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• Fallout continued over the weekend from a CNN report tying Republican North Carolina gubernatorial nominee Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson to an account on a pornographic website that made antisemitic, pro-slavery, and sexually explicit comments. Resignations rocked Robinson’s campaign, which publicly announced the departure of its campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, senior adviser, and finance director Sunday. A local media outlet reported the same day that the campaign had only three people working on it—two spokesmen and a bodyguard.
• Former President Donald Trump’s team has avoided commenting directly on the Robinson scandal but, asked about the controversy Saturday, vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance tried to separate the campaign from it. “I don’t not believe him. I don’t believe him,” Vance told NBC News of Robinson’s denial that the comments are his. “I just think that you have to let these things sometimes play out in the court of public opinion. He’s going to make whatever arguments he wants to make. I’m sure the news media and others are going to investigate these comments further. I just think that fundamentally it’s Mark Robinson and the people of North Carolina that get to decide whether he’s their governor, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”
• Vance did not rule out campaigning with Robinson but said there were no plans to do so. Trump held a rally Saturday in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Robinson was neither there nor mentioned by Trump. The former president previously endorsed Robinson in the state’s primary and has spoken highly of him.
• Georgia’s evangelical voters are undeterred by the Republican presidential campaign’s recent moderation on issues pertaining to human life, according to Ralph Reed, the founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. Reed told reporters on a call Friday that his organization was not seeing much concern over where Trump is “likely to stand” on court appointments and defunding Planned Parenthood, and he defended the Republican Party platform adopted this summer that some pro-lifers criticized. “The platform that was passed in Milwaukee isn’t the one that we would have passed, but it’s more than sufficiently pro-life,” he said.
• The National Republican Congressional Committee took in $9.7 million in August, less than half the $22.3 million its Democratic counterpart raised the same month, Punchbowl News reported Friday. That haul brings House Republicans’ campaign arm to a little under $71 million on hand, about $16 million behind the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The news adds to the GOP’s woes about its congressional candidates not matching the money their Democratic opponents have put up.

Nebraska Republicans last week resurrected a push to give the state a winner-take-all system of allocating its five electoral votes, a move that could give Donald Trump one more vote in a tight election.

First, some background: Most states award all their votes in the Electoral College to the winner of the statewide popular vote. But by state law, Nebraska and Maine give two electoral votes to the statewide winner and allocate the rest based on a candidate’s performance in each of the state’s congressional districts. In 2020, the system resulted in Trump winning one vote from Maine (from the rural 2nd District) and Joe Biden winning the other three electoral votes despite winning the state’s popular vote. Meanwhile, Biden won one vote from Nebraska (from the urban district around Omaha) while losing statewide, giving Trump four of Nebraska’s five electoral votes. 

Polling indicates a similar split could result in November between Trump and Kamala Harris. 

But a change to Nebraska’s rules giving all five of its electoral votes to the statewide winner could be decisive in the election. If Harris wins the “blue wall” swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania while Trump takes the other four Sun Belt swing states, that single electoral vote in Nebraska would give Harris an outright victory. Without it, she and Trump would tie in that Electoral College scenario, sending the election to the House of Representatives. Given the expected breakdown of the House delegations, Trump would likely win that contingent election.

So it’s no surprise Trump and Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, had both urged the legislature to pass a law allocating the state’s electoral votes on a winner-take-all basis back in April. Republicans in the GOP-controlled body (which is officially nonpartisan) put a measure on the floor soon after, only to see it fail. Had the effort been successful, Maine’s Democratic governor and legislature could have counteracted it by converting their state to a similar system. But because Maine laws take 90 days to go into effect and the December 17 meeting of the Electoral College is now 85 days away, it is unlikely that the state could negate a change from Nebraska.

At this point, Pillen would need to call a special session of the legislature to make the change happen, as the unicameral body is not scheduled to meet until January. However, in a September 13 statement, he said he would do so only if he received “clear and public indication that 33 senators are willing to vote in such a session to restore winner-take-all,” referencing the number needed to overcome a filibuster. As it stands, there are only about 30 or 31 votes in favor at the moment, state Sen. Tom Brewer, who chairs the legislative committee that handles election law, told the Nebraska Examiner.

Republicans tried to firm up the votes they need by sending South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham to meet with legislators and lobby for the change last Wednesday. Although Graham told ABC News he spoke “about the state of the play in the world and the consequences of the next election on a foreign policy front,” Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska told reporters he had asked his colleague to talk about winner-take-all, calling Graham “a great spokesperson” for the cause.

