Candidates Campaign in Swing States as Hurricane Milton Approaches

By Brendan Scanland

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With less than four weeks until Election Day, the Presidential candidates and their running mates are blitzing across key battleground states. 

More than 20 states have begun early voting with roughly two million ballots cast in a race that gets closer by the day. 

New polling from Quinnipiac University Wednesday shows former President Donald Trump now ahead in Michigan (+3) and Wisconsin (+2). In Pennsylvania, Vice President Kamala Harris still holds a slight lead (+3), but 2% less than she did in a similar Quinnipiac poll last month. 

On Wednesday, Harris traveled to battleground Nevada after wrapping up a so-called “media blitz” in New York City as she made appearances on various talk shows and podcasts. 

Her opponent traveled again to the key swing state of Pennsylvania, rallying supporters in Scranton and Reading. Trump’s stops on Wednesday came days after a return to Butler, PA for a rally at the site of the July 13 assassination attempt. 

“If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing. It’s very simple,” said Trump to supporters in Scranton on Wednesday. 

Overshadowing the campaign trail this week— Hurricane Milton, which is expected to devastate Florida’s gulf coast.

“There’s nobody that’s handled a hurricane or storm worse than what they’re doing right now,” said Trump who has recently attacked the administration’s response to Hurricane Helene and funding for FEMA. 

On Wednesday, Harris said FEMA “absolutely has the resources that it needs now” to deal with Millton. Harris criticized recent comments by the former president regarding relief for hurricane victims.

“It is dangerous. It is, unconscionable frankly that anyone who would consider themselves a leader would mislead desperate people to the point that those desperate people would not receive the aid to which they are entitled,” said Harris. “President Biden and I and our administration will continue to do everything we can to protect the people who have been in the path of this storm.” 

Harris also noted it’s up to Congress, when back in session, to pass legislation to provide more aid for FEMA.