With 15 days until Election Day in November, polls point to a margin-of-error race for the White House between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump.

But in the dash for campaign cash – another key metric in presidential politics – there is one very clear frontrunner: Harris.

The vice president entered the final full month of the campaign with a massive financial advantage over the former president, according to new federal fundraising filings late Sunday.

The Harris campaign hauled in $221.8 million in September, according to the filings, more than triple the $63 million brought in by the Trump campaign last month.

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Roughly a quarter of the money raked in by the vice president came during celebrity-studded fundraisers in Los Angeles and San Francisco at the end of last month.

Harris has vastly outraised and outspent Trump since replacing President Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket three months ago, and that trend continued in September. The largest expense by the Harris campaign was for paid media – mostly to run ads.

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But the vice president still enjoyed a large cash-on-hand advantage over Trump entering October.  

The Harris campaign reported $187 million in its coffers at the end of September, compared to $119 million for the Trump campaign.

The fundraising totals reported by the two major party campaigns don’t include additional money raked in by the two national party committees, other affiliated organizations – both campaigns use a slew of affiliated fundraising committees to haul in cash – or aligned super-PACs supporting Harris and Trump.

The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee enjoyed a fundraising lead over Trump and the Republican National Committee earlier this year. But Trump and the RNC topped Biden and the DNC by $331 million to $264 million during the second quarter of 2024 fundraising.

Biden enjoyed a brief fundraising surge after his disastrous performance in his late June debate with Trump as donors briefly shelled out big bucks in a sign of support for the 81-year-old president.

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But Biden’s halting and shaky debate delivery also instantly fueled questions about his physical and mental ability to serve another four years in the White House and spurred a rising chorus of calls from within his own party for the president to end his bid for a second term. The brief surge in fundraising didn’t last and, by early July, began to significantly slow down. 

Biden bowed out of the 2024 race on July 21, and the party quickly consolidated around Harris, who instantly saw her fundraising soar, spurred by small-dollar donations.

The Harris campaign on Sunday spotlighted its grassroots donors, as it announced that 95% of its donations in the past three months were under $200.

This isn’t the first time Trump’s faced a fundraising deficit. He raised less than 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in his White House victory and Biden four years ago in his re-election defeat.

When asked about the fundraising deficit, Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley told Fox News Digital last month that “the Democrats have a ton of money. The Democrats always have a ton of money.”

However, he emphasized that “we absolutely have the resources that we need to get our message out to all the voters that we’re talking to and feel very comfortable that we’re going to be able to see this campaign through and we’re going to win on Nov. 5.”

The presidential campaigns later this week will give us another look at their finances – as they’re required on Thursday to file reports to the Federal Election Commission for their fundraising for the first 16 days of October.

Fundraising, along with polling, is a key metric in campaign politics and a measure of a candidate’s popularity and their campaign’s strength. The money raised can be used to – among other things – hire staff, expand grassroots outreach and get-out-the-vote efforts, pay to produce and run ads on TV, radio, digital and mailers, and for candidate travel.

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

The Supreme Court dismissed ex-lawyer Michael Cohen’s appeal to revive a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump on Monday, shutting down Cohen’s accusations for the last time.

Cohen had claimed his 2020 imprisonment was retaliation by Trump’s administration for publishing a book critical of the former president. The lawsuit had sought monetary damages from Trump, former U.S. Attorney General William Barr, federal prison officials and the federal government.

“Michael Cohen has exhausted every avenue of his pathetic attempt to drag my client into court time and time again.  As expected, the Supreme Court has correctly denied Michael Cohen’s petition and he must finally abandon his frivolous and desperate claims,” Trump attorney Alina Habba told Fox News Digital in a statement.

Cohen had served three years behind bars for several federal crimes relating to his work for Trump, including lying to Congress. He was released on home confinement during the pandemic, but was sent back to prison after refusing to sign an agreement limiting his postings on social media and contacts with the press.

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“The Constitution is the bedrock of our democratic republic and is what makes America the beacon of the world,” Cohen said of his lawsuit in July. “To have a President weaponize the DOJ… is how autocracies are created.”

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Cohen argued that he was sent back behind bars, shackled and placed in solitary confinement on the alleged orders of Trump and Justice Department officials in July 2020 in retaliation for his writing his first tell-all book, “Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump.”

