Trump says Harris ‘running a campaign of demonization and hate’ in closing message to Georgia voters
Former President Trump accused his 2024 rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, of running on a message of “hate” during a rally just over a week before Election Day. Trump is delivering his closing message to voters this week, spending Monday in the key battleground of Georgia for back-to-back events. “I’m running a campaign of solutions to save our country,” the former president said in Atlanta. “Kamala is running a campaign of demonization and hate. She really does, she’s a hater.” It’s a shot at the Democratic vice president after she said Trump “fans the fuel of hate and division” over his massive rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. TRUMP, POWERHOUSE GUESTS ROCK PACKED MSG WITH HISTORIC RALLY The former president laid into Harris for calling him a “fascist” while criticizing Democrats for comparing his Sunday night rally to a Nazi event. “Kamala is labeling more than half of the country as enemy combatants, and she’s calling them all fascists and Nazis. Okay, but she’s a fascist, okay. She’s a fascist,” Trump said. At one point the crowd erupted in chants of “Lock her up” aimed at Harris, which Trump chided with, “Be nice.” The former president pushed back on the left’s comparisons between his New York City event and the German Nazis of the 20th Century, arguing the Harris campaign was encouraging such rhetoric and that it was to blame for the recent attempts on his life. TRUMP AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN: ICONIC VENUE HAS PLAYED HOST TO MANY CAMPAIGN GATHERINGS NEAR ELECTION DAY “I had a great father. Tough guy. He used to always say, ‘Never use the word Nazi, never used that word.’ and he’d say, ‘Never use the word Hitler. Don’t use that word.’ …And then I understood it. And yet they use that word freely,” Trump said. “I’m the opposite of a Nazi.” “This is the kind of outrageous rhetoric that has resulted in two assassination attempts in the last three months.” During the speech Trump also appealed directly to Georgia voters to keep turning out for early in-person voting, which runs from Oct. 15 through Nov. 1 in the Peach State. “Boy, do I hear we’re doing good, but I can’t look. I don’t want to say it because I want you to keep going. We’ve got to finish it off,” Trump said. “We’ve just got to focus.” GEORGIA GOP CHAIR SHARES 2-PRONGED ELECTION STRATEGY AS TRUMP WORKS TO WIN BACK PEACH STATE Both the Trump and Harris campaigns have poured enormous amounts of time, energy and resources into Georgia – which Republicans lost by less than 1% in the 2020 presidential race. Those efforts appear to have paid off in voter enthusiasm, at least for now, with Georgia breaking multiple early voting records already. More than 40% of active Georgia voters have cast absentee or early in-person ballots, according to the state’s elections website. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Liz Cheney bashes Trump in new key battleground Harris ad as election hits final sprint
FIRST ON FOX: The Harris-Walz campaign is deploying former House Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., in a final appeal to Republicans in the critical battleground state of Wisconsin. Cheney and political commentator Charlie Sykes are featured in a pair of new radio ads being launched on Monday, taking aim at former President Trump and promoting Vice President Kamala Harris. Fox News Digital was the first national outlet to preview the clips. “I am a Ronald Reagan conservative. Never voted for a Democrat. But we’ve never faced a threat like this before – what Donald Trump is proposing in terms of withdrawing from NATO, welcoming Vladimir Putin to attack our NATO allies, praising President Xi of China. America will find our very freedom and security challenged and threatened. It’s a risk we just simply can’t take as a nation,” Cheney said in the ad. TRUMP RESPONDS TO EX-CHIEF OF STAFF AFTER HE’S LABELED ‘AUTHORITARIAN’ AND THE ‘GENERAL DEFINITION OF FASCIST’ “Freedom requires that we have a president who understands America has to lead and that our strength comes both from our greatness and also from our goodness. And that’s Vice President Harris. “She’s somebody that I know will put the good of this country first. Wisconsin, I ask you to help us elect Kamala Harris, our president.” Sykes, a former conservative radio host and ex-editor-in-chief of anti-Trump right-wing outlet The Bulwark, said in the second of two ads, “I’ve been a conservative for a long time and my values have not changed. But this election is not normal.” EX-TRUMP OFFICIALS TELL AMERICANS TO ‘HEED GENERAL KELLY’S WARNING’ TRUMP’S A FASCIST “It’s not about liberal versus conservative or Democrat versus Republican. It’s about democracy, the rule of law, character, and whether or not America will continue to be a shining city on a hill to the rest of the world,” he said. Sykes’ advertisement also invoked the recent New York Times interview with former Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly, where the retired general said Trump met the “general definition of a fascist.” Trump and his allies have forcefully pushed back on that and other claims in Kelly’s interview. Outreach to Republicans and Republican-leaning independents has been a core tenet of Harris’ campaign, and one whose benefit will be seen next week after Election Day on Nov. 5. Multiple polls show Trump and Harris in a near dead-heat with just a few points separating them. Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, have been two of Harris’ most visible GOP supporters. FORMER REPUBLICAN US SENATOR ENDORSES KAMALA HARRIS, SAYS ELECTION OFFERS ‘STARK CHOICE’ In Wisconsin, Harris has been endorsed by the longest-serving state senator, Republican Robert Cowles, as well as Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly, who left the GOP after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot but was re-elected to lead the red-leaning city. Several Republicans, like former House Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., spoke at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August. But the Trump campaign has dismissed Harris attempts at GOP outreach, with the vast majority of Republicans still publicly supporting the former president. Cheney, the former vice chair of the House select committee on Jan. 6, lost re-election to a Trump-backed Republican primary challenger in the 2022 elections. Trump criticized her as “terrible” in comments to Fox News’ Bill Melugin after she endorsed Harris. “Liz Cheney is a stupid war hawk. All she wants to do is shoot missiles at people…I really think it hurts,” Trump said in early October. “I think they hurt each other.” When reached for comment by Fox News Digital, Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said, “”Liz Cheney is a stone-cold loser who is so desperate for relevance and attention, she has debased herself by campaigning with a weak, failed, and dangerously liberal in Kamala Harris.” “The both of them are made for each other— proponents of endless wars, killers of Social Security, and enemies of American workers,” Cheung said. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
What’s the focus for Harris, Trump in the last few days of the US campaign?
Opinion polls suggest the US presidential election is tight. The United States presidential election campaign has entered its last week, with opinion polls suggesting it’s neck and neck. So, what’s the focus for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in these final days? And how big a say could US support for Israel’s war on Gaza have on the result? Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra Guests: Steve Herman – Chief national correspondent at Voice of America and author of the book Behind the White House Curtain Clyde Wilcox – Professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, author on US politics Thomas Gift – Director of the Centre on US Politics at University College London Adblock test (Why?)
Bolivian government accuses Morales of staging assassination attempt
Two very different versions have emerged of Sunday’s incident when Morales says his car was hit by bullets. The Bolivian government has disputed claims by former President Evo Morales that he was the victim of an assassination attempt by police at the weekend in the latest incident heightening tensions between the popular Indigenous leader and his former ally, President Luis Arce. Instead, the government on Monday accused Morales of staging an attempt on his own life, saying that the shots fired at his car on Sunday came after he tried to run a police checkpoint. Morales claims the government attempted to assassinate him when bullets struck his car in the early hours of Sunday. He said his driver was wounded as assailants with covered faces shot at him while he was en route to a radio station for an interview in the city of Cochabamba. “The car in which I arrived has 14 bullet holes,” said Morales, adding: “This was planned. The idea was to kill Evo.” Minister of Government Eduardo del Castillo responded during a news conference that an anti-drug trafficking unit was carrying out a standard highway patrol on Sunday when Morales’s convoy shot at police and ran over an officer. He denied that the former president was deliberately targeted. “Mr Morales, nobody believes the theatre you have staged,” he told reporters. Evidence destroyed Morales’s vehicles were suspected of transporting drugs, according to the government. Del Castillo added that Morales had instructed his vehicles to be burned after the run-in, destroying any evidence before it could be collected. “If he had really been victim of an assassination attempt, it would have been in his interest to leave them intact” so that investigators could search them to collect evidence, del Castillo said. The radio station that hosted the interview, Kawsachun Coca, released a video that it said was of the bullet-ridden pick-up truck that Morales had been in. The windscreen had three bullet holes and the driver had blood on his head. Rising tensions Sunday’s incident comes amid rising tensions, with Morales’s supporters blocking highways in central Bolivia and security forces and police attempting to clear them. On Saturday, the government criticised the former president for “destabilising” the country with two weeks of road blockades that have disrupted food and fuel supply nationwide. The government also claimed in a statement that some groups allied with Morales were armed and warned of potential violence, noting that 14 police officers had been wounded while attempting to break up the blockades. At least 44 protesters were arrested on Friday when more than 1,700 police officers were deployed to dismantle the roadblocks. Fourteen police officers were injured, according to the government. Morales, 65, who held office from 2006 to 2019, is the main opponent of Arce, 61. They both belong to the same Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party. But the two leaders have clashed over the last year, part of a power struggle ahead of the 2025 presidential elections. The country is also grappling with dwindling gas production, depleted foreign currency reserves and rising inflation, which is adding pressure on the governing party and increasing political infighting. Morales is also facing allegations of relationships with minors. He was formally summoned by regional prosecutors to testify in the case but did not appear, and now faces an arrest warrant. Morales strongly denies the accusations. Adblock test (Why?)
