Reporter’s Notebook: With no government shutdown, it feels like Christmas in September
Triangles of orange and yellow candy corn are now spread around the house. Reese’s Cups have now morphed into chocolate and peanut butter pumpkins from their original, fluted wafer form. The dog regularly freaks out when you take it for a walk and some mechanical ghoul begins cackling in an evil laugh when you ’round a corner in your neighborhood. The calendar flipped seamlessly from September to October. It’s especially seamless in Congress. And while September is “government shutdown season” on Capitol Hill, Congress escaped unscathed this year. Bipartisan lawmakers approved a stopgap spending measure that keeps the lights on through Dec. 20. That’s why those who toil on Capitol Hill – or for the federal government – can enjoy the “Halloween” season this October. They don’t have to focus on “Continuing Resolutions” to keep the government afloat. They can instead embrace apparitions rather than appropriations. September’s salvation also rescued Thanksgiving next month. It’s customary for Congress to approve a stopgap spending bill or two each fall. Depending on the congressional schedule – and if it’s an election year – one might run the government through mid-October or later. Another may punt until just before Thanksgiving or just afterward. But this year’s emergency spending plan is special. It funds the government for autumn. All of October. All of November. It expires just before Christmas. So does everyone on Capitol Hill get to celebrate Christmas? Don’t bank on it. You got Halloween and Thanksgiving. Two out of three ain’t bad. “Why have we picked Dec. 20th?” asked Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., during a meeting of the House Rules Committee prepping the temporary spending package. “Because it’s the same reason we always have [with] Dec. 20th. Everybody up here is human. There are no AIs or robots in Congress. And when you get to Dec. 20th, you’re five days from Christmas. You’re four days from Christmas Eve. And you desperately want to be there with your family. This is when the leadership here has the maximum influence.” FORMER NIH OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF MAKING EMAILS ‘DISAPPEAR’ PLEADS FIFTH TO COVID SUBCOMMITTEE Massie argues that bipartisan congressional leaders choose such a date so they can maximize their leverage over members. The proximity to the holiday helps leaders wrangle the votes to pass another spending plan – anything – to avoid a holiday government shutdown. Massie said he’s been in meetings where a speaker of the House basically threatened Republicans that they’d better vote “yes” on a spending measure. “[He] walks in and says, ‘If you vote for this, you can go home and unwrap presents with your kids. And if you don’t vote for this, you’re going to spend Christmas here with Nancy Pelosi.’ And then the chants start, ‘Vote! Vote! Vote! Vote!’ literally, people get enthusiastic to vote for something that they haven’t read,” said Massie. The soupcon of jet fumes will permeate the Capitol in mid-December as lawmakers try to fund the government and avoid a shutdown over Christmas. The question is, how long a spending plan might run? Deep into calendar year 2025? Maybe until February? Perhaps late March as some conservatives advocated? Or will lawmakers actually reach an agreement on the 12 annual spending bills or even knock a few out, one by one? House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is ruling out an “omnibus.” He’s also spoken out about doing “minibuses.” That’s where they glom several spending measures together. It’s not an “omnibus.” It’s smaller, hence the Volkswagen comparison. What would Herbie the Love Bug say? However, the length of another interim spending plan likely hinges on which party controls the House and Senate next year, as well as who won the White House. The wishes of the president-elect will prompt lawmakers to bend the spending bill in his or her direction. But in September, the goal was to avert a shutdown and hash out the hard stuff later. “We’re out of time. We cannot afford a shutdown,” said House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., last month. “This path ensures Americans aren’t needlessly punished with a costly shutdown and allows, importantly, the next president to have a say in the appropriations process.” Even though the Democrat-controlled Senate advanced zero spending bills on the floor this year, the Republican-operated House did a little better, approving five appropriations measures. But Cole partly blamed his own GOP colleagues for the legislative stumbles. “We’re the majority. The majority ought to be governing,” said Cole. He added that it was “disappointing” that the House GOP majority had to again rely on Democrats to avert a shutdown. That’s why Cole and others hope the House is able to knock out a few if not the remainder of outstanding spending bills after the election. Otherwise, a harrowing holiday season awaits. Like Massie, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, warned