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First on Fox: Top outside group backing House Republicans sets fundraising record

First on Fox: Top outside group backing House Republicans sets fundraising record

EXCLUSIVE: The leading outside group that supports House Republicans is reporting its highest fundraising quarter ever. The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), which is closely aligned with House Speaker Mike Johnson, is announcing that it hauled in $81.4 million during the July-September third quarter of 2024 fundraising.  With four weeks left until Election Day in November and the GOP aiming to hold onto and expand its fragile House majority, the CLF is also announcing that it is dishing out another $11 million in new ad reservations. Word of both developments was shared first on Tuesday with Fox News. “We continue to raise at levels that will allow us to be incredibly impactful this cycle. We’re invested deeply and continuing to add more strategically in the must-win races that will determine the Majority,” CLF President Dan Conston said in a statement. TRUMP UPS THE ANTE WITH HIS SEPTEMBER FUNDRAISING HAUL The money raised over the past three months by the CLF tops its previous record of $77.4 million in the third quarter of 2020. The group said it is on track with what it raked in during the 2022 midterms, when Republicans flipped the House, and are out-pacing what they raised at this point in 2020, the last presidential cycle. The CLF also highlighted that it had $152.8 million cash on hand as of the end of September and touted that it slightly outpaced its Democratic rival in total money raised so far this election cycle. CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION House Majority PAC, the main super PAC supporting House Democrats, announced last week that it and its aligned non-profit organization hauled in $69 million in September, part of a $150 million third quarter. However, according to a report, the House Majority PAC alone brought in roughly $100 million in fundraising during the past three months. After then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy – who was long known for his fundraising prowess – was ousted a year ago in a very messy intra-party battle, expectations for a strong fundraising cycle for House Republicans were lowered. However, the CLF’s fundraising appears to have defied those low expectations. The group said Johnson had done well with fundraising and picked up where McCarthy left off. CLF officials also said that they are continuing to haul in “big money” in the week since the end of the third quarter. The CLF said the new ad reservations – with the money being spent on top GOP offensive and defensive House races – brings the group’s total reservations this cycle to $190 million. They note that they will likely add more spending ahead of Election Day. The group is directing some of the new spending to beef up existing ad buys in three Democrat-held districts the GOP’s aiming to flip: Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District and Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. Additionally, the CLF says it will also use some of the new reservations to “lay down aircover to combat Democrats’ spending” in districts where it’s playing defense, including New York 19, Wisconsin 03, and Arizona 06. The GOP currently controls the 435-member House by a narrow 220-212 majority. Two Democrat-held and one Republican-held seats are vacant. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Vulnerable Dem Jon Tester turns on Biden admin over DEI after Montana universities stripped of federal funds

Vulnerable Dem Jon Tester turns on Biden admin over DEI after Montana universities stripped of federal funds

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., is calling on President Biden and his administration’s Department of Education to promptly reverse a grant rejection for Montana universities because of a failure to meet certain diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring standards.  In a statement exclusively to Fox News Digital, the senator said, “The Biden Administration’s decision to strip critical funding from local schools is just another example of one-size-fits-all policies from Washington bureaucrats who don’t understand Montana.” “I’m calling on the Biden Administration and the Department of Education to immediately reverse this decision, because Montana’s students are more important than [made-up] D.C. hiring practices.” SENATE REPUBLICANS MARK OCT 7 ATTACK 1 YEAR OUT AS ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR CONTINUES Tester, who is fighting for his political life in a competitive re-election match in a traditionally Republican state, first voiced his concerns about the grant rejection due to insufficiently diverse hiring practices in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona last month. “I am deeply troubled by indications that the Department rejected Montana’s application based primarily on an unfair scoring decision related to subjective diversity hiring requirements that failed to recognize the work already being done on this front,” he wrote. HERE’S WHAT 2 UNDECIDED WISCONSIN VOTERS ARE HOLDING OUT FOR IN 2024 ELECTION The senator’s office revealed that after 25 years of receiving the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) grant, Biden’s DOE rejected the Montana university systems’ federal funding because Montana supposedly did not include sufficient details about its hiring practices for “a diverse group of individuals.” According to Tester, the denial was “embarrassing” for the DOE.  The DOE told Fox News Digital it had received the letter and was in the process of reviewing it. Tester’s office confirmed that it had yet to receive a response despite reaching out on Sept. 9.  The pointed criticism of the Biden administration’s implementation of DEI standards sets him apart from his party, which has been generally supportive of the initiatives. On the other hand, Republicans have criticized the continued efforts to prioritize diversity over merit in hiring.  In less than a month, the Montana Democrat will face off in one of the most competitive races in the country against Republican candidate Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL. Recently, several political handicappers have indicated Sheehy has the advantage going into the election.  SOROS-LINKED DARK MONEY GROUP PROPS UP NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE IN KEY SENATE RACE A spokesperson for Sheehy’s campaign criticized Tester’s stance against the Biden administration on DEI, telling Fox News Digital, “Jon Tester loved the radical Left’s Woke agenda when he voted to exclude white farmers from getting assistance just because they were white, supported AOC’s Green New Deal moving forward, and blamed Biden’s border crisis on Climate Change.” “After voting 95% of the time with Biden and Harris, Two-Faced Tester is doing the Tester Two-Step just ahead of an election because he’s a desperate career politician making an all-out effort to save his political career that made him rich in Washington.” TOP 5 MOMENTS FROM ONLY VP DEBATE BETWEEN VANCE, WALZ BEFORE ELECTION Tester voted in line with Biden 90% of the time in the last Congress, according to FiveThirtyEight. In the first half of the 118th Congress, he voted with the president roughly 95%.  The three-term senator has held off explicitly endorsing Vice President Harris in the presidential election, repeatedly telling reporters he is focused on Montana and his own race.  However, critics have pushed back at this, pointing to reports that the senator was responsible for recruiting Harris to run for Senate in 2015 when he served as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Tester’s campaign did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Early voting kicks off in Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, Wyoming

