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After the presidential debate, here's where Trump and Harris are campaigning next
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump dueled it out during their first presidential debate on Tuesday and, with the debate behind them, they are now traveling to different swing states where they will get the chance to speak directly with voters.
Trump has his sights set on Arizona, where he will hold a rally in Tucson, while the Harris team is heading to North Carolina, where she’s scheduled to hold events in Charlotte and Greensboro.
Arizona and North Carolina are both considered among prized battlegrounds for the 2024 election and the opposing campaigns undoubtedly understand that securing either will help expand their narrow paths to victory in a closely fought presidential race.
Thursday’s events come after both candidates spent Wednesday commemorating those who lost their lives during the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
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Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. President Joe Biden, former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-OH, all attend the annual 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum on September 11, 2024 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Polling experts say only a handful of battleground states will ultimately decide the outcome of the election and the candidates’ respective destinations give insight into their strategies.
Harris hit the ground running in her first post-debate campaign push, releasing a new ad that featured quotes from their showdown.
The current vice president also announced that she would be returning to North Carolina for a pair of rallies.
Trump won North Carolina in both of his previous White House bids. The former president held rallies throughout the state last month and Republicans have been confident about his chances to win the state for a third time.
However, Trump’s 2020 margin of victory in the state was just 1.3 percentage points, his narrowest win of any state that year.
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The Harris campaign’s eagerness to return to North Carolina points to their hope that its diversifying population will give them a chance to flip the state this go around. Harris’s campaign said Thursday’s trip will be her ninth to the state this year.
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Historically, Democrats haven’t won North Carolina’s electoral votes since 2008, when former President Obama was elected for the first time.
Registered independents — also known as unaffiliated voters — are the state’s largest voting bloc, so it is widely up for grabs.
A state Supreme Court ruling this week affirming that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. must be removed from North Carolina ballots could bring additional votes Trump’s way. Kennedy, a lifelong Democrat who was running as an Independent, endorsed Trump in the race.
Historically, Republicans have dominated North Carolina in recent years and the state has voted red in 10 of the last 11 presidential elections (Obama won the state in 2008).
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In Arizona, the political trend is similar — with one major exception.
While Trump won Arizona in 2016, he lost it in 2020. Republicans have won Arizona in nearly every presidential election since World War II, but President Biden eked out a narrow victory in 2020.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, right, and former US President Donald Trump shake hands during the second presidential debate at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Getty Images)
More recently, the state has only voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in two of the last 18 elections (Clinton in 1996 and Biden in 2020).
Arizona was particularly tumultuous for Trump in 2020 as he previously clashed with the late U.S. Senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain.
Republicans still outnumber Democrats in Arizona, but a third of voters are independents.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, visit with firefighters outside FDNY Engine 4/Tower Ladder 15 fire house in lower Manhattan on the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on September 11, 2024, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Wednesday’s somber display provided respite from partisan politics in the high-speed campaign season.
At a fire station in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, close to where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after passengers fought back against their hijackers, Trump met with locals. Biden and Harris visited the same fire station earlier in the day.
Trump and Harris met in-person later the same day, when both traveled to Manhattan for another 9/11 ceremony.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Atlanta-area police blast parents over vodka martini packed in school lunch: ‘That is NOT apple juice’
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An Atlanta-area police department issued a blunt notice to parents after officers claimed a child brought a vodka-based beverage to school — tucked beside Doritos in a packed lunch.
The City of South Fulton Police Department sounded off about the incident in a now-viral Facebook post, warning parents to “CHECK. THE. LUNCHBOX.”
“Say Twin… Before you send them babies off to school… CHECK. THE. LUNCHBOX. Because why are we getting reports of juice boxes sitting next to… Cutwater margaritas??” the department wrote.
Officials also shared a photo of the alleged lunchbox, containing what appears to be a child’s lunch, Doritos and a Cutwater Lemon Drop Martini.
The police department shared a photo of a Cutwater canned cocktail in a lunchbox. (City of South Fulton Police Department via Facebook)
“That is NOT Capri Sun. That is NOT Apple Juice. That is a whole ‘Parent had a long night’ starter pack,” the department wrote. “Now little Johnny done pulled up to 3rd period talking about: ‘Who want fruit snacks?’ knowing good and well he got a Lemon Drop Martini in the zipper pocket.”
Cutwater Lemon Drop Martinis, as found in the lunchbox, are 11% ABV ready-to-drink cocktails made with vodka, triple sec, lemon juice and natural flavors.
They come in 12-ounce cans, similar in appearance to a soda can.
The City of South Fulton Police Department issued a statement after the apparent mishap. (City of South Fulton Police Department via Facebook)
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The department said it understands mornings can be hectic, but issued a stern notice to parents to “TIGHTEN UP.”
“Your child shouldn’t be the only one in the cafeteria with a beverage that requires an ID,” authorities wrote. “If it says 12% ABV… it does NOT belong next to a PB&J.”
Officials also provided a “quick parent checklist,” with items including: “Homework,” “Lunch packed,” and “Alcoholic beverages.”
Boxes of Cutwater Tiki Rum Mai Tai and Strawberry Margarita canned cocktails. (Gado/Getty Images)
“Check the lunchbox before the Fulton County Schools Police resource officers gotta do inventory at recess,” the department added.