“Presidents are not kings,” Cohen’s wrote in his petition to the Supreme Court. “This case represents the principle that presidents and their subordinates can lock away critics of the executive without consequence. That cannot be the law in the country the Founders thought they created when they threw off the yoke of the monarch.”

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In 2020, U.S. Federal Court Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein found that the Trump administration violated Cohen’s First Amendment rights when it sent him back behind bars after he was released to home confinement.

“The purpose of transferring Mr. Cohen from furlough and home confinement to jail is retaliatory,” the judge said during a hearing on Cohen’s reimprisonment.

“It’s retaliatory because of his desire to exercise his First Amendment rights to publish a book and to discuss anything about the book or anything else he wants on social media and with others.”

Two courts ruled against Cohen’s initial claim, based on a narrow reading of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the 1971 case Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, which provides citizens the limited legal right to sue federal officials who violate their constitutional rights.

The Supreme Court did not elaborate on its decision to reject Cohen’s appeal.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Eric Shawn contributed to this report.

Former President Trump will visit the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina as part of a series of campaign stops across the battleground state on Monday.

The former president will travel to “see the devastation of Hurricane Helene first-hand” and deliver remarks to the press in Asheville at noon, according to a press release from the campaign. Trump is also scheduled to make another stop in Greenville, North Carolina, before attending an “11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting” with Eric Trump and Ben Carson in Concord, North Carolina, on Monday evening.

The visit marks one of several campaign stops by Trump to the Old North State since the deadly hurricane swept across the southeast, which had the greatest impact on mostly red counties won by Trump last cycle.

The state is expected to play a crucial role in determining the results of the 2024 presidential election – where 16 electoral votes are on the line come Nov. 5.

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While Trump visits North Carolina, Vice President Kamala Harris will make campaign stops in both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on Monday.

Harris visited North Carolina following the deadly storm, attending a barbecue in Raleigh before packing aid supplies, such as diapers, for victims of the hurricane in October. 

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, was joined by former President Bill Clinton at a recent campaign stop in the battleground state, which was narrowly won by Trump in 2020.

President Biden has been working across the aisle to deliver diaster relief to states impacted by the storm, visiting North Carolina and ordering an additional 500 active-duty troops to the western counties in the state.

The North Carolina Elections Board passed a bipartisan emergency resolution that reformed the state’s early voting process in 13 counties. The adjustments include changing or adding voting sites and maintaining their availability, extending the hours when a voting site is open, and adding or reducing days that any site is open within the early voting period, according to the election board.

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

New reporting about over a dozen unidentified drones that were allowed to fly over Langley Air Force Base has prompted fresh calls for change to a threat that experts say will only become more prevalent. 

For more than two weeks in December 2023, the mystery drones traipsed into restricted airspace over the installation, home to key national security facilities and the F-22 Raptor stealth fighters. 

Experts say the incident is likely one of many that U.S. authorities are underprepared to tackle in an evolving threat environment. 

Lack of a standard protocol for such incursions left Langley officials unsure of what to do – other than allow the 20-foot-long drones to hover near their classified facilities. 

The Pentagon has said little about the incidents other than to confirm they occurred after a Wall Street Journal report this month. Whether it knows where the drones came from or what they were doing is unclear.

“I think they don’t know,” one congressional source familiar with defense operations told Fox News Digital. 

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As defense-minded lawmakers sought more answers, Langley officials referred them to the FBI, who referred them to Northern Command, who referred them to local law enforcement, the source said. 

“They should easily be able to know exactly what they are,” said Brett Velicovich, an advisor to drone tech company Red Cat Holdings and a Fox News contributor.

“There are all kinds of radar systems out there. Each drone has its own fingerprint.”

“Saying we don’t know what it is, and if we’re taking them for their word that they don’t know what it is, that speaks to a larger issue that the administration really just got caught with its pants down, and they’ve failed.” 

If the drones were a foreign adversary testing the limits of U.S. defenses, the message they took home is that encroaching on restricted airspace is easy enough, according to Velicovich. 

U.S. capabilities offer many different ways to take down a drone, including shooting them, zapping them with heat lasers and jamming the frequencies.

Whether Congress needs to change the laws is a point of contention, but one thing that is clear is incursions like the one at Langley prompt confusion over legal authority. 

When drones encroach near bases overseas, the rules of engagement give service members more leeway to engage with them. 

However, U.S. law does not allow the military to shoot down drones near its bases unless they pose an imminent threat. While Langley has the authority to protect its coastal base, the Coast Guard has the authority to protect the waters, the Federal Aviation Administration has authority over U.S. airspace – some of the most congested with commercial airliners in the world. 

