Politics

(WASHINGTON) — While the presidential race may be getting the spotlight this election season, key regulations, laws and policies are on the ballot in several states.

And those ballot measures could have huge ramifications for the rest of the country.

Forty-one states have a combined 147 ballot measures in the 2024 election. While some measures are hyperlocal, some state initiatives dovetail with national topics.

Here are some of the major ballot initiatives in this election.

Reproductive rights

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in 2022, voters in a handful of states have turned to ballot measures to enshrine or expand reproductive access in the face of abortion bans.

Ten states in this election season will give their voters a chance to change their laws on the topic.

Arizona, Florida, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska and Nevada all have measures that would amend their state constitutions with specific language to protect or recognize the right to an abortion for all constituents.

Nebraska also has another ballot measure that would change the state constitution to prohibit abortions in the second and third trimesters except for cases of “medical emergency or when the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest.”

New York state has a ballot measure that would change the constitution’s equal rights amendment to protect against discrimination for pregnancy outcomes, including abortion.

South Dakota voters will decide on a measure that would establish a right to an abortion and add an amendment to the state constitution that would determine when the state may regulate abortions.

Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly called for the restoration of the reproductive rights established by Roe v. Wade.

Former President Donald Trump, who has taken credit for helping overturn Roe v. Wade, has said on the campaign trail that the states should decide abortion access and indicated he will vote “no” on Florida’s ballot initiative.

Illinois voters will decide on a measure that would advise state officials on whether to provide for medically assisted reproductive treatments, including in vitro fertilization, to be covered by any health insurance plan in Illinois that provides full coverage to pregnancy benefits.

Immigration, voting rights

Even though it is already illegal for non-documented immigrants to register to vote and cast a ballot in federal and state elections, some leaders in states have been pushing laws and measures to prohibit those groups from casting ballots in local elections.

A handful of municipalities have passed laws allowing some noncitizens to vote in certain local races. For example, non-U.S. citizens who have children attending public schools can vote in school board elections in San Francisco, following a 2016 ballot measure.

This year, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin have ballot measures that would prohibit noncitizens from voting in state and local elections.

Proponents have argued these laws would secure elections and prevent localities from allowing non-Americans to vote.

However, opponents have emphasized that non-American citizens cannot vote in state and federal elections and the ballot measures are moot.

Six states have already passed ballot measures banning noncitizens: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota and Ohio.

Ranked choice voting

Under a ranked-choice voting system, or RCV, voters cast a ballot ranking their candidates. If a candidate receives more than 50% of the No. 1 ranking, they win the election.

If no candidate receives that 50% majority, the election goes into an instant runoff.

Election officials will look at the ballots and eliminate candidates with the fewest number of No.1 rankings. The ballots that listed the eliminated candidate as the top choice are then re-examined.

The candidates ranked No. 2 on those ballots are tallied, and those votes are transferred to the remaining candidates. The process continues until one candidate reaches the 50% majority.

Alaska and Maine are the only two states in the nation that hold their state and federal elections using RCV, but that could change after this election.

Nevada and Oregon have ballot measures to change their state and federal elections to RCV. The District of Columbia also has a ballot measure that would change local elections to an RCV method.

Missouri would ban the method if its voters pass a ballot measure that also includes banning noncitizens from voting.

A ballot measure in Alaska would repeal its laws that mandate RCV for state and federal elections. Voters approved a measure in the 2020 election with 50.55%. Two years later, the method came under the national spotlight when an instant runoff decided the Senate race.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the incumbent who did not have the support of Republicans following her vote to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, went on to win the election following the first elimination round.

Republican-controlled legislatures in 10 states -Tennessee, Florida, Idaho, South Dakota, Montana, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Oklahoma- have passed laws in the last four years banning RCV from all elections.

LGBTQ+ rights

Voters in a few states will decide on state changes for laws and regulations concerning LGBTQ+ rights.

Colorado and Hawaii voters will vote on a ballot measure that would change their state constitutions to change language and allow same-sex couples the right to marry.

A measure in South Dakota would change male pronouns in the state constitution to gender-neutral terms or titles.

California voters will decide whether to repeal Prop 8, the 2008 voter measure that banned same-sex marriages. The law became invalid after the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that same-sex marriages were constitutional.

Other major ballot measures

Marijuana laws are potentially up for change in two states this election season.

Florida and South Dakota both have ballot measures that would legalize recreational marijuana for adults over the age of 21. This is South Dakota voters’ third time deciding on the matter in four years.