against “a crazy, massive omnibus train, which is the inevitability of doing something right before Christmas.” So how is Johnson going to manage this? Especially with the distinct possibility of Congress having to boost FEMA with an “immediate needs” bill nearly as soon as lawmakers return in mid-November? Then there’s the question of a shutdown in December. And that’s to say nothing of approving some plan to address Hurricanes Helene and Milton along with other natural disasters. REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: ALL ABOUT THE POLITICS OF DISASTER RELIEF By the way, if it’s clear that Democrats lost the Senate, failed to capture the House and lost the presidency, there’s a good chance they’ll balk at assisting Republicans with any spending bills. That could well launch the potential second term of former President Donald Trump under a government shutdown. There are headaches galore for Mike Johnson as he attempts to fund the government, address multiple crises, satisfy irate conservatives who are already grumbling about his leadership, and possibly cling to power. Calling the wrong play could jeopardize Johnson’s status in the speaker election on Jan. 3, if Republicans maintain the majority. But what is the right play call for Johnson? No
Overseas meth sent to US election building shuts down office for hours
A package of crystal meth from Europe shut down a board of elections office in New York for hours this week. The Dutchess County Board of Elections office shut down for three hours on Monday when officials discovered a suspicious package from Europe, sparking a hazmat team to respond to the office and investigate. “It came in through UPS from Greece. Prior to Greece, the inner envelope had been around a few other countries as well including France and then UPS’ed to the Dutchess County Board of Elections,” Republican Elections Commissioner Erik Haight told the MidHudson News. “The FBI is involved and I know they will be working with the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office and State Police to determine who sent this to us and why.” A bipartisan team of BOE employees flagged the suspicious package to commissioners, with the team then donning personal protective equipment to further investigate the package before calling law enforcement. The Dutchess County Hazmat team ultimately responded to the scene, according to a press release from the county’s board of elections. TRUMP’S TOP LEGAL FOE TO BE HANDED ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ ELECTION POWER AHEAD OF NOVEMBER: ELECTION ATTORNEY “Dutchess County HAZMAT personnel, under the observation of the bi-partisan Elections Commissioners, examined the suspicious package. The substance was carefully removed from the envelope and tested with advanced chemical and gaseous identification equipment. HAZMAT personnel determined that the material was methamphetamine or more commonly known as ‘crystal meth,’” the press release explained. Staffers who came into contact with the package have not “reported any symptoms,” the press released stated. The county commissioners celebrated that even though the office shut down for three hours, it did not disrupt “a single voter’s right to vote or harm any of our hardworking staff members.” NY ELECTION LAW THAT ‘NATIONALIZES’ LOCAL POLITICS FLIES UNDER THE RADAR DESPITE BEING ‘MONUMENTAL’: EXPERT “The cowards that sent this dangerous chemical to our office failed in disrupting a single voter’s right to vote or harm any of our hardworking staff members. These bad actors may hide in the shadows and endeavor to strike fear, but we will remain vigilant and fulfill our oaths of office by delivering free and fair elections to the good voters of Dutchess County,” Democratic Commissioner Hannah Black said in the press release. BLUE STATE EFFORT TO UPROOT ELECTION LAW COULD FOREVER CHANGE LOCAL RACES: EXPERT “I join my colleague Commissioner Black in commending our staff and am deeply appreciative of all law enforcement, the City of Poughkeepsie FD and emergency personnel that were critical in assisting us through this stressful and dangerous ordeal,” Haight added. The sheriff’s office took possession of the package and is working with the FBI and State Police to investigate. The sheriff’s office told Fox Digital on Tuesday that there are no updates to share on the investigation at this time. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Kamala Harris’ tough words on Iran confounds critics
