Yesterday, former President Donald Trump criticized President Joe Biden for sleeping on the beach while the storm raged on and criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for attending a swanky California fundraiser at the same time. Biden defended against this after a press conference yesterday, saying he was on the phone with governors the whole weekend. Republican state governors have praised his and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s efforts to help.

After the comments, Harris changed her schedule to return to Washington, D.C., for a FEMA briefing on the devastation and federal government response and will have closed-door meetings and briefings today. Biden also announced a visit to North Carolina tomorrow and plans to schedule a trip to Florida and Georgia at some point as well.

“I expect to be down there by Wednesday or Thursday if it would be clear for me to go,” Biden said at a press conference yesterday. “You guys who travel with me know there’s an entourage that’s, that can be disruptive.”

A storm so close to the election could have an effect on Nov. 5, particularly since many of the states affected are swing states. Previously, former President George W. Bush’s flawed response to Hurricane Katrina, which claimed almost 1,400 lives in 2005, was determined to have likely contributed to the Republicans losing the House and Senate in 2006.

Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC) discussed the possibility that the storm could do more than change voters’ minds. It could interfere with their ability to even cast a vote, particularly in conservative parts of the state that were hit.

“I mean, this could flip an election because if you can’t get the western part, again, like the eastern part, we generally tend to be conservative, of course,” he said on Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria Bartiromo. “If those people are not able to get out and vote, heck, they’re looking for shelter and food and medicine, how are we going to get them to vote?”

Click here to read more about the politics of Hurricane Helene.

There’s VP favorability, and then there’s effectiveness

The vice presidential debate, set for 9 p.m. tonight at CBS News’s studio in New York City, will give Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) a chance to prove their effectiveness and communicate their running mates’ messages.

Walz has a “grandfatherly charm,” a Democratic strategist told Campaigns Reporter Mabinty Quarshie, which will do him good in northern swing states. However, that may not translate into what he needs to prove. Cayce Myers, a professor at Virginia Tech’s School of Communication, said Walz’s effectiveness “remains to be seen.”

2024 VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: VANCE AND WALZ TO GO TOE-TO-TOE IN CBS CONTEST

Likeability-wise, Walz wins in the polls. His favorability is 44%, according to New York Times-Siena College polls in Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Vance’s unfavorability is 48%.

What Vance does well is go on the offense. He is a very visible candidate this season, while the Democrats have pared back Walz’s media appearances since the summer. Vance also has the bonus of being able to relate to the “common man.”

“I think he also has some of that kind of common man thing going for him,” Republican strategist Steven Hilding said, pointing to Vance’s background. “Hillbilly Elegy has been, once again, a bestseller book. It’s been popular again on Netflix, so again, I think he also brings that kind of common man aspect that Trump might not necessarily have.”

How to watch the vice presidential debate, what to know about the moderators, and what’s on the line.

Trump cuts into Democrats’ critical voting bloc

A new NBC-Telemundo-CNBC poll released last weekend found Trump has historic support among Latino voters. Democrats have the lowest level of support from the group of any candidate from the last four presidential cycles, Congressional Reporter Samantha-Jo Roth reported.

To put it in perspective, in 2012, then-President Barack Obama secured the Latino vote by 39 points. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led with Latino people by 50 points. Now, Harris is seeing only 54% of Latinos supporting her.

“We could be in a historically new era. I’ve been doing this for 30 years. If you’d ever told me that the national number for Hispanics would be in the mid-to-high 30s, I’d say you’re crazy,” Mike Madrid, a longtime Republican operative, told Samantha-Jo.

The cause? Worries over the economy.

Eighty-five percent of Latino voters say the economy is very important to their vote in this year’s presidential election, according to a Pew Research Center study published last week.

“It’s clear that the real and concerted outreach by Republicans nationally and at the state level in places like Florida and Texas are paying off,” said Dennis Lennox, a GOP strategist. “It took a while, but more and more Republicans are realizing the party must look like the America of the second decade of the 21st century.”

The Harris campaign is nowhere near giving up on the voting bloc, though. It recently announced a $3 million investment into Spanish-language radio ads in battleground states.

Click here to read more about how Trump gained popularity among Latino voters.

Israel launches long-awaited Lebanon ground raids

The Israel Defense Forces started “targeted” ground raids inside Lebanon on Monday evening, the military announced on Telegram. U.S. officials have reportedly been told that the operations will be limited in scope, scale, and duration.

The military also ordered over two dozen communities to evacuate Lebanon in a post to X from the IDF’s Arabic spokesperson. Hezbollah has denied that troops have crossed into the border, according to the Associated Press, but Hezbollah spokesman Mohammad Afif said troops were ready “to have direct confrontation with enemy forces that dare to or try to enter Lebanon to inflict casualties among them.”

The incursion comes after Israel has launched a series of targeted attacks to wipe out Hezbollah’s senior ranks. Leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a strike in Beirut last Friday.

Click here to read more about the ground raids.

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What’s on today

Biden will receive a briefing on Helene at 11 a.m. Later, he will host a virtual meeting with rabbis about the High Holiday at 1:15 p.m.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is scheduled to brief at 1:30 p.m.

Harris has no public events on her schedule. She’ll stay in Washington for briefings on Helene.

Trump will campaign in Wisconsin, with an event in Waunakee at 1:30 p.m. and another in Milwaukee at 6 p.m.