individuals for whom there is no Texas-issued driver license or ID card number in Texas’s voter registration system.” 

The filing also noted that USCIS charges users a fee for each verification submitted to the SAVE system – fees that the state is willing to pay but “will more than double over the next three years.” 

“Although federal and state law prohibit non-citizens from voting, federal law paradoxically creates opportunities for non-citizens to illegally register to vote while prohibiting States from requiring voters to have proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections – a common sense measure to identify illegal registration,” the suit says. “Under any circumstances, this federal prohibition against citizenship verification makes little sense, but it is especially troubling given the current scale of the illegal immigration crisis.” 

The filing also cited how the Senate has not passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (“SAVE Act”), “which would allow states to ensure that votes are being cast legally by eligible voters.” 

Asked about Paxton’s lawsuit, a DHS spokesperson again pointed to the SAVE program. 

Scores of election-related lawsuits happen in every cycle, and Florida filed a similar lawsuit citing how the SAVE program’s DHS identifier requirement is a roadblock in verifying citizenship of those on the voter roll.

While Texas could see Republican Sen. Ted Cruz locked in a close race against Democratic challenger, Rep. Colin Allred, the Lone Star State is unlikely to go blue in the presidential contest. 

The Department of Homeland Security is recommending more than 100 migrants that it has identified as having possible ties to a bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang be put on an FBI watchlist, Fox News confirmed Wednesday, after the agency flagged more than 600 with possible ties overall.

NBC News first reported that DHS has identified more than 600 individuals with possible ties to Tren de Aragua, and that 100 of those are deemed “subjects of interests.” Fox has confirmed that it recommended they be placed on the FBI’s Watchlist for Transnational Criminal Organizations.

Officials do not believe that all of the 600 migrants will be confirmed gang members, and that many will be relatives, victims or witnesses to crimes by the notorious gang members. Officials are making the gang a priority so it does not grow.

WHO IS TREN DE ARAGUA? VICIOUS VENEZUELAN GANG ‘FOLLOWING IN THE PATH OF MS-13’ IN AMERICA 

The gang is believed to have started in the Tocoron prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua and has since expanded into Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and the U.S. In a statement, DHS said that the identities emerged as part of an ongoing re-screening operation to tackle the gang. 

“As a part of our work to counter TdA, DHS has an ongoing operation to crack down on gang members through re-screening certain individuals previously encountered, in addition to the rigorous screening and vetting at the border,” a DHS spokesperson said.

The agency said that those confirmed or suspected of being gang members will be either referred for prosecution or placed into expedited removal — a deportation process that allows for the quick removal of illegal immigrants.

The statement stressed that those identified in the re-screening “include those already in custody, potential victims or witnesses who are not themselves suspected of being TdA members, and others who may not have any involvement in TdA at all.”

There have been numerous crimes in the last year that have been linked to TdA, in states including Georgia, Illinois, Texas, Colorado and New York.

NEW REPORT WARNS BLOODTHIRSTY VENEZUELAN GANG’S FOOTPRINT WILL REMAIN IN US ‘FOR DECADES’

The gang is believed to have taken over apartment blocks in Aurora, Colorado, and authorities in New York City have warned that the gang is recruiting children and is linked to dozens of robberies in the sanctuary city. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has also sounded the alarm about the growth of the gang in his state.

Federal immigration authorities announced last week that a confirmed TdA member was arrested in Houston for allegedly recruiting middle school students to become new gang members. 

But the gang’s presence has increased at the same time as a massive migration surge to the southern border, which included a significant number of Venezuelans. While border numbers have dropped sharply since June, the impact of that crisis is still being felt in communities across the U.S.

Experts noted to NBC that the number of identified members is low and could represent a gap in intelligence. Venezuela does not share its databases with the U.S., and relations are frosty. Earlier this year, Venezuela stopped accepting deportation flights from the U.S.

While authorities have put out warnings to Border Patrol agents about possible markers of the gang, they can be hard to identify, while others get past agents as gotaways.

TdA has become an issue in the presidential election as well. Former President Donald Trump announced recently that he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle “every illegal migrant criminal network operating on American soil.” 

