Presidential campaign shaken by second assassination attempt 50 days before elections

Fifty days left until election day – and the race for the White House is once again in jeopardy.

Two months after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in western Pennsylvania, the Secret Service opened fire while Trump was golfing at one of his golf courses in southern Florida in an attempt to prevent a suspected second assassination attempt on the former president.

After decades without an assassination attempt on a sitting president or a presidential candidate of one of the major parties, this summer the country narrowly escaped for the second time a tragedy of gigantic proportions that would only deepen the country's already deep-rooted polarization.

“Nothing will stop me. I will NEVER SURRENDER!” the former president vowed in a fundraising email to his supporters on Sunday after the incident.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS FROM FOX NEWS ON THE SECOND ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON DONALD TRUMP

A key Trump ally, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, argued in a statement: “As Americans, we must unite behind him in November to protect our republic and bring peace back to the world.”

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It is still far too early to estimate whether the recent incident will have an impact on the race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed President Biden.

The only thing that is certain is that the remaining time of the 2024 season will pass quickly.

Harris stressed that “the clock is ticking” as she called on her supporters at a fundraiser on Saturday to volunteer and mobilize their friends to vote.

“Please join our teams in our swing states and help register people to vote. … And talk to your neighbors and friends about what's at stake,” she urged.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS SHOW IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

The first and possibly only debate between the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates is behind us and early voting and mail-in voting have begun. In the seven crucial swing states that determined Biden's victory over Trump in 2020 and will likely determine the winner of the 2024 election, the showdown between Harris and Trump remains a race with the largest possible margin of error.

The latest Fox News Power Rankings currently show tie results in six out of seven states.

These states – Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada – account for the bulk of the Democratic and Republican campaigns and are the battlegrounds in the advertising war between the two sides.

“I think it's going to be a question of voter turnout. Whoever gets the better turnout in those seven states is going to win,” veteran Republican strategist Nicole Schlinger told Fox News.

Harris and Trump hold competing rallies in key battlegrounds

Harris' campaign touted a “historic 24-hour victory” last week, demonstrating its fundraising strength by raising $47 million immediately after the debate.

The money raised by Harris' campaign was the latest sign that the vice president has seen a sharp increase in fundraising in the nearly two months since she replaced Biden at the top of the 2024 Democratic national ticket.

“Fifty days is an eternity in politics, but today I would much rather be Kamala Harris than Donald Trump,” said longtime Democratic strategist Joe Caizzzo, a veteran of several presidential campaigns. “I think the enthusiasm is still overwhelming among Democrats, but there is still a lot of work to be done.”

CASH DASH: Harris earns a lot of money after debate with Trump

The Harris campaign emphasizes that it is investing much of its fundraising money in grassroots work and voter mobilization, pointing out that it is “devoting its resources to reaching the voters who will decide the election.”

The large-scale ground campaign, originally set up when Biden was nominated, includes over 312 offices and more than 2,000 staff in key campaign centers, according to the campaign team, and is coordinated between the presidential campaign, the DNC and the state Democratic parties.

Comparing Harris' campaign to the DNC and Trump's campaign to the RNC, Democrats have a sizable advantage in the field campaign. However, Trump relies on a handful of allied outside groups to help him run turnout drives traditionally run by a presidential campaign.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley disputed claims that Democrats had run a stronger voter mobilization campaign.

“No, they don't have a stronger ground campaign. I feel very, very comfortable with the ground campaign that we are putting in place through Trump Force 47,” the RNC chairman stressed in an interview with Fox News Digital last week.

Whatley promised: “We have the tools we need to get our message across to every voter we speak to. And we are confident that we will win this election and win on November 5.”

In addition, Schlinger, who has participated in numerous Republican presidential campaigns, believes that Trump has the advantage on the crucial issue.

“Voters whose most important issue is the economy believe that the economy is going in the wrong direction and that Donald Trump will do a better job of handling it,” she stressed. “Harris, in my opinion, will have a hard time explaining how she will do anything differently from Joe Biden on this issue.”

Schlinger added that familiarity with Republican candidate Trump could give undecided voters an advantage.

“Nearly a third of voters said they need to know more about Kamala Harris. With President Trump, you know what you're getting, and I think that's an advantage for Republicans,” she argued.

Get the latest updates on the 2024 election, exclusive interviews and more in our digital election hub, Fox News.

Source of the original article: Showdown between Harris and Trump: 50 days before the election, the presidential race is shaken by a second assassination attempt