Raw: [Biden Heads to Pennsylvania to Talk Taxes and Hit Trump The New York Times] {Article Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/16/us/politics/biden-pennsylvania-trump.html}
Skip to contentSkip to site index Today’s PaperUpdatesTimes/Siena PollWho’s Running for President?House Races to WatchSenate Races to WatchState ResultsSKIP ADVERTISEMENTUpdated April 16, 2024, 12:39 p.m. ETApril 16, 2024, 12:39 p.m. ETElection Updates: Biden heads to Pennsylvania to talk taxes and hit Trump.Share full articleImagePresident Biden at the White House on Monday.Credit…Al Drago for The New York TimesUpdates From Our ReportersApril 16, 2024, 12:39 p.m. ETApril 16, 2024, 12:39 p.m. ET Neil VigdorPresident Biden is spotlighting his Pennsylvania upbringing in a new digital ad called “Scranton,” which his campaign released on Tuesday in the battleground state ahead of his return to his childhood hometown. It features a cousin and a childhood friend, both of whom seek to cast Biden as a sympathetic ear to the middle-class. April 16, 2024, 11:55 a.m. ETApril 16, 2024, 11:55 a.m. ET Jonathan WeismanIn addition to Senators Sherrod Brown and Jon Tester, the $79 million in ad spending from the Senate Democrats' campaign arm will benefit candidates in swing states like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Some advertising will be reserved to go on offense against Republican Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida, though the committee pointedly did not say how much.April 16, 2024, 11:22 a.m. ETApril 16, 2024, 11:22 a.m. ET Jonathan WeismanThe Senate Democrats’ official campaign arm announced Tuesday it will commit $79 million to television, digital and radio advertising to defend the party’s narrow majority in a 2024 campaign season that has Democrats defending seats in two solidly Republican states — in Ohio, Sherrod Brown, and in Montana, Jon Tester.April 16, 2024, 10:48 a.m. ETApril 16, 2024, 10:48 a.m. ET Neil VigdorCalifornia’s attorney general and secretary of state on Monday sued the city of Huntington Beach near Los Angeles over a voter ID requirement that narrowly passed during a referendum in March. State officials said that the measure, which was placed on the ballot by the Republican-controlled City Council, conflicts with California law and was based on vague statements that falsely sow doubts about election integrity.April 16, 2024, 10:13 a.m. ETApril 16, 2024, 10:13 a.m. ET Maggie AstorMaine will be the 17th state to join an effort to make sure the winner of the national popular vote is elected president. Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, said she would let the bill become law without her signature. States that join the compact agree to award their Electoral College votes to the national popular vote winner, but only if states totaling 270 electoral votes sign on. Maine makes 209.April 16, 2024, 9:48 a.m. ETApril 16, 2024, 9:48 a.m. ET Neil VigdorFormer President Donald J. Trump returned to a courtroom in lower Manhattan on Tuesday for the second day in his sex scandal cover-up case. He has continued to use social media to attack the judge in the case and the legal system, defying a gag order and upending the norms of conduct.April 16, 2024, 9:31 a.m. ETApril 16, 2024, 9:31 a.m. ET Maggie AstorTwo statehouse districts in Michigan are holding special elections today to fill seats vacated by Democrats who were elected to mayorships. The races will determine control of the statehouse, which is currently tied. Both seats are Democratic-leaning, and if the party wins both, they would regain a majority and have full control of the state government. The polls are open until 8 p.m.Today’s Top Stories Nicholas NehamasReporting from WashingtonBiden heads to Pennsylvania to talk taxes and hit Trump.ImageCredit…Haiyun Jiang for The New York TimesPresident Biden will kick off a three-day tour of Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state, with a speech on Tuesday that focuses on taxes and aims to contrast his policies with those of former President Donald J. Trump.In Scranton, his hometown, Mr. Biden is expected to talk about the tax code in the frame of economic fairness, arguing that Mr. Trump’s tax cuts benefited billionaires while his own agenda has helped working- and middle-class families.The president “will outline how Trump’s tax plan is a handout to the rich and leaves the middle class holding the bag,” Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s communications director, said during a call with reporters. “The address will drive home a simple question: Do you think the tax code should work for rich people and for corporations or for the middle class?”All of that is standard election-year fare. But the backdrop to Mr. Biden’s campaign swing could not be more