Trump said, if elected, the federal government would “send elite squads of ICE, Border Patrol and federal law enforcement officers to hunt down, arrest and deport every last illegal alien gang member until there is not a single one left in this country.” 

Vice President Kamala Harris, meanwhile, has stressed her support for a bipartisan border security bill to provide additional funding to the border and has also highlighted her history targeting transnational criminal organizations as a federal prosecutor.

A top Republican lawmaker issued a warning Wednesday against the dangers of socialist policies creeping into the federal government as the Cuban people continue to suffer under a widespread blackout.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., the only Cuban-born lawmaker in Congress, said the tragedy facing the island is directly attributable to the 65 years of leftist, authoritarian rule under the Castro brothers and now President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

“We’ve got six days now when the entire island of Cuba has been blacked-out,” Gimenez said, further describing how the government at times has initiated 20-hour regional blackouts to conserve power.

“But at least they had some electricity [then]. Now the entire island is blacked-out. This is all due to the incompetence of the system: the socialist-communist system that the Cubans have had…”

CUBAN REGIME’S REPORTED RETURN TO MEDDLING IN US ELECTIONS A ‘BADGE OF HONOR’ FOR TARGETED CRITICS

Gimenez said the entire situation is a warning against electing Vice President Kamala Harris and lawmakers with socialist tendencies and those who self-identify as such.

“Bernie Sanders, AOC, and now Kamala Harris is [sic] to the left of Bernie Sanders: I’ve always said they’re all socialists,” he said, further suggesting Sanders and others’ use of the term “democratic socialist” is a distinction without a difference.

“They’re trying to bring this kind of government, this style of living, to the United States. And that’s why I’m vehemently against it. Cuba’s a great example. Nicaragua is also a great example, and so is Venezuela … of what these regimes do.”

“You see Bernie Sanders always apologizing for what’s happening in Cuba. Same thing with AOC, and not so much with Kamala Harris. She’s being a little bit smarter than that. But since she is to the left of Bernie Sanders, you can tell she’s sympathetic to these regimes.”

“That’s the kind of system they want to bring to the United States of America.”

BIDEN’S MOVE TO LIFT FINANCIAL RESTRICTIONS ON NOTORIOUS DICTATORSHIP TRIGGERS BACKLASH

Cuba completely lost power Friday after its electrical grid collapsed upon the failure of the Antonio Guiteras Power Plant.

Compounding that situation, Hurricane Oscar, a Category 1 storm, made landfall over the weekend in Guantanamo state. By Monday, some power had been restored chiefly to Havana, the capital.

Cuba’s state utility reported only 200 of the roughly 3,000 megawatts of electricity needed to power the country was being generated as of Monday, according to the Miami Herald.

Gimenez said that Cuban citizens have been warned not to demonstrate against the government during this crisis, adding that dissidents are regularly jailed for public expression.

“That’s to instill fear in the Cuban people so that they don’t rise up against this dictatorship. That’s what communist-socialist governments do. They’re totally incompetent. This communist-socialist government doesn’t work, hasn’t worked, and will never work.”

Gimenez warned that in instances such as the current blackout and the continued suppression of free speech and protest against the government, everyone is treated the same:

“They’re all miserable — go talk to the people in Cuba and see if they would rather have a socialist system where they want freedom like we have here in the United States.”

While Cuba may not have free and fair elections, Gimenez said Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans are indeed “voting with their feet” and emigrating from their suppressive nations to the U.S. in droves.

Such is true in Miami, he said.

In a Tuesday recording, he stood on an upper floor of the outdoor Brickell City Centre mall over top of Route 41 and gestured to show how Miami grew from a veritable trading post to a vibrant metropolis in the years since Cuban migration began following the Castros’ coup.

“I think the answer is very obvious, since they’re are already voting … with their feet.”

“Part of the reason we have so many immigrants coming here is because of these failed systems. And these folks are trying to bring those failed systems and policies here in the United States.”

The Cuban-American vote is key in local and statewide elections in Florida. More than 1 million reside in Miami-Dade County alone. 

