2024 presidential election live updates: Ted Cruz hit with dire warning in polls in his race with Colin Allred

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is in trouble in his race against Democrat Colin Allred according to a new poll.

Cruz’s lead in the race is slowly slipping away, the survey by Public Policy Polling/Clean and Prosperous America reveals.

The longtime Texas senator is up by just one point – 47 percent to Allred’s 46 percent.

That’s a decline since August, which had Cruz up by two points. And to make matters worse, his favorability rating has tanked from six to eight points in just a few weeks.

Keeping Cruz’s seat is critical for Republicans as they try and flip the Senate red.

If Allred is victorious in a few weeks, he would be the first Democratic senator of the state since 1988.

By Jon Michael Raasch, U.S. Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

At least a dozen staffers at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs improperly accessed the medical records of vice presidential nominees J.D. Vance and Tim Walz over the summer.

The bombshell discovery first reported by the Washington Post reveals a major breach at one of the largest agencies in the U.S. that has over 450,000 employees and serves over 9 million veterans.

The revelation also comes on the eve of the vice presidential debate between the two men, the last scheduled face-to-face showdown between any candidate ahead of Election Day.

VA officials have said they are investigating the data breach internally and that the hack came through the department’s Veterans Health Administration.

The Department of Justice is also investigating the hack, a VA official confirmed to DailyMail.com.

President Joe Biden reacted angrily this afternoon when asked about Donald Trump’s claims that the Democratic governor of North Carolina and federal authorities were preventing aid from reaching Republican areas.

He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying. The governor told him he’s lying. I’ve spoken to the governor, spent time with him, and he told him he’s lying. I don’t know why he does it … that’s simply not true, and it’s irresponsible.

The president spoke to journalists from behind the Resolute desk. He was seated beside a videoconferencing screen, which showed North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.

Biden also announced that he would be joining them in North Carolina on Wednesday to see the devastation for himself.

He also defended being in Delaware at the weekend, saying it was only 90 miles from Washington, D.C.

I was on the phone the whole time.

Vice President Kamala Harris said she plans to be on the ground ‘as soon as possible’ but ‘without disrupting the any emergency response operations’ after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the southeast.

The Democratic presidential nominee made her remarks while visiting FEMA headquarters in Washington, DC on Monday afternoon where she said she has spoken to North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.

She called the devastation from the hurricane immense and said entire neighborhoods have been destroyed.

‘President Biden and I will continue to make sure that communities have the support and the resources that they need, not only to respond to this storm and its immediate aftermath, but also the resources they need to recover,’ Harris said.

She vowed the help to rebuild will continue ‘no matter how long it takes.’

Harris said the best folks are on the ground and at FEMA doing the work and praised first responders as well as community members coming together.

‘I thank everyone for rising to this moment, and I thank you all here for the work that you need to do,’ she concluded thanking those in the room at FEMA.

A judge in Fulton County, Georgia, struck down a strict abortion law that went into effect in July 2022.

It bans abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy when many expectant mothers are just finding out they are pregnant.

The law, one of the strictest in the nation, was called ‘extreme’ by the judge.

Its extreme narrowing of the window of time within which women have the legal ability to end a pregnancy from roughly twenty weeks (i.e., viability) down to a mere six weeks, a point at which many — if not most — women are completely unaware or at best unsure if they are pregnant.

The ruling makes it legal for women in the state to get abortions up to 22 weeks into their pregnancy.

The heartbeat of a fetus can be detected as early as within the sixth week.

A day before a trial is set to begin on a challenge to two new controversial rules concerning the certification of vote tallies in Georgia, Democrats on Monday said they filed a lawsuit targeting another new rule that requires a number of paper ballots to be counted by hand at polling places after the close of voting.

The Republicans who hold a majority on the State Election Board – praised by name by former President Donald Trump at a recent rally – have recently voted to pass a number of new rules governing the administration of elections.

Democrats and other critics – including Georgia’s top elections official – have said it’s too close to the general election to pass new rules and worry they could cause confusion or undermine public confidence in the results.

A trial is set to begin Tuesday before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney on a legal challenge that Democrats filed arguing that the two new certification rules could be used ‘to upend the statutorily required process for certifying election results in Georgia.” It’s a bench trial, meaning there’s no jury.