unusual. In an unprecedented trial, Mr. Trump is spending most of this week, and much of the coming month or two, in a Manhattan courtroom facing criminal charges. Democrats hope that the contrast of Mr. Biden campaigning and carrying out the duties of a president while Mr. Trump’s lawyers plead his innocence will highlight the choice voters face in November.And Mr. Biden must also contend with the fallout from Iran’s weekend attack on Israel, which raised new fears of a wider regional war in the Middle East.On Tuesday, the day after Tax Day, Mr. Biden is likely to promote his plans for changes to the tax code, including expanding the child tax credit, instituting a tax credit for first-time home buyers and making permanent tax credits for those who buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.He often asks his audiences on the campaign trail: “Does anybody think the tax code is fair?”Pennsylvania is a key target for both the Biden and Trump campaigns. Mr. Biden’s easiest path to re-election involves him winning Pennsylvania, as well as Michigan and Wisconsin, the so-called blue wall states. In 2020, he narrowly defeated Mr. Trump in Pennsylvania by about 80,000 votes. Polling shows that another tight race is likely in the state, the nation’s most populous battleground.Mr. Trump held a major rally in eastern Pennsylvania on Saturday. Both he and Mr. Biden, who spent much of his childhood in Scranton, have sought to highlight their ties to the state. “I went to school here, right?” Mr. Trump, a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, reminded his audience. “I went to school in Pennsylvania. I love Pennsylvania.”While Mr. Biden’s campaign has invested heavily in opening offices and hiring staff members around the state, Pennsylvania Democrats have urged him to broaden his travel beyond Philadelphia, a major hub of Democratic votes that is also logistically convenient for him to visit. They say it is imperative that Mr. Biden campaign in western Pennsylvania, as well as swing areas like Erie County, which Mr. Biden flipped in 2020.This week, Mr. Biden is doing just that. After leaving Scranton, he will visit Pittsburgh on Wednesday to give an official address at the headquarters of the United Steelworkers. Unions are a major constituency for Democrats, and Mr. Biden has signaled opposition to an effort by a Japanese company to acquire U.S. Steel, a move also opposed by the steelworkers union, which has endorsed him.On Thursday, he will campaign in Philadelphia.Although the economy will be Mr. Biden’s focus during his tour, Democrats are also trying to keep the issue of abortion front and center, seeking to tie Mr. Trump directly to bans on the procedure in many states, most recently in Arizona.Ahead of Mr. Trump’s visit to Pennsylvania over the weekend, the Democratic National Committee unveiled billboards in the eastern part of the state.“Because of Trump, over 20 states have extreme abortion bans,” the billboards said in English and Spanish. “If he gets his way, Pennsylvania could be next.”Abortion is legal in the state until 24 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions after that and, with a Democratic governor in office, restrictions seem highly unlikely. Democrats have argued that Mr. Trump would sign a federal ban on abortion if he were re-elected. Mr. Trump said last week that he would not, reversing a position he held during his term in the White House.Michael Gold contributed reporting from Schnecksville, Pa.Show more Rebecca Davis O’BrienTrailing Biden in cash, Trump relies on big donors to try to catch up.ImageCredit…Michelle Gustafson for The New York TimesFormer President Donald J. Trump leaned heavily on major Republican donors in March as his campaign and the Republican Party sought to close the financial gap separating him from President Biden, new federal filings showed on Monday.For much of the race, Mr. Trump has relied on small donors — in particular, those giving less than $200 online — to sustain his campaign. Most big donors steered clear.But in recent weeks, as Mr. Trump finished trouncing his primary opponents and Mr. Biden and the Democrats gathered fund-raising steam, these donors have opened their checkbooks to the former president.In the last two weeks of March alone, one committee backing Mr. Trump raised nearly $18 million, nearly all from six-figure contributions. Mr. Trump and the Republican Party finished the month with $93 million on hand between all their committees, his campaign has said, having raised more than $65 million in March. Still, Republicans are lagging behind. In the first three months of the year, Mr. Biden and the Democratic Party together raised more than $187 million, his campaign has said, including $90 million in March, ending the month