Voters approved a measure in 2020 to legalize recreational cannabis, but it was struck down by a lawsuit a year later. In 2022, a ballot measure to legalize marijuana failed to pass.

Arizona has a voter initiative that would change state laws to allow for state and local police to arrest noncitizens who cross the border unlawfully and allow for state judges to order deportations.

A North Dakota ballot includes an initiative that would require future ballot measures to be passed by voters in two consecutive elections before it’s approved.

Colorado voters will decide on a measure that, if passed, would levy a 6.5% excise tax on the manufacture and sale of firearms and ammunition. Tax money would go “to fund crime victim services programs, education programs, and mental and behavioral health programs for children and veterans.”

Kentucky has a ballot initiative that would amend the constitution to enable the General Assembly to provide state funding to students who attend private schools.

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(NEW YORK) — With just about three weeks until Election Day, the two major party candidates are working hard to reach voters around the country — with a key focus on male voters.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was kicking off a new push to reach male voters in swing states, the Harris campaign confirmed to ABC News.

This included “Good Morning America” co-anchor Michal Strahan’s one-on-one interview that aired on Friday morning, as well as Walz’s Friday travel to Michigan where he met with Black male voters and did local TV interviews focused on hunting and high school football.

He was also attending the Mankato West Scarlets football game on Friday — and giving a pep talk to the team at the Minnesota high school where he taught and also coached football.

Separately, former President Barack Obama on Thursday — as a campaign surrogate for Harris — sternly criticized Black men over what he called “excuses” to not vote for Harris, making comments during a stop at a campaign field office in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood ahead of his rally, saying he finds sitting out or voting for former President Donald Trump “not acceptable.”

Former President Donald Trump has also been working to reach male voters — particularly younger men. That includes joining podcasts such as “Flagrant” with Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh, as well as other recent long interviews with podcast hosts popular among male listeners.

The latest polling still shows a “gender gap” among Harris’ and Trump’s support among men and women, with more men supporting Trump and more women supporting Harris.

A Pew Research Center poll of registered voters published on Thursday found Harris and Trump in a close race nationally among registered voters nationwide — but there’s a larger gap between them among male and female voters.

The poll found 51% of male registered voters supporting Trump, and 43% supporting Harris. Among female registered voters, that is effectively reversed: 52% of female registered voters support Harris, while 43% support Trump.

This is a dynamic political strategists and analysts have noticed. “The way that Donald Trump is trying to run up the numbers with men, [Harris has] got to do the same thing with women,” Sarah Longwell, publisher of the Bulwark and a longtime political strategist, told ABC News contributing correspondent and POLITICO Playbook author Rachael Bade in a recent POLITICO Playbook Deep Dive podcast interview.

However, the gender gap is not unprecedented: it has averaged 19 points in presidential exit polls since 1996 (which is because women are 8 to 10 percentage points more likely than men to identify as Democrats). Additionally, Pew’s findings are similar to the gender gap seen in the past two presidential elections, according to exit polls.

In 2020, 53% of men supported Trump while 45% supported then-Vice President Joe Biden; while 57% of women supported Biden and 42% supported Trump. In 2016, 52% of men supported Trump while 41% supported Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton; but 54% of women supported Clinton while 41% supported Trump.

According to a recent analysis by 538, the gender gap between Harris and Trump has actually narrowed slightly from where it was in August, although the Harvard Youth Poll published in September found a large gap among younger voters of either gender – with Harris up 17 points among young men and up 47 points among young women.

A separate recent analysis from Gallup found that young women have increasingly identified as politically liberal; according to Gallup, that trend is not driven by race or education.

Some recent polls have also delved into Black male support for Harris and Trump, amid uncertainty over whether either candidate is doing enough to reach them. Polling shows that Black men overwhelmingly support Harris, but that Trump has more support from Black men than from Black women.

The Pew Research Center’s poll found that among Black men who are registered voters, 72% support Harris while 20% support Donald Trump. Among Black women who are registered voters, according to Pew, Kamala Harris has 85% support while Donald Trump has only 8%. (As with any poll, there is a higher margin of sampling error for smaller groups within the poll, so these results may be less precise than the poll’s broader findings.)

Other polls indicate somewhat less of a gender gap among Black voters, however. An Associated Press-NORC poll taken in mid-September separately found that 66% of Black male voters say Kamala Harris would make a good president — similar to 64% of Black female voters and 65% of Black voters overall. 21% of Black male voters think Trump would make a good president, as opposed to 11% of Black female voters and 15% of Black voters overall. (The poll did not ask about who respondents would vote for.)

ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Hannah Demissie, Isabella Murray, Jeff Ballou, Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa, Mary Bruce, Rachael Bade, Soorin Kim, and Will McDuffie, and 538’s Mary Radcliffe, contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Friday said he believes his administration is “breaking through with the truth” when it comes to misinformation surrounding the federal response to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

Though Biden also continued his vocal criticism of former President Donald Trump, who he said was “not singularly to blame” for the proliferation of false claims in recent weeks but “has the biggest mouth.”

The comments came as Biden met with Vice President Kamala Harris, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other officials at the White House to discuss the back-to-back storms that ravaged Florida, North Carolina and other parts of Southeast.

The president will travel to Florida on Sunday to visit areas impacted by Hurricane Milton, the White House announced.

Biden has called on lawmakers to return to Washington to pass certain additional disaster aid funding, though said he hasn’t yet spoken to House Speaker Mike Johnson directly on the issue.

“I’ve spoken to Republicans who want to speak with Speaker Johnson, and I think Speaker Johnson is going to get the message that he’s got to step up, particularly for small businesses,” Biden said.

Mayorkas said FEMA will be able meet immediate needs from the two storms. Funding is running low for the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program, however, Biden said in a letter to lawmakers last week.

Biden previously surveyed damage in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which left more than 230 people dead and hundreds more displaced.

Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday evening. At least 16 people were killed in the storm and millions remain without power.

Biden has spoken to numerous state and local officials, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who he said was “very cooperative.” Asked if he would meet with DeSantis on Sunday, Biden said yes so long as the governor was available.

The White House has forcefully pushed back on any false claims about the federal storm response, including how much aid victims can receive. Biden and Mayorkas said the misinformation has hampered FEMA’s ability to help people affected by the destruction and is even resulting in threats against responders on the ground.

When asked if the storm misinformation was part of a new normal for the country, Biden said it may be “for some extreme people but I don’t think it’s what the country is about.”

“We’re breaking through with it. We’re breaking through with the truth,” he said, going on to say he was “proud” of Republican mayors and other state officials pushing back that such falsehoods have to stop and that Americans are coming together to help each other.

“But what bothers me the most is that is there’s a lot of people who get caught in these crises who are basically alone,” Biden said. “You know, widowers, people in hospitals, people who are by themselves, and they don’t know, and they lose contact, and they get, and they just get scared to death, scared to death. And anyway, so I think it’s — I think those who have been spreading these lies to try to undermine the opposition are going to pay a price for it.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Friday kicks off new push to reach male voters in swing states, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign confirmed to ABC News.

As part of the push, the campaign is highlighting ABC’s Michael Strahan exclusive interview with Walz that aired on “Good Morning America” Friday morning.

Walz travels to Michigan, where he will deliver remarks on “protecting workers and investing in manufacturing, and then join a political engagement with Black male voters,” the campaign said.

Walz will do a round of local TV interviews in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that will be taped on Friday — focused on hunting and high school football.

Later in the day, Walz will return to Mankato West — the Minnesota high school where he taught and also coached football.

He will attend the school’s homecoming game and deliver a pep talk before the team takes on rival Mankato East.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Mankato West’s state championship win, according to the campaign.

The campaign will also release a video on Walz’s social media channels featuring what it says is never-before-aired footage from the state championship game and interviews with Tim and Gwen Walz’s former students and players.

Saturday marks the Pheasant Opener in Minnesota and a group of outdoors digital creators will join Walz for an early morning hunt in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump is set to visit Aurora, Colorado, for a campaign rally on Friday after weeks of pushing misleading narratives about the city’s migrant population.

In the final weeks of his campaign, Trump has continued to focus on the issue of immigration, escalating his rhetoric on undocumented immigrants he often paints as violent criminals.

Specifically, the former president has used Aurora and Springfield, Ohio, to emphasize his point, both examples stemming from viral online stories he’s been quick to promote, often without proper context.

His false narratives on Aurora began last month when a video of armed individuals roaming around an apartment complex in Aurora went viral among right-wing social media influencers.

Trump, who has shared that video himself, has repeatedly claimed that members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang have “taken over” apartment complexes and “overrun” the city, despite the Aurora Police Department refuting allegations of the apartment complex being run by a Venezuelan gang.

Aurora’s Police Chief Todd Chamberlain has directly refuted Trump’s claims, saying in a press conference late last month that, “This is not an immigration issue. This is a crime issue.”