“After 9/11, we invested all this money in homeland security to deal with exactly the kind of things that we’re seeing today,” said James Carafano, defense expert at the Heritage Foundation. “We built this whole infrastructure to deal with that. And it just seems, where is it today? We’ve been very lackadaisical about this.” 

“We’re going to have a terrorist attack here at some point. It’s just going to happen.”

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chair of the House Armed Services Committee, argued that the Defense Department needs to use the authority it has been given. 

“Drone incursions at DOD facilities are alarming. The Department needs to focus on deploying real, effective capabilities across critical installations using existing authorities given to them by Congress. I will continue to conduct oversight of the department’s response to these drone incursions,” he said in a statement. 

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, promised to introduce legislation to give the Pentagon greater authority to shoot down drones. 

“Military leaders currently lack the authority to engage until there is an imminent threat posed to our men and women in uniform. I am working on legislation to provide the Department of Defense with the necessary authorities to engage drones or unidentified aircrafts that breach our military airspace before it is too late to respond.” 

Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called for Congress to pass laws laying out counter-drone procedures.

“Adversaries like China, Russia and Iran are improving their drone capabilities every month. Our defenses are not catching up,” he said. 

“Congress needs to develop and execute a comprehensive set of plans to strengthen our counter-drone protocol and technological development right away. There is no time to waste. The lives of service members and all Americans are at risk.”

This month, Chinese national Fengyun Shi was sentenced to six months in prison for capturing drone footage over Huntington Ingalls Industries Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia, 10 miles from Langley Air Force Base.

Two months prior to Langley, in October 2023, five drones flew over the Energy Department’s Nevada National Security Site, used for nuclear weapons experiments. U.S. authorities were not sure who was behind those drones either. 

A Chinese surveillance balloon traversed over the U.S. for a week last year before the Air Force shot it down off the coast. 

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U.S. Air Force’s Plant 42 in California, home to highly classified aerospace development, has also seen a slew of unidentified drone incursions in 2024, prompting flight restrictions around the facility. 

“There are a lot of regulations on terms of what the DoD is allowed to do in the U.S. homeland that make this a really difficult problem,” said Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security. 

Even jamming the GPS systems, so drones freeze up and fall out of the sky, risks collateral damage. It could interfere with nearby air traffic.

“Unlike when you’re in Iraq or somewhere and there are drones flying overhead, you can fire off a missile and intercept them without as much worry, because you’re in the middle of the desert,” he continuted. “We’re going to see more of this in the future, and I think it’s something that the U.S. is grossly underprepared for.”

Even abroad, experts warn U.S. forces are unequipped to handle the threat of advancing drone warfare. 

Three U.S. service members were killed in a drone strike in January in Jordan. 

“The response time for [counter-drone measures] is really small, and the U.S. doesn’t have a lot of systems that are optimized for this, and they’re quite expensive,” said Pettyjohn. “We’re going to see more of these, probably larger groups operating together. Right now, they’re all remotely piloted. Eventually, they’ll be autonomous and really truly swarm.”

Former Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade met with Biden administration staff on at least two occasions during District Attorney Fani Willis’ probe into former President Donald Trump, a newly released transcript suggests.

Wade was interviewed by House Judiciary Committee staff last week as part of Chairman Jim Jordan’s probe into the prosecutions of the former president.

A grand jury indicted Trump and allies last year on charges related to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

Wade did not disclose the details of his supposed meetings with White House representatives, including if they were in-person or remote, but he acknowledged the existence of invoices and other records that indicated discussions occurred.

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At one point, the transcript shows Wade was asked about an invoice line indicating “travel to Athens; conf with White House counsel, May 23rd, 2022.”

“So if it says conf with White House counsel, that would mean there was a conf with White House counsel?” investigators asked, according to the transcript.

Wade responded that the semicolon written after “travel to Athens” represented a separate thought.

The investigator asked, “So if you billed for a conf with White House counsel, would that have occurred?”

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Wade challenged, “If I billed for a conf with White House counsel, this document doesn’t say that that cong with White House counsel happened in Athens. That’s not what that says.”

Pressed again on whether the reference to White House counsel meant he billed for a conference with such an official, Wade said, “Yes.”

