Author: Reporter

Republicans flood Senate race in Wisconsin with dark money to support a carpetbagging millionaire

Sensing an opportunity in swing-state Wisconsin, Republicans are pouring money into the bid to unseat incumbent Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin in that state’s closely watched Senate race. Democrats also have dialed up their efforts in the contest, which remains crucial to their hopes of maintaining their Senate majority. They maintain an overall spending advantage and insist that the contest was always going to tighten as Election Day nears. A loss in Wisconsin to GOP nominee Eric Hovde would make preserving Democrats’ majority extremely difficult in a national landscape in which Republicans have far fewer seats to defend this year....

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Partisan divide: American voters increasingly view political rivals with animosity

President Joe Biden tried to explain that he does not really think Donald Trump’s supporters are “garbage,” but that does not mean that other people do not believe the label occasionally fits. “I would say that some of them are garbage,” said Samantha Leister, 32, who went to see Kamala Harris at a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. As for the rest of them? Leister, whose parents and father-in-law are backing Trump, says they are “misguided.” That same day, at Trump’s rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the idea of voting for Harris was impossible to fathom. “I just think they...

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Targeting voters: Fake political ads on social media use misinformation to push financial scams

The online advertisement to Donald Trump supporters was clear enough: Click here, and receive a free Trump 2024 flag and a commemorative coin. All in exchange for taking a quick survey and providing a credit card number for the $5 shipping and handling. “You’ll get two free gifts just by taking this quick poll in support of Trump,” said the ad’s narrator. The ad — which has appeared on Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms — did not mention the $80 charge that would later appear on credit card statements. Those who clicked were scammed. Political advertisements on social media...

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Behind the curtain: How news outlets plan to explain election reporting to combat misinformation

“The Associated Press” will have thousands of people on hand to count votes and declare winners and losers in the U.S. election, continuing a tradition that began in 1848. There is an even greater priority this year on explaining that process to outsiders. The AP has already run a series of stories outlining how everything works, and has a team of reporters who will be assigned on election night to write in plain language why it is “calling” key individual states for presidential candidates Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. Similar plans are afoot at other news organizations. At the...

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Protecting democracy from Trump: Next January 6’s election certification will get extra security

In an effort to prevent another riot like the one on January 6, 2021, the Homeland Security secretary has designated the congressional count and certification of the presidential election as a national special security event overseen by the Secret Service. Both political parties’ national conventions, the presidential inauguration and the U.N. General Assembly already have this designation, but it is the first time the January 6 vote count and certification have received it. The Secret Service said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made the designation following a request from the mayor of Washington, D.C. The move means these are...

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A System of Neglect: How the Electoral College puts most American voters on the sidelines

On a table at the office of the Waukegan Township Democrats sits a box of postcards with Wisconsin addresses that were collected during a postcard-writing pizza party to help turn out voters there. Leaning against the table are homemade Harris-Walz signs. “We know they’re handing these out everywhere in Wisconsin,” said Matt Muchowski, chair of the Democratic club. “Here in Waukegan, it’s been harder to get a hold of Harris yard signs, so we’re printing out our own.” One reason they have been in short supply: Waukegan is in Illinois, which is not a presidential swing state. It just...

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