Politics

This may have been Kamala Harris’ most important debate answer

Published

2 years ago

November 12, 2024

This may have been Kamala Harris’ most important debate answer

How Harris can use her debate momentum

Vice President Kamala Harris wiped the floor with former President Donald Trump at Tuesday night’s debate. It started with her aggressive pursuit of a handshake and continued with the trap she set by talking about his obsession with crowd sizes. He never regained control.

All that being said, debate performances alone don’t win elections. Just ask John Kerry or Hillary Clintonwho both won all of their debates and did not win their elections. But debates can help differentiate candidates and motivate voters.

On Tuesday night, the key exchange, at least in my opinion, centered around abortion rights.

After Trump boldly claimed he “did a great service” in overturning Roe v. Wade, Harris had this to say:

You want to talk about this is what people wanted, pregnant women who wanted a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail, and she’s bleeding out in a car in the parking lot. She didn’t want that. Her husband didn’t want that. A 12- or 13-year-old survivor of incest being forced to carry a pregnancy to term, they don’t want that.

She was direct, passionate and made the impact of abortion bans specific and personal.

Trump, meanwhile, failed to commit to vetoing an abortion ban.

There were a lot of spicy moments in this debate. But that exchange showed where Harris and Trump stand on an issue that could be a key motivator of turnout, if not voter behavior.

If I were Team Harris, I would make sure Trump doesn’t forget it.

A story you should be following: Taylor Swift’s 2024 choice

This summer, Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz warned Trump and JD Vance: “See what cat people do when you go after ’em.” And Tuesday night, they found out.

Taylor Swift’s endorsement was one of the most highly anticipated this election. Why? Swift’s social media call to action drove over 400,000 visits to the federal voter registration website Vote.gov within 24 hours of her post. And for context, this website typically only receives about 40,000 visits per day. So far, the pop star’s original Instagram post has been shared by over 1.5 million users on Instagram.

Trump claimed that Swift will “probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.” But Swift’s influence, to say nothing about her business, did just fine after she endorsed Joe Biden for president in October 2020. If anything, she’s only grown more powerful.

Vance, whose “childless cat lady” insults got a callout in Swift’s post, attempted to shrug off the development, saying he doesn’t think many Americans “are going to be influenced by a billionaire celebrity who I think is disconnected from the interests and the problems of most Americans.”

To quote Rep. Adam Schiff: “Has JD Vance met his own running mate?”

Someone you should know: Karen Dunn

Meet Karen Dunnthe powerhouse attorney leading Harris’ debate prep team. The New York Times reports she is described by people close to her as a “skilled handler of high-ego politicians.” And Dunn also knows how to give candidates “tough love” when they need it, according to Hillary Clinton.

Dunn got her start in politics on Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign. She rose to become Clinton’s communications director and joined Clinton’s presidential campaign after attending Yale Law School. After clerking for then-Judge Merrick Garland and Justice Stephen BreyerDunn returned to politics to work on debate prep teams for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Clinton in 2016, and Harris (for her vice presidential debate with Mike Pence) in 2020.

In 2021, Dunn also won a landmark case holding the organizers of the Charlottesville rally accountable for injuries suffered by counterprotesters, securing over $25 million in damages.

After Obama won re-election in 2012, Dunn took a job in the White House counsel’s office. We don’t know where she’ll land next, but she’s absolutely a player to watch in a potential Harris administration.

Just Psaki

Jen Psaki is the host of “Inside with Jen Psaki”airing Sundays at 12 p.m. ET and Mondays at 8 p.m. EST. She is the former White House press secretary for President Joe Biden.

Politics

‘We are winning elections’: Bernie Sanders on Democrats’ progressive wing

Published

21 hours ago

September 6, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

‘We are winning elections’: Bernie Sanders on Democrats’ progressive wing

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Politics

Trump wants the Postal Service to radically overhaul mail voting. But ballots are already going out.

Published

3 days ago

September 4, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump’s controversial demands for the Postal Service to overhaul and monitor millions of mail ballots hit another snag on Friday, when North Carolina became the first state in the nation to start sending out ballots for the November election.

In March, Trump signed the initial executive order, which aimed to crack down on mail-in voting — which he regularly alleges without evidence is a vector for widespread voter fraud — and assert an unprecedented amount of federal control over the upcoming elections.

Under this order and the subsequent rule drafted by the U.S. Postal Service, the USPS would refuse to deliver ballots to states that failed to provide lists of eligible mail voters or did not adhere to an approved envelope design style.