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They also tend to trend conservative, as evidenced by journalist-turned-politician Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar’s, R-Fla., 2020 upset of former Clinton HHS Secretary Donna Shalala in the Kendall and Little Havana area.

Looking ahead, Gimenez said the next administration must put “maximum pressure” on Diaz-Canel’s regime, adding that humanitarian assistance alone never makes it to the people and only enriches the government.

“The only thing that they understand is force. They don’t understand you being nice to them. You can’t be,” he said.

If Cuba was to become a democratic government with an alliance with the U.S., it would deal a blow to America’s other rivals China and Russia — denying them safe harbor, literally, in a geopolitically key area just 90 miles off of Key West.

“But foremost, [it would] give [Cubans] the freedom they deserve.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign, Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Matteo Cina contributed to this report.

A new poll points to a massive gender gap in two crucial battlegrounds that are among the seven states that will likely determine if Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Trump wins the 2024 election.

Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, edges Trump 49%-46% among all likely voters in Michigan, according to a Quinnipiac University survey released on Wednesday. According to the poll, Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent candidate Cornel West each received 1% support.

But the survey points to a massive divide among the sexes, with women backing Harris by a 20-point margin and Trump, the Republican Party nominee, up by 16 points among men.

In Wisconsin, the poll indicates Harris and Trump deadlocked at 48%, with all listed third-party candidates each receiving less than 1% support.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN

Harris tops Trump by 18 points among women in Wisconsin, with the former president leading the sitting vice president by 21 points among men.

The news surveys are the latest to illustrate an extremely wide gender divide in the White House race.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE SHOW

“It’s the battle of the sexes and it’s no game. There is a glaring gap in Michigan and Wisconsin between the number of women supporting Harris and the number of men supporting Trump,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy highlighted.

Malloy added that in two weeks “on November 5th, it will all come down to who shows up.”

Both polls point to some positive movement for Harris.

Trump was up by 2 points in Wisconsin in Quinnipiac’s previous survey, conducted earlier this month. Now the two major party nominees are tied.

In Michigan, Harris’ 3-point edge is a switch from earlier this month, when Quinnipiac indicated Trump up by 3 points.

Michigan and Wisconsin, along with Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada, had razor-thin margins that decided President Biden’s 2020 White House victory over Trump. And the seven states are likely to determine if Trump or Harris wins this year.

Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are also the three Rust Belt states that make up the Democrats’ so-called “Blue Wall.”

The party reliably won all three states for a quarter-century before Trump narrowly captured them in the 2016 election to win the White House.

Four years later, in 2020, Biden carried all three states by razor-thin margins to put them back in the Democrats’ column and defeat Trump.

Both the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees, as well as their running mates, have made repeated stops in the three states this summer and autumn.

Wisconsin and Michigan are also home to crucial Senate races that are among a handful that will determine if the GOP wins back the chamber’s majority.

In Michigan, the new poll indicates Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin leads former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, 52%-44%, in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

And in Wisconsin, incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin narrowly edges Republican challenger Eric Hovde 49%-48%.

The Quinnipiac University surveys were conducted Oct. 17-21, with overall sampling errors of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Vice President Kamala Harris is reportedly planning to deliver her closing presidential campaign argument in an address next Tuesday.

And according to reporting from the Washington Post, that address will take place on the National Mall in the nation’s capital. 

The publication pinned their reporting on people familiar with the planning of the speech and a permit application that they obtained.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE SHOW

The address would take place with one week until Election Day on November 5, with Harris and former President Trump locked in a margin-of-error battle in the race to succeed President Biden in the White House.

According to the people familiar with the plans, Harris is expected to use the speech to contrast herself with Trump, portraying the former president as a threat to democracy. The Washington Post also reported that organizers requested space close to where Trump gave his Jan. 6 speech. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Georgia’s top election official believes that half of the state’s voters will have already cast ballots by Election Day.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger spoke with Fox News Digital late Tuesday afternoon, by which point more than one in four state residents had voted.