Wade later said he did not recall details of the meeting denoted by a record reading, “Interview with D.C./White House, November 18th, 2022. Eight hours at $250. Cost $2,000,” according to the transcript.

Details he did not recall included participants in the meeting, any possible travel, or who was involved in scheduling it.

But when asked, “And if you billed for it, if you billed 8 hours for interview with D.C./White House, it’s safe to assume that you would have taken part in the interview?,” Wade replied, “Yes ma’am.”

The transcript does not indicate what the meetings were about, including whether they were related to Trump. 

Andrew Evans, Wade’s attorney, pointed out to Fox News Digital that Wade said he had “no specific memory of those meetings.”

Evans also pointed to another section of the transcript in which Wade said the invoices did not signify whether the listed meetings were with the Trump White House or Biden White House, and that it did not specify whether they were about the White House or with officials from it.

“Wade also noted that if he met with current White House employees, it would have been because prosecutors wanted to interview individuals like former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows. The United States Supreme Court case of United States ex rel. Touhy v. Ragen, 340 U.S. 462 (1951), requires that prosecutors confer with government officials before interviewing current or former federal employees,” Evans said.

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Wade said he did not know or recall information dozens of times throughout the course of the interview.

Wade was brought into the Fulton County investigation by Willis as a special prosecutor but stepped away after it was revealed he and Willis began a romantic relationship, which has since ended.

Jordan has been seeking a committee sit-down with Wade for months over accusations that both he and Willis profited off of the probe during their relationship – something both circles have vehemently denied.

Both Willis and Wade have maintained that their relationship had nothing to do with the case and have accused Republicans of trying to unjustly interfere in the Fulton County probe.

One of Trump’s co-defendants had sued to have Willis and Wade disqualified from the case, arguing their relationship presented a conflict of interest and that they financially benefited from the probe.

A Fulton County judge ruled in March that Willis could stay on the case if Wade was removed. Wade subsequently resigned from the case.

The former special prosecutor was grilled by investigators for over four hours on Capitol Hill last week.

FIRST ON FOX: Republican businessman Eric Hovde is using Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s previous comments on Trump supporters against her as he looks to unseat her in the critical swing state of Wisconsin. 

In a new ad by the Hovde campaign, Baldwin says, “Donald Trump might be one of the most offensive, hateful and unacceptable presidential candidates we’ve ever had. So what does that say about the people who support him?”

The remark, which is from a 2016 speech, is cut next to former Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s infamous “basket of deplorables” comment, which was credited by some with costing her the election to then-Republican nominee Donald Trump. 

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The ad will run on television across Wisconsin starting Tuesday and is part of an ongoing multimillion dollar statewide ad campaign. 

“Tammy Baldwin hates Trump and Trump voters, just listen to her own words when it comes to what she thinks about them. Much like Hillary Clinton, the disdain Baldwin has for Wisconsin’s Trump voters will haunt her on Election Day,” Hovde spokesman Zach Bannon said in a statement. 

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In response, a Baldwin spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Tammy Baldwin fights for all Wisconsinites no matter who they are, who they vote for or where they live. That stands in stark contrast to her opponent Eric Hovde who has literally called Wisconsinites deplorable, Democrats a ‘curse to society’ and insulted our farmers, seniors, young people, women, Black men, Native American communities and more.”

The Democrat senator’s campaign also pointed to an interview on “The Jerry Bader Show” in 2016, in which Hovde used the word “deplorable” to describe the level of civic knowledge among average Americans, with many not knowing the year of the country’s founding or who the vice president is. 

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In a recent Quinnipiac University poll of the Senate race, Baldwin beat Hovde 50% to 46%. The small, single-digit lead marks a significant closure of the initial polling gap between the incumbent Democrat and her GOP challenger. 

The survey was conducted between Oct. 3 and 7 and included 1,073 likely voters. It had a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.

A top political handicapper, the Cook Political Report, recently shifted its Wisconsin Senate rating from “Lean Democrat” to a “Toss Up.” 

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In the latest Fox News Power Rankings, Wisconsin’s Senate race was considered “Leans Democrat,” with Baldwin still having an advantage. 

Split-ticket voting across parties has become increasingly rare, and with the Senate race coinciding with a presidential election, the winner could very well rely on which party takes the White House. 

With roughly two weeks until Election Day, many have already cast their ballots early and by mail. 

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

Vice President Harris made campaign stops at Black churches in Georgia over the weekend, days after sparking controversy among Christian Americans by telling protesters praising Jesus “you’re at the wrong rally.” 

