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2024 showdown: Harris, Trump hold dueling Texas rallies to hammer home these key issues

Published

2 years ago

November 3, 2024

2024 showdown: Harris, Trump hold dueling Texas rallies to hammer home these key issues

HOUSTON, TX – With 11 days to go until Election Day and two leading national polls indicating a dead heat in the race for the White House between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, the major party nominees hold campaign events in Texas where they’ll elevate two combustible issues as they make their closing arguments.

Harris, who has long leaned into the issue of reproductive rights, will blame Trump for an extremely restrictive abortion law in Texas, as she holds what’s expected to be a large rally in Houston.

Trump, who has spotlighted illegal immigration ever since he launched his first White House run nine years ago, was in Austin to make comments on border security.

DO HARRIS OR TRUMP HAVE THE UPPER HAND IN THIS KEY CAMPAIGN METRIC

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a news conference at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

While Texas isn’t one of the seven crucial battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided President Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and are likely to determine if Harris or the former president wins the 2024 election, it is home to a key Senate race that’s among a handful that will decide if the GOP wins back the chamber’s majority.

Conservative firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz joined Trump at the afternoon event in Austin, while Democratic challenger Rep. Collin Allred will speak at the Harris rally hours later.

The stop by Harris in Houston is the first time in decades that a Democratic Party standard-bearer will hold a major campaign event in Texas in the home stretch ahead of Election Day.

MORE THAN 20,000 PEOPLE SHOW UP AT THIS STAR-STUDDED POLITICAL RALLY

The trip doesn’t mean the Harris campaign thinks Texas is in play in the White House race. Even though Biden narrowed the gap to a five and a half point deficit in the 2020 presidential election, top Harris advisers don’t harbor any illusions about flipping the state.

Instead, the trip is about elevating abortion, which has been a winning issue for Democrats ever since the conservative majority on the Supreme Court in the summer of 2022 overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, which had legalized abortion for decades.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at James R. Hallford Stadium, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Clarkston, Ga. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Harris will reiterate her message that Trump, who named three conservative justices to the high court during his four years in the White House, is to blame for the abortion law in Texas, where the procedure is banned after six weeks of pregnancy.

Ahead of the rally, the Harris campaign unveiled a new ad that uses a clip of Trump taking credit for his role in the blockbuster Supreme Court abortion decision, as well as another commercial that features a Texas couple directly impacted by the state’s ban.

And Harris will discuss the importance of reproductive rights in the 2024 election in an interview while in Texas with Brene Brown, a popular podcaster with a predominantly female audience.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION

The Harris campaign says the vice president will be joined at the rally by a number of people who will share their stories of the consequences they have faced due to the Texas abortion ban.

Expected to perform at the rally are legendary singer, songwriter and guitarist Willie Nelson and entertainment superstar Beyoncé, who is considered a cultural icon. Beyoncé’s hit song “Freedom” has been adopted by the vice president as her campaign trail anthem.

Trump, at his event in Austin, argued that Harris had “picked the wrong place” to visit as he alluded to her stop in Houston.

“Today she’s in Texas to rub shoulders with woke celebrities,” he charged.

Harris, speaking with reporters in Houston on Friday afternoon, chided Trump for his comments, arguing that “it’s just another example of how he really belittles our country.”

Two new national polls released Friday indicate that former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are in a dead heat ahead of Election Day. (AP/Alex Brandon/Mike Stewart)

For Trump and Republicans, immigration and border security has been a winning issue, as they have blasted President Biden and Harris for three and a half years for the influx of migrants across the southern border.

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Trump, who has repeatedly pledged to conduct mass deportations if he wins back the White House, charged during a campaign event in Arizona on Thursday that as a result of Biden administration immigration policies, the U.S. is “like a garbage can for the world.”

While in Texas, Trump will also sit for a recorded interview with extremely popular nationally known podcaster Joe Rogan.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.

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Dallas, TX

All-day restaurant and patio coming to Dallas’ Knox and more top stories

Published

2 hours ago

June 27, 2026

Press Room

All-day restaurant and patio coming to Dallas’ Knox and more top stories

UPDATE 6-26-2026: Gracie has been found about four miles south of the Cedar Hollow Ranch, according to a Facebook update from Real County Animal Rescue. Ranch manager Vic Jones has assembled a team to safely bring the wandering giraffe home.