Vice President Kamala Harris had harsh words for Iran in an interview Monday evening as she said the regime is America’s biggest foe. In a sit-down with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” the Democratic presidential nominee was asked to name the U.S.’s greatest foreign adversary. “I think there’s an obvious one in mind, which is Iran. Iran has American blood on their hands.” “This attack on Israel, 200 ballistic missiles. What we need to do to ensure that Iran never achieves the ability to be a nuclear power. That is one of my highest priorities.” Harris declined to say whether she would take military action if given proof that Iran is building a nuclear weapon. “I’m not going to talk about hypotheticals at this moment,” she told Bill Whitaker. The suggestion that Iran was the greatest U.S. adversary raised some eyebrows — as China is thought by many to be foe No. 1. “Iran is our biggest adversary, not China?,” Mary Kissel, former adviser to ex-Sec. of State Mike Pompeo, wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. 5 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HARRIS’ ‘60 MINUTES’ INTERVIEW “Harris is completely clueless for claiming that Iran is America’s greatest adversary rather than China,” former Trump adviser Steve Cortes said. “Really? It’s not Russia? It’s not China? A middle power is America’s greatest adversary?” Iranian nuclear researcher Sina Azodi questioned. Harris also defended U.S. aid to Israel — at a time when many liberals are calling on her to halt that aid or put conditions on it amid the rising death tolls across Gaza and Lebanon. “The aid that we have given Israel allowed Israel to defend itself against 200 ballistic missiles that were just meant to attack the Israelis and the people of Israel,” she said. Harris highlighted threats from “Hamas, Hezbollah… Iran,” asserting it is “without any question our imperative to do what we can to allow Israel to defend itself against those kinds of attacks.” Still, she held out hope that Israel and its enemies could get to a ceasefire deal. “The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles, which include the need for humanitarian aid, the need for this war to end, the need for a deal to be done, which would release the hostages and create a ceasefire.” She added, “We’re not going to stop in terms of putting that pressure on Israel and in the region, including Arab leaders.” “China is the far greater threat just about, I think, everyone’s estimation,” said Rob Greenway, a former Trump aide and senior director of the National Security Council. “If you really do view Iran as a threat, then the behavior they’ve made makes absolutely no sense.” Former President Donald Trump has blamed President Joe Biden and Harris for loosening sanctions on Iran, which he said made the U.S. adversary “very rich in a very short period,” and prompted the turmoil that began with the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. During a rally last week, Trump tore into the September 2023 prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Iran that facilitated a detainee swap in Qatar and resulted in the release of $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets from oil sales. “If they have somebody who was kidnapped, it’s always $6 billion. Whoever heard of that?” Trump said. “Somebody else gets like $4,000.” Iran said it had reached a “good understanding” to access the money from a Qatari bank account on Monday. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has long claimed it has not rolled back sanctions on Iran. But “it’s not enforcing any sanctions,” according to Greenway. Iran is now bringing in nearly $36 billion per year from oil sales. Last week, Iran rained down 200 missiles toward Tel Aviv, many of them intercepted by both Israeli Defense Forces and U.S. capabilities. Though Iran’s proxies have long attacked both Israeli and U.S. postures, it was the regime’s first direct attack on Israel since April. Harris was sharply critical of Trump for pulling out of the Iran deal in 2018. President Joe Biden campaigned on returning to the deal, but failed to do so in office. “[Iran] made a tremendous amount of money. They have had doors opened by the U.S. administration,” Greenway said. HARRIS’ ‘WORD SALAD’ ON ISRAEL ALLIANCE The Trump administration’s policies “brought them to the brink of financial collapse.” After Biden rolled back sanctions on Iran, the regime went from 500 centrifuges needed to make a nuclear bomb to 7,000. It went from 5% enriched uranium to 60% (90% is needed for a nuclear weapon.) It went from exporting 400,000 barrels of oil per day in 2019 under the Trump administration’s harsh sanctions to 1.7 million barrels per day today. Reports also suggest renewed activity in two nuclear weaponization sites in Iran – Sanjarian and Golab Dareh. Last week, Biden warned Israel to make sure its response to the Iranian missile attacks was “proportional,” and urged them not to go after Iranian nuclear facilities. Trump on Friday said Israel should go after the nuclear facilities. While speaking at a campaign event in Fayetteville, North Carolina, he said when Biden was asked about Israel attacking Iran, the president answered, “’As long as they don’t hit the nuclear stuff.’ That’s the thing you wanna hit, right? I said, ‘I think he’s got that one wrong. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to hit?’” He added nuclear proliferation is the “biggest risk we have.” Trump said when Biden was asked about Israel and Iran: “His answer should have been: ‘Hit the nuclear first. Worry about the rest later.’”