“We are not, by any means, overtaken by Venezuelan gangs,” he added.

The City of Aurora also provided clarity on the situation in a post on its official X account, stating that while there was a concern about a “small” presence of the Venezuelan gang members in Aurora, the city is taking the situation seriously. The city stressed that Aurora is a “safe community” and that reports of gang members are “isolated to a handful of problem properties alone.”

Still, Trump has continued to amplify these debunked stories to his supporters throughout the country as a rallying cry as he attacks the immigration policies of the Biden-Harris administration.

In the press release announcing Friday’s event, the Trump campaign described Aurora as a “war zone,” arguing people were crossing the border and descending upon the city “bringing chaos and fear with them.”

Similarly, Trump has repeatedly amplified debunked claims that Haitian migrants are eating pets in Springfield.

Trump’s visit is one that he has been wanting to make for a while to bring more attention to the country’s immigration policies. At recent campaign rallies, Trump has become more vocal about his desire to visit Aurora and Springfield.

While the Republican mayor of Springfield, Rob Rue, discouraged visits from candidates on both sides of the aisle, Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has presented the trip as a learning opportunity for the former president.

“The reality is, Donald Trump continues to tell economically damaging and hurtful lies about Aurora,” Polis said in a statement to ABC affiliate Denver7 amid ongoing discussions of a potential visit. “If former President Trump does visit, he will find the city of Aurora is a strong, vibrant, and diverse city of more than 400,000 hardworking Coloradans and a wonderful place to live, run a business, raise a family, and retire.”

Trump has launched attacks on the local and state officials on the campaign trail, often making baseless claims that Republican Mayor Mike Coffman and Polis are “petrified,” saying Coffman “doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing” – and even claiming they don’t want to raise the immigration issue because they want to be “politically correct.”

Campaigning in Uniondale, New York, last month, Trump, while declaring that he planned to visit Aurora and Springfield soon, suggested that he might not make it back out after his visiting those places due to unspecified crime.

“I’m going to go there in the next two weeks. I’m going to Springfield, and I’m going to Aurora,” Trump said in Uniondale. “You may never see me again, but that’s OK. Got to do what I got to do. Whatever happened to Trump? ‘Well, he never got out of Springfield.’”

Trump’s visit to Aurora also comes as he’s pledged on the campaign trail to begin his promise of mass deportations in Springfield and Aurora.

“We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country,” Trump said as he took reporter questions in Los Angeles, California, last month. “And we’re going to start with Springfield and Aurora, [Colorado].”

“We’re going to take those violent people, and we’re going to ship them back to their country, and if they come back in, they’re going to pay a hell of a price,” Trump also said.

Springfield has many Haitian residents who are either legally authorized to live and work in the U.S. or are protected from expulsion by law.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday joined growing calls from Democrats and even one Republican to bring Congress back to pass certain additional disaster aid funding in the wake of the devastation in southeastern states caused by back-to-back hurricanes.

Biden told reporters that the Small Business Administration is “pretty right at the edge now,” and it would take “several billion dollars” to help businesses recover in the affected states.

“I think that Congress should be coming back and moving on emergency needs immediately,” he said, but notably did not say the same about Federal Emergency Management Agency funding before Election Day.

Former President Donald Trump has falsely claimed FEMA has run out of disaster funds because the money was “stolen” to use instead to help migrants, a claim the White House has strongly denied, saying the money comes from separate funding “spigots.”

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisted Thursday that FEMA has enough disaster funding to handle the immediate needs from Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton and related tornado damage.

Even as raised the dire need for more SBA funding, Biden said he has not reached out to House Speaker Mike Johnson about bringing House lawmakers back to Washington.

While Johnson has committed to passing relief after the election, he has resisted pressure from Democrats, especially, to bring the House back before Election Day, explaining it will take time for states to assess the need.

“Congress will provide,” Johnson promised during an interview this past weekend on “Fox News Sunday.” “We will help people in these disaster-prone areas. It’s an appropriate role for the federal government, and you’ll have bipartisan support for that, and it’ll all happen in due time, and we’ll get that job done. There shouldn’t be any concern about that.”

There are similar calls from lawmakers for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to reconvene the upper chamber.

Dozens of House Democrats sent a letter to Johnson making their case as he toured damage in western North Carolina on Wednesday with Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd and GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards.

