US Election 2024 News Highlights: Melania Trump's support for abortion rights

According to Economist/YouGov poll, GOP (Right) stands at 47%, and the Democratic Party (Liberal) stands at 51%.

House Democrats aim to gain a majority in the chamber by flipping just four seats in the upcoming November elections, prompting super PACs to launch aggressive advertising campaigns in key battleground districts that criticize Republicans on abortion and reproductive rights. Some ads feature doctors passionately advocating for abortion rights and asserting that Republican candidates do not represent their communities. However, the House Majority PAC, aligned with House Democratic leadership, has faced criticism for featuring doctors in their ads who do not reside in the districts being targeted.

During Trump's time in the White House, Republicans shaped the most conservative Supreme Court in a century. Now, they are eager to extend those efforts by confirming additional conservative justices, as well as lower-court judges, if Trump secures another term. GOP senators largely anticipate at least one Supreme Court vacancy during a second Trump presidency. If he defeats Harris, Republicans are likely to control the Senate, which oversees the confirmation process. Two long-serving conservative justices, Clarence Thomas (76) and Samuel Alito (74), may be considering retirement in the coming years.

Hung Cao, the Republican Senate nominee in Virginia, criticized drag queens and their supporters during a televised debate against Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, suggesting they lack the toughness needed for military service. The comments arose when a moderator asked him to clarify his previous statements linking the White House's focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to challenges in military recruitment. Cao, a Navy veteran, discussed his views on how DEI might impact the military's ability to recruit personnel.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are independently visiting areas affected by Hurricane Helene, with Biden touring South Carolina and North Carolina, while Harris is in Georgia. In contrast, former President Donald Trump visited Georgia earlier this week, criticizing the Biden administration's hurricane response and falsely asserting that Biden hadn't communicated with Governor Brian Kemp. Additionally, Trump faced a new filing from special counsel Jack Smith, which claims he was acting as a private candidate when attempting to overturn the 2020 election, a characterization the Trump campaign dismissed as "falsehood-ridden." Meanwhile, vice presidential nominees Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz returned to campaigning after their debate, with Vance speaking in Marne, Michigan, and Walz making several appearances in Pennsylvania.

As Donald Trump advocates for a new health care system to replace the Affordable Care Act, Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who is running for a key leadership role, suggests that the party should link this initiative with a major tax bill in the upcoming year. Speaking to NBC News after the vice presidential debate, Cotton emphasized that if Trump is elected alongside a GOP-controlled Congress, they could create a health care system that is "more affordable, more tailored, and more personalized" than the ACA. He noted that extending the Trump tax cuts next year would provide an opportunity to implement policies that enhance health care affordability, highlighting the connection between health care and the tax code.

North Carolina hasn’t supported a Democratic presidential candidate since 2008, but Kamala Harris’ campaign sees it as a potential win, bolstered by the state's large Black population. Donald Trump carried North Carolina by 3 percentage points in 2016 and by 1 percentage point in 2020.

According to Bloomberg, U.S. equity options volatility remains elevated, but the upcoming presidential election isn’t driving it. While the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) typically rises ahead of elections, this year concerns over the U.S. economy and Federal Reserve interest-rate policies are more prominent. Tanvir Sandhu of Bloomberg Intelligence noted that current market flows don’t indicate heightened election-related activity. Pierre de Saab of Dominice & Co. added that strong performance in equity indexes has fueled demand for protection, but the election isn’t seen as a major market-moving event compared to past shocks like Brexit.

Donald Trump unexpectedly won Michigan in 2016, breaking a Republican drought since 1988. In 2020, Joe Biden reclaimed the state, defeating Trump by 3 percentage points. Now, polls show Trump and Kamala Harris in a statistical tie, making Michigan a toss-up ahead of Election Day.

This year's race in Georgia is a toss-up, with polls showing Trump and Harris in a statistical tie. Donald Trump had won Georgia in 2016 by roughly 5 percentage points but lost to Joe Biden in 2020 by a margin of fewer than 12,000 votes.

Donald Trump carried Arizona in 2016 with a margin of nearly 4 percentage points, but in 2020, he narrowly lost the state to Joe Biden by less than half a percentage point. This year’s polls show Trump and Kamala Harris in a statistical tie.