One of the rules at issue in Tuesday’s trial provides a definition of certification that includes requiring county officials to conduct a ‘reasonable inquiry’ before certifying results, but it does not specify what that means. The other includes language allowing county election officials ‘to examine all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections.’

(With reporting from the Associated Press)

By Jon Michael Raasch, U.S. Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott wants his colleagues to get back to Washington to work on Hurricane Helene relief.

‘While I know from my experience with previous hurricanes that [FEMA] and [Small Business Administration] damage assessments take time, I am today urging Majority Leader [Chuck Schumer] to immediately reconvene the U.S. Senate when those assessments are completed so that we can pass the clean supplemental disaster funding bill and other disaster relief legislation,’ Scott posted on X.

The Florida lawmaker called the storm’s impact on the state ‘devastating.’

He also noted that other states like North Carolina and Georgia were heavily impacted and will need assistance.

Vice President Kamala Harris confirmed for the first time as the Democratic presidential nominee that she wanted to legalize marijuana in an interview with the All the Smoke podcast hosted by former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.

‘I just think we have come to a point where we have to understand that we need to legalize it and stop criminalizing this behavior,’ Harris said, after repeating her belief that no one should be in jail for smoking weed.

The position is the latest twist for Harris on marijuana policy.

Harris prosecuted and jailed people for marijuana as the District Attorney of San Francisco. As an Attorney General of California, she famously refused to take a position on the issue until she was reelected.

Finally after she was elected as a U.S. Senator of California, Harris supported legalization of marijuana.

As Joe Biden’s running mate and vice president, Harris’ position on legalization was more nuanced, as she had mostly settled on the idea of decriminalizing marijuana.

Harris has faced calls for an apology for her previous enforcement of marijuana crimes, but she has not responded.

By Jon Michael Raasch, U.S. Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

A powerful Republican lawmaker is forcing the Biden-Harris administration to turnover politically sensitive documents on Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz on the eve of the only VP debate.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., sent a subpoena to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding intelligence reports on the Minnesota governor’s connections with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The Republican has begun a probe into Walz’s connections to the CCP and it has been well reported that he has visited China countless times and used to lead American educational field trips to the country.

In a letter to Mayorkas, Comer writes that a whistleblower revealed to the committee that DHS employees have an internal group chat that has information pertinent to the panel’s investigation. The Republican also said DHS has classified documents he wants to get his hands on.

Mayorkas was instructed to hand over the material by October 7.

Rudy Giuliani’s daughter Caroline announced her support for Kamala Harris in a scathing essay in which she blames Donald Trump for taking away her father.

Caroline, a 35-year-old filmmaker, wrote in an essay for Vanity Fair: ‘I’ve been grieving the loss of my dad to Trump. I cannot bear to lose our country to him too.

She talks about how she cried when the former New York City mayor first told her he was going to be Trump’s lawyer, which happened in 2018.

‘Watching my dad’s life crumble since he joined forces with Trump has been extraordinarily painful,’ she notes.

‘Trump being the president was the worst thing that ever happened to my dad, to my family, and to our nation’s modern history.’

By Jon Michael Raasch, U.S. Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Former President Donald Trump ridiculed Vice President Kamala Harris for ‘pretending’ to work in a photo on her social media.

‘Another fake and staged photo from someone who has no clue what she is doing,’ Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social app alongside the VP’s picture.

He particularly sounded off on how Harris was photographed wearing headphones appearing to be on a call working hard. But the earbuds weren’t seemingly plugged in.

‘You have to plug the cord into the phone for it to work!’ Trump wrote.

‘Biden and Harris abandoned Americans in Afghanistan. They sacrificed Americans to an Open Border, and now, they have left Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.’

Harris, for her part, noted how she was on the phone with the North Carolina governor to discuss Hurricane Helene disaster relief in her post featuring the image.

Donald Trump announced Monday that he had spoken to billionaire tech investor Elon Musk to deploy his Starlink satellite system to improve communications in Helene-ravaged North Carolina and Georgia.

Trump said he had been briefed on rescue and relief efforts after landing in Valdosta, Georgia.

I just spoke to Elon. I’m getting him… We want to get Starlink hooked up because they have no communication whatsoever…

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced a day earlier that it was working to move Starlink satellites to help improve communications links.

