LAS VEGAS Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, the chair of the Senate Republicans’ campaign committee, is making his pitch to top dollar donors and influential conservative activists in order to remedy the cash disparity between GOP campaigns and those of Democrats.

‘We need your help to close the fundraising gap,’ the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chair emphasized as he addressed the crowd at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting. ‘We have the right candidates. Let’s get them the resources they need to win.’

Minutes earlier, in an interview with Fox News Digital, Daines pointed to the GOP’s fundraising gap as compared to the Democrats as Republicans aim to win back the Senate majority and acknowledged, ‘it’s a concern of mine.’

‘There are winnable races right now that we may not be able to bring across the finish line because of lack of resources. We are literally two months away from the most consequential election of my lifetime,’ Daines emphasized. ‘That’s why we’re working very, very hard to make sure we’re ringing that alarm bell to get to donors.’

Democrats have outraised and outspent their Republican counterparts in the 2024 battle for the Senate majority, and looking forward, they have dished out more money for ad reservations for the final two months leading up to Election Day on Nov. 5.

Senate Democrats and outside groups supporting them have made significantly larger post-Labor Day ad reservations in four of the seven key Senate battlegrounds, per AdImpact. In Wisconsin, Nevada, Michigan and Arizona each, Democratic ad reservation spending is at least double that of their respective Republican opponents, presenting a stark obstacle for GOP candidates, some of whom already face name recognition issues and the hurdle of taking on an incumbent. 

Overall, Democrats have an advantage over their Republican Senate foes with nearly $348 million in planned spending in pivotal races across the country ahead of election day, compared to Republicans’ over $255 million. 

The relatively small GOP expenditures in Wisconsin, Nevada, Michigan and Arizona appear to be a result of massive prioritized pro-Republican Senate buys in Montana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Republicans are managing to outspend Democrats in these states, but their opponents have still boasted similarly large planned spending. In Ohio, while Republicans had $81.9 million reserved, Democratic future spending wasn’t far behind at $78.3 million, according to AdImpact. 

Fueling the financial disparity, the surge in Democratic Party enthusiasm and fundraising in the month and a half since Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Biden at the top of the party’s 2024 ticket in the White House race against former President Donald Trump.

‘You just saw in the last 48 hours Kamala Harris announce she’s directing $25 million of her presidential campaign dollars down-ballot including $10 million for Senate Democrats,’ Daines spotlighted. ‘There’s not many things Kamala Harris does well but one thing she does well is raise money. So this does have us concerned.’

However, Daines said there is a silver lining when it comes to Harris replacing the 81-year-old Biden in the White House race.

‘What it does is it helps us take the age issue off the table because that was one of the reasons that Biden did so poorly. It was more about his age than anything else,’ Daines said. ‘This now gets us laser focused on policy. This is going to be a policy contrast election….For the first time in decades, we have the results of two different administrations to run against – President Trump’s four years and Kamala Harris’ four years. Two very different administrations – very different outcomes. That contrast, we think will be very helpful for us in the key Senate races.’

Democrats control the Senate by a razor-thin 51-49 margin, and Republicans are looking at a favorable election map this year with Democrats defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs.

One of those seats is in West Virginia, a deep red state that Trump carried by nearly 40 points in 2020. With moderate Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Joe Manchin, a former governor, not seeking re-election, flipping the seat is nearly a sure thing for the GOP.

Additionally, in Daines’ home state of Montana and in Ohio, two states Trump comfortably carried four years ago, Republicans are aiming to defeat Democratic Sens. Jon Tester and Sherrod Brown.

Five more Democratic-held seats are up for grabs this year in crucial presidential-election battleground states.

With Democrats trying to protect their fragile Senate majority, former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan of blue-state Maryland’s late entry into the Senate race in February gave them an unexpected headache in a state previously considered safe territory. Hogan left the governor’s office at the beginning of 2023 with very positive approval and favorable ratings.

Daines, for the first time, definitely said his party would recapture the majority.

‘We will win the Senate majority’ Daines told Fox News.

‘Fifty-one is the number that we want to get to. Clearly, there’s an opportunity to get beyond that, but 51 is the number we’ve got to get to,’ he stressed.