Harris celebrated her 60th birthday at two Black churches outside of Atlanta on Sunday as part of a nationwide push – known as “Souls to the Polls” – to encourage Black voters to participate in early voting.  

After the congregation at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, sang “Happy Birthday” to her, Harris made a veiled dig at her opponent, former President Trump, while speaking about her faith. 

“In this moment, across our nation, what we do see are some who try to deepen division among us, spread hate, sow fear and cause chaos,” Harris told Black churchgoers. “There are those who suggest that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down instead of what we know, which is the true measure of the strength of a leader, is based on who you lift up.” 

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Harris was later serenaded by Stevie Wonder at Divine Faith Ministries International in Jonesboro, Georgia, where the Democratic nominee referenced the parable of the good Samaritan a second time. 

“There is so much at stake right now,” Harris said, attempting to contrast herself against Trump two weeks from Election Day. “We understand that for us to do good works, it means to do it in the spirit of understanding that our strength is not based on who we beat down as someone tries to suggest….”

“Our strength is based on who we lift up, and that spirit is very much at stake in these next 16 days, which is are we a country that honors through our faith and our deeds the importance of kindness – of support, of understanding the dignity in each other and the respect that we should have for each other.” 

The concept of “Souls to the Polls” dates back to the Civil Rights Movement. Black congregations hold a tradition of leading get-out-the-vote campaigns to counter voter suppression efforts of the Jim Crow era. 

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Harris’ appearances in the swing state of Georgia come days after she told two pro-life student protesters that they were “at the wrong rally” when they yelled, “Jesus is Lord,” and, “Christ is King,” during a campaign stop in Wisconsin last week.

By contrast, Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, repeated, “Jesus is King” when someone shouted the phrase at his rally in Wisconsin over the weekend, telling the crowd how he believes “there is something really bizarre with Harris’ anti-Christian rhetoric and anti-Christian approach to public policy.” 

Harris also skipped the Al Smith dinner, a Catholic charity event in New York City and a traditional campaign stop for presidential nominees, instead sending a poorly-received video message last week.

Trump is campaigning in another battleground, North Carolina, on Monday, where he is expected to visit Hurricane Helene devastation in Asheville before convening an “11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting” with Eric Trump and Ben Carson outside of Charlotte. The Republican nominee’s “Believers for Trump” initiative includes outreach to Black voters, a traditionally Democratic constituency where Trump has made inroads.

The engagement of faith voters in the 2024 election underscores an unprecedented blending of partisan politics with Christianity at a moment when many churches have seen attendance decline. 

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On Friday, the Democratic National Committee hosted a call to launch its “Souls to the Polls” effort with civil rights activist Martin Luther King III, who endorsed Harris and called Trump “a disaster for Black America.” The campaign kicked off its own “Souls to the Polls” program and set up a faith advisory board of progressive faith leaders that includes a pastor, Amos C. Brown, of the Third Baptist Church in San Francisco.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Tech billionaire Elon Musk is making waves on the Pennsylvania campaign trail in support for former President Donald Trump’s re-election, including offering $1 million a day to swing-state voters who sign his political action committee’s petition backing the Constitution.

“Every day, from now through Nov 5, @America PAC will be giving away $1M to someone in swing states who signed our petition to support free speech & the right to bear arms! We want to make sure that everyone in swing states hears about this and I suspect this will ensure they do,” Musk, the wealthiest individual in the U.S., posted to X early Sunday morning. 

The night prior, Musk granted a $1 million sum to a Pennsylvania man named John Dreher during an event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

“The only thing we ask for the million dollars is that you be a spokesperson for the petition, and that’s it, really,” Musk said at the rally, as Dreher explained he “had no idea” he was selected. 

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Fox News examined the legality surrounding the initiative and found that it is a legal gray zone that appears to be open to interpretation, also finding similar Democratic initiatives in the Keystone State and nationally.

Under federal law, it is a crime to pay someone to register to vote. However, Musk’s giveaway is not enticing voters to register but instead sign a petition. 

Musk’s rules surrounding the $1 million award include that voters sign his PAC’s petition, which backs the First and Second Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The initiative outlines that it only applies to registered voters in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin and North Carolina, implying that non-registered voters do not qualify for the program. 

“The First and Second Amendments guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. By signing below, I am pledging my support for the First and Second Amendments,” the petition reads. 