More than one in three tree species at risk of extinction: Report
The International Union for Conservation of Nature says tree species are at risk of extinction in 192 countries. More than one in three species of trees are at risk of extinction worldwide, threatening life as we know it on Earth, according to a report published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The report published on Monday has warned that over 16,000 tree species are at risk of extinction. More than 47,000 species were assessed for the IUCN study, out of an estimated 58,000 species thought to exist in the world. According to the report, trees are felled for logging and to clear land for farming and human expansion. Climate change also poses an additional threat through worsening drought and wildfires. Over 5,000 of the species on the IUCN Red List are used for construction timber, and more than 2,000 species for medicines, food and fuels. Species at risk include the horse chestnut and ginkgo, both used for medical applications, the big leaf mahogany used in furniture making, as well as several ash, magnolia and eucalyptus species, said Emily Beech, head of conservation prioritisation at Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), which contributed to the tree assessment. Moreover, according to the IUCN report, the number of trees at risk is “more than double the number of all threatened birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians combined”. While tree species are at risk of extinction in 192 countries, the highest proportion is found on islands due to rapid urban development and expanding agriculture, and the introduction of invasive species, pests and diseases from elsewhere, the report noted. In South America, which boasts the greatest diversity of trees in the world, 3,356 out of 13,668 assessed species are at risk of extinction. Many species on the continent, home to the Amazon jungle, have likely not even been discovered yet. When they are, they are “more likely than not to be threatened with extinction”, said the report. The IUCN has called for forest protection and restoration through tree planting as well as the conservation of species dying out through seed banks and botanic garden collections. “Trees are essential to support life on Earth through their vital role in ecosystems, and millions of people depend upon them for their lives and livelihoods,” IUCN Director-General Grethel Aguilar said in a statement. The report’s publication also coincides with the United Nations COP16 summit on biodiversity, which has begun in the Colombian city of Cali. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates spending on nature needs to increase to $542bn annually by 2030, up from $200bn as of 2022, to halt nature loss and meet climate goals. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump merchandise outsells pro-Harris by striking margin, as Election Day draws near
A new survey analyzed how much Trump and Harris merchandise was bought on Amazon this election season — and the difference is stark. Omnisend, a marketing automation platform, recently published its findings in a report called “Multimillion-dollar election merch industry: What will happen to it after elections?”. The research was conducted by Cint, a technology research firm, in August 2024. Researchers organized a survey with 1,000 participants across America with a margin of error of +/-3%, and analyzed merchandise sales trends from April to September 2024 using Jungle Scout software. The report found that pro-Trump merchandise generated more than five times more cash than pro-Harris merchandise. Amazon sellers made $140 million selling Trump merchandise from April to September, while Harris merchandise sellers made $26 million. BATTLEGROUND STATE OFFICIALS SAY FOREIGN ENEMIES USING MISINFORMATION TO ‘UNDERMINE’ DEMOCRATIC PROCESS The study noted that $41.6 million was spent on Trump merchandise in July, the same month that the former president was shot by a gunman at a Pennsylvania rally. The study accounts for the fact that Harris did not announce her presidential campaign until July, but the difference in sales between the two in August and September were stark. In August, merchants made $27.86 million selling Trump gear while pro-Harris products generated $11.52 million in revenue. The difference grew in September, when Trump merchandise sellers made $31.89 million and Harris merchandise sales were $10.43 million. Omnisend noted that the merchandise analysis reflects “the strong demand [for pro-Trump merch] among [Trump’s] loyal base.” “From flags to MAGA hats, Trump’s merch continues to dominate the market,” the company noted, while adding that Harris’ numbers were still impressive. MILLIONS OF VOTERS HAVE ALREADY CAST BALLOTS FOR NOV. 5 ELECTION “Harris’ rise in merch sales aligns with her increasing popularity and engagement since entering the race, signaling growing support for her campaign,” the study said. “These figures highlight not only the scale of the political merch industry but also the fierce competition between candidates to capture voter enthusiasm through merchandise sales.” Trump flags, hats and shirts remained