campaign

Trump campaign sues Pennsylvania over vote-by-mail

The Trump campaign filed a federal lawsuit Monday in Pennsylvania, saying it’s fighting for election security by opposing the state’s move on mail-in-voting ahead of November’s election. “Free and fair elections are essential to the right of Americans to choose through their vote whom they elect to represent them,” the campaign’s lawsuit read. “Upending our…

The Trump campaign filed a federal lawsuit Monday in Pennsylvania, saying it’s fighting for election security by opposing the state’s move on mail-in-voting ahead of November’s election.

“Free and fair elections are essential to the right of Americans to choose through their vote whom they elect to represent them,” the campaign’s lawsuit read. “Upending our entire election process and undermining ballot security through unmonitored by-mail voting is the single greatest threat to free and fair elections. To be free and fair, elections must be transparent and verifiable.”

The filing comes after Pennsylvania officials made changes to the state’s absentee voting system, expanding the ability to vote by mail.

Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, signed a law last year allowing people to vote by mail without requiring an excuse such as not being present in the jurisdiction on election day.

The president’s campaign said the law led to absentee ballots being returned to locations such as shopping centers, parks and retirement homes instead of to county boards of elections.

The campaign also asserts the governor’s executive order he issued the day before the primary election, which extended absentee ballot deadlines, earlier this month changed requirements for some counties but not others, causing chaos and burdened voters’ rights.

Allegheny County issued duplicate mail-in ballots and Philadelphia County stopped counting ballots on June 4, two days after the primary day. It began counting ballots again on June 9, according to the court filing.

“The continued enforcement of arbitrary and disparate policies and procedures regarding poll watcher access and ballot return and counting poses a severe threat to the credibility and integrity of, and public confidence in, Pennsylvania’s elections, so long as absentee or mail-in voting is continued to be extensively used,” the complaint said.

The campaign is asking the court to issue an injunction, requiring poll watchers to be present where all ballots are cast, even absentee ones.

campaign

Trump campaign releases new ads on ‘defining issue’ of the economy, says Biden would kill recovery

The Trump campaign released two new TV ads on Thursday in 10 battleground states, an eight-figure buy highlighting the president’s economic record and contrasting it with Democrat Joseph R. Biden’s “job-killing” proposals. Campaign officials said the economy will be the “defining issue” of the race over the final six weeks. One advertisement features Americans discussing…

Campaign officials said the economy will be the “defining issue” of the race over the final six weeks.

One advertisement features Americans discussing their belief that Mr. Trump’s policies are right for the country and their distrust of Mr. Biden. The second features a business owner who credits the president for his firm’s success and talks about the former vice president’s record of “coddling” China to benefit his own family.

“President Trump built the world’s best economy once and is already doing it a second time,” the Trump campaign said. “As vice president, Joe Biden oversaw the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression and today proposes to raise taxes by $4 trillion, killing the economic comeback underway.”

The Trump campaign increased its television advertising buy by 50 percent this week in swing states with early voting and expanded its national cable buy. The ads are running on national cable, and local broadcast and cable in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania, the 2nd Congressional District of Nebraska and the 2nd Congressional District of Maine.

The Trump campaign also said it’s expanding existing urban radio ad buys to include Pennsylvania markets.

Biden

Biden campaign ads run on 9/11 despite pledge to suspend them

The Biden campaign and a Democratic super PAC were still airing TV ads on Friday, despite the campaign’s pledge to halt political ads in observance of the 9/11 anniversary. At least 10 pro-Biden and anti-Trump ads aired in Minnesota and Wisconsin Friday morning on NBC, ABC and CBS affiliates, the Trump campaign said. One Biden…

The Biden campaign and a Democratic super PAC were still airing TV ads on Friday, despite the campaign’s pledge to halt political ads in observance of the 9/11 anniversary.

At least 10 pro-Biden and anti-Trump ads aired in Minnesota and Wisconsin Friday morning on NBC, ABC and CBS affiliates, the Trump campaign said. One Biden ad attacked President Trump on Social Security; an ad from the American Bridge PAC features an Army veteran blaming Mr. Trump for urban rioting.

As Mr. Biden traveled to New York Friday morning to attend a 9/11 ceremony, he claimed that his campaign had suspended advertising.

“We took all our advertising down. It’s a solemn day. That’s how we’re going to keep it,” Mr. Biden told reporters.

A Biden campaign official said some ads aired accidentally.

“Our clear intentions are to suspend advertising today,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “This was an inadvertent airing and we are reaching out to the affiliate stations for an explanation and to remedy.”

The Trump campaign has not suspended its advertising; a campaign official said a Trump ad running on Friday is “patriotic” about the “Great American comeback.” The official also noted that people are voting around the country already.

The official also said that the campaigns of former President Barack Obama and candidates Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney also kept their ads on the air on 9/11.

campaign

Trump campaign, RNC raise $210 million in August

President Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee teamed up to raise $210 million in August, pulling in a little more than half of the $365 million haul for Joseph R. Biden and the Democrats. The RNC said on Wednesday that they raised $76 million over the course of the four-day GOP convention last month.…

The RNC said on Wednesday that they raised $76 million over the course of the four-day GOP convention last month.

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said Republicans are focused on putting money into a “muscular field operation and ground game,” while Mr. Biden’s team is focused mainly on TV.

“We like our strategy better,” Mr. Stepien said. “The Trump campaign will have all the resources we need to spread the message of President Trump’s incredible record of achievement, on the ground and on the air, and define Joe Biden as a tool of the radical left.”

The RNC said Democrats relied in part on “Hollywood celebrities” and gimmicks to juice their fundraising numbers.

The Biden campaign outpaced Mr. Trump’s team on the television airwaves last month, though the Trump campaign is pushing ahead with a new TV effort in a handful of battleground states this week.

Mr. Trump said this week he’s prepared to spend his own money if he needs to do so.

Those comments came after the New York Times published a story suggesting that the president’s campaign managed to blow a sizable cash edge he had enjoyed over Mr. Biden earlier this year with a number of questionable spending decisions.