Trump also said he would help with aid delivery.

They’re running low on food and fuel. We brought a lot of it down with us. It’s going to be distributed now or soon, throughout Georgia as well as North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Alabama and Tennessee.

Donald Trump landed in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday afternoon, and quickly claimed the state’s Republican president had not been able to get President Joe Biden on the phone.

He will be briefed on the emergency response during his visit to the hurricane-ravaged area.

The federal government is not being responsive. They’re having a very hard time getting the getting the president on the phone, He won’t get on and, of course, the vice president, she’s out someplace, campaigning, looking for money.

Vice President Kamala Harris has cut short her trip to Nevada to return to Washington for briefings on the disaster.

President Joe Biden told Olympians that security concerns prevented him from cheering on Team USA in Paris in person – but says he skipped the inauguration of the new Mexican president to greet them in person.

Biden hosted U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams at the White House Monday, where he shared some of his travel and security woes.

‘BecauseI’m president and I cause commotion when I go places, they wouldn’t let me go the Olympics,’ Biden said to laughs. ‘But I watched it all. Jill, my wife went to the Olympics. Guess what? I was supposed to be introducing at the inauguration of the President of Mexico, who’s a fine woman. I’m going to be seeing her shortly, but I said I’m staying here meeting you guys.’

‘She’s going to represent the United States,’ he said of his wife. He spoke on a morning when first lady Jill Biden landed in Mexico City for the inauguration of Claudia Sheinbaum. Biden already has his eyes on the next games. ‘The Los Angeles summer games in ’28, I won’t be president, they can’t stop me from going there then,’ he said.

Donald Trump accused Democrats on Monday of interfering with his ability to campaign by diverting Secret Service personnel for themselves or visiting world leaders.

He offered no evidence but cited the example of the president of Iran, who was in New York last week for the United Nations General Assembly, where he was afforded protection.

Trump said the lesson was that more Secret Service agents were needed.

Donald Trump gunman Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including attempted assassination of the former president.

Routh appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday days after being charged with attempting to assassinate Trump. He has been ordered to remain in jail without bail as his case snakes through the court.

He faces five total federal charges after cops said he pointed a rifle through a fence at Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach on September 15.

By Jon Michael Raasch, U.S. Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

President Joe Biden said that he may call on Congress to come back in session after Hurricane Helene devastated the southeast.

At a press conference discussing the tragic storm that has killed upwards of 100 people, Biden said he may consider requesting the body’s return.

When asked if he will press Congress to work on bills related to Helene, Biden said ‘That is something I may have to request but no decision has been made yet.’

Biden’s warning that Congress may have to come back comes after funding for disaster relief was not included in the latest funding package lawmakers passed last week.

Trump posted on X before flying to Georgia, saying that he had planned to stop off in North Carolina too but access and communications have made it too difficult.

He also leveled a claim that federal authorities and the state’s Democratic governor were preventing aid getting to Republican areas.

I’ll be there shortly, but don’t like the reports that I’m getting about the Federal Government, and the Democrat Governor of the State, going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas. MAGA!

By Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor

President Biden gave an emphatic answer when asked if he was comfortable with Israel’s plan as it masses forces on the border with Lebanon.

‘I’m more aware than you might know, and I’m comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now,’ Biden said. He took the question at the White House Monday despite saying he wanted to stick with the subject of recover from Hurricane Helene.

The comment stopped far short of an endorsement of an invasion, which comes as Israel continues its war against Hamas in Gaza, amid fears that events in the region could expand into a regional war.

The president’s comments follow reports that Israel is planning a limited ground operation into Lebanon, after a series of withering strikes targeting Hezbollah leadership and weapons, even as it masses forces on the border.

A ‘limited’ invasion would appear to stop short of Israel’s 2006 war against Hamas in Lebanon. It comes days after Israel took out longtime Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah in an air strike.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

President Joe Biden said he expects to visit the areas devastated by Hurricane Helene later this week.

‘I’m committed to traveling to impacted areas as soon as possible, but I’ve been told that it would be disruptive if I did it right now,’ he said.

‘We will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis,’ he noted.

But he did say ‘I expect to be there later in later in the week.’

