Northeast
Trump eyes a state no Republican has carried in a quarter century amid Biden post-debate turmoil
NEWFIELDS, N.H. — It’s been 24 years since a Republican carried the swing state of New Hampshire in a presidential election.
You have to go back to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in 2000. Four years later, as he won re-election, then-President Bush was narrowly edged in the Granite State, kicking off a losing streak that has extended to the present day.
But in the wake of two recent polls that indicated a margin-of-error race in New Hampshire and following President Biden’s extremely rough debate performance nine days ago in his first primetime face-to-face showdown with former President Trump, Republicans are increasingly hopeful they can bring an end to the losing streak.
BIDEN FACES THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL STRETCH OF HIS POLITICAL CAREER
Former President Donald Trump speaks as he celebrates a victory in New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary in Nashua, New Hampshire, on Jan. 23. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
“I firmly believe that New Hampshire is very much in play,” Steve Stepanek, the senior Trump adviser in the state, told Fox News.
Former longtime state party chair and former Democratic National Committee member Kathy Sullivan disagreed, spotlighting that “New Hampshire is not Trump-friendly territory” and that “there’s nothing changing the dynamic now in terms of Biden versus Trump in New Hampshire.”
BIDEN RAMPS UP SPENDING IN BID TO STEADY HIS FALTERING CAMPAIGN
Since the start of the general election rematch between Biden and Trump four months ago, much of the campaign spotlight has shined on the seven key battlegrounds that decided the 2020 election. Those states include Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada — which Biden narrowly carried four years ago — and North Carolina, which Trump won by a razor-thin margin.
Starting in May, Trump’s campaign started eyeing Minnesota and Virginia, two blue-leaning states in presidential contests, with his top advisers saying they were “clearly in play.”
Trump headlined a Minnesota GOP fundraising gala later that month, and last week, on the day after his debate with Biden, Trump held a large rally in Virginia.
Former President Trump and President Biden face off at a debate in Atlanta on June 27. (Getty Images)
The debate was a major setback for Biden, who at 81 is the oldest president in the nation’s history. His halting delivery and stumbling answers at the showdown in Atlanta sparked widespread panic in the Democratic Party and sparked a rising tide of calls from within his own party for him to step aside as its 2024 standard-bearer.
Fighting back, Biden is now aiming to show Americans that he still has the stamina and acuity to handle the toughest and most demanding job in the world and prove that he has the energy and fortitude to defeat Trump.
TOP NON-PARTISAN POLITICAL HANDICAPPER SHIFTS TWO STATES TOWARDS TRUMP
Earlier this week, well-known non-partisan political handicapper Sabato’s Crystal Ball shifted two key states towards Trump in the wake of the debate.
Michigan was shifted from “Leans Democrat” to “Toss-up” and Minnesota was moved from “Likely Democrat” to “Leans Democrat.”
In New Hampshire, a poll conducted after the debate by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center suggested that Trump was edging Biden by two points, which was within the survey’s sampling error. The poll followed a survey conducted in late May by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center which indicated Biden with a lower single-digit edge.
“I do think we are now in a battleground,” said Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. “You are likely to see states that are similar to ours that show it’s tied up or Trump has the lead.”
President Biden speaks to supporters during a visit to a campaign field office in Manchester, New Hampshire, on March 11. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
But pointing to the new poll, Levesque told Fox News that “the good news for Biden is he’s weak with the people who self-describe as very liberal. Just 67% support. That means, in the end, most likely many of those people are going to vote for Biden even if they don’t want to admit it right now.”
New England College president Wayne Lesperance, a veteran New Hampshire-based political science professor, also said that the state “is in play.”
“Biden’s performance at the most recent debate has pushed Democrats to question his ability to campaign, win and govern. Recent polls in New Hampshire point to continued rock-solid support by Republicans for Trump. Democratic support seems to be faltering with some looking at independent candidates,” Lesperance noted. “As long as questions remain about Biden’s ability to go forward, the President will continue to bleed support, putting the Granite State in play.”
TRUMP GETS BOOST IN POST-DEBATE POLLS AFTER BIDEN’S BOTCHED PERFORMANCE
While the polls indicate a close contest in a state Biden carried by seven points over Trump four years ago, the Democrats currently hold a very large organizational advantage over the GOP when it comes to ground-game operations.