Early voting kicks off in Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, Wyoming

Four more states began their early voting processes on Tuesday: Indiana, New Mexico, Wyoming and the major swing state of Ohio. Here is everything you need to know about casting a ballot in each of the states. Ohio is home to one of the most competitive Senate races on the map. Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown has won the Midwestern state three times, but with Trump pushing White working-class voters toward the GOP and record spending from both parties, this is set to be a tight race. Brown faces Republican businessman Bernie Moreno. Republicans have made inroads in the northeastern and heavily industrial areas bordering Pennsylvania. Trumbull County flipped to the GOP in 2016, and Trump increased his margin to 10 points in 2020; Mahoning County flipped in 2020 by almost two points. These counties played a key role in Trump’s statewide wins. Democrats are performing better than ever in the “three C’s”: Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. These areas have the highest percentages of college-educated voters. President Biden won the counties home to these cities by double-digit margins in 2020, with roughly 30-point wins in Franklin (Columbus) and Cuyahoga (Cleveland). Unlike in other competitive states, Republicans still hold up in Ohio’s suburban and exurban areas, particularly those surrounding Cincinnati. Ohio’s Senate race is a toss-up and the presidential race is ranked Likely R on the Fox News Power Rankings. Meanwhile, New Mexico is also in the “likely” column, both at the presidential and senate level. The state delivered Biden an 11-point win in 2020, but Latino or Hispanic voters made up 35% of the state’s electorate in the 2020 election, and those voters’ support for the Democrat ticket has wavered in recent polls. Republicans would need to run up their margins with these voters all across the state and keep Harris at bay in places like Doña Ana County, home to Albuquerque and which last voted for Biden by 18 points, to pull off a victory. Voting also begins today in four House districts ranked Lean or Toss Up on the Fox News Power Rankings. For a full list of competitive races, see the latest Senate and House rankings. This is a guide to registration and early voting. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, please go to Vote.gov and the election website for Indiana. Indiana began absentee voting on Tuesday. Residents do not need to provide an excuse in order to receive a ballot. State officials must receive a ballot request by Oct. 24, and that ballot must be delivered to state officials by Nov. 5. WALZ REPEATS GEORGIA ABORTION DEATH FALSEHOOD DECRIED BY DOCTORS AS ‘FEARMONGERING’ Indiana offers early in-person voting beginning Oct. 8 and running through Nov. 4. Indiana residents must have registered to vote by Oct. 7. This is a guide to registration and early voting. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, please go to Vote.gov and the election website for New Mexico. New Mexico began absentee voting on Tuesday. Residents do not need to provide an excuse in order to receive a ballot. State officials must receive a ballot request by Oct. 22, and that ballot must be delivered to state officials by Nov. 5. IN BID FOR DISGRUNTLED REPUBLICANS, HARRIS TEAMS UP WITH CHENEY IN GOP BIRTHPLACE New Mexico offers early in-person voting beginning Oct. 8 and running through Nov. 2. New Mexico residents must register to vote by the end of Tuesday. This is a guide to registration and early voting. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, please go to Vote.gov and the election website for Ohio. Ohio began absentee voting on Tuesday. Residents do not need to provide an excuse in order to receive a ballot. State officials must receive a ballot request by Oct. 29, and that ballot must be delivered to state officials by Nov. 5. Ohio offers early in-person voting beginning Oct. 8 and running through Nov. 3. Ohio residents must have registered to vote by Oct. 7. This is a guide to registration and early voting. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, please go to Vote.gov and the election website for Wyoming. Wyoming began absentee voting on Tuesday. Residents do not need to provide an excuse in order to receive a ballot. State officials must receive a ballot request by Nov. 4, and that ballot must be delivered to state officials by Nov. 5. Wyoming offers early in-person voting beginning Oct. 8 and running through Nov. 4. Wyoming residents must register to vote by mail by Oct. 21. They can register to vote in person at any time during early voting or on election day.