‘I’ve told the governor of North Carolina I’ll go down and I expect to be down there by Wednesday or Thursday when it is clear for me,’ he noted.

Biden coughed several times during his remarks and said he had a cold.

He also defended spending the weekend at his Rehoboth Beach home while the hurricane was devastating parts of the South.

‘I was commanding, I was on the phone for at least two hours yesterday, and the day before, as well. I commanded, it’s called a telephone,’ he said.

Donald Trump heads to Georgia on Monday to address the efforts to help victims of the hurricane.

Biden refused to comment when asked if the former president would be disruptive.

‘I don’t have any idea,’ he told reporters.

The U.S. is working frantically to help American citizens get out of Beirut with an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon imminent.

The embassy said in a post on X on Monday that it is coordinating with airlines to help U.S. citizens leave after a series of airstrikes – including one that killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nassrallah.

On Friday it was announced the embassy would not be evacuating citizens, so those wanting to leave would have to pay for flights themselves.

The urgent notice was shared amid reports Tel Aviv has told the Biden administration there will be a ground invasion.

The New York Times editorial board endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president calling her the ‘only patriotic choice’ and her rival former President Donald Trump ‘unfit for any office.’

The group of opinion journalists who make up the board made the endorsement on Monday with just over 30 days to go before the election in what remains a razor-thin race for the White House.

‘As a dedicated public servant who has demonstrated care, competence and an unwavering commitment to the Constitution, Ms. Harris stands alone in this race,’ they wrote.

A the same time, they warned unless voters reject him, ‘Trump will have the power to do profound and lasting harm to our democracy.’

Donald Trump flies into hurricane country on Monday as his opponent Kamala Harris returns home to Washington for briefings, as both adjust their campaigns to the devastation wrought by Helene at the weekend.

Trump will be in Valdosta, Georgia, where he will get an update on storm damage and will ‘facilitate the distribution of relief supplies,’ as his campaign put it.

Helene ripped into Florida’s Gulf Coast on Thursday night, triggering days of torrential rain and flooding.

It destroyed homes across the South-east and left at least 100 people dead in its wake.

Almost three million people were without power on Sunday night.

Donald Trump proposed a shocking, one-off solution to American crime problems that some are saying resembles the popular horror movie series The Purge.

‘If you had one really violent day. One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word would get out and it would end immediately,’ Trump said.

He said that the crime problem exists due to police not being ‘allowed to do their job’ because Kamala Harris and ‘the liberal left won’t let them.’

The speech led many to suggest what Trump is proposing is the plot of the movie series The Purge.

Journalist Brian Krassenstein asked: ‘Did Trump just f***ing suggest The Purge?’

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

Kamala Harris is cancelling her planned campaign stops for Monday in order to return to Washington D.C. for briefings on Hurricane Helene.

She will leave Las Vegas in the morning and be in Washington for a briefing at FEMA on Monday afternoon, according to her campaign. She will also visit the devastated areas when it won’t disrupt the emergency response efforts.

Her move comes as Republican rival Donald Trump heads to Georgia to address the efforts to help victims of the hurricane.

President Joe Biden will talk about his administration’s response on Monday morning at the White House.

More than 100 people have died from the storm, which has left damage across several Southern states, particularly the forested mountains of western North Carolina.

Roads and I-64, a major interstate, have been wiped out in parts of these areas, making it difficult to bring in necessary supplies. Local and federal officials, along with the National Guard, are racing to bring relief.

More than 460,000 people are without power and more than 1,000 had taken refuge in 24 shelters.

A Democrat running for Senate in Michigan has warned Kamala Harris her internal polling is ‘underwater’ in one of the states critical to her chance of victory.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin told donors last week she wasn’t feeling her ‘best’ about the numbers in the Great Lake State, according to video obtained by Axios.

‘I’m not feeling my best right now about where we are on Kamala Harris in a place like Michigan,’ she said during a virtual fundraiser with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).

Slotkin is running against former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in one of the most closely watched Senate contests in the country.

The outcome will be a crucial factor in determining which party has control of the upper chamber from January 2025.

For Harris, Michigan provides one of the simplest paths to victory along with other Blue Wall states including Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

If Trump sweeps the Sun Belt states, Harris would need to pick up at least one to have a chance of taking the White House.