Vice President Kamala Harris is running behind President Biden’s 2020 numbers among several demographic groups, a gap that could loom large in what increasingly appears to be a razor’s-edge election.

‘Harris is significantly underperforming Biden, according to most polls, with Black voters, Hispanic voters, working class voters, and young voters,’ Democratic strategist Julian Epstein told Fox News Digital.

The comments come as an analysis of polling data released by the Wall Street Journal this week showed Harris still struggling with key demographics that have been critical to Democratic success in national elections. Although the vice president has made up ground on Biden’s numbers when he decided to drop out of the race, she has still failed to meet the president’s 2020 performance.

One such group Harris is struggling with is Black voters, with the vice president running 10 points behind the numbers put up by Biden in 2020. She is also behind Biden’s mark with Latino voters (6 points), voters under the age of 30 (12 points), male voters (4 points) and female voters (2 points.)

Meanwhile, Trump has continued to make inroads with minority communities that have previously been difficult for Republicans to appeal to. The former President now has the support of 20% of black men, the Wall Street Journal analysis found, and only trails Harris by one point among Latino men, 48% to 47%. 

The figures could offer a glimpse into why Biden has begun joining Harris on the trial, with the president and vice president campaigning together for the first time over Labor Day weekend. Biden has also seen some positive momentum when it comes to his approval rating, which one USA Today/Suffolk poll showed has jumped 13 points in just a few months.

If Harris fails to match Biden’s standing among some minority demographics, the Wall Street Journal analysis suggests she may look to pick off the support of white voters, a group with whom Trump has traditionally performed well. But the analysis found Harris outperforming Biden’s 2020 marks among white voters with and without college degrees in seven critical swing states.

‘Harris is overperforming Biden with college-educated elites and suburban women,’ Epstein said. ‘This suggests not just that Trump is likely ahead by a small margin, as Nate Silver has pointed out, but it also suggests longer-term realignment with the Democratic Party becoming a party of elites, and the Republican Party becoming a populist working-class party.’ 

However, picking off enough white voters could put Harris over the top in a close race.

‘A small gain among white voters can offset a bigger loss among those from minority groups, because white voters account for 70% or more of those who participate in elections,’ the analysis notes.

The Harris campaign did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Iran is closer to becoming a nuclear-armed power than much of the world realizes, according to a nonpartisan research group’s new report. 

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) claims Iran could have a nuclear bomb before the presidential election, and suggests U.S. troops need to be deployed to the region immediately to counter such an outcome. 

The FDD published a strategic plan, ‘Deterring Iran’s Dash to a Nuclear Bomb,’ with two dozen specific recommendations they say the Biden administration needs to quickly change the tides on Iran’s nuclear capabilities. 

‘Unless the Biden-Harris administration takes robust steps now to deter and hinder those advances, Iran could complete a crude nuclear bomb before the next U.S. president is inaugurated,’ the plan’s co-author, Orde Kittrie, said.

The report demanded the Biden administration declassify all intelligence assessments related to Iran’s nuclear program to build up domestic and international pressure to deter Iran. 

It also called for putting U.S. boots on the ground, ‘at least on a temporary basis,’ to send a message that the U.S. is prepared to stop an Iranian nuclear breakout if necessary. 

The group warned that while most U.S. officials are monitoring Iran’s capacity to enrich uranium to 90%, the regime is taking other, covert steps toward a nuclear weapon, like taking measures toward building a nuclear explosive device that would make quick work of putting a bomb together. 

‘It’s undertaking other advances which would make an eventual sprint to cross that line faster and much harder to stop,’ Kittrie said.  

On July 19, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that it would take ‘one to two weeks’ to produce sufficient weapons-grade uranium for one nuclear weapon. 

‘I think Americans should be very, very worried, because Iran is a vicious, bloodthirsty regime, and here they are on the verge of acquiring the world’s most powerful weapon.’ 

It may be impossible for western nations to detect when Iran is in its final stages of building a nuclear bomb as much of the activity occurs in hidden, underground facilities, according to the report.

In addition to putting boots on the ground, the FDD is calling for President Biden to increase joint military exercises with partners in the region, lift the U.S. hold on 2,000-pound MK-84 bombs to Israel and remove any roadblocks to provide Israel with planes and munitions. 

