With just 50 days to go until Election Day, the race for the White House is heating up again.
Two months after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in western Pennsylvania, the Secret Service thwarted what appeared to be a second assassination attempt on the former president, shooting him as he played golf at one of his courses in southern Florida.
After decades without an assassination attempt on a sitting president or a major party presidential candidate, the United States narrowly avoided a second major tragedy this summer that only deepened already entrenched divisions in the country.
“Nothing will stop me. I will never surrender!” the former president vowed in a fundraising email to supporters on the Sunday after the attack.
Watch here for the latest FOX News developments regarding the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
FBI agents at the crime scene outside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2024. FBI agents were on scene after a shooting occurred at former President Donald Trump's golf course. The incident is being investigated as an assassination attempt on the former president. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, a leading supporter of Trump, said in a statement, “We the American people must unite behind our president in November to defend our republic and restore peace to the world.”
It is too early to tell whether the incident will have an impact on the contest between President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed Biden.
All that is certain is that there is little time left in the 2024 election campaign.
At a fundraiser on Saturday, Harris urged supporters to volunteer and get their friends to vote, stressing that “time is ticking.”
“Join our teams in battleground states and help register people to vote. … And talk to your neighbors and friends about the stakes,” she urged.
FOX News' latest power rankings for the presidential election
With the first and likely only debate between the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates over and early and absentee voting beginning, the match between Harris and Trump remains within the margin of error in seven key battleground states that are likely to determine Biden's victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election and decide the winner of the 2024 election.
Fox News Power Rankings Presidential Predictions.
Six of the seven states are currently rated as close races in the latest Fox News Power Rankings.
Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada are the states where most of the campaigning takes place for Democratic and Republican candidates and have become battlegrounds in the advertising war between the two sides.
“I think this is going to be a turnout election, and whoever can get the most voter turnout in these seven states is going to win,” veteran Republican strategist Nicole Schlinger told Fox News.
Harris and Trump hold rival rallies in key battleground states
Harris' campaign touted a “historic 24-hour fundraising run” and demonstrated her fundraising prowess by raising $47 million immediately after last week's debate.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The money raised by Harris' campaign is the latest sign of a surge in the vice president's fundraising in the nearly two months since she took over from Biden at the Democratic National Convention for the 2024 presidential election.
“Fifty days is a lifetime in politics, but Kamala Harris is a much better choice than Donald Trump right now,” said Joe Kaizeau, a veteran Democratic strategist who has served in several presidential campaigns. “I think enthusiasm is still overwhelmingly Democrat, but there's still a lot of work to be done.”
Cash dash: Harris rakes in big money after Trump debate
The Harris campaign stressed that it is investing much of its fundraising money into grassroots and voter outreach efforts, saying it is “dedicating resources to reaching voters who will decide the outcome of this election.”
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Bojangles' Coliseum, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
The massive ground operation, originally built when Biden was the candidate, is coordinated between the presidential campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties, with more than 312 offices and more than 2,000 staffers in key battleground states, according to the campaign.
Comparing the Harris campaign and the DNC to the Trump campaign and the RNC, the Democrats have a significant advantage in low-level campaigning, but the Trump campaign has relied on a small number of sympathetic outside groups to help it execute the turnout tactics traditionally employed in presidential campaigns.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley disputed the notion that Democrats had a stronger turnout effort.
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Tucson, Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
“No, they don't have a strong ground force. I'm very comfortable with the ground force that we have deployed through Trump Force 47,” the Republican National Committee chairman emphasized in an interview with Fox News Digital last week.
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“We certainly have the resources we need to get our message out to every voter we speak to, and I'm confident we can see this campaign through to the end, and we'll win on November 5th,” Whatley vowed.
Additionally, Schlinger, who has worked on numerous Republican presidential campaigns, said Trump has the advantage on key issues.
“Voters who put the economy first believe the economy is heading in the wrong direction and believe Donald Trump would do a better job of fixing it,” she stressed. “I think it would be a struggle to explain how Harris is different from Joe Biden on that.”
Schlinger added that for voters who are still undecided, knowledge of the Republican candidate could give Trump an advantage.
“Almost a third of voters say they need to know more about Kamala Harris. They know what they're getting with President Trump, and they think that's an advantage for the Republican Party,” she argued.
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital's Election Hub.