Since then, the order has faced legal challenges, and it remains paused by a federal judge’s orders. But the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow the new rule to proceed — something current and former election officials from both parties say would be both a legal nightmare that oversteps the federal government’s traditional role in elections and a logistical one that is happening far too close to the November election to implement even if they agreed with it.

“Why the hell are you rocking the boat this late in the game?” said Stephen Richer, a former Republican recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona, who has clashed with Trump allies for defending the security of the 2020 election.

Still, election officials are trying to project a sense of normalcy for voters, particularly in North Carolina, which serves as a test of whether established local election systems can operate normally amid intensifying federal scrutiny.

“I want to emphasize this point because there has been a lot of outside noise: Our county workers are ready,” Sam Hayes, a longtime Republican lawyer in the state and now executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said in a Thursday afternoon press conference.

He added, “All we can do is what we’re doing. … It is business as usual as far as I’m concerned.”

Despite the legal challenges, the Trump administration has continued to press the courts to let it proceed. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to lift an order from a Massachusetts judge which temporarily prevents the USPS from enforcing their rule. It is the second time the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to step in, after winning an earlier victory in which the high court dismissed an earlier hold on the rule as premature.

“The uncertainty is coming from a single activist judge who continues to try and obstruct President Trump from implementing commonsense measures to protect the security of mail-in ballots and ensure only Americans vote in American elections,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement. “These safeguards for mail ballots were proposed months ago giving election officials ample time to prepare for the 2026 election.”

The USPS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Election officials said that if the rule goes into effect this close to November, it would cause chaos and place added strain on the USPS and election officials. And an anonymous federal whistleblower said in a report circulated earlier this week by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) that the USPS was moving forward in a “secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process” to try to implement the new system ahead of the midterms.

In the coming weeks, states across the country will follow North Carolina’s lead. Nine other states will begin mailing ballots in the next two weeks, according to a tracker from the National Conference of State Legislatures — with the biggest day for mailing coming 45 days before the election in mid-September.

“It would be so outrageous to try to let this go into effect. It’s hard to even imagine,” said Ben Hovland, a senior fellow for democracy at the progressive think tank Center for American Progress and former Democratic commissioner with the Election Assistance Commission who was fired by Trump in July.

He added, “It would be a break-glass moment for our democracy.”

The rule would require meticulous changes to ballot handling and tracking practices that Hovland said are impossible to implement before Election Day in about two months, effectively disenfranchising millions of voters.

“Ballots are printed. Envelopes are printed. You can go on and on with all the practical reasons that show that implementing something like this at this time is not feasible,” he said.

Richer said he doubted the new rules would bring about more security. Even if the USPS received lists from the states, according to the postal service’s final rule, it would not do any additional vetting of the list, Richer said.

“It’s just that the mail ballots have to be on that list, and I don’t see what added value for election integrity that does,” he said.

He added, “It creates a lot of administrative burden, and I think it creates a lot more opportunity for error.”

While a decision looms in the courts, election officials and experts cast doubt on the likelihood of the rules going into effect before November. A more pressing issue, they said, is the confusion and uncertainty surrounding mail-in ballots, which could subvert and change the behaviors of voters.

“It makes things seem messy or difficult, and it can dissuade people from participating or coming out to vote,” Hovland said. “It certainly also helps establish a pretext to make bad faith claims about election results.”

Hovland said that while none of these claims of voter fraud are backed up with facts, they could cause Americans to lose faith in the voting process.

Still, some current officials contended they were well-prepared for whatever happens — and that they’d be able to communicate effectively with voters who have become increasingly buffeted by dramatic rhetoric about the once-unmentioned nuts and bolts of actually running an election.

“There’s always a lot of noise around elections, that’s not going to change, and it can be hard to differentiate that from what’s actually going on on the ground,” said Jason Tyson, director of external affairs for the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

As Election Day approaches, Tyson and election officials said they urge voters to check their registration status and make a plan to vote.

He added, “I think we’ve got a really well-trained, solid staff who are ready, and who have gone through all of the checks and balances and points of contact that we need to do to get to where we are.”

Politics

Missouri Supreme Court pauses GOP gerrymander, likely netting Democrats 1 House seat

Published

3 days ago

September 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Missouri’s Supreme Court suspended a congressional map that state Republicans drew last year that would have netted the GOP an additional House seat, likely keeping the seat in Democratic hands this November.

The court ruled unanimously on Thursday that a referendum petition organized by Democrats to put the new congressional maps to a vote was incorrectly deemed insufficient by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, and ordered that the gerrymandered map be put to a vote in the fall.

Voters will ultimately decide the fate of the new lines in November. But in the meantime, it cannot be in place for the midterms, meaning Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s original Kansas City-based district will likely stay in Democrats’ hands this fall.