“Recent legislation has provided initial relief funds, yet these provisions fall critically short of what will be necessary to address the scale of destruction and the recovery needs for Fiscal Year 2025. We, therefore, urge you to immediately reconvene the US House of Representatives so that it can pass robust disaster relief funding,” the letter, signed by 63 Democrats, said.

The speaker’s office declined to comment to ABC News directly on the letter, instead referring to Johnson’s public comments on the topic.

Democrats are not alone in their request.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican who evacuated her home in Pinellas County, also wants Johnson to bring lawmakers back for a special session.

Luna, who has been spreading misinformation about FEMA funding, posted a statement on X claiming that additional funding would be approved.

“If Congress goes into a special session we can get it passed immediately,” she said.

Mayorkas also stressed the gravity of the situation following a tour of western North Carolina on Thursday.

Although he said that FEMA has the funding to handle hurricanes Helene and Milton and related tornadoes, he said the federal flood insurance program is in the red.

“We are working on a continuing resolution that is not stable footing for the work that we do in disaster response. And so that is why I underscore the need for Congress to act swiftly upon its return,” Mayorkas said.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday delivered a sharp rebuke of Donald Trump for spreading misinformation about the federal government’s hurricane response.

Speaking on Hurricane Milton at the White House on Thursday afternoon, Biden was asked if he’s spoken to Trump directly.

“Are you kidding me? Mr. President Trump, former President Trump, get a life, man. Help these people,” Biden responded.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(TEMPE, Ariz.) — The campaign office shared by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and the Democratic Party in Tempe, Arizona, was damaged by gunfire for the third time in less than a month on Sunday, police told ABC News on Wednesday.

The Tempe Police Department provided new details in its investigation, including a picture of the suspect’s vehicle it says is possibly a 2008-2013 silver Toyota Highlander, and announced that Silent Witness was offering up to a $1,000 reward “for any information that leads to the arrest or indictment of the suspect(s) involved in this crime.”

The shooting occurred between midnight and 1 a.m., around the same time the previous two incidents occurred, police said. No one was injured in any of the three shootings.

Harris is scheduled to travel to Arizona on Thursday for a rally and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was in the state on Wednesday.

After the second shooting on Sept. 23, police said they were taking “additional measures… to ensure the safety of staff and others in the area.” A motive for the shooting has not been determined as the investigation continues, according to police.

The office was shot at on Sept. 16 in an incident police said appeared to involve a BB or pellet gun. Police said that shooting caused “criminal damage.”

Law enforcement around the country is under heightened alert over an increase in political violence threats.

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(CHICAGO) — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is on the defensive after all seven members of the Chicago Board of Education announced their resignations Friday, an unprecedented moment in the city’s history, in protest of a $300 million loan Johnson proposed to fund teachers’ contracts and pensions.

The Chicago City Council called a special meeting for Wednesday afternoon to address the crisis, and to hear testimony from the former school board members who resigned, all of whom were hand-picked by Mayor Johnson just last year.

For months, board members for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) – the country’s fourth-largest public school system – had been under pressure by Johnson to fire CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who was appointed in 2021 by Johnson’s predecessor, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, for his objection to Johnson’s proposed $300 million short-term, high-interest loan to pay for the first year of the Chicago Teaches Union’s (CTU) contract. Martinez and the school board pushed back against Johnson, saying the extra borrowing would worsen the city’s already significant debt burden.

In an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune last month, Martinez said Johnson subsequently demanded his resignation, which he also refused, saying it would cause disruption during current union negotiations. Martinez added that the extra borrowing was fiscally irresponsible.

“I remain against exorbitant, short-term borrowing, a past practice that generated negative bond ratings for CPS,” Martinez wrote, in part, adding that repaying the bond and its debt service would “take away dollars from the classroom – all of which means that future generations of Chicago’s children and taxpayers will ultimately pay the price.”

The CPS board ended up passing a school budget without Johnson’s desired pension payment. The school system faces a nearly $1 billion shortfall in 2025, Martinez announced in August .

A former Cook County commissioner, Johnson worked as an organizer for the CTU beginning in 2011 and helped organize the 2012 teachers strike. Illinois State Board of Elections records show that the CTU contributed more than $2.3 million to his 2023 mayoral campaign. Johnson also received nearly $2.2 million from the American Federation of Teachers and nearly $1 million from the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

Alderman Gilbert Villegas accused Johnson of “wanting to take care of his former employer” by forcing the resignations of the board amid contract negotiations with the union. “The mayor was elected to serve the whole city, not serve the CTU,” he said.