with $192 million on hand.Mr. Trump’s campaign has not provided a full account of its first-quarter fund-raising. The two committees that filed on Monday reported raising nearly $90 million combined since January, but that does not include money raised directly by the campaign or the Republican National Committee.The filings on Monday with the Federal Election Commission were the first detailed look this year at the joint fund-raising committees through which Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden have raised the majority of their money. These committees, some of which can raise more than $800,000 from individual donors in concert with the candidates’ parties, transfer funds to the campaigns themselves and also build out national campaign operations. (The campaigns and parties themselves have been filing monthly reports, which do not include details on the individual donors.)Biden Victory Fund, the president’s main joint fund-raising committee with the party reported raising $121.3 million in the first three months of the year.Top donors included Seth MacFarlane, the creator of “Family Guy”; the billionaire entrepreneur Reid Hoffman; and the lawyer George Conway, a vocal Trump critic who until last year was married to Kellyanne Conway, a top Trump adviser.The reporting period included Mr. Biden’s March 28 fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall, which campaign aides said brought in $25 million.Trump 47 Committee Inc. — Mr. Trump’s new joint fund-raising committee with the Republican National Committee — was formally set up with the F.E.C. on Jan. 31. It reported raising $23.6 million in the quarter, including $17.8 million in the second half of March alone, largely from six-figure contributions.Those gifts included $814,399 dated March 25 from Robert Mercer, the hedge fund billionaire who was a vital supporter of Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign but was less engaged with his 2020 run. Mr. Trump had been courting Mr. Mercer and other donors in recent weeks.Mr. Trump’s joint fund-raising agreement with the R.N.C. directs a portion of the contributions to Trump 47 Committee Inc. to a political action committee that has been paying his costly legal bills. The first $6,600 given goes to Mr. Trump’s campaign, and the next $5,000 goes to his Save America PAC, which last year spent more than $50 million on his legal expenses. The R.N.C. and state parties receive the remaining amount.Other top-dollar donors to Trump 47 included Roger William Norman, a Nevada real-estate developer who gave nearly half a million dollars last year to a super PAC backing Mr. Trump, and Robert T. Bigelow, the Las Vegas aerospace mogul, who gave $5 million to the Trump super PAC in February.Jeffrey C. Sprecher, the chief executive of Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, also gave more than $800,000, as did his wife, Kelly Loeffler, who briefly served as a Republican senator from Georgia.Joe Ricketts, the chairman of TD Ameritrade, also gave the maximum amount. Other major donors included Linda McMahon, the former pro-wrestling entrepreneur; Phil Ruffin, the casino magnate; and Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets. All three also gave at least $1 million to the pro-Trump super PAC last year.Mr. Trump’s Save America joint fund-raising committee — which had served as his main fund-raising vehicle during the primary campaign — raised $65.8 million in the first quarter of 2024, and ended March with $13.7 million on hand.Show more Chris CameronReporting from WashingtonUnder pressure from Trump, Arizona Republicans weigh a response to the state’s 1864 abortion ban.ImageCredit…Caitlin O’Hara for The New York TimesFacing mounting pressure to strike down a near-total abortion ban revived last week by Arizona’s Supreme Court, Republican state legislators are considering efforts to undermine a planned ballot measure this fall that would enshrine abortion rights in the Arizona Constitution, according to a presentation obtained by The New York Times.The 1864 law that is set to take effect in the coming weeks bans nearly all abortions and mandates prison sentences of two to five years for providing abortion care. The proposed ballot measure on abortion rights, known as the Arizona Abortion Access Act, would enshrine the right to an abortion before viability, or about 24 weeks. Supporters of the measure say they have already gathered enough signatures to put the question on the ballot ahead of a July 3 filing deadline.Republicans in the Legislature are under tremendous pressure to overturn, or at least amend, the 1864 ban. Former President Donald J. Trump, the national standard-bearer of the Republican Party, directly intervened on Friday, calling on Republican legislators, in a frantically