September 3, 2024

I took the weekend off for Labor Day, but since we are a week out from the planned face-off between contenders Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on ABC, the news most definitely did not. Let’s run down the biggest election-related events from the long weekend.

Vox Populi: Harris celebrated Labor Day with a campaign event in a packed Pittsburgh union hall last night, with special guest and opener President Joe Biden. (To be clear, it’s still a little odd that the current Leader of the Free World™ is someone else’s opening act!) The biggest news out of the event, though, was Harris announcing her opposition to the proposed sale of US Steel to Japanese-owned Nippon Steel. This isn’t a huge surprise, as the White House has previously opposed the controversial deal, but it is a significant point for Harris’ side in regards to American union-friendly policies. LINK

Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud: It’s funny that the Republicans often criticize Harris and running mate Governor Tim Walz for their relative few interviews, while Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, seem to have a knack for shooting themselves in their feet during theirs. (Perhaps there’s a lesson in that.) While Trump largely took Monday off, an interview with him aired Sunday on Fox News, where in regards to the 2020 election, Trump gave this baffling statement:

“It’s so crazy that my poll numbers go up. Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it.”

To be clear, no, nobody has the right to interfere with a presidential election. And given that’s kind of what a few of Trump’s outstanding indictments are all about, I imagine this “interview” might take the form of “evidence” in the near future. LINK

Letting Voices Be Heard: Here’s an important Pennsylvania election story I missed on Friday: Commonwealth Court judges ruled that enforcing the date requirement on mail-in ballot envelopes violates the free and equal clause of the state constitution. Judge Ellen Ceisler, in the majority opinion, wrote, “The refusal to count undated or incorrectly dated but timely mail ballots submitted by otherwise eligible voters […] violates the fundamental right to vote.” The take-home message here is that mis-dating a ballot should not result in it automatically being rejected. (Approximately 10,000 ballots were rejected in the 2022 midterm for this reason.) Expect the Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania to appeal the decision by the deadline of Wednesday. LINK