The group also called on the top of the Republican and Democratic tickets, as well as Biden, to explicitly state their commitment to the use of force to prevent Iran from creating a nuclear weapon.

‘Biden’s strongest statement on this issue was actually weaker than Obama’s strongest statement on the same topic,’ said Kittrie. 

‘The administration keeps saying, well, a military option is on the table. But implying that a military option is on the table is not the same as stating that the option will, if necessary, be used in addition, the administration talks in terms of commitment that Iran never acquired a nuclear weapon. That leaves unclear the parameters of the undesirable result.’

The FDD said the U.S. needs to ‘massively increase’ the use of sanctions and work with nations like the United Kingdom, France, and Germany to trigger sanctions within the United Nations.

Tuesday, Nov. 5, is Election Day – but if Americans vote like they did in the last two election cycles, most of them will have already cast a ballot before the big day.

Early voting had been expected to start Friday with North Carolina mailing out absentee ballots to eligible voters, though the state’s elections board indicated it would not send out ballots right away amid a challenge from former candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Still, multiple battleground states are scheduled to send out ballots to at least some voters later in the month, making September and October less a countdown to Election Day, and more the beginning of ‘election season.’

States have long allowed at least some Americans to vote early, like members of the military or people with illnesses. 

In some states, almost every voter casts a ballot by mail.

Many states expanded eligibility in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic made it riskier to vote in-person.

That year, the Fox News Voter Analysis found that 71% of voters cast their ballots before Election Day, with 30% voting early in-person and 41% voting by mail.

Early voting remained popular in the midterms, with 57% of voters casting a ballot before Election Day.

Elections officials stress that voting early is safe and secure. Recounts, investigations and lawsuits filed after the 2020 election did not reveal evidence of widespread fraud or corruption. 

The difference between ‘early in-person’ and ‘mail’ or ‘absentee’ voting.

There are a few ways to vote before Election Day.

The first is , where a voter casts a regular ballot in-person at a voting center before Election Day.

The second is , where the process and eligibility varies by state.

Eight states vote mostly by mail, including California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. Registered voters receive ballots and send them back.

Most states allow any registered voter to request a mail ballot and send it back. This is also called mail voting, or sometimes absentee voting. Depending on the state, voters can return their ballot by mail, at a drop box, and/or at an office or facility that accepts mail ballots.

In 14 states, voters must have an excuse to vote by mail, ranging from illness, age, work hours or if a voter is out of their home county on Election Day.

States process and tabulate ballots at different times. Some states don’t begin counting ballots until election night, which delays the release of results.

Voting expected to begin in multiple battleground states in September

This list of early voting deadlines is for guidance only. In some areas, early voting may begin before the dates listed. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes, and deadlines, go to Vote.gov and your state’s elections website.

The first voters to be sent absentee ballots were expected to be in North Carolina, which had planned to begin mailing out ballots for eligible voters on Sept. 6, though the state elections board did not indicate on Friday when ballots would go out.

Six more battleground states are expected to begin early voting this same month, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Nevada.

September deadlines

Subject to change. In-person early voting in bold.

TBD

• North Carolina – Absentee ballots sent to voters

Sept. 16

• Pennsylvania – Mail-in ballots sent to voters

Sept. 17

• Georgia – Absentee ballots sent to military & overseas

Sept. 19

• Wisconsin – Absentee ballots sent

Sept. 20

• Virginia – In-person early voting begins
• Minnesota, South Dakota – In-person absentee voting begins
• Idaho, Kentucky, West Virginia – Absentee ballots sent
• Arkansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, Wyoming – Absentee ballots sent to military & overseas

Sept. 21

• Maryland, New Jersey – Mail-in ballots sent
• Indiana, New Mexico – Absentee ballots sent
• Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington – Absentee ballots sent to military & overseas

Sept. 23

• Mississippi – In-person absentee voting begins & absentee ballots sent
• Oregon – Absentee ballots sent
• Vermont – Mail-in ballots sent

Sept. 26

• Illinois – In-person early voting begins & mail-in ballots sent
• Michigan – Absentee ballots sent
• Florida – Mail-in ballots sent
• North Dakota – Absentee & mail-in ballots sent
• Nevada – Mail-in ballots sent to voters outside the state