worded post online, to “act immediately” to change the law. A top Trump ally in Arizona who is running for the Senate, Kari Lake, has also called for the overturning of the 1864 law, which she had once praised.Abortion rights have been a winning message for Democrats since the Supreme Court, with three justices appointed by Mr. Trump, overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. And even though it is an objectively unpopular aspect of his White House legacy, Mr. Trump has repeatedly bragged that he is personally responsible for overturning Roe.Republicans in Arizona, however, have already resisted efforts to repeal the 160-year-old law and are bracing for the potential for another floor battle on the ban that is looming for the Legislature, which is set to convene on Wednesday. The plans that circulated among Republican legislators suggest the caucus is considering other measures that would turn attention away from the 1864 law.The presentation to Republican state legislators, written by Linley Wilson, the general counsel for the Republican majority in the Arizona State Legislature, proposed several ways in which the Republican-controlled Legislature could undermine the ballot measure, known as A.A.A., by placing competing constitutional amendments on the ballot that would limit the right to abortion even if the proposed ballot measure succeeded.The plan, the document said, “Changes narrative — Republicans have a plan!” adding that the plan “puts Democrats in a defensive position to argue against partial birth abortions, discriminatory abortions, and other basic protections.”One proposal would have the Legislature send to voters two other ballot initiatives that would “conflict with” and “pull votes from” the A.A.A. ballot measure. Ballot measures for a constitutional amendment can be proposed through a petition, as with the A.A.A. ballot measure, or through the State Legislature, and the document suggests that voters could read the Republican ballot measures first on the ballot if they are filed before the A.A.A. ballot measure.One of the Republican ballot initiatives outlined in the presentation would enact an abortion ban after the fifth week of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest and medical necessity. The other ballot option would propose a ban after the 14th week of pregnancy. The language of the measures would be intentionally written to mislead voters on when exactly an abortion would become illegal, according to the presentation.The second option, for example, would be known as the “Fifteen Week Reproductive Care and Abortion Act.” But “in reality,” according to the presentation, “It’s a 14-week law disguised as a 15-week law because it would only allow abortion until the beginning of the 15th week.” Similarly, the wording of the five-week abortion ban would make abortion illegal “after the sixth week of pregnancy begins.”An alternative to those two options would be to put forward a ballot measure that would take effect only if the A.A.A. ballot measure also passes. That plan, known as “conditional enactment,” would insert language in the state Constitution declaring that the right to an abortion in the A.A.A. ballot measure “is not absolute and shall not be interpreted to prevent the Legislature from” regulating abortion in the future. It would also include language used by anti-abortion activists, referring to “the preservation of prenatal life” and “mitigation of fetal pain.”Ben Toma, the speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, confirmed the authenticity of the document and said in a statement that it “presents ideas drafted for internal discussion and consideration within the caucus. I’ve publicly stated that we are looking at options to address this subject, and this is simply part of that.”State Senator Anna Hernandez said in a statement that she and fellow Democrats would continue to push to repeal the 1864 law and that the Republicans’ proposals were “intentionally drafted to confuse voters” with policies “based in arbitrary numbers of weeks that have no factual grounding in science or health care.”Dawn Penich, a spokeswoman for Arizona for Abortion Access, the liberal coalition organizing the A.A.A. ballot measure, said in a statement that the Republican presentation “shows yet again why Arizonans can’t leave our most basic and personal rights in the hands of politicians.”Kate Zernike contributed reporting from New York.Show moreShare full articleAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSite IndexSite Information Navigation© 2024 The New York Times CompanyNYTCoContact UsAccessibilityWork with usAdvertiseT Brand StudioYour Ad ChoicesPrivacy PolicyTerms of ServiceTerms of SaleSite MapCanadaInternationalHelpSubscriptionsManage Privacy Preferences