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The America PAC website details that a petition signer in the Pittsburgh area will be awarded the sum for Oct. 20, and another signer from Pennsylvania at-large will be awarded the sum for Oct. 21. 

“Oct 22 – Nov 5: Each day, one petition signer from either PA, GA, NV, AZ, MI, WI, or NC will earn $1,000,000,” the website continues, detailing which states are considered battlegrounds. 

The petition does not require a resident to register to vote to sign the petition, only prompting users to answer whether they are registered voters. 

The Washington Post detailed in a piece earlier this month, titled “Massive influx of shadowy get-out-the-vote spending floods swing states,” that a nonprofit in Philadelphia was sending more than 100,000 comic books to voters under the age of 32 in the area to increase voter turnout in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris. The outlet explained that the nonprofit also “has tried to juice voting” with $1,000 Target gift cards, $2,000 rent checks and $10,000 grants to community groups this cycle. 

A youth-focused nonprofit, The Civic Center, is running a similar promotion for high schoolers: $150 gift cards to students who help ready their schools for High School Voter Registration Week.

The $1 million a day giveaway amid a close and highly-anticipated election has spurred some criticism and legal concerns from Democrats, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who previously served as the state’s attorney general. 

“I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing, not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians. That is deeply concerning,” Shapiro said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

He continued, “Look, Musk, obviously has a right to be able to express his views, and he’s made it very, very clear that he supports Donald Trump, and we have a difference of opinion. I don’t deny him that right, but when you start flowing this kind of money into politics, I think it raises serious questions that folks may want to take a look at.”

“You think it might not be legal, yes or no?” host Kristen Welker asked.

Shapiro responded, “I think it’s something that law enforcement can take a look at.”

Musk brushed off the concern on X, “Concerning that he would say such a thing.” 

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Earlier this month, Musk’s PAC announced that individuals seeking to increase voter registration and turnout are offered starting wages of $30 an hour – far above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour – with the PAC also offering battleground state voters $47 for each registered voter they refer to sign the PAC’s petition. In Pennsylvania, Musk’s PAC is offering residents $100 to sign the petition and $100 for every referral. 

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The PAC, which bills itself as promoting “free speech, free markets, and a merit-based society,” was officially formed earlier in the summer, with Federal Election Commission filings from late last month showing the America PAC has already invested at least $2.4 million in more than a dozen key congressional races. Musk said in July he planned to commit about $45 million a month to the super PAC. 

Musk officially endorsed Trump over the summer, when the 45th president survived the first assassination attempt on his life this election cycle, and has since joined the campaign trail, most notably in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania to rally support and encourage people to vote. 

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He has made the First Amendment, Second Amendment, cutting government red tape and ending overregulation on businesses hallmarks of his campaign speeches. Trump has meanwhile lauded Musk for his support and said that the tech billionaire behind SpaceX and X is willing to take on the role of “Secretary of Cost-Cutting” for the federal government if Trump is re-elected to the White House. 

Musk’s campaign tour has apparently worried Democrats amid Trump’s effort to claim the Keystone State.

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Pennsylvania is viewed as the state that will likely determine the final outcome of the election, with both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris repeatedly zigzagging the state to rally support among city dwellers, suburbanites and farmers alike. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman warned party members to not discount Musk’s influence with Pennsylvania voters. 

“Not even just that he has endorsed [Trump], but the fact that now he’s becoming an active participant and showing up and doing rallies and things like that,” Fetterman told the New York Post this month. 

“I mean, [Musk] is incredibly successful, and, you know, I think some people would see him as, like, a Tony Stark,” said Fetterman. “Democrats, you know, kind of make light of it, or they make fun of him jumping up and down and things like that. And I would just say that they are doing that at our peril.”

The Justice Department is deploying district elections officers across the nation ahead of Election Day to ensure poll workers can “do their jobs free from threats and intimidation.” 

The elections officers are expected to work in coordination with the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which was created in June 2021 by Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco to address alleged violence against election workers. 

The task force, since its inception, has been engaging with the election community and state and local law enforcement to assess allegations and reports of threats against election workers, according to the Justice Department. The task force also partners with FBI field offices and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the U.S. 

This week, U.S. attorneys offices announced their district elections officers, which are selected each election cycle, to coordinate with the Elections Threats Task Force and federal, state and local law enforcement on Election Day. The coordination will ensure reports on the ground regarding any election-related complaints are coordinated with appropriate authorities, officials said. 