The Biden re-election team and the state Democratic coordinated campaign have 14 field offices across New Hampshire, with boots on the ground since January. Meanwhile, the Trump team and the GOP currently have one field office in addition to the campaign’s state headquarters.
“New Hampshire Democrats will continue to use our robust, grassroots campaign infrastructure to reach Granite Staters in every corner of New Hampshire to ensure we come together and re-elect President Biden and Vice President Harris in November — the stakes could not be higher,” longtime state Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley emphasized in a statement.
But Stepanek, who chaired Trump’s 2016 campaign in New Hampshire before later serving as state GOP chair, touted that “there’s an army of Trump supporters out there, and they’re all coming out.”
“It’s going to be a turnout situation, and we feel we have a very significant ground game that’s going to turnout not only all the Trump supporters but all the Republicans and independents leaning Republican in spite of all the things the Democrats have on the ground here in New Hampshire,” Stepanek predicted.
And he argued that the Democrats “have a significant enthusiasm gap that they are contending with, and we don’t have that.”
As for specifics on how the Trump campaign will build out its ground game in New Hampshire, Stepanek answered, “My game plan I can’t tell you because it’s confidential.”
Sullivan, a top Biden surrogate in New Hampshire, shot back, claiming that when it comes to ground-game operations, “Republicans always say they’re going to do something, and they never follow through.”
Sullivan pointed to the Democrats’ “incredibly strong ground game and seeing nothing on the ground from the Trump campaign.” She also spotlighted that “the issues like abortion, the Republicans are just not in the mainstream.”
“Between the ground game, the issues, the spending by the Biden campaign and the lack of any presence by the Trump campaign, I don’t see the Republicans catching up,” she predicted.
Supporters of the write-in Joe Biden effort in the New Hampshire primary stand for a photo in Concord, New Hampshire, on Jan. 19. (Fox News – Clare O’Connor)
Sullivan also highlighted that they “got a real good head start when we had the write-in Biden effort,” as she referenced the outside effort by state Democrats that boosted the president to a large victory in New Hampshire’s unsanctioned Democratic presidential primary in January, where Biden wasn’t on the ballot.
And in a state where Trump’s GOP presidential primary rival, former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, won 43% of the vote — losing to Trump by only 11 points — Sullivan noted that “the Biden campaign is going to be reaching out to moderate to conservative Republicans who understand what a danger Donald Trump is to our democracy.”
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Connecticut
Family called Connecticut police about suspect in D.C. Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, Trump says
Family members of the accused gunman who tried to storm the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner alerted police in Connecticut with concerns about the man, the president said Sunday.
In an interview with Fox News Channel, President Donald Trump said the man — who was armed with guns and knives — had written about targeting Trump administration officials.
Separately, police in New London confirmed in a statement that a person contacted them at approximately 10:49 p.m., about two hours after the incident. Police said the person expressed concern about events that unfolded earlier that evening at the dinner.
“The reporting individual wanted to share information they believed to be pertinent to the matter,” the statement said.
New London police immediately contacted federal law enforcement partners. Both local and federal officers then interviewed the person, according to the statement.
“The New London Police Department remains committed to working collaboratively with our law enforcement partners at all levels to ensure public safety,” the statement said.
New London police said their investigation into the matter is no longer active and directed further inquiries to the U.S. Secret Service. The federal agency didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The suspect, identified by law enforcement officials as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, was expected to face criminal charges on Monday from the Justice Department, whose acting leader, Todd Blanche, said the suspect traveled by train from California and checked in as a guest days earlier at the Washington hotel where the Saturday night gala dinner was held with its typically tight security.
Authorities said Allen attempted to charge into the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton but was tackled to the ground in a violent scene that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being hurried off the stage and guests ducking for cover beneath their tables.
Fox reported Sunday that the White House said Allen’s brother contacted New London police and reported Allen had sent family members “an alleged manifesto outlining his intent to target administration officials.”
During a live telephone interview, Fox News journalist Jacqui Heinrich asked the president to comment on information she said was provided by the White House about the suspected shooter and his motive.
