“Gov. Kathy Hochul has begun to examine a long-dormant power that lets governors remove local officials such as New York City mayors, following Thursday’s indictment of Eric Adams,” Politico reports.
“Lawyers in Hochul’s office on Thursday internally discussed the legal and constitutional framework for removing an elected official.”
Said Hochul: “I will be deliberative, I will be thoughtful, but we’re going to come to the right resolution on what to do in this moment.”
A new set of Bloomberg/Morning Consult polls finds Kamala Harris “has all but neutralized Donald Trump’s advantage on economic issues, fueling an upbeat showing for the Democrat in battleground states.”
Across all seven swing states, Harris holds a 50% to 47% lead over Trump.
A resurfaced video clip of Sen. J.D. Vance “is once again taking off on the internet as economic issues and family dynamics continue to dominate the election cycle,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
“This particular clip from 2023 is gaining traction because Vance indicates that car seats are preventing people from having more babies.”
Said Vance: “There’s evidence that the car seat rules that we’ve imposed, which of course I want kids to drive in car seats, have driven down the number of babies born in this country by over 100,000. So as we think about how to make kids safe here, I think we should do it in a way that’s accommodating to American families.”
“A New York appeals court on Thursday questioned whether the state’s civil fraud case against Donald Trump properly applied the law—and whether the nearly half-a-billion-dollar penalty against the former president was too high,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“A midlevel appellate panel heard arguments in Trump’s bid to overturn a judge’s order that he and other defendants pay $489 million for fraudulently valuing parts of his real-estate empire for financial gain.”
“For many months, it has been an undisputed and durable fact of the 2024 race that former President Donald Trump held a strong political advantage on the most pressing issue to the most voters: the economy,” the New York Times reports.
“But with less than six weeks until the election, some of Vice President Kamala Harris’s top strategists are making the seemingly audacious case that she will not only neutralize the longstanding Republican edge on economic matters but also flip the script entirely by Election Day.”
“Federal officials battling foreign interference in the coming election say they are entering what may be the most perilous period of the campaign: October, when the prospect for mischief runs high and the time to react runs short,” the New York Times reports.
“While the Russians make little attempt to hide their support for former President Donald Trump, the Iranians — among Moscow’s most important suppliers in the war in Ukraine — desperately want to stop him from returning to office, and are busy hacking into his campaign and dumping whatever they find, as well as plotting to assassinate him.”
Ken Klippenstein has published the document reportedly stolen by Iran in a Trump campaign hack.
“It’s a 271-page research paper the Trump campaign prepared to vet now vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance. As far as I can tell, it hasn’t been altered, but even if it was, its contents are publicly verifiable. I’ll let it speak for itself.”
Former U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS) endorsed Kamala Harris for president, Fox News reports.
United Atlantic Ventures LLC, a major shareholder in Trump Media, has sold or otherwise gotten rid of more than 7.5 million shares in the company, according to a regulatory filing, CNBC reports.
“Federal law enforcement officials plan to announce criminal charges Friday in connection with the alleged Iranian hack of emails from members of former President Donald Trump’s campaign,” ABC News reports.
“The Iranians allegedly gained access to data and files taken from the email accounts of Trump advisers, which included internal documents used to vet Trump’s perspective running mate.”
“Republicans don’t want to touch abortion, their most troublesome issue since the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” the New York Times reports.
“But like a toothache they keep probing with their tongue, they just can’t seem to help it…”
“Republicans have been eager to campaign on a southwestern border that at times has seemed uncontrolled, and on the lingering sting of inflation, both issues where voters continue to prefer Mr. Trump. But the one issue surveys have shown the party should be steering clear of is abortion.”
GQ: “Hi everyone, it’s your favorite president, Donald J. Trump.”
“So begins Trump’s video introduction—nearly indistinguishable from a Saturday Night Live sketch—to his latest venture: A new collection of watches, including a $100,000 model with a tourbillon (a mechanism that continuously spins the watch’s movement).”
Says Trump, during the video: “That’s a lot of diamonds. I love gold, I love diamonds.”
“Mike Pence stuck his head up this week to take a whack at Trumpism, urging Republicans to reject ‘protectionist tariffs’ and ‘isolationism’ while ‘unashamedly’ recommitting to anti-abortion positions,” Semafor reports.
“It’s a sign of what he’s up to behind the scenes as well.”
“The former vice president is laying the groundwork for a party that could move on after the election from Donald Trump’s populism and protectionism. Sometimes that means being a rare voice of public dissent, at other times it means quietly trying to recruit allies to his cause who might be more willing to join him on specific policy or political fights.”
“Donald Trump’s campaign scrapped plans for an upcoming outdoor rally in Wisconsin after the Secret Service said it did not have the personnel needed to secure the site,” CBS News reports.
“The rally was set to take place outdoors at an airport on Saturday, but Trump will instead deliver remarks at a smaller indoor arena in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.”
The latest NBC News poll finds 65% of registered voters surveyed earlier this month say the country is on the wrong track, while 28% say it’s on the right track.
Just for members: The latest edition of Inside Elections.
This issue features updated analysis on the president race, as well as the fight for the House, Senate, and governor.
In the Senate, we shifted ratings in four states — Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, and Nebraska — and moved our overall range to R +2-4 seats. We also changed the rating in 7 House races and the Indiana governor’s race.
With a little more than a month to go, lots of races look very tight.
If you’re not a member, check out our membership options for instant access.
A new Echelon Insights poll finds Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump in a head-to-head race, 52% to 45%.
Those who watched the debate said Harris won it by a 61% to 33% margin.
“One of the biggest super PACs supporting former President Donald Trump is adding $70 million to its television and digital reservations in the final six weeks of the campaign, including the first significant Republican super PAC ad buy in North Carolina since Labor Day,” the New York Times reports.
“The super PAC, MAGA Inc., is pouring the funds into four battleground states — North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.”
“Most of the group’s money is going into Pennsylvania, officials at the super PAC said. The former president’s advisers and allies believe that a Trump win in Pennsylvania would block Vice President Kamala Harris’s path to the White House.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.