They could both be telling the truth. “Those things are not mutually exclusive. His focus was on foreign policy, like, what is the difference of what happens on the world stage depending on who’s in the chair,” a Republican operative with knowledge of the state’s politics, speaking of Graham’s visit, told Dispatch Politics.

In their messaging, Democrats in the state are pushing back against the external pressure to amend the system. “Nebraskans don’t need out-of-state interests to come in and tell us to change the way we’ve been doing things for decades,” the Nebraska Democratic Party said in a statement to Dispatch Politics. “We are proud of the state senators who have been consistent and steadfast in standing up for Nebraskans having a voice in our electoral process and will continue to do so.”

But on top of Graham’s visit, all five members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation (all Republicans) signed a letter last week encouraging Pillen and state Sen. John Arch, the speaker of the legislature, to make the change to winner-take-all.

“We need a President that will represent all of us, from Omaha to Scottsbluff and everywhere in-between,” the delegation wrote last Wednesday. “Senators and Governors are elected by the state as a whole because they represent all of the people of Nebraska equally, and the state should speak with a united voice in presidential elections as well. After all, we are Nebraskans first, not members of Nebraska’s three congressional districts. Our identity as Nebraskans is what unites us in a common bond.”

It is unclear exactly what the deadline would be for Republicans to make the change. Deputy Secretary of State Cindi Allen told ABC News that the change would be adopted—barring any legal challenges—so long as the legislature passes it before the election. Meanwhile, Kate Heltzel, a spokeswoman for the legislature, told the outlet that, while some argue that officials would need to make the change before early voting starts (October 7 this year), others say they have until the December meeting of the Electoral College.

“To my knowledge, the attorney general has not officially weighed in on the issues, so I don’t have a definitive answer,” she said.

A small group with a modest budget is hopeful that invoking a big name can help generate a decisive number of Republican votes for Vice President Kamala Harris in key battleground states.

“Haley Voters for Harris” aims to turn the millions of Republican primary voters who backed Nikki Haley over Donald Trump in this year’s GOP nominating contests—along with other like-minded center-right voters—into supporters of the Democratic nominee. The super PAC has only, roughly, $2 million to spend at present. But the group expects additional seven-figure donations and is making plans to expand its highly targeted operation beyond Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 

Haley Voters for Harris plans to invest in digital advertisements targeting disaffected Republicans, many of  whom, the group’s data shows, are open to being persuaded to back the vice president. The spots are to run on YouTube, Google search, and other platforms. Complementary direct-mail advertising could follow if resources are available. In the battleground states where Haley Voters for Harris is active, organizers have enlisted local supporters and strategists to lead its effort.

“Our plans are to be active in all seven of the swing states,” Robert Schwartz, senior advisor to Haley Voters for Harris, told Dispatch Politics. He acknowledged that some who voted for Haley in the primary are now backing Trump, emphasizing that “we’re targeting people who, based on testing, are swayable.”

All told, Haley won nearly 4.4 million votes this year, or almost 20 percent of the GOP primary electorate, despite winning nominating contests only in Vermont and Washington, D.C. 

Consider: In 2020, Biden defeated Trump in Arizona by 10,457 votes. Haley’s vote total in the Arizona primary? 110,948. Biden beat Trump in Michigan by 154,188 votes. Her vote total in the Michigan primary? 296,328. Biden outpaced Trump in Pennsylvania by 81,660 votes. Haley’s vote total in the Pennsylvania primary? 158,178. Biden edged Trump in Wisconsin by 20,682 votes. Her vote total in the Wisconsin primary? 76,752.

Haley Voters for Harris began as a super PAC dedicated to persuading voters who backed the Republican Party’s 2024 primary runner-up to throw their support to President Joe Biden, hence the previous name: Haley Voters for Biden. Before that, the organization was known as Primary Pivot; its original purpose to drive opposition to Trump in GOP primaries. Why has Haley Voters for Harris fixated on the former South Carolina governor and ex-U.S ambassador to the United Nations, branding itself with her surname? 

It’s easy; despite losing handily to Trump in nearly every primary, Haley won a sizable bloc of votes from people who identify as traditionally conservative Ronald Reagan Republicans, are unhappy with the former president’s leadership, or are influenced by a mixture of both sentiments. Even after Haley suspended her campaign in March, she kept earning votes in subsequent GOP primaries in which she did not compete other than the fact that her name was on the ballot.

That this bloc has come to be known as “Haley voters” is branding and name identification virtually any politician with White House ambitions would kill for, so to speak. 

But the South Carolinian, who has endorsed Trump and spoke on his behalf at the Republican National Convention, wants Haley Voters for Harris to stop using her name. She made her demands known via attorneys, telling Fox News this month in a statement: “Kamala Harris and I are total opposites on every issue. Any attempt to use my name to support her or her agenda is deceptive and wrong. I support Donald Trump because he understands we need to make America strong, safe, and prosperous.”