Sept. 30

• Nebraska – Mail-in ballots sent

October deadlines

Oct. 4

• Connecticut – Absentee ballots sent

Oct. 6

• Maine – In-person absentee voting begins & mail ballots sent

Oct. 7

• California – In-person absentee voting begins & mail ballots sent
• Nebraska – In-person early voting begins 
• Georgia – Absentee ballots sent
• Massachusetts – Mail-in ballots sent
• Montana – In-person absentee voting begins

Oct. 8

• California – Ballot drop-offs open
• New Mexico, Ohio – In-person absentee voting begins
• Indiana – In-person early voting begins
• Wyoming – In-person absentee voting begins & absentee ballots sent

Oct. 9

• Arizona – In-person early voting begins & mail ballots sent

Oct. 11

• Colorado – Mail-in ballots sent
• Arkansas, Alaska – Absentee ballots sent

Oct. 15

• Georgia – In-person early voting begins
• Utah – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 16

• Rhode Island, Kansas, Tennessee – In-person early voting begins
• Iowa – In-person absentee voting begins
• Oregon, Nevada – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 17

• North Carolina – In-person early voting begins 

Oct. 18

• Louisiana – In-person early voting begins
• Washington – Mail-in ballots sent
• Hawaii – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 19

• Nevada, Massachusetts – In-person early voting begins 

Oct. 21

• Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas – In-person early voting begins 
• Colorado – Ballot drop-offs open

Oct. 22

• Hawaii, Utah – In-person early voting begins 
• Missouri, Wisconsin – In-person absentee voting begins

Oct. 23

• West Virginia – In-person early voting begins

Oct. 24

• Maryland – In-person early voting begins

Oct. 25

• Delaware – In-person early voting begins

Oct. 26

• Michigan, Florida, New Jersey, New York – In-person early voting begins 

Oct. 30

• Oklahoma – In-person early voting begins 

Oct. 31

• Kentucky – In-person absentee voting begins

After six weeks of recess, the House is set to fast-track approval of a slew of China-related bills that aim to counter the U.S.’s growing foe beginning on Monday. 

With only three weeks of work on Capitol Hill before the November election, the Republican-led lower chamber is dedicating precious floor time to bills that would root out Chinese spyware within the country and set up the next president to take tougher action against Beijing. 

‘We wanted to combine them all into one week so that you had a real sharp focus on the fact that we need to be aggressive in confronting the threat that China poses,’ Majority Leader Steve Scalise told Fox News Digital about the planned ‘China Week.’

‘I think we can get real bipartisan support for a number of these,’ the Louisiana Republican said. ‘They’re all bills that should be very bipartisan, because there are things that China is doing right now that are direct threats to our country’s national security, and if we get strong bipartisan votes, you have a higher chance of getting through the Senate.’

Scalise said that four bills will come up under a rule, meaning that they will be debated by the House and that members can offer amendments. Still more will come up under suspension of the rules, meaning that the House is aiming to pass them quickly and without debate. 

Scalise highlighted one bill that would undo the Biden administration’s guidance allowing Chinese-made electric vehicles to qualify for a $7,500 tax credit. The move enraged even West Virginia’s Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Joe Manchin, who helped author the Inflation Reduction Act that allowed for the credit. 

The End Chinese Dominance of Electric Vehicles Act, introduced by Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., would tighten the Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) definition of a 30D EV that qualifies for the credit to exclude those vehicles with significant parts that are made in China. 

Another bill would broadly ban China from purchasing U.S. farmland. Chinese entities owned about 380,000 acres of agricultural land in the U.S. as of 2023, or less than 1%. 

Another bill, the No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act, would prevent the U.S. from agreeing to any pandemic preparedness agreement negotiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) without the approval of two-thirds of the Senate. 

‘We’re giving an extra buffer so that the administration can’t just go partner up with WHO and come up with an agreement that would result in really bad policy for America,’ Scalise said. 

Another bill, the Biosecure Act, would ban federal agencies that run research labs from using any biotech equipment from any company that could be at risk of harnessing data to send back to the CCP.

Another, the DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act, would prevent any federal money from going to universities involved with CCP-run Confucius Institutes. 

‘You’re seeing China get more involved in our higher ed institutions,’ said Scalise. 

