Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will debate for the first time next Tuesday as the presidential candidates vie for voters’ favor on the biggest stage in U.S. politics. The meeting comes just 75 days after President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance sparked a political earthquake that ultimately forced him out of the race.
Before that, Trump and Harris will discuss their tax policy plans with voters. Harris touted a diminutive business tax plan during a campaign visit to New Hampshire on Wednesday, while Trump will speak to the Economic Club of New York on Thursday.
With only 61 days left until the November election, early voting will begin in at least four states by the end of September, with a dozen more expected to follow by mid-October.
Follow AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
Here is the news:
Harris meets with the Teamsters, one of the last unions to support a presidential candidate
Vice President Kamala Harris and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters have agreed to meet on September 16 as the Democratic presidential candidate seeks the support of the powerful union.
The union said in a statement Thursday that the meeting with union members and officials would take place at Teamsters headquarters in Washington.
Harris has already won the backing of most major unions, including the United Auto Workers and the American Federation of Teachers. Now she is seeking the support of the 1.3 million-member Teamsters union, the last to make a decision.
The statement said the meeting would give Harris the opportunity to discuss how she and the Teamsters “can work together to empower and protect workers, promote high labor standards, and strengthen the American economy while growing the middle class.”
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump met with Teamsters members and leaders in January.
No matter who the Teamsters support, they have no guarantee of the support of all union members. In an interview with CBS on Sunday, President Sean O’Brien noted that the union differs from most others in that its membership is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.
Trump praises his economic successes as president
Former President Donald Trump touts his economic accomplishments to a group of executives and industry leaders.
In a speech to the Economic Club of New York on Thursday, Trump said he “takes care of our economy like I take care of my own business.”
The Republican presidential candidate also criticized Vice President Kamala Harris’ economic plans, saying the Democratic presidential candidate “wants to push through another four years of a radical left agenda that poses a fundamental threat to the prosperity of every American family and to America itself.”
Trump said he promised “low taxes, little regulation, low interest rates, very, very low crime and rising incomes for all.”
Trump and Harris present completely different economic plans
Just days before their first debate, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump present very different visions for the US economy.
Trump has floated the idea of cutting the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%, a proposal that businesses like, and also not imposing taxes on tips and Social Security income. The corporate tax rate was 35% when he became president in 2017, and he later signed a law lowering it.
Harris called for an boost in the corporate tax rate to 28%. In New Hampshire on Wednesday, she also called for an expansion of tax deductions for startup costs and set a goal of filing 25 million business startup applications over the next four years.
Economists are warning about Trump’s plans to impose tariffs that he says would bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. Some say such import tariffs could exacerbate inflation, despite Trump’s promises to cut costs. Inflation peaked at 9.1% in 2022, but has fallen to 2.9% since last month.
Trump was scheduled to appear before the Economic Club of New York on Thursday to present his case.
▶ Read more here.
Election and entertainment groups announce HBCU voter registration contest
A coalition of education, entertainment and political groups is launching a voter registration campaign for HBCUs with the goal of getting students from historically black colleges to the polls.
The “Vote Loud: HBCU Voter Registration Challenge,” launched Thursday, allows current students, alumni, professors and extended family members of historically black colleges and universities to register to vote and earn points for their school. Special prizes will be announced soon and may include special performances, organizers said.
The contest runs through October 5th and was launched by BET, HBCU Buzz, Live Nation Urban and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s nonpartisan voting initiative When We All Vote.
Luke Lawal Jr. is founder and CEO of HBCU Buzz. He says the initiative is not just about voting, but about “shaping policies that impact our education, our communities and our future.”
Trump’s election fraud case goes to court again
On Thursday, a judge in Washington, DC, will hear possible next steps in Donald Trump’s federal election fraud trial, the first hearing since the Supreme Court narrowed the case by ruling that former presidents are entitled to broad immunity from criminal charges.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys submitted competing proposals behind schedule Friday ahead of the status conference. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is presiding over the case, which accuses Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election results in the run-up to the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
At the start of the hearing, the judge noted that she had not seen the lawyers in her courtroom for nearly a year. The case has been on hold since last December while Trump appealed.
▶ Read more here.
Republican lawsuits set the stage for state-level lawsuits if Trump loses election
Even before voters can begin casting their ballots, Democrats and Republicans are already embroiled in a sweeping legal battle over how the 2024 election will be conducted—a series of court battles that, if the outcome is close, could even last beyond Election Day.
Both parties have beefed up their legal teams for the fight. Republicans have filed more than 100 lawsuits challenging various aspects of the voting process after being repeatedly rebuked by judges in 2020 for filing complaints that the election was not held until after the votes had been counted.
After Donald Trump made “election integrity” a central part of the party platform following his false claims of widespread voter fraud in 2020, the Republican National Committee says it has more than 165,000 volunteers ready to monitor the November election.
The Democrats are countering with what they call “voter protection.” They are rushing to court to defend themselves against Republican lawsuits and are putting together their own team for November with more than 100 employees, several hundred lawyers and, they say, thousands of volunteers.
▶ Read more here.
Important questions before the first presidential duel between Trump and Harris
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will debate for the first – and perhaps last – time on Tuesday night as the presidential candidates vie for voters’ favor on the biggest stage in U.S. politics.
The meeting comes just 75 days after President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, which sparked a political earthquake that ultimately forced him out of the race. Few expected such a cataclysmic outcome this time around, but Trump has made it his mission to end Harris’ “honeymoon” as polls suggest the Democratic vice president is now tied or just ahead of the Republican ex-president in some swing states.
Harris, a former prosecutor, will enter the evening with relatively high expectations, facing a Republican opponent with 34 felony convictions and a penchant for making false statements. The question is whether Harris, who didn’t stand out much during the primary debates of her 2020 presidential campaign, can denounce Trump’s glaring misdeeds in a face-to-face meeting on live television in front of the world.
The 90-minute meeting begins at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday at the National Constitutional Center in Philadelphia. It will be moderated by ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis. According to rules negotiated by both campaigns, there will be no live audience.
▶ This is what we pay attention to on a historic night.
Harris accepts rules for debate with Trump on September 10 on ABC, including muting the microphone
Vice President Kamala Harris has accepted the rules for next week’s debate with former President Donald Trump, but the Democratic candidate says the decision to keep both candidates’ microphones off throughout the duel will work to her detriment.
The development, which was announced Wednesday in a letter from Harris’ campaign team to the ABC News anchor, appeared to mark the end of the debate over microphone muting that had for a time threatened to jeopardize the Sept. 10 presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
