| In a rare interaction with traveling reporters, Gov. Tim Walz clarified comments he made last night about school shooters and his time in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre. Walz told reporters he had his dates wrong and acknowledged that he was there in August of 1989, months after the massacre. “It was profound for me — that was the summer of democracy.” He also clarified that he had meant to say he had befriended school shooting victims like David Hogg and other families affected by mass shootings in Sandy Hook and suggested that he needed to be more careful about how he speaks. In the debate, he mistakenly said, “I’ve become friends with school shooters.”
Walz kicked off a post-debate campaign swing in Pennsylvania and plans a media blitz, too. It includes rallies, direct voter engagement events, fundraisers and a few rare national TV interviews. Walz was on a bus tour yesterday in Pennsylvania with Sen. John Fetterman. The campaign also said Walz will make his late-night TV debut as Harris’ running mate and be a guest on a “top pop culture podcast” during an upcoming swing on the West Coast. Walz’s only interactions with national media have been ABC News and MSNBC post-presidential debate interviews and the joint CNN sitdown interview with Harris at the end of August. Maybe to state the obvious, but no extended Minnesota interviews yet. You have our number, governor.
A judge unsealed new evidence in the federal election subversion case against former President Donald Trump. According to the court filing from prosecutors, Trump laid the groundwork to try to overturn the election even before he lost, knowingly pushing false claims of voter fraud and “resorted to crimes” in his attempts to stay in power. The document cites previously unknown accounts offered by Trump’s aides which reveal how Trump tried to cling to power and “used deceit to target every stage of the election.” The filing offers the most comprehensive view of what the special counsel would attempt to prove in the case. The case will not move to trial before the election and a Trump win would probably result in his appointed attorney general dropping the charges.
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance will be in Minneapolis later this month for a big fundraiser. An invite obtained by Torey Van Oot of Axios shows tickets start at $25,000 (a donation or the amount of money raised) and run up to $250,000 for fundraising attendees who want to have a meet-and-greet with Vance. One of the co-hosts of the fundraiser is Ryan Wilson, a 2022 nominee for Minnesota State Auditor who narrowly lost his race. Location details were not provided.
Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is campaigning with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney in Wisconsin today. Cheney, a former member of congressional Republican leadership, became a fierce Trump critic and was ousted in a 2022 GOP primary as a result. She endorsed Harris last month, along with her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney. The event in Wisconsin takes place in Ripon, a small city about 70 miles southwest of Green Bay. A one-room schoolhouse built in 1853 in Ripon is known as the site of meetings that helped form the Republican Party in 1854. Harris aims to send the message that this election is about “putting country over party.”
There are already campaign ads out about the vice presidential debate. Yesterday, the Harris-Walz campaign released a new digital ad that includes the moment where moderators asked Vance if he would certify this year’s election results. “It’s really rich for Democrats to say Donald Trump is a unique threat to democracy when he peacefully gave over power,” said Vance. Walz called Vance’s refusal to say whether Trump lost in 2020, “a damning non-answer.” The ad includes video cuts from the Jan. 6 insurrection with the message, “If we elect Donald Trump, the past will be the future.” Not an ad, but on TruthSocial, Trump posted a meme of a Trump-Vance campaign sign, with the slogan “not friends with school shooters” beneath their names. | 