The impact of Haley’s public grumbling has been mixed. Dawn Roberts, who served as co-chairwoman of the former ambassador’s Republican primary campaign in Iowa, has decided to endorse Harris. She outlined why in a Des Moines Register op-ed published Friday. But Alissa Baker, a member of Haley’s leadership team in Virginia, decided to disassociate with the Haley Voters Working Group, a separate entity but offshoot of Haley Voters for Harris.

Baker said Haley’s dissatisfaction with the group, and her endorsement of Trump and speech at the GOP convention in Milwaukee, were factors in her decision. So, is she now prepared to vote for Trump? “Every time I get close to that decision, something else crazy happens. [With] the nature of this election cycle—I’m waiting for the October surprise at this point,” Baker said.

A spokesperson for Haley acknowledged Dispatch Politics’ request for comment but had not responded at publication time. On Friday, the Trump campaign issued an email fundraising appeal signed by Haley, the first instance of her campaigning publicly for the former president since the GOP convention.

• On NBC’s Meet the Press, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the allegations about Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson “beyond unnerving” and said that if they are true, that Robinson is “unfit to serve for office.” Graham said the North Carolina Republican should be allowed to defend himself but told anchor Kristen Welker that he is a “political zombie” if he doesn’t offer a credible defense.
• Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas said on CNN’s State of the Union that Robinson “owes the people of North Carolina more answers” about the scandal but quickly changed topics to the presidential race. “We’re talking about the presidential race here that matters to everyone, not just the people in one state. Kamala Harris owes the American people a lot more answers—like, for instance, what she would do about the wars in the Middle East,” he said.
• Cotton had a difficult time defending a comment from former President Donald Trump, who said Thursday that, if he did not prevail in November, then “the Jewish people would have a lot to do with the loss.” Cotton characterized Vice President Kamala Harris as acting like “an assistant principal who’s constantly scolding” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pointed out that Trump made his comments at an event focused on “fighting antisemitism in America.” “Donald Trump has been saying for months that anyone who cares about Israel, anyone who cares about the fate of the U.S.-Israel alliance should vote for him. They shouldn’t vote for Kamala Harris,” Cotton said. He then asked when the last time Harris had appeared at such an event. “Her husband is Jewish and is in charge of a group about combating antisemitism in the United States,” anchor Jake Tapper retorted.
• Colorado Gov. Jared Polis appeared on Face the Nation on CBS and addressed the Trump campaign’s focus on Aurora, a Denver suburb, as a hotbed of gang activity as a result of illegal immigration—despite a lack of evidence that a viral video of armed men in a dilapidated apartment complex actually showed members of the Venezuelan gang supposedly running rampant in the city. Polis, a Democrat, noted that Aurora is Colorado’s third-largest city and that while gang activity is an ongoing problem in many large cities, that violent crime is down there. Pressed by anchor Margaret Brennan on whether Harris needs to speak up about immigration more, Polis noted the failed border-security bill sunk by Republicans in Congress. “We need better border security. Kamala Harris will deliver on that, because it’s not a simple proposition. It requires investment, high-tech investment, fencing, scanning, more Border Patrol agents, which the bill would have funded more Border Patrol agents,” he said.

• Donald Trump will be in Savannah, Georgia, on Tuesday to deliver remarks on taxes and manufacturing. This is the Republican nominee’s first trip to the Peach State since August 3, when he and his running mate, J.D. Vance, held a rally in Atlanta.
• Vance will headline a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, early this evening. After that, the Republican vice presidential nominee will address a gathering of the “Believers and Ballots Coalition,” also in Charlotte. The Trump campaign launched the coalition to get out the vote among churchgoers.
• The Trump campaign is kicking off a three-day bus tour across Wisconsin, beginning today with stops in Hudson, Altoona, and Kronenwetter. The events are being hosted by various Republicans who are supporting the former president, including Reps. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin and Troy Nehls of Texas, plus Wisconsin GOP Chairman Brian Schimming and various local and state grassroots conservatives.
• Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is scheduled to speak at a “series of campaign receptions,” likely Harris campaign fundraisers, this afternoon in New York City.
• Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Harris’ husband, will campaign for Texas Democrats and deliver remarks today at a Harris campaign “reception,” which is usually code for a fundraiser, in San Antonio.

“Mark Robinson is absolutely unfit to be the governor of North Carolina, and that was true before your story broke last Thursday. The story has only served to underline and put an exclamation point on that fact.”

—North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic candidate for governor, commenting on his Republican opponent’s scandal in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, September 22, 2024