The Latest: With the debate behind them, Harris and Trump jockey for swing states

  • Canadian Press

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives on Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. Harris is traveling to the Pentagon in Washington to participate in a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are heading to swing states they hope to win, both of them trying to expand their narrow paths to victory in a closely fought presidential campaign.

Harris has her sights set on North Carolina, where she's scheduled to hold rallies in Charlotte and Greensboro on Thursday.

Trump is heading west to Tucson, Arizona, as he looks to stabilize his campaign, which continues to struggle to recalibrate nearly two months after Harris replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.

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Here's the latest:

Young women are increasingly likely to identify as liberal, a Gallup analysis finds

Young women are more liberal than they have been in decades, according to a Gallup analysis of more than 20 years of polling data.

Over the past few years, about 4 in 10 young women between the ages of 18 and 29 have described their political views as liberal, compared with two decades ago when about 3 in 10 identified that way.

For many young women, their liberal identity is not just a new label. The share of young women who hold liberal views on the environment, abortion, race relations and gun laws has also jumped by double digits, Gallup found.

Young women "aren't just identifying as liberal because they like the term or they're more comfortable with the term, or someone they respect uses the term," said Lydia Saad, the director of U.S. social research at Gallup. "They have actually become much more liberal in their actual viewpoints."

Michigan leaders join national bipartisan effort to push back against attacks on the election system

Former Michigan governors and elected officials from both parties are joining a wider effort to combat misinformation and attacks on voting and ballot-counting in several swing states ahead of the fast-approaching presidential election.

The Democracy Defense Project also includes former officials from a number of states where then-President Donald Trump tried to overturn his election loss in 2020, including Georgia. Their goal is to build trust in elections through radio and TV ads, media outreach and local engagement.

"We're going to jointly, wherever necessary, speak out when people try to call into question the integrity or the accuracy of our voting. We believe in our system and we don't appreciate people making up stories that are self-serving," former Michigan Gov. James Blanchard told ahead of the formal Thursday launch of the Michigan chapter.

Blanchard, a Democrat who served as governor from 1983 to 1991, is joined on the Michigan team by former Republican Gov. John Engler, former Democratic Lt. Gov. John Cherry and former Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop.

Democrats claiming Florida Senate seat is in play haven't put money behind the effort to make it so

Florida Democrats made bold claims last week about their chances in a state that has steadily grown more conservative in recent years. But so far they have not matched their words with the kind of money it will take to win there.

"Florida is in play," proclaimed Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former representative from Miami, at the start of a bus tour in defense of women's reproductive rights in Boynton Beach. Mucarsel-Powell is the choice of Florida Democrats to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Scott for one of a handful of Senate seats the GOP is defending this election cycle.

According to data from AdImpact, which tracks spending on advertising by political campaigns and their surrogates, Republicans have outspent Democrats on Florida's U.S. Senate race by roughly a 4-to-1 margin through Sept. 11, $12.7 million to $3.2 million. Based on ad spots currently reserved through the general election, that margin is expected to grow.