“It’s huge. Almost every day has been a record breaker,” he told Fox News Digital. “If you look at the kind of turnout we’re having day after day… we’ll probably be at almost 4 million of early voting by the time we finish next Friday.”

“I think it is a testament that voters trust our systems here in Georgia,” he said.

GEORGIA GOP CHAIR SHARES 2-PRONGED ELECTION STRATEGY AS TRUMP WORKS TO WIN BACK PEACH STATE

As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 2 million people had voted early in-person or absentee in Georgia.

Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump’s campaigns have spent enormous time and resources in Georgia, a state the ex-president lost by less than 1% in 2020.

Early voting there runs from Oct. 15 through Nov. 1.

Raffensperger’s interview also came roughly an hour before the Georgia Supreme Court ruled against Republicans’ bid to reinstate a slate of new ballot security measures ahead of Election Day.

The six rules included requirements for all machine-tabulated ballots to receive a hand count by county officials to ensure the totals matched, and a provision that only ballots deposited in drop boxes with video surveillance would be counted.

GEORGIA DEMS CHAIR REVEALS MESSAGE TO UNDECIDED GOP VOTERS AS HARRIS WORKS TO BUILD BROAD BASE

Supporters of the bill, which included Republican Party officials, argued they were necessary guardrails to ensure voter confidence.

Democrats blasted the rules as an effort to sow doubt and confusion in what’s expected to be a close election in Georgia.

Raffensperger, however, was among several GOP state and county officials who also opposed the rules.

“I think right now it really would cause major challenges because all the poll workers have been trained with the systems we have in place, which was really following state law,” Raffensperger told Fox News Digital.

‘ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND VOID’: GEORGIA JUDGE STRIKES DOWN NEW ELECTION RULES AFTER LEGAL FIGHTS

He pointed to the Purcell principle, a precedent established by the Supreme Court that states the courts cannot change election rules too close to an election.

“Well, we’re two and a half weeks away from Election Day. So when you think about how close we are to Election Day, it’s just too much, too late,” he said.

The Georgia Supreme Court is expected to hear the Republican National Committee’s appeal in the suit but rejected its request for an expedited decision, meaning the prior ruling that deemed the measures “illegal, unconstitutional, and void” will remain in place through Election Day on Nov. 5.

U.S. newspaper endorsements for the Democratic presidential candidate have dipped by more than 60% this year since 2016 after VP Kamala Harris became the party’s frontrunner, according to a rough estimate by Fox News Digital.

In 2016, more than 240 newspapers endorsed Hillary Clinton, while only 20 endorsed Trump. In 2020, 14 newspapers endorsed Trump, and 120 endorsed Biden.

This year, nearly 80 newspapers endorsed Harris, and fewer than 10 endorsed Trump.

LOS ANGELES TIMES COMES OUT AGAINST POPULAR ANTI-CRIME BALLOT INITIATIVE

Notable endorsements for Harris include the Winston-Salem Chronicle, New York Times, Boston Globe, The New Yorker, Denver Post, The Las Vegas Sun, Los Angeles Sentinel, Seattle Times, The Star-Ledger, Tennessee Tribune, Scientific American and San Antonio Express. 

Endorsements for Trump include the New York Post, The Washington Times and the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The plummeting Democratic endorsements come as the Los Angeles Times editorial board, which endorsed Barack Obama in 2008, Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020, decided not to endorse a presidential candidate this year, according to a new report Tuesday.

An LA Times spokesperson declined to comment to Fox News Digital on the report, saying, “We do not comment on internal discussions or decisions about editorials or endorsements.”

THIS TOP ANTI-TRUMP REPUBLICAN GOES ON A BATTLEGROUND STATES BLITZ WITH KAMALA HARRIS

The LA editorial board issued presidential endorsements from the 1880s through 1972, only returning to the practice to endorse Obama in 2008. Since then, it has exclusively endorsed Democratic presidential candidates. 

The LA Times released its statewide and nationwide endorsements last week, including Democratic candidates for the U.S. House and Senate.