New poll shows Harris taking a slim lead over Trump thanks to support from a surprising group
Increased support from Republicans appears to be one factor fueling Vice President Kamala Harris with four weeks to go until Election Day in her White House showdown with former President Trump, according to a new national poll. The vice president and Democratic presidential nominee stands at 49% support among likely voters nationwide, with the former president and GOP nominee at 46%, in a New York Times/Siena College survey released on Tuesday. According to the poll, Harris stands at 47% and Trump at 44% in a multi-candidate field. Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Chase Oliver each grabbed 1%, with roughly 7% supporting another candidate or undecided. Harris’ edge – which is within the survey’s sampling error – is up from the New York Times/Siena poll from last month, when the two major party nominees were deadlocked at 47%. WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION SHOW The top-line number in the new poll is in the range of most other national surveys, which indicate the vice president with a slight edge over Trump. The poll indicates Harris’ support among Republican voters stands at 9%, up four points from last month. CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION As she turns up the volume on her efforts to court Republicans disgruntled with Trump, Harris last week teamed up with the most visible anti-Trump Republican in the town that claims to be the birthplace of the GOP. Harris campaigned in battleground Wisconsin with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and a one-time rising conservative star in the GOP who, in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol, has vowed to do everything she can to prevent Trump from returning to power. “I have never voted for a Democrat, but this year I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Cheney told the audience as she formally endorsed the Democrat presidential nominee. “As a conservative, as a patriot, as a mother, as someone who reveres our Constitution, I am honored to join her in this urgent cause.” Harris praised Cheney as a leader who “puts country above party and above self, a true patriot.” The campaign event took place in Ripon, Wisconsin, where a one-room schoolhouse was designated a national historic landmark due to its role in holding a series of meetings in 1854 that led to the formation of the Republican Party. The new poll also indicated Harris consolidating her support among older voters, and for the first time taking a slight edge over Trump in being identified as the candidate of change. That’s crucial in a race where voters have repeatedly shared with pollsters that they think the country’s headed in the wrong direction. And the Trump campaign, feeding off such polling data, has repeatedly tied Harris to President Biden and their administration in the nearly three months since she replaced her boss at the top of the Democrats’ 2024 ticket. The poll was conducted Sept. 29-Oct. 6, with 3,385 likely voters nationwide questioned. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Elon Musk steps into Texas legislative races with $1 million donation to business group
Musk has recently emerged as a key backer of GOP nominee Donald Trump, whose top allies in Texas are at war with the group that received Musk’s largesse.
North Carolina residents will see changes to early voting after Hurricane Helene
North Carolina election officials are adjusting their voting rules to ensure residents in areas impacted by the recent hurricane damage can vote early in the upcoming election. Hurricane Helene made a damaging sweep across the southeast, covering swing states that had already started early voting. But the storm caused severe damage to several predominantly red counties and early voting centers as focus shifted to disaster relief. On Monday, the North Carolina Elections Board passed a bipartisan emergency resolution that reformed the state’s early voting process in 13 counties. Notably, all except one, Buncombe, voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020. NORTH CAROLINA GOP FOCUSING ON ‘HAND-TO-HAND POLITICAL COMBAT’ TO RAMP UP GROUND GAME IN BATTLEGROUND STATE The adjustments include changing or adding voting sites and maintaining their availability, extending the hours when a voting site is open, and adding or reducing days that any site is open within the early voting period, according to the election board. Voters in these counties will also have more time to request an absentee ballot, with the deadline being Nov. 4. RESIDENTS IN KEY NORTH CAROLINA DISTRICT REVEAL HOW THEY THINK THEIR COUNTY WILL VOTE IN NOVEMBER The state’s elections board identified 13 counties in western North Carolina as the most impacted by the hurricane. The counties that will see the changes applied to their early voting processes include: Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, and Yancey. Voters in these counties will now have the option of turning in absentee ballots to another county’s election board, rather than following previous protocol that mandated they only submit their ballots to their local counties. Trump narrowly won North Carolina in 2020 by roughly 1.4 percentage points, and early voting has since been made a focus of Republican ground game efforts this cycle, the state’s GOP told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. The former president, however, told Fox News that he believes despite the storm’s impact, voters will still turn out for the election. “I believe they’re going to go out and vote if they have to crawl to a voting booth,” Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham in an interview that aired Monday. “And that’s what’s happening.” The former president added that his daughter-in-law, who co-chairs the Republican National Committee (RNC), is working on helping North Carolinians in impacted areas cast their votes. “Lara is working on it. Other people are working on it, and we’re trying to make it convenient for them, but they just lost their house,” Trump said. In-person early voting in the Old North State begins Thursday, Oct. 17 and ends on Saturday, Nov. 2.