During former President Donald Trump’s administration in 2018, Congress ‘restricted federal funding to schools with institutes; nearly all of the institutes have since closed,’ according to Congress’s Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Another piece of legislation would re-establish a task force formed under Trump within the Department of Justice specifically focused on Chinese espionage. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray estimated last year his agency has more than 2,000 active investigations related to Chinese spying. 

The FBI estimates that Chinese counterfeit goods, pirated software and theft of trade secrets have cost the U.S. economy between $225 billion and $600 billion. 

Actress and environmental activist Jane Fonda once again addressed an overseas audience, warning Democratic voters abroad that former President Donald Trump will ‘jail’ anyone who protests his policies if he’s re-elected. 

‘If you are young out there abroad, you’re going to want to vote so that you have a livable future. And you’re going to want to vote so that you have a voice in a democracy. Now, with a Harris ticket, you will have a voice, if you want something to happen, or you want something to not happen, you can lobby. You can protest, demonstrate, you can do all kinds of things,’ Fonda said during a Democrats Abroad campaign event for the Harris-Walz ticket Thursday afternoon. 

‘The Orange Man will not let that happen. He puts the people who don’t agree with him in jail, and he said he’s going to make their lives miserable,’ Fonda continued before a moderator for the campaign event interjected that their next speaker, Sen. Ed Markey, was set to address the virtual event. 

Democrats Abroad is the official arm of the Democratic Party for American citizens living overseas, including registering them to vote and keeping them apprised of key policy issues during election cycles. About three million U.S. citizens live abroad and vote overseas, according to the Federal Voting Assistance Program. 

The group held an hours-long campaign event Thursday afternoon on Zoom, where a bevy of elected Democratic officials and Hollywood elites spoke to those living overseas about why they are supporting the Harris-Walz ticket. 

Hollywood stars such as Kyra Sedgewick, Rob Reiner, Alfre Woodard and Fonda, as well as elected officials including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Attorney General Eric Holder and Rep. Adam Schiff, delivered short remarks to those watching, encouraging them to snub Trump at the ballot box. 

‘One of the main reasons … this particular election in this coming November is so utterly critical, is because one of the two top tickets – and I don’t think I need to mention the names – will take us in the absolutely wrong direction. I’m going to say the Orange Man. Okay, the Orange Man has let us know in no uncertain terms that on day one, if he is elected, it’s going to be ‘Drill, baby, drill.’ And as I said, the world cannot afford another four years of not paying attention to the climate crisis. It’s going to be too late to solve this existential crisis. We need a strong democracy. And the Orange Man has also let us know that he’s not crazy about democracy,’ Fonda continued in her remarks. 

Pelosi also slammed Trump, while opting to call the 45th president ‘what’s his name’ and arguing that ‘our democracy is at stake’ this election cycle. She added that she’s grateful to God that she was serving as speaker of the House on Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of Trump’s breached the U.S. Capitol, instead of a Republican House leader. 

‘I want to say this immodestly, but I was very glad that God placed me to be the speaker on January 6 of last time. Because if it had been a Republican speaker, the whole story would be different now. So, Hakeem Jeffries must be the Speaker of the House on January 6. That’s a must. It’s up to you. No burden, just up to you,’ Pelosi said. 

The former attorney general under the Obama administration, Eric Holder, also addressed those watching, arguing that Trump’s political statements and policies during the 2024 campaign cycle have been ‘chilling.’ 

‘They’ve grown comfortable with everything from gerrymandering to voter suppression to outright intimidation. And this is profoundly, you know, un American. I mean, earlier this summer, Donald Trump asked a part of his MAGA base, talking to some Maga supporters, he told them that you just have to vote just this time. Vote just this time. And then he said you won’t have to do it anymore. That’s a pretty chilling thing,’ Holder said. 

Holder joined the Harris campaign earlier this year to lead the vetting process of her potential running mates before Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was announced as the candidate last month.

September is a key month for American voters abroad, with federal law requiring absentee ballots to be sent to members of the military and voters overseas 45 days before the election. The ballots will be sent out by Sept. 21 during this election cycle. 

Political headwinds have recently shifted in eight close House races around the country. With less than two months until Election Day, Democrats continue to ride a wave of enthusiasm for their new presidential nominee.

