Senate Democrats jump at Harris’s filibuster comments
Yesterday, Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated her support for eliminating the filibuster for the first time as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. As a result, Senate Democrats who have long been hoping for the move are falling into line, Washington Examiner Senate Reporters Ramsey Touchberry and Samantha-Jo Roth wrote. Democrats argue doing away with the filibuster would allow them to codify Roe v. Wade’s abortion protections into law.
“I am confident that many of our colleagues will do it exactly as Vice President Harris said, which is to make sure we restore the rights of Roe to every woman in this country,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the highest-ranking Democratic woman, told reporters.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) told the Washington Examiner there was a “desperate need of filibuster reform” and that it should be eliminated for matters beyond abortion, such as voting rights.
However, not all Democrats were certain about the constitutional change.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), who is locked in a tight Montana Senate race that could determine which party controls the upper chamber next Congress, said, “I think we ought to have a talking filibuster. That will solve the problem to protect minority rights and keep the people who are obstructionists from obstructing.”
There’s always the possibility that doing away with the filibuster would achieve the exact opposite of what Democrats want, as Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) mentioned in a post to X.
“To state the supremely obvious, eliminating the filibuster to codify Roe v. Wade also enables a future Congress to ban all abortion nationwide,” she posted on social media.
Click here to read more reaction to Harris’s comments.
What to expect from Vance’s debate game?
Next week, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) will face off in the vice presidential debate. Vance, though a seasoned media interviewee, has only taken part in a formal debate one other time, against then-opponent Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan. His performance on that stage could tell us what to expect Tuesday night, White House reporter Haisten Willis wrote.
Vance used similar tactics to the ones he used in his everyday campaigning. He tied Ryan to the Democratic Party as a whole (“[Ryan’s] entire campaign is based on sucking up to the national Democratic establishment”), painted his opponent as an abortion extremist by saying he supports abortion “without limits, up to 40 weeks of pregnancy,” and pushed theories that Democrats want more immigration as a strategy to undermine Republican electoral strength (“Tim Ryan and Joe Biden’s wide-open southern border”).
Former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric often is more dramatic than Vance’s, though they have come closer since Trump announced the Ohio senator as his running mate. Recently, both have peddled unproven claims about cities that have seen an influx of Haitian immigrants, such as Springfield, Ohio, a topic some experts suggest should be avoided on the debate stage.
“He needs to stick to the issues of the economy, crime, immigration, and foreign policy,” said Marc Clauson, a politics professor at Cedarville University in Ohio. “He’s much more likely to do that than Trump would be. Trump is easy to get off track. I think Vance stays on track really well.”
The debate will also give viewers a chance to hear from Walz directly, a rare occurrence from the Democratic ticket this election. Walz regularly appeared for broadcast segments before being announced as Harris’s running mate, but since then, he has only done one solo interview, with Michigan radio station WCMU.
Click here to read more pre-debate analysis.
Republicans target Mississippi ballot rule with broader goals in mind
Republicans are challenging a Mississippi law that allows ballots to be counted until five days after the election. The Republican National Committee and Mississippi Republican Party have been arguing since January that accepting these late absentee ballots is unlawful.
However, the goal of this lawsuit might be broader than just applying to ruby-red Mississippi, Investigations Reporter Ashley Oliver wrote.
“I think the goal would be, my guess is, the goal would be to get a good ruling from the 5th Circuit, have the other side appeal, and then the Supreme Court take it up, and then hopefully get it applied nationally,” Chad Ennis, a longtime attorney and vice president of the Honest Elections Project, told Ashley. “That would seem to be the strategy.”
Three Trump-appointed judges on the 5th Circuit heard arguments on Tuesday and indicated they would issue an expedited decision, but the saga is unlikely to unfold fully before the 2024 election. The Purcell principle discourages courts from making voting decisions right before an election to avoid confusing voters.
A favorable decision from the 5th Circuit could help Republicans relay the decision in other jurisdictions. More than two dozen other states accept mail-in ballots after Election Day, and most states have some form of early voting available.
Click here to read about how Florida fits into this story.
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To know today
President Joe Biden will sit down for an interview with The View at 11:15 a.m. He will also host a bilateral meeting with General Secretary Tô Lâm of Vietnam at 2:00 p.m. and host an event to launch the Joint Declaration of Support for Ukrainian Recovery and Reconstruction at 3:30 p.m.
Then, the president and first lady Jill Biden will host an event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at 6:15 p.m.
Harris will deliver remarks at a campaign event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at 3:15 p.m.
Trump is scheduled to visit Mint Hill, North Carolina, for a campaign event at 1:00 p.m.
This evening, the House will vote on Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) three-month continuing resolution to fund the government. After it passes, the Senate will have two hours to take up the resolution and then vote on it.