In the latest polls, the two presidential candidates who are neck and neck are actively seeking the support of key voters. On Thursday, Vice President Harris and former President Trump will attend events aimed at energizing their core supporters.
Harris will participate in a two-hour “Unite America” live event hosted by talk show host Oprah Winfrey in Michigan. Meanwhile, Trump will head to Washington to attend an evening event focusing on “Fighting Anti-Semitism in America”.
Here are the latest updates from today’s campaign events:
US Senator Rick Scott announced on Thursday morning that he and his Republican colleagues have introduced a bill demanding that the Department of Homeland Security provide presidential candidates and their spouses with protection equivalent to that of the sitting president.
Scott and 11 other Republican senators jointly introduced the “Protect Our Presidents Act”. Scott stated, “It is unimaginable that such things could happen in America today, and Congress needs to take immediate action.”
Scott emphasized that his bill would push for providing this protection for Trump as a presidential candidate, but clarified that the bill would not apply to former presidents, including Obama and President-elect Biden after November.
Scott also expressed support for state investigations into assassination attempts and called for federal prosecutors to be more transparent in the details to avoid misinformation.
He pointed out that it is unprecedented to have two assassination attempts against one person in just over sixty days, urging Senate Democrats to join their cause and swiftly pass the bill.
During the celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Trump’s campaign team discussed immigration issues in a press conference call on Thursday.
During the campaign call, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, whose parents are from Cuba, stated that under Trump’s presidency, the lives of all Americans, including Hispanic Americans, were better than under Biden and Democratic candidate Harris’s leadership.
Rubio emphasized economic factors and fears of crime. He claimed that Harris is “trying to overturn” Trump’s achievements benefiting Hispanic Americans and that under Republican leadership, the world is “a safer, more stable place.”
National Hispanic Heritage Month (from September 15th to October 15th each year) is an annual event showcasing Hispanic diversity and culture.
During an event at the White House on Wednesday for Hispanic Heritage Month, Biden proudly mentioned the employment data of Hispanic Americans, stating that his administration oversaw “the lowest Hispanic unemployment rate ever”.
Biden criticized the Republican rhetoric on immigration, calling the US a “nation of immigrants” and urging Hispanic Americans to support Harris in November’s election.
Harris is intensifying efforts to win over voters from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and inviting prominent members of the church in Arizona to spread the message that Trump does not align with the church’s values.
Her state campaign announced the formation of an advisory committee on Thursday to officially promote the current and former members of the church, widely known as the Mormon Church.
Arizona has nearly 450,000 church members, accounting for about 6% of the state’s population. Latter-day Saints and former church members may play a crucial role in this intense election.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traditionally support the Republican Party and are likely to continue to be part of the Republican coalition.
They gather in states firmly supporting the GOP, have played a significant role in Republican primaries and local politics in the Western region for years, but have limited influence in national elections.
According to Associated Press’s VoteCast data, about 70% of Mormon voters nationwide supported Trump in 2020, while about a quarter supported Biden.
Leaders of the Uncommitted movement against the Democrats in the war in Yemen stated on Thursday that they would not support Harris’s presidential campaign but strongly urged supporters to vote against Trump in the November election.
The movement, which earlier attracted hundreds of thousands of votes in the Democratic primaries, protested President Biden’s handling of the Yemen war.
After the Democratic National Convention failed to invite a Palestinian-American speaker as requested, the group called on Harris’s campaign team to respond to their request by September 15th, hoping the Vice President could meet with Palestinian-American families in Michigan and discuss their demands to stop arms sales to Israel and ensure a permanent ceasefire.
The group claimed that these demands were not met.
The movement began in Michigan, where over a hundred thousand voters marked “Uncommitted” in the state’s Democratic primaries.
The state has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the country, making it a crucial swing state with a significant voter base.
Both presidential candidates are actively seeking the support of the Arab American community in the metropolitan Detroit area.
Last month, Harris met with the mayor of Dearborn, the largest Arab American enclave in the US, while Trump met with the mayor of Hamtramck, the first Muslim-majority city in the US, on Tuesday seeking his support.
(Reference: Associated Press, Fox News)