the most profitable items, while birthday cards, mugs, yard signs and stickers also sold for millions. “Flags have proven to be the most popular Trump-branded item, accounting for 30% of total sales and generating $40M in revenue,” Omnisend noted. “Alongside flags, nearly one million MAGA hats have flown off the shelves, solidifying Trump merch as a must-have for supporters.” “Among the standout sellers is Walker’s earmuffs featuring Trump’s campaign logo, which brought in an estimated $3M for a single seller since being listed at the end of the summer,” the study added. “Many of the stores selling Trump merch also offer customizable items like t-shirts, cups, and hats.” The study also found that 58% of Americans have purchased, or plan to purchase, presidential election merchandise — which indicates “a rising interest in using merch as a way to express political support.” “Brands can connect with customers by focusing on universal values and themes related to civic engagement, such as voting or community involvement,” Omnisend senior e-commerce expert Greg Zakowicz suggested to brands in the report. “This approach ensures broad appeal without polarizing your audience.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment.
State Rep. Jeff Leach asked Texas judge to consider a new Robert Roberson trial in apparent conduct violation
Leach, one of the driving forces behind the effort to stop Roberson’s execution, later apologized to the unnamed judge, who told the lawmaker there were still pending matters before the court.
‘She is endangering the life of Donald J. Trump’: Vance fires back at VP Harris’ ‘Nazi’ comparison
Republican VP candidate JD Vance fired back at VP Kamala Harris’ comments during a Wisconsin campaign stop Monday after she likened former President Trump to a “fascist” leader. Meanwhile, other Democrats and liberal outlets on Sunday compared the Madison Square Garden rally to a “Nazi” event. “She is a disgrace. She is endangering the life of Donald J. Trump, and we are going to send her back to California, where she belongs. And with that, let’s have a few questions from the media,” Vance told a crowd of supporters Monday as cheers erupted. “And how dare Kamala Harris call her fellow citizens Nazis for loving this country enough to call her a bad vice president,” Vance railed. “And that’s exactly what she is. How dare Kamala Harris call her fellow citizens racists for not wanting their their communities overwhelmed with fentanyl? How dare Kamala Harris call parents bad people for wanting their children to grow up in safe neighborhoods? How dare Kamala Harris call the American people bad for wanting an economy where they could afford to buy groceries and afford to put a nice roof over the heads of their children?” MEDIA, DEMS COMPARE HISTORIC TRUMP MSG RALLY TO ‘NAZI’ EVENT, IGNORE DEMOCRAT EVENTS HELD THERE Vance’s comments came after Harris said Trump “fans the fuel of hatred” in response to questions from a reporter before boarding Air Force Two on Monday regarding comparisons made to the 1939 Nazi rally held at Madison Square Garden, as well as a joke made about Puerto Rico by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe during the event. “This is not new about him, by the way. What he did last night is not a discovery. It is just more of the same, and it may be more vivid than usual,” Harris said. “Donald Trump spends full-time trying to make Americans point their finger at each other.” TRUMP, POWERHOUSE GUESTS ROCK PACKED MSG WITH HISTORIC RALLY MSNBC edited clips of the Ku Klux Klan rally held at Madison Square Garden on Sunday as the Trump rally was taking place, likening the Republican frontrunner to a “fascist” leader and the rally something out of Adolf Hitler’s playbook. “But that jamboree happening right now, you see it there on your screen in that place, is particularly chilling because in 1939, more than 20,000 supporters of a different fascist leader, Adolf Hitler, packed the Garden for a so-called pro-America rally,” MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart said on air. The election is just one week away, meanwhile USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll released Monday found Trump and Harris neck and neck in Wisconsin, 48% to 47%, respectively, from a statewide poll of 500 likely voters. The razor-thin results fell within the margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. There are other Democratic politicians who have courted votes at the Garden prior to Trump’s battle cry just a week before the election. In 1924, the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden was a pivotal moment in U.S. political history, marked by intense factionalism and the upfront influence of the KKK. Several Democratic candidates that year had ties to or sympathies with the KKK. In 1980, the DNC nominated President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale for re-election at the historic venue. Then, in 1992, Democratic candidate Bill Clinton was officially nominated as the party’s presidential candidate at the Garden. Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagerstrom and Stephen Storace contributed to this report.