New poll reveals which voter group are fueling Trump to a narrow edge over Harris in battleground
Former President Donald Trump holds a razor-thin two-point edge over Vice President Kamala Harris in battleground Arizona, according to a new public opinion poll. Fueling the former president’s margin appears to be support from voters age 50 and over. Trump stands at 49% among likely voters in Arizona, with Harris at 47%, according to an AARP poll conducted Sept. 24-Oct. 1 and released on Tuesday. According to the survey, Green Party candidate Jill Stein grabs 1% support, with 3% undecided. The survey points to a generational divide. WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS IN THE 2024 ELECTION SHOW “Among voters 50+, Trump is ahead by 7 points, driven by a 14-point lead among voters 50-64,” the poll’s release highlights. Harris holds a 4-point advantage among voters under 50, according to the survey, “while the race is a tossup with seniors.” CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION The poll also points to a gender gap in Arizona which favors Trump. The former president and Republican nominee is up 11-points over the vice president and Democratic nominee among men, but down only 6 points among female voters, the survey indicates. The survey is the latest to indicate a margin of error race between Harris and Trump in Arizona, a state President Biden narrowly carried over Trump in the 2020 election. Arizona’s one of seven crucial battlegrounds whose razor-thin margins decided Biden’s White House victory four years ago and are likely to determine if Harris or Trump win the 2024 election. NEW POLL INDICATES WHETHER HARRIS OR TRUMP IS WINNING KEY VOTERS IN TWO CRUCIAL SOUTHWEST BATTLEGROUNDS The survey was released on the eve of the kick-off of early in-person voting in Arizona. The major party vice presidential nominees – Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota – each hold campaign events in Arizona on Wednesday. Harris returns to the state on Friday. Besides being a crucial presidential swing state, Arizona is also holding one of a handful of competitive Senate elections that will decide if the GOP wins back the chamber’s majority. The AARP poll indicates Democratic Senate nominee Rep. Rueben Gallego holding a 51%-44% lead over Republican nominee Kari Lake, a former news anchor who narrowly lost the state’s 2022 gubernatorial election. The AARP poll was conducted by the bipartisan polling team of Fabrizio Ward (Republican) & Impact Research (Democrat). The firms interviewed 1,358 likely voters in Arizona. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Uvalde city officials release missing footage from officers responding to 2022 Robb Elementary shooting
The videos were supposed to be released in August as part of a legal settlement with news agencies. City leaders have said they were not intentionally withheld.
Texas AG demands Biden-Harris admin help verify citizenship of nearly 500K registered voters
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has written to the Biden-Harris administration urging it to provide data that would help identify up to half a million people who could be erroneously registered to vote in the state but not be a citizen. Paxton, a Republican, said that the Biden-Harris administration has “legal obligations” to hand over such information so that the Lone Star state can help determine the citizenship status of certain registered voters who do not have a state of Texas-issued driver’s license or identification card since those are only issued after citizen checks. Non-U.S. citizens lawfully present cannot legally vote but can lawfully apply for and receive a driver’s license or ID card. Paxton said he is investigating those registered voters so Texas can be in compliance with federal and state election laws which prohibit non-U.S. citizens from voting. He penned his letter Monday to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Ur Jaddou. ARIZONA LAW REQUIRING PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP TO VOTE SUPPORTED BY 24 STATE AGS IN EMERGENCY STAY WITH SCOTUS “I demand full cooperation from the federal government to ensure that any noncitizens remaining on Texas’s voter registration rolls are identified,” Paxton said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris Administration is legally obligated to assist States in doing so, and it is imperative that we use every tool available to uphold the integrity of our elections.” Paxton said that while it is a crime for noncitizens to register to vote, federal law paradoxically creates opportunities for non-citizens to illegally register to vote while also prohibiting states from requiring voters to have proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. He said it is particularly troubling given the current scale of the illegal immigration and that the Senate has not passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (“SAVE Act”), which would allow states to ensure that votes are being cast legally by eligible voters. He said that requiring proof of citizenship is a commonsense measure that helps identify illegal registration. Paxton has obtained a list of approximately 454,289 Texas registered voters who have never had their citizenship verified. The list is derived from the Texas Secretary of State’s (SOS) computerized list of voters the office is required to maintain. THOUSANDS OF NONCITIZENS REMOVED FROM VOTER ROLLS, DOZENS OF LAWMAKERS WANT ANSWERS FROM GARLAND “Although I have no doubt the vast majority of the voters on the list are citizens who are eligible to vote, I am equally certain that Texans have no way of knowing whether or not any of the voters on the list are noncitizens who are ineligible to vote,” Paxton wrote in the letter. “Indeed, a recent SOS audit verified that over 1,300 noncitizens were registered to vote in the four randomly chosen counties that were subject to an election audit—and that is just what was verifiable. That is 1,300 too many when so many of our federal, state, and local election are decided by a handful of votes.” Paxton has been trying to crack down hard on non-citizens voting. In August, his office’s Election Integrity unit executed searches in three South Texas counties as part of his ongoing probe to investigate fraud and ballot harvesting allegations. In the same month, Gov. Greg Abbott announced 6,500 potential noncitizens had been removed from the voter rolls since 2021. Approximately 1,930 had a voter history. Republicans have raised concerns about voter integrity issued and non-citizens being registered to vote ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Officials in Oregon announced Monday that they have identified an additional 302 people on the state’s voter rolls who didn’t provide proof of citizenship when they were registered to vote. The announcement comes just two weeks after officials in the Beaver State said 1,259 possible noncitizens have been registered to vote since 2021, bringing the total number of mistaken registrations to 1,561. Last month, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that nearly 98,000 people whose U.S. citizenship has not been confirmed will be allowed to vote in the upcoming state and local elections.