Eye of the Storm: Back-to-back hurricanes threaten to upend Harris-Trump presidential showdown

Eye of the Storm: Back-to-back hurricanes threaten to upend Harris-Trump presidential showdown

As the death toll rises and roughly a quarter of a million people remain without power or running water a week and a half after Hurricane Helen tore a path of destruction through the southeast United States, another powerful storm is bearing down on the region. Hurricane Milton, now an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm, is on course to slam into Florida Wednesday evening. With four weeks to go until Election Day in November and Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump locked in a bitter margin-of-error showdown in the race to succeed President Biden in the White House, and with two of the hardest-hit states from Helene — North Carolina and Georgia — among the seven key battlegrounds that will likely determine the outcome of the 2024 election – the politics of federal disaster relief are once again front and center on the campaign trail. Trump has been attacking the vice president and her boss over the federal response to Hurricane Helene for well over a week. Harris, on Monday, fired back, accusing Trump of pushing “a lot of mis and disinformation.”  HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS WEATHER UPDATES ON HURRICANE MILTON The former president has repeatedly charged that Biden and Harris have been incompetant in their handling of rescue and recovery efforts. “It is going down as the WORST & MOST INCOMPETENTLY MANAGED ‘STORM,’ AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL, EVER SEEN BEFORE,” Trump claimed last week. On Monday, he argued in a social media post that the administration’s storm response was “the WORST rescue operation in the history of the U.S.” And Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, charged Monday in a “Fox and Friends” interview that the administration’s efforts were “incompetence of the highest order.” The Trump campaign, in announcing Vance would hold a town hall Thursday in Greensboro, North Carolina, argued that Harris “completely left North Carolina behind in the wake of devastation post-Hurricane Helene.” And in a blatant pitch for votes, the former president claimed that “NORTH CAROLINA HAS BEEN VIRTUALLY ABANDONED BY KAMALA!!! DROP HER LIKE SHE DROPPED YOU – VOTE FOR PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP. MAGA2024!” CLICK HERE FOR UP-TO-DATE FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE STORMS Trump’s repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims as he’s targeted Biden and Harris – among them that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia had been unable to reach Biden when Helene first tore through the Peach State. Kemp later confirmed that he had already been in contact with the president. Despite the untruths from the former president, he did beat Biden and Harris to the scene, surveying the storm-damaged region two days before they did last week. The optics put the president and vice president on defense, and they’ve been forced to repeatedly correct the record. The White House has publicized FEMA’s [Federal Emergency Management Agency] efforts in assisting the hard-hit states. Biden made back-to-back trips to the southeast last Wednesday and Thursday, as he stopped in the four hardest hit states, and Harris also made two trips to survey damage. Huddled with Democratic and Republican politicians from the region last week, Biden emphasized that “in a moment like this, we put politics aside, at least we should put it all aside. We have here — there are no Democrats or Republicans, only Americans — our job is to help as many people as we can, as quickly as we can, and as thoroughly as we can.” Trump – along with his allies – has repeatedly aimed to tie the storm response to the combustible issue of border security, as he claimed that FEMA funds for the rescue and relief efforts in North Carolina were being diverted to support undocumented migrants. The Harris campaign, firing back, said that Trump and Vance and their allies have been “pushing debunked lies about Hurricane Helene response.” A top North Carolina Republican – Sen. Thom Tillis – asked about the charges, said on the Sunday talk shows that “I believe that we have to stay focused on rescue operations, recovery operations, clearing operations, and we don’t need any of these distractions on the ground.” Harris, on Monday, called Trump’s actions “extraordinarily irresponsible.” “It’s about him. It’s not about you. And the reality is that FEMA has so many resources that are available to folks who desperately need them now, and resources that are about helping people get back on their feet and rebuild and have places to go,” Harris emphasized. But longtime Republican strategist David Kochel noted that Trump had been “very aggressive” with his initial quick trip to the storm-damaged region.  “I think he put a lot of pressure on them to try to do something,” Kochel, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns, told Fox News. “He’s out there pushing a line that they don’t care, they’re not doing anything, and I think they’re reacting to it.” Now, with Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida, the Biden administration highlighted their efforts in a release headlined “Federal Assistance for Hurricane Helene Exceeds $210 Million, FEMA Prepares for Dual Response with Hurricane Milton Strengthening as it Moves Toward Gulf Coast of Florida.” As Biden declared a state of emergency in Florida on Monday, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said during a news conference that 5,000 National Guardsmen had been mobilized in his state, with another 3,000 on the way. “We have gotten what we need from the feds,” DeSantis said. “The president has approved what we asked for….I’m thankful for that.. Everything we’ve asked for from President Biden, he’s approved.” This is far from the first time that a tropical storm has impacted a presidential race. Then-President George H.W. Bush took a political hit over FEMA’s disorganized efforts to provide relief in Florida from Hurricane Andrew, which pounded the then-key battleground state weeks before Election Day. Fast-forward a decade and his son – then-President George W. Bush – likely enjoyed a political bounce in Florida during his 2004 re-election thanks to his aggressive response to Hurricane Charley, which hit