Sanctuary city sending thousands of migrants back to Texas by plane, bus
New York City is buying tickets for thousands of migrants to travel to Texas via bus or plane, from where many of them originally traveled to the sanctuary city in the first place, amid an ongoing battle between officials over how to handle the migrant crisis. New York City, which has been overwhelmed by more than 200,000 migrant arrivals since 2022, has been providing settlement options to migrants since that time. Last year, it opened a reticketing center to offer one-way plane tickets to migrants. Fox News confirms that 4,500 migrants have been sent to Texas using bus or plane tickets bought by the city. The figure was first reported by Bloomberg News. NYC PURSUING THOUSANDS OF HOTEL ROOMS TO HOUSE MIGRANTS AMID MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR COSTS: REPORT According to Mayor Eric Adams’ office, the top five destinations for migrants leaving the Big Apple are Texas, Illinois, Florida, New York State and Colorado. In total, they have issued more than 4,700 tickets and the majority, roughly 4,500, have gone to Texas. It was not clear how many of those migrants had come from buses sent to NYC from Texas. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began bussing migrants to New York City and other sanctuary cities in 2022 in what he said was an effort to relieve pressure on the overwhelmed border communities. He chose sanctuary cities – cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement – because he said they encouraged the crisis. When asked how the program works, the mayor’s office said, “Whenever they have a desire where they want to go back to somewhere else, we buy their tickets. It is mostly planes, but we also buy bus tickets.” Abbott’s office slammed the handling of the crisis by the Biden administration and accused Adams of hypocrisy. NEW YORK CITY MIGRANT CRISIS COSTS EXPECTED TO EXCEED $5B IN 2-YEAR PERIOD – DOUBLE TO $10B BY 2025 “Border Czar Kamala Harris and the federal government continues to refuse to enforce federal immigration laws already on the books and do their jobs to secure the border, allowing record-high levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and weapons to surge into our state and country,” spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris told Fox News in a statement. “Hypocritical Mayor Adams said busing migrants is ‘morally bankrupt,’ while Harris called transporting migrants ‘political theater’ and they’re doing the same thing themselves. Until Border Czar Harris steps up and does her job to secure the border, Texas will continue utilizing every tool and strategy to respond to the Biden-Harris border crisis,” he said. New York City has struggled with the influx of migrants, which has put a strain on social services and led to scenes of migrants lining up outside the Roosevelt Hotel. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE Spending on the migrant crisis is expected to exceed $5 billion, and Adams has previously said costs could balloon to over $10 billion by the end of next fiscal year. Previous estimates had put that number even higher. At the peak of the crisis, the city was taking in an average of 4,000 migrants per week. But that dropped into the hundreds in recent months as the crisis at the border abated after a presidential proclamation from President Biden that limited asylum claims. Recently, the city announced it would be closing a massive tent shelter on Randall’s Island. Officials said the number of asylum seekers in shelters has dropped for 14 straight weeks and is now at the lowest point in over a year. “We’re not out of the woods yet, but make no mistake, thanks in large part to our smart management strategies and successful advocacy, we have turned the corner on this crisis,” Adams said in a statement this month. “We’re not scrambling every day to open new shelters. We’re talking about closing them. We’re not talking about how much we’re spending. We’re talking about how much we’ve saved.”