Six races have shifted in Democrats’ favor, while just two are looking better for Republicans, according to a nonpartisan analysis by the Cook Political Report.

Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has spent the summer crisscrossing the country to campaign for fellow GOP lawmakers as he seeks to hold onto his razor-thin, four-seat majority in the House.

Two of the races that inched toward the left are in districts President Biden won in 2020 but are held by GOP representatives Don Bacon, R-Neb., and Michelle Steele, R-Calif. Both their ratings switched from ‘lean Republican’ to ‘toss up.’

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, who flipped her seat from red to blue in 2020, saw her race move from ‘likely’ victory for Republicans to only leaning in their favor.

Three Democratic seats — those held by representatives Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas — have also become safer for the left.

Moskowitz and Cuellar’s race predictions shifted to solidly and ‘likely’ blue, respectively, while Kaptur’s seat is now leaning Democratic after being classified a ‘toss-up.’

Democrats could be on track to lose a seat in the House, however, with the race for Rep. Mary Peltola’s seat becoming a ‘toss-up’ in Alaska, a state former President Trump won in 2020.

Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, which Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., is vacating to run in the nearby 4th Congressional District, is now ‘likely’ to be held by Republicans after her departure.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the House Democrats’ campaign arm, took a victory lap over Cook’s latest updates Friday. 

‘House Democrats continue to build momentum and grassroots enthusiasm across the country, while House GOP incumbents and candidates continue to fall flat on their faces,’ DCCC spokesperson Viet Shelton said in a statement to the press touting the update.

Republicans appeared to be on track to possibly win both the White House and Congress before Biden’s shocking decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race in late July.

Democrats have since been riding a wave of enthusiasm for their new candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, despite a lack of expansive policy platforms and few unscripted media appearances.

At least one House Republican who spoke with Fox News Digital this week was bullish about the GOP’s chances of victory, however.

‘If these predictive sites are to be believed, maybe Donald Trump’s got a 42% chance to be president. We’ve got a, you know, 60-some percent chance to take the Senate and a 55% chance to keep the House. So, that’s a better hand of cards than we’re holding today,’ the GOP lawmaker said. 

‘I would say this. If Donald Trump gets elected, he will likely usher in a Republican House and Senate along with him.’

Last month, House GOP leaders were expressing concerns about being out-raised by Democrats.

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., head of the House GOP campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), confirmed he sounded alarm bells in comments to Fox Business in August.

‘That’s true, and we’ve seen the fundraising on the Democrat side just go through the roof. And so I’ve warned my candidates and my colleagues in the Congress that we’ve got to step up and continue doing the things we need to do to win,’ Hudson said at the time.

He said the response from House Republicans has been ‘great,’ adding, ‘Everyone stepped up. We had a number of people pledge more money to the committee. … I think folks are ready for the fight.’

Fox Business’ Grady Trimble and Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report

Which of these things is not like the others? The economy. The border. Abortion. Foreign policy. 

The first three are issues many voters consistently tell pollsters are the subjects most important to them in 2024. Foreign policy? Dwarfed by the others. In fact, recent Fox polling shows that foreign policy decisions were the most important subjects to only 3% of registered voters surveyed in Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia and Arizona. Foreign policy only climbs to 4% when Fox asked the question nationally.

So why care about foreign policy in a race like the one between Vice President Harris and former President Trump? The importance of foreign policy as a determining factor in the race for the presidency rises and falls. Vietnam wore on the public consciousness in the late 1960s. It drove former President Lyndon Johnson away from seeking re-election in 1968. The Iranian hostage crisis certainly didn’t help former President Carter as he stumbled in 1980. It’s believed that former President Reagan scored a boost from improving America’s image on the global stage. Staring down the Soviets certainly enabled Reagan to cruise to victory in 1984.

Former President George H.W. Bush seemingly received no benefit for the 1991 Gulf War nor the fall of the Eastern Bloc in the late ‘80s and early ’90s. This was ironic. The president earned a staggering 91% approval rating just after the Gulf War. Yet he lost to former President Clinton less than two years later. The events of 9/11 lifted the fate of former President George W. Bush in 2001. Bush won re-election in 2004. But casualties from the war in Iraq cost him support that fall. 

So, should we focus on foreign policy as a crucial issue in 2024? Hard to say. But in a tight race, anything might be decisive. Especially in battleground states where the race is a statistical dead heat.

