The Latest: Vice presidential candidates Vance and Walz face off in the final scheduled debate for 2024 tickets

Barring a late addition to the schedule, Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz could be the final debate of the 2024 presidential race between Republicans and Democrats.

Both Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, and Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, have embraced the traditional role of attack dog for the person at the top of the list. That could be on full display during the vice presidential debate in New York, hosted by CBS News.

Although conventional wisdom suggests that the duel between the second-place candidates on the ballot rarely has much impact, the polls are so close that it could sway voters on the fringes. It could also be the last head-to-head between the tickets, as Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, have not agreed to a second meeting.

A new AP-NORC poll found Walz is more popular than Vance, potentially posing an additional challenge for the Republican.

Although Vance said he did not need to “prepare as much for the debate” because he had “well-developed views on public policy,” he had attended debate preparation sessions with his wife, Usha Vance, senior advisers and the lawmaker . Tom Emmer, R-Minn., who played Walz, according to a person familiar with his preparations who requested anonymity to discuss the strategy.

Walz’s preparation for the debate included meetings at a Minneapolis hotel, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg filling in for Vance, according to a person familiar with the process who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the campaign’s internal dynamics.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here’s the latest:

Trump was scheduled to speak about the economy in the critical swing state of Wisconsin on Tuesday.

The former president visited a manufacturing plant in Waunakee, a suburb of Wisconsin’s capital Madison in the Democratic stronghold of Dane County. He later planned to hold an event at a museum in Milwaukee, the state’s largest city, in hopes of reaching that city’s conservative suburbs, where his support has waned.

Dane County, the site of Trump’s first stop, is Wisconsin’s fastest-growing county and an economic engine for the state, fueled by jobs in the health care and technology industries. The University of Wisconsin is also located here.

“President Trump’s appearance will be a huge win for demoralized conservatives here,” Dane County Republican Party Chairman Brandon Maly wrote on X, the social media platform, when the visit was announced. He said Trump would need to get at least 23% of the vote in Dane County to have a chance of winning statewide.

Democratic presidential candidates have long come to Dane County to hold large rallies to fire up the base. Harris campaigned there on September 20 and held a rally in Madison that drew more than 10,000 people.

After Hurricane Helene, Harris cut short his campaign visit to Las Vegas and returned to Washington for briefings, while Trump traveled to Georgia to view the storm’s impact.

The death toll from Hurricane Helene is more than 130 people and rising, with some of the worst damage caused by flooding in inland North Carolina.

Natural disasters are not only humanitarian crises but can also pose political tests for elected officials, particularly in the final weeks of a presidential campaign.

Presidents typically avoid rushing into disaster areas so as not to hamper recovery efforts. The White House said Harris would visit affected areas “as soon as practicable without disrupting the emergency response.”

President Joe Biden wanted to survey the devastation on Wednesday.

A GoFundMe campaign launched by former President Donald Trump to support victims of Hurricane Helene has raised more than $1 million.

The website calls the campaign “an official response for MAGA supporters to offer financial support to their fellow Americans affected by Hurricane Helene” and promises that all donations will be directed to those affected by the devastation.

Trump visited Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday and said he brought supplies, including fuel, that will be distributed by the Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse.

Former President Trump criticized the Biden administration’s response to the widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, while his supporters called for cuts to federal agencies that warn of weather disasters and provide aid to the hardest-hit communities.

As president, Trump delayed disaster relief for hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico and diverted money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fund efforts to return undocumented migrants to Mexico. And Project 2025, backed by Trump supporters, would restructure FEMA to limit aid to states and says the National Weather Service, which provides crucial data on hurricanes and other storms, “should be disbanded and downsized.”

Read more here.

President Biden criticized Trump for “lying” about federal contacts with Georgia officials during the response to Hurricane Helene. During a tour of the damage on Monday, Trump falsely claimed that Biden had not been in contact with the state’s Republican governor. “He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying.”

“I don’t know why he’s doing this,” Biden continued. “I don’t care what he says about me, but I do care what he says to people in need. It implies that we are not doing everything that is possible. We are. This is us.”

State elections officials in North Carolina are gathering information about the options available to voters in counties hit hardest by Hurricane Helene and are planning a news conference for Tuesday.

Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said during an emergency meeting Monday that she would provide more information, including details on how voters could cite “natural disaster” as a reason for being unable to do so present a photo ID.

The board met Monday to pass a resolution giving counties the flexibility to hold weekly meetings required by state law to review mail-in ballots. Those meetings must begin every Tuesday through Election Day, officials said. The resolution was adopted unanimously.