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A giraffe named Gracie is missing in Texas, and the search for her has become a tall order.

Gracie, who is about 3 years old, has been missing for nearly two weeks after escaping her enclosure at Cedar Hollow Ranch in the Texas Hill Country, said Vic Jones, who owns the remote property about 100 miles west of San Antonio. He said Wednesday, June 24 that Gracie had wandered into a part of the privately owned preserve that other giraffes previously avoided.

Jones said he has sent up helicopters to look for Gracie, a few sightings have trickled in, and a $5,000 reward is on the table.

But the giraffe, which stands roughly the height of a tree, hasn’t turned up.

“She wound up going up and feeding in an area on the hillside and the rocky ledges that none of the other giraffes had ever gone on before,” Jones said. “And when she came down off of there, she came down on the wrong side of the gate.”

The ranch is in rural Real County, where its roughly 2,700 residents were put on alert to be on the lookout for a missing giraffe. Jones said the search area is extremely remote, and the likelihood of Gracie encountering any humans is low.

“People are not in danger of her because she’s not around people,” Jones said. ‘She’s out in very, very rough, heavily wooded lands.”

The Texas Hill Country has one of the largest concentrations of exotic captive animals in the country. Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson said the mild climate and rugged terrain seems to serve as a good stand-in for most of the animals’ native African environments.

He rattled off a list of animals that have gone missing over the years, especially after floods, but said this was his first giraffe.

“I’ve had wildebeests, I’ve had water buffalo, I’ve had monkeys, I’ve had zebras, all go missing,” Johnson said. “Sometimes we recover them, and sometimes we don’t.”

While the middle of Texas is not a giraffe’s native environment, Jones said Gracie should be able to find plenty of leaves and other vegetation to eat. He said other animals were not likely to bother her.

Jones said he initially had helicopters searching an area of about 7,500 acres (3,000 hectares) with no luck. A few days later, there was a report that Gracie was spotted to the south.

But by the time they could search the area, Jones said, she was already gone.

“We’re always two three days late for where the information is coming from, so that makes it tough,” Jones said.

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Miami, FL

Bugtopia takes center stage at Zoo Miami

Published

2 hours ago

June 27, 2026

Press Room

Bugtopia takes center stage at Zoo Miami

Larger-than-life bug animatronics invade Zoo Miami for a limited-time event.

Families looking for something to do in the city might consider visiting Zoo Miami for their Bugtopia event, which starts on June 27 to October 31.

The zoo will host 13 gigantic animatronics and two photo-op stations.

Starting from the entrance all the way to the Conservation Action Center, guests will find the larger-than-life insects accompanied by colorful comic-style panels with fun facts and sound effects.

The first 250 guests to arrive on June 27 and 28 will receive zoo sunglasses and a free voucher for a kid’s meal from their local Flanigan’s.

Those two opening days will also have a kid-friendly DJ present for extra entertainment.

There will also be “bug-themed tastings” on June 27.

The event will have insect investigation stations as well as microscopic insect explorations called “bug detectives”.

Anyone who completes these activities will earn a junior entomologist certificate.

For families looking for something to do in Miami this summer, you might consider Bugtopia for your next stop.

For more information, click here..

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Atlanta, GA

How to watch DR Congo vs. Uzbekistan today: TV channel, streaming and kickoff time

Published

3 hours ago

June 27, 2026

Press Room

How to watch DR Congo vs. Uzbekistan today: TV channel, streaming and kickoff time

June 27, 2026 / 12:00 PM EDT
/ CBS Atlanta

The group stage of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup is nearly over, but not before the Democratic Republic of the Congo takes on Uzbekistan at Atlanta Stadium.

For DR Congo, this last match is extremely important. The team remains in contention for a spot in the knockout round with its one point. Uzbekistan has an extremely slim change of getting to the round of 32 following its loss to Portugal earlier this week, but a massive win could change all that.

This is the second time DR Congo has competed in the World Cup since 1974, when it was called Zaire. The team qualified after winning a playoff tournament in Mexico.