“We agree we want to make sure CPS teachers have a fair contract, but we also want to make sure taxpayers have fair contract. Right now, the mayor has the thumb on the scale and it’s not right,” Villegas told ABC News.

Spokespersons for Johnson, the Chicago Teachers Union, and Chicago Public Schools did not respond to ABC News requests for comment.

At a press conference Monday, Johnson attacked his critics, whom he compared to supporters of slavery.

“The so-called fiscally responsible stewards are making the same argument [as] when our people wanted to be liberated and emancipated in this country,” Johnson said. “The argument was you can’t free Black people because it would be too expensive. They said that it would be fiscally irresponsible for this country to liberate Black people.”

Johnson also announced six new appointees to the board Monday, saying he would name a seventh at a later date. Under state law, the appointees aren’t required to be vetted by the city council, although Villegas said that “in the spirit of transparency and collaboration,” councilmembers ought to have the opportunity to ask them questions.

Villegas is a member of the city’s progressive caucus, which initially supported Johnson’s agenda. In an unprecedented show of unity, most of that caucus joined 41 other council members from across the political divide in signing a public letter dated Oct. 5 that said the mass resignations of the Board of Education’s former members bring “further instability to our school district” and are deserving of a public hearing.

Johnson indicated Tuesday that he would not send his new appointees to Wednesday’s meeting, saying in part that “every single mayor in the history of Chicago has had the authority to appoint board members to multiple boards. Guess who still has that authority? This mayor does.”

The CPS funding crisis is also alarming Chicago’s business community. This week, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago released a joint statement saying their concerns over Johnson’s push for extra borrowing and the Board of Education resignations have “escalated” their concerns about Johnson’s actions, and further said that the quality and stability of Chicago Public Schools is directly tied to “the success of Chicago businesses of every size and the long-term economic future of our city.”

The statement also called for the school board to “keep CEO Martinez in his place,” and to “reject the misguided proposal to borrow more money, and work with all parties to bring transparency and long-term fiscal stability and quality education to the school system.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Vice presidential nominees Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz will campaign in Arizona on Wednesday as early voting begins in a state that could decide the presidential race and control of the Senate.

Both Vance and Walz will hold rallies in Tucson on Wednesday. Vance will also participate in a town hall later in the day in Mesa hosted by the Conservative Political Action Conference, while Walz will hold an event in Chandler with Senate candidate Rep. Ruben Gallego and Jim McCain, son of former Republican Sen. John McCain.

With less than a month until Election Day, the race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to win the battleground state remains tight. According to FiveThirtyEight’s latest forecast, Trump leads Harris by just over 1 percentage point in the state.

The Trump campaign said Vance will encourage Arizonians to vote early in this year’s election, a sharp departure from the rhetoric Trump used in 2020 when he questioned mail-in ballots and voting early.

Wednesday’s swing for Vance is his third visit to the state since becoming Trump’s running mate in July and Walz’s trip is his second since he was picked by Harris to be her running mate in August.

Harris and Trump will also visit Arizona later this week — Harris will campaign there on Thursday and Trump on Sunday.

In 2020, Trump narrowly lost the state to President Joe Biden by just over 10,000 votes. As ABC News has previously reported Trump attempted to pressure then-Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to overturn the results of the presidential race.

Trump dispatched former Vice President Mike Pence to pressure Ducey to find fraudulent votes in the state, and while Pence did call Ducey multiple times in the aftermath of the election, he did not follow those orders.

Speaking on the “Ruthless” podcast last Thursday, Vance shared that he feels good about the campaign’s chances in Sunbelt states such as Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina, but that more work needs to be done in the Rust Belt states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.

Arizona’s first day of early voting also coincides with the Senate debate between Gallego and Republican Kari Lake in a race that will help decide which party controls the Senate in 2025.

Currently, Gallego leads Lake by just under 8 percentage points, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Lake, who lost the Arizona gubernatorial race in 2022, alienated many moderate Republicans by feuding with Ducey and upsetting supporters of the late Sen. McCain. Lake has also continued to deny the validity of the 2020 and 2022 elections but has changed how she approaches her campaign, trying to court those moderate Republicans she lost in 2022.

Ducey endorsed Lake in August, saying that too much is at stake in this election cycle.

“I will be voting for Republicans up & down the ballot in November — and both Donald Trump and Kari Lake have my endorsement,” Ducey posted on X. “Differences aside, there is too much on the line and only a Republican in the White House and a majority in the House and US Senate can ensure it.”

A spokesperson for Gov. Tim Walz did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment on this story.

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