‘Pocketbook issues are always the most important issues for most people,’ said Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind. But Bucshon offered a caveat.

‘(Foreign policy) could be in the national security space part of the election narrative because the vice president was obviously part of this decision-making progress,’ the Indiana Republican said.

That is precisely what Republicans hope to highlight as Congress returns to session. Biden is out the door. Harris is now the Democratic nominee. And Republicans hope to tell the story of the vice president and foreign policy.

War in the Middle East. Executions of Israeli hostages. Even the controversy involving Trump honoring service members killed in Afghanistan three years ago. Curiously, the incident and questions surrounding how Trump and his team conducted themselves at Arlington National Cemetery may have actually retrained focus on why they were there in the first place: the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan under the watch of the president and vice president.

A mother of one of the 13 U.S. service members killed in the Abbey Gate attack at the Kabul airport railed against the administration.

‘We’ve been disrespected so much in the last three years,’ Kelly Barnett told Fox. She’s a Gold Star mother who lost her son, Taylor Hoover, in the terrorist attack. ‘No response from them. No ‘I’m sorry.’’

Republicans see this as connective tissue to Harris.

‘I think it’s open to criticism because the vice president was intimately involved in that discussion (to withdraw from Afghanistan),’ said Bucshon.

Harris even said as much during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash in 2021 after the withdrawal.

‘(President Biden) just made a really big decision. Afghanistan,’ said Bash. ‘Were you the last person in the room?’

‘Yes,’ replied Harris.

‘And you feel comfortable?’ countered Bash.

‘I do,’ answered Harris.

On NBC, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., noted that former President Trump ‘was never able’ to get out of Afghanistan despite wanting to do so.

‘I give President Biden and Vice President Harris credit for finally ending a war after 20 years,’ said Khanna.

The California Democrat conceded the administration bungled the withdrawal. But Khanna believes Harris and the president ‘deserve credit’ for actually extracting the U.S. from the protracted conflict. In addition, some Republicans point to the Israel/Hamas war as a flashpoint for the administration.

‘Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have tried to hamstring Israel every step of the way here,’ Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said on Fox.

On Fox Business, Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, argued that the only ‘two-state solution’ Harris and vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz care about is winning ‘Pennsylvania and Michigan.’

But when it comes to the Middle East, the administration contends it’s clear who is to blame — despite the Mideast crisis unfolding on its watch.

‘Hamas is responsible for their deaths. And as the president said, most leaders pay for their crimes,’ said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.

The campaign trail now moves from battleground states like Nevada and North Carolina to Capitol Hill as Congress returns to session. Expect congressional Republicans to curate a narrative about the Biden administration’s foreign policy — and latch that to Harris.

The House is slated to vote on a number of measures in the coming days pertaining to China. There may even be legislation tied to Israel and the Mideast War. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is releasing an exhaustive report about the Afghanistan withdrawal imminently. The committee also issued a subpoena to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to testify about the withdrawal Sept. 19.

The State Department contends Blinken isn’t available then. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller called the subpoena ‘unnecessary,’ arguing Blinken worked with the committee in good faith. But Foreign Affairs Committee spokeswoman Leslie Shedd said Blinken knew the committee wanted his testimony since late May.

‘The chairman offered the secretary any session day in the month of September to come in, and he refused. Instead, he vaguely suggested November or December — when it is far too late for Congress to take legislative action to fix the problems at the State Department that led to the withdrawal,’ Shedd said.

Regardless, the coming days will present lots of fodder about what went wrong in Afghanistan three years ago. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will present the families of the 13 service members killed in Afghanistan with the Congressional Gold Medal in a ceremony Tuesday.

So, do the foreign policy arguments stick to Harris? Unclear. However, you’ll notice that Republicans recently began to invoke the ‘Biden-Harris administration.’ That’s a concerted effort to pivot from Biden and Velcro issues to the vice president — once she became the nominee.

But will foreign policy make a difference? It can. But we won’t know until the vote is in. As observed earlier, George W. Bush won re-election over former Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in 2004. But there were ‘micro’ costs to Bush’s campaign over the Iraq war in particular regions and precincts.

And in a close election, that’s why foreign policy might matter in 2024.