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The district elections officers are also responsible for overseeing their district’s handling of Election Day complaints about voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials or staff, and election fraud, officials said. 

“The Department will address these violations wherever they occur,” the Justice Department said in a statement. 

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The DOJ added that its “longstanding Election Day Program furthers these goals and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the electoral process by providing local points of contact within the Department for the public to report possible federal election law violations.” 

Just last month, Garland convened a public meeting of the task force, saying there has been an “unprecedented spike in threats against the public servants who do administer our elections” since 2020. 

Since the task force was created, the DOJ has charged nearly two dozen individuals related to alleged threats to election workers. 

“These cases are a warning: if you threaten to harm or kill an election worker or official or volunteer, the Justice Department will find you,” Garland said last month. “And we will hold you accountable.” 

Just this year, the DOJ charged an individual for an alleged shooting spree targeting the homes of elected officials and a candidate for office; an individual for sending threatening communications to a Michigan election official; and more. 

Garland said the Justice Department will continue to build on its work ahead of the Nov. 5 Election Day by holding on-the-ground meetings with election workers across the nation. 

Garland also announced that ahead of Election Day, in early November, the FBI will host federal partners at FBI headquarters to address events, issues and potential crimes related to the elections. 

“Election officials and administrators do not need to navigate this threat environment alone,” Garland said. “We are here to support them and make sure they can safely carry out their critical work.” 

Former President Donald Trump’s historically influential endorsement could prove unconvincing in the Republican Senate leader race — if he chooses to offer one at all. 

Senate Republicans, including those who will be newly elected, will gather in Washington, D.C., shortly after the election in mid-November to hold a secret ballot to determine the next GOP leader. 

The next leader will succeed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history. 

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Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., have announced campaigns for the role. Each of the men endorsed Trump during the Republican primary, despite Thune having first backed fellow Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. 

Thune has had a particularly strained past with Trump over the last several years but has been communicating with him in recent months and seemingly repairing their relationship as he looks to lead the conference. 

Trump has often wielded his seal of approval, or disapproval, as a weapon. In the past, the former president has quickly doomed primary and general campaigns for elected office and leadership bids with as much as a Truth Social post. 

He’s also held grudges against politicians who endorsed opponents, such as Rep. Bob Good, R-Va. Good endorsed Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., in the GOP presidential primary in 2024 before ultimately backing Trump. The former president then endorsed Good’s primary opponent, who went on to beat him in a tight election. 

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Trump’s ability to influence Republicans to get behind his chosen candidates has often relied on fear of retribution, a former Republican leadership aide explained. 

But when Republicans in the upper chamber cast their ballots for a new leader, they’ll be doing it secretly. “Nobody knows how any particular senator voted,” the former aide said. “So they’re free to say whatever they want in terms of who they voted for.”

“I don’t think it has anywhere near the impact that it would in a public race.”

The aide pointed to the speaker election in the House of Representatives, in which Trump’s support or lack thereof played a significant role. In the lower chamber, the vote is public on the House floor, and how each representative voted is recorded. 

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Trump also runs the risk of irritating Republicans in the Senate, who “would not appreciate being told who to support from anyone outside the chamber,” said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, a former top spokesperson to former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and former chief of staff of the Senate Republican Conference. 

Any such endorsement could also prove moot if Trump doesn’t win the presidential election, which will be held roughly a week prior to the leadership vote. 

“We may not know the outcome of the November election for who controls the White House until after the race is over,” Bonjean pointed out. 

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Only two GOP senators have publicly endorsed a leader candidate, with Sens. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., both backing Thune early on. 

Mullin is a close ally of the former president and speaks with him frequently. When Trump has asked for Mullin’s opinion about the leadership race and whether he should get involved, the Oklahoma senator has ultimately deferred to the former president’s judgment. However, he has reccommended that Trump not make an endorsement, as there may not be any benefit for him, according to a source familiar. 

For Trump, choosing to weigh in could introduce “the non-trivial risk that he endorses somebody, and they don’t win,” the former aide said. 

This would amount to an “out-of-the-gate rebuke from Senate Republicans.” 

If such an “immediate rebuke” were to take place, Trump would not have either the luxury or the capability to exact any kind of retribution, due to the vote’s secret nature, they added. 

“This is a true vote of conscience. And votes of conscience like that are not super-amenable to endorsement pressure.”

Trump’s campaign did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication when asked whether he would get involved.