SEE IT: Wisconsin dairy farmer says ‘no question’ Trump admin was ‘much better’ than Biden-Harris
WAUKESHA, Wisconsin – At Cozy Nook Farm, they cover three areas: Cows, pumpkins, and Christmas trees. “We’re diversified here,” laughed dairy farmer Tom Oberhaus in an interview with Fox News Digital. He explained that he and his wife are conservative Republicans who have been sure of who they were supporting in the 2024 election for a long time. “There’s no question in our mind that our four years under Trump management was much better than the three and a half years under Biden management – or whoever is, you know, that’s the great mystery is, who is actually running the government right now?” he asked. WISCONSIN SENATE RACE SHIFTS TO ‘TOSS UP’ BY HANDICAPPER AS TAMMY BALDWIN FIGHTS FOR RE-ELECTION They previously voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. One issue he has with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat presidential nominee, is that she vouched for President Biden’s cognitive ability. “It bothers the heck out of me that we’re thinking about electing a person that just six weeks ago… told us ‘Oh, Biden’s on top of it. He’s really aggressive and really knows what he’s doing,’” Oberhaus said. “We all seen that in the debate, you know, he’s past his time,” he said of Biden’s June debate with former President Trump that preceded his campaign suspension. TRUMP, REPUBLICANS VENTURE TO BLUE AREAS IN WISCONSIN TO BOOST GOP TURNOUT Critics have claimed Trump is bad for farmers, pointing to his fondness for tariffs and his past trade conflict with China. But Oberhaus said the tariffs, which ramped up in 2018, “certainly didn’t hurt us.” “We’re much better off with tariffs than having that government printing press printing out money,” he added. At Cozy Nook Farm, Oberhaus said their biggest struggle has been inflation. “We’ve been [eaten] alive by inflation,” he claimed. He explained that they do not set their own prices, and they tend to “run a couple of years behind everybody else.” They’re now paying “twice as much for tires and fuel and feed and everything else.” However, “our milk price stays the same, until just now in the last month that it finally came up.” VULNERABLE DEM JON TESTER TURNS ON BIDEN ADMIN OVER DEI AFTER MONTANA UNIVERSITIES STRIPPED OF FEDERAL FUNDS He also stressed illegal immigration as a top issue for him, even hundreds of miles from the southern border. But the problem is surfacing even as far north as Wisconsin, he explained. “Little town of Whitewater 35 minutes away,” he said. “It’s a town of, what, 15,000 people? And then they got a thousand new immigrants.” Local Wisconsin outlets reported that last year Whitewater Police Chief Daniel Meyer and City Manager John Weidl penned a letter to Biden, asking for help after the “rapid increase” of about 800 to 1,000 immigrants since 2022. “As a municipal government, our focus is not on legal status, but rather ensuring we are providing the resources expected of a municipality to all residents of the City. Unfortunately, we are increasingly finding it difficult to do that,” the letter reportedly read. HERE’S WHAT 2 UNDECIDED WISCONSIN VOTERS ARE HOLDING OUT FOR IN 2024 ELECTION “How do you handle that?” asked Oberhaus. As for those who argue that with strict immigration enforcement there would result in fewer people to work on farms, he called it “baloney.” “We got plenty of people to do the farm work,” he said. On Trump, who recently ventured into Wisconsin’s biggest Democratic enclaves in Dane and Milwaukee counties, the farmer said, “I think that’s the sign of a leader – that you’re not afraid to go into the other camp and tell them what your ideas are.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.