It is unclear if any parents or students were disciplined in relation to the mix-up.
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Fulton County Schools did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The City of South Fulton, Georgia, is a rapidly growing municipality located about 20 minutes from Atlanta and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
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Southeast
Federal prosecutor admits ‘extraordinary’ timing in Abrego Garcia smuggling case charges
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A federal prosecutor acknowledged Thursday that the decision to charge Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia two years after a routine traffic stop was “extraordinary” while defending the human smuggling case as legally justified.
Abrego Garcia, 31, has become a flash point in the national immigration debate since last March, when he was deported to El Salvador in violation of a 2019 court order in what Trump administration officials acknowledged was an “administrative error.”
The Supreme Court later ruled that the administration had to work to bring him back to the U.S.
After returning in June, Abrego Garcia was taken into federal custody in Nashville and detained on human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.
He has pleaded not guilty and is seeking dismissal of the charges on the grounds of vindictive and selective prosecution.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura, left, are accompanied by Lydia Walther-Rodriguez, right, of We Are Casa, as they leave the federal courthouse, Thursday, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
A 2019 court order prevents Abrego Garcia from being deported to El Salvador after an immigration judge determined he faced danger from a gang that had threatened his family. He immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager and has been under the supervision of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Abrego Garcia was accused in court records of repeated domestic violence against his wife, who alleged multiple incidents of physical abuse in protective order filings. She later withdrew the protective order request and has defended her husband publicly.
The Department of Homeland Security has also said he was living in the U.S. illegally and has alleged ties to MS-13, disputing portrayals of him as simply a “Maryland man.” His attorneys have denied the gang allegations.
Tennessee Highway Patrol body camera footage from when Abrego Garcia was pulled over for speeding shows a calm exchange with officers. While officers discussed suspicions of smuggling among themselves — noting there were nine passengers in the vehicle — Abrego Garcia was issued only a warning.
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A woman holds a sign in support of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in front of the U.S. District Court in Nashville. (Getty Images )
First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Rob McGuire, who was acting U.S. attorney in April 2025, testified Thursday that his decision to charge Abrego Garcia was based on the evidence.
“I had previously prosecuted several human smuggling cases,” McGuire said, noting that after seeing video of the traffic stop, “I was immediately struck by how similar what was being depicted in the body cam was to those investigations.”
McGuire said Abrego Garcia’s vehicle belonged to someone with “a human smuggling background” and added that the route was “suspicious.”
“It was a large number of individuals traveling in one SUV with a driver who spoke for the group. No one had luggage… the car had Texas plates… the route was suspicious,” McGuire said.
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Kilmar Abrego Garcia arrived at the federal courthouse, Thursday, for a hearing on whether the charges against him should be dismissed. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
During cross-examination, McGuire acknowledged that the timing of the charges, coming so long after the traffic stop, was “extraordinary.”
He said he had not previously been aware of the traffic stop but reiterated that nobody in the Trump administration, including the White House or the Department of Justice, pressured him to seek the indictment.
When asked about whether he might have felt pressure to prosecute the case, McGuire said, “I’m not going to do something that is wrong to keep my job.”
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Kilmar Abrego Garcia, right, and his brother Cesar Abrego Garcia, center, arrive at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
McGuire also said timing factored into charging Abrego Garcia since he was being held in El Salvador, and he did not want the indictment to go public before all senior officials were briefed on the matter.
“I knew from the get-go that this was going to be a controversial matter,” McGuire said.
U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw did not make a ruling Thursday and said he would wait to receive post-hearing briefs from attorneys by March 5 before determining whether another hearing is necessary.
Crenshaw previously found some evidence that the prosecution “may be vindictive” and that prior statements by Trump administration officials “raise cause for concern.”
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Thursday’s court appearance came after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from re-arresting Abrego Garcia into federal immigration custody on Feb. 17.
Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch, Jake Gibson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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GOP Rep Nancy Mace introduces ‘Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act’
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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has introduced a bill to authorize the death penalty as a potential punishment for the sexual abuse of children.
“We have zero mercy for child rapists. Those who prey on our most vulnerable deserve the harshest consequence we can deliver,” Mace said in a statement.
The proposal is aptly called the “Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act.”
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., announces she will run for South Carolina governor during a press conference at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, on Aug. 4, 2025. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“No predator should be allowed to walk away from the most unthinkable crimes against children,” Mace noted.
“This bill is simple. Rape a child and you don’t get a second chance, you get the death penalty. We will never apologize for protecting America’s children,” Mace added.
The bill would put capital punishment on the table as an option to punish those who sexually abuse children.
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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., attends the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“INTRODUCING: The Death Penalty for Child Rapists Act to amend Title 18 to authorize the death penalty for aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a minor and abusive sexual contact offenses against children. It will also amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to authorize the death penalty for the rape of a child,” she said in a post on X.
“We’ve spent months fighting to expose Jeffrey Epstein’s network of powerful predators. We’ve demanded accountability and pushed for transparency. Now we’re making sure anyone who rapes a child faces the ultimate consequence,” she noted.
Mace has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since early 2021.
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