Who’s in charge: The muddy history of the 50-50 Senate
There’s an old saw in baseball which says that the “tie goes to the runner.” If only it were that simple in the United States Senate. There is a very real chance that the Senate could be tied at 50-50 in the 119th Congress which begins in January. The Senate map in play next week definitely favors Republicans. Democrats currently hold a 51-49 edge. There are four independent senators who “caucus” with the Democrats, giving them operational control. USER’S MANUAL ON WHAT HOUSE RACES TO WATCH ON ELECTION NIGHT It’s widely believed that the party which controls the vice presidency automatically secures control of the Senate. But that’s far from automatic. It makes sense that the vice president – who Constitutionally serves as the President of the Senate and may break ties – should effectively grant Senate control to his or her party. There have been two Senate ties in recent history. One Senate tie was in 2001. The other one was in 2021-2023. But what unfolded in those instances is important to understand why awarding Senate control to the party of the vice presidency is not etched on a stone tablet. Moreover, those circumstances could help explain why it might be problematic to settle which party might control the Senate in 2025. Let’s first rewind. There was a tie in the Senate in 1881. There’s actually some interesting infighting and resignations of senators which explains the political machinations of that circumstance. There was also a tie in 1954 – and multiple switches in the majority/minority of senators between 1953-1955. That’s partially due to the death of nine senators over a short period of time. There have been two ties in the early 21st Century. But while one party or the other often had more members than the other side, there was no such thing as a “Majority Leader” or “Minority Leader” until the early 20th Century. Senators regarded the institution as a body of equals. So there was no reason to designate someone as “in charge.” But that changed a little more than 100 years ago, launching the contemporary Senate. In late 2000, the Senate arrived at its first tie in decades at 50-50. The final race called was a win by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., over late Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., in December. Keep in mind that 2000 was also the year of the Florida election dispute involving the presidency. President George W. Bush topped Vice President Al Gore. Then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., brokered a power-sharing arrangement. The 50-50 split, coupled with Vice President Dick Cheney, propelled Republicans into the majority. Lott was in charge. But the deal afforded Daschle some floor powers not typically granted to the Minority Leader. Republicans would chair Senate committees. But membership by Democrats on each committee was level with the GOP. The pact also included a key rider: If one side or the other actually garnered a formal majority at any time during the 107th Congress, then the deal was off and that party truly wielded a majority of the Senate. The level of comity between Lott and Daschle was instrumental to this agreement. And, all 100 senators agreed to the power sharing arrangement. One might ask why everyone was on board? Lott and Daschle earned the confidence of their members. Plus, Republicans knew that Democrats would outright block ANYTHING if they weren’t granted a sufficient voice. Meantime, Democrats agreed to the pact because the alternative meant they were relegated to the minority. Under these circumstances they were in the minority – but with an asterisk. Lott’s reed-thin majority was short-lived. By springtime, late Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., dropped his membership with the GOP. Jeffords became an independent and elected to caucus with the Democrats. Jeffords’ maneuver instantly propelled Daschle to Majority Leader. Control of the Senate for the 117th Congress wasn’t settled until early 2021. That’s when Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., defeated then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., to make it a 50-50 tie. President Biden captured the Presidency. Republicans were leery of being shut out like the Democrats worried in 2001. No fool he, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., insisted on the same power-sharing arrangement hammered out between Lott and Daschle two decades earlier. Democrats would serve as the majority party because of Vice President Harris. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would be at the helm. But the GOP would enjoy some fruits of power in the minority, thanks to the 2001 deal. So what happens if there’s a tie in 2025? The Senate is steeped in custom and tradition. So if there’s a 50-50 deadlock, there’s a good chance a “Vice President Tim Walz” means Democrats are in charge. The same for the GOP if there’s a “Vice President JD Vance.” But we’re operating in a different political atmosphere these days. Granted, the power-sharing arrangements of 2001 and 2021 both emerged after disputed presidential elections. There was an interest in both instances to calm the waters in both of those episodes. But this time around? Who knows. What else could muddy the waters? Democrats are pouring money into Nebraska to boost independent Dan Osborn in his quest to defeat Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb. Osborn has made the race much closer than expected. But Osborn also says he won’t caucus with either party. That could negate the chances of the tie. It also raises the question about where the Senate might position Osborn’s desk in the chamber and whether he would serve on any committees. Independent senators have historically caucused with one side or the other. REPUBLICAN INCUMBENTS CRUZ, FISCHER HOLD NARROW LEADS IN TEXAS, NEBRASKA SENATE RACES: POLLS Then there’s the question about just how restive senators may be after the election. McConnell is relinquishing his leadership role. The declared candidates to succeed him are Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., former Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Tex., and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. It’s possible other senators could be