Newspapers have traditionally endorsed candidates in elections since the 19th century, when papers were more closely tied to political parties. Over time, newspapers shifted to become more independent of the party apparatus, and editorial boards for the newspapers took over endorsements, with the ideological lean of the board often an indicator of the endorsement outcome. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Several newspapers that historically endorsed Republican candidates either endorsed Biden or declined to endorse any candidate in 2020. The Arizona Republic, which had endorsed Republicans for decades, was one of the few that endorsed Biden.

Some publications that had never endorsed a presidential candidate before, like USA Today, broke with tradition in 2020 to also endorse Biden.

Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report. 

Vice President Kamala Harris released her “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men” this week, but some of her proposals could be considered unconstitutional, according to top legal analysts.

Harris unveiled the five-point plan last week, which includes providing 1 million forgivable loans of up to $20,000 for “Black entrepreneurs and others who have historically faced barriers to starting a new business.” Another proposal includes funding and capital for vocational training “to help expand pathways for Black men to get good-paying jobs.”

Programs that distribute resources based on economic disadvantage and race have lost challenges in court. One example of this involves a nonprofit that provided small business grants to exclusively Black female business owners. Another example includes a federal disaster relief program that gave preference to minority and female farmers.

FLASHBACK: KAMALA HARRIS HAS REPEATEDLY PUSHED ‘EQUITY’ VS. EQUALITY MESSAGE AS VP

“A Harris administration would face a significant constitutional challenge in granting these loans on the basis of race,” George Washington law professor Jonathan Turley said. 

“It is unconstitutional because eligibility for the money would be determined by race,” added Fox News legal analyst Gregory Jarrett. “Harris’ proposal smacks of blatant vote-buying.”

Dan Fee is an attorney, political consultant and president of the Philadelphia-based Echo Group, a crisis and communications firm that’s represented high profile clients like former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J. 

Fee challenged these takes, insisting that it would “stun” him if policies such as those Harris rolled out for Black men were not widely vetted before they were proposed. “If you want to attack the problem of poverty at its source, this is a smart policy,” he said.

In addition to the economics-focused policies for Black men, Harris’ five-point policy plan proposes legalizing marijuana at the federal level and establishes a “National Health Equity Initiative focused on Black Men” to study health challenges that “disproportionately impact” Black men. 

The latter effort — tailoring and providing services based on race — has been investigated by the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services due to discrimination concerns.

BUSINESS GRANT FOR BLACK WOMEN SLAMMED AS ‘RACIALLY EXCLUSIONARY’ IN FEDERAL COURT RULING

Biden administration proposals providing economic relief based on racial and gender identity groups have also faced challenges in court. For example, a federal judge earlier this year blocked an Agriculture Department disaster aid program that gave preferences to minority and female farmers, ruling it discriminated against White male farmers. 

Another federal program that sought to provide economic relief to restaurant owners following the COVID-19 pandemic and provided preference on the basis of gender and race met a similar fate.

Jarrett called the agriculture program “clearly discriminatory against white farmers,” and argued that Harris “surely knows” her proposals will meet the same fate. 

“But her immediate interest appears to be pandering for minority votes,” he said.

Turley also pointed out that even if this policy is neutral on its face, it can still be struck down in court. 

“It can still be challenged ‘as applied,’” he said. “That means that while the program is stated neutrally, it is beng used in a racially discriminatory fashion.”

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA HIT WITH CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINT, ACCUSED OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WHITES

This, Turley said, means that even with qualifiers in Harris’ proposals, which may cast a wide net of anticipated beneficiaries, it can still face legal challenges.

“The addition of these qualifying terms is meant to prevent a facial challenge, but that does not, however, prevent an as applied challenge.”

Harris and her campaign have struggled to appeal to men — and especially Black men — with one prominent Democrat strategist calling Harris’ struggle with men “a big problem” for her, according to The Hill.

Meanwhile, the Black vote has also seemingly been a struggle for Harris, who has received less support from that portion of the electorate than Biden did at the same point during his 2020 campaign for the presidency, The Washington Post reported this week. The Democratic National Committee launched a bus tour earlier this week seeking to shore up support among this electorate heading into the final days of the election.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.