“I’m being told that he had a manifesto saying he wanted to target Trump administration officials,” Heinrich said. “He had a lot of anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric on his social media accounts, and left a manifesto in his hotel room that his brother had notified New London police about prior to this incident.”
She added that secret service agents had been talking to Allen’s family members, and that Allen attended a No Kings protest in California. She asked Trump for his reaction to the new details.
“I heard about the London situation and I wish they would have told us about it a little bit,” Trump said. “But it is what it is.”
A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press the suspected shooter sent writings to family members minutes before the attack in which he railed against Trump administration policies and referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin.”
The writings made repeated references to Trump without naming him directly and alluded to grievances over a range of administration actions and recent events, including U.S. strikes on drug smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific, the official said Sunday.
The official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Allen’s brother contacted police in New London after receiving the writings, according to the official.
This story has been updated. Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Maine
Maine Governor Vetoes Landmark Data Center Moratorium
Earlier this month, Maine was firmly on track to become the first state to institute a moratorium on AI data centers.
The state’s Democrat-controlled legislature officially passed a bill that would ban data centers that carry a load of 20 megawatts or more until November 1, 2027, and create a 13-member council to evaluate the impact of data centers. The bill had moved on to Governor Janet Mills for approval.
But this weekend, Mills vetoed the bill, and Maine joined a growing list of states that have tried and failed to instate a data center moratorium.
Mills’ opposition to the moratorium stems from a single data center project planned in a small town in Franklin County.
“A moratorium is appropriate given the impacts of massive data centers in other states on the environment and on electricity rates,” Mills wrote in a letter announcing her veto decision. “But the final version of this bill fails to allow for a specific project in the Town of Jay that enjoys strong local support from its host community and region.”
The Town of Jay had been reeling from the job loss following the 2023 closure of a mill, and according to Mills, had been looking forward to the hundreds of temporary construction jobs and the several permanent positions that would be created by the data center that is planned for construction on the site of the old mill. Mills said that officials from the Town of Jay, Franklin County Commissioners and the regional Chamber of Commerce all sent letters to her expressing support for the data center project and asking for an exemption.
“I supported the exemption and would have signed this bill if it had included it,” Mills said.
Although she vetoed the bill, Mills announced that she would sign a separate bill that would block data center projects from participating in some state tax incentive programs and would still establish a council that would “examine and plan for the potential impacts of large-scale data centers in Maine.”
If it had passed, the Maine bill would have been the first significant regulatory outcome in the U.S. of rising public dissent against AI and the unprecedented data center buildout it has led to. Artificial intelligence has become a concept particularly unpopular in the public eye, in large part due to its negative impact on mental health, war, the environment, and the job market.
On top of that, local activists around the country are also staunchly against data center projects, worried about the soaring utility bills, water shortages, air pollution and increased local temperature often associated with the mega structures. In some instances, the opposition has even turned violent, like in Indianapolis, where a shooting took place at the home of a local politician who is in favor of a controversial local data center project. Just a few days after the Indianapolis incident, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home in San Francisco was hit with a molotov cocktail.
A big tenet of the anti-AI data center push calls for moratoriums on new project developments to give researchers and policymakers time to catch up to the rapidly evolving technology and understand its true impact on local communities, human health, the economy, and the environment. Moratorium supporters claim that with a clearer understanding of AI’s impact, governments can introduce adequate guardrails to ensure the responsible development of these AI data centers.
Mills’ decision in Maine could soon be judged at the ballot box. The governor is running for the Democratic Senate seat in the upcoming Maine primaries, and is currently trailing her opponent Graham Platner in polls. Platner had recently told the press that he thinks Mills should sign the bill into law.
Massachusetts
Coast Guard search underway for a crew member overboard on Boston-bound cruise
A search is underway after a report that a crew member of the C/S Norwegian Breakaway was seen falling from the Boston-bound cruise ship, U.S. Coast Guard officials said Sunday.
The Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England received a report from the C/S Norwegian Breakaway regarding a crew member who had fallen overboard about 12 miles east of Wellfleet. The C/S returned to the last known place of the person and deployed their rescue boat and life rings.
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter arrived on scene at around 1 a.m. to assist the search along with a crew from the Coast Guard Station Provincetown, officials confirm.
Officials are currently still conducting an aerial search as of SUnday morning along with the Station Provincetown Crew.
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