As a fall rematch between President Biden and former president Donald Trump becomes increasingly likely, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania is announcing an Election Threats Task Force, a federal-state partnership, in the critical battleground state.
The task force, announced Thursday morning by Governor Josh Shapiro, will seek to thwart attempts to disrupt elections as well as protect voters from intimidation. The organization will include the Homeland Security Department, the Justice Department, the Pennsylvania Department of State, and multiple state agencies.
In a country already awash in disinformation and lies about the safety, security, and integrity of elections, the task force points to how seriously elected officials are taking threats to the coming campaign.
Pennsylvania is one of the first battleground states, if not the first, to announce such a collaboration this far from November.
“We take our responsibility as stewards of our democracy seriously and the Election Threats Task Force will ensure all levels of government are working together to combat misinformation, safeguard the rights of every citizen and ensure this election is safe, secure, free and fair,” Shapiro said in a statement.
After the 2020 election, Pennsylvania election officials had to navigate a sustained effort by Trump and his allies to overturn his reelection loss in a state that Biden had won by 80,000 votes.
Shapiro, then the attorney general, fought multiple lawsuits, including efforts to get millions of ballots thrown out. Other election officials, including Al Schmidt, a Republican who is now the secretary of the commonwealth and then a Philadelphia election official, faced death threats.
In addition to the task force, Shapiro and Schmidt created a fact-check page on the administration website, debunking numerous false claims about the 2020 election and voting in the state.
New York Times
Biden moves to block Chinese EVs from US
WASHINGTON — President Biden took steps Thursday toward blocking Chinese electric vehicles from entry to the US auto market, saying internet-connected cars and trucks from China posed risks to national security because their operating systems could send sensitive information to Beijing.
The immediate action was the opening of a Commerce Department investigation into security threats, which could lead to new regulations or restrictions on Chinese vehicles.
But administration officials made clear it was the first step in what could be a wide range of policy responses meant to stop low-cost Chinese electric vehicles — either manufactured in China or assembled by Chinese companies in countries such as Mexico — from flooding the US market and potentially driving domestic automakers out of business.
China has rapidly scaled up its production of electric vehicles in recent years, setting it on a collision course with Biden’s industrial policy efforts that seek to help American automakers dominate that market at home and abroad. Some of its smaller cars sell for less than $11,000 each — significantly less than a comparable American-made electric vehicle.
The administration’s actions Thursday come as Biden’s likely opponent in November, former president Donald Trump, criticizes him for pushing automakers toward electric vehicles — and as each of the candidates tries to cast himself as tougher on China.
The measures stemmed from conversations with Detroit automakers, union autoworkers, and EV giant Tesla, which was recently supplanted by Chinese company BYD as the world’s biggest seller of electric cars.
Thursday’s action did not immediately impose new barriers on Chinese electric vehicles, which already face high tariffs and have not yet penetrated the growing American market for clean energy cars.
New York Times
Biden campaign leading on cash, so far
President Biden faces a number of obstacles on the road to reelection. Money won’t likely be one of them.
Groups allied with Biden have already committed to spending more than $700 million to help him beat Donald Trump in the 2024 election, according to a political strategist familiar with national fundraising. That’s in addition to the $130 million his campaign reported having on hand at the start of February.
Trump’s financial situation, by comparison, is starting to show cracks. His campaign spent more than it raised in January and allied political action committees are spending millions on his legal defense that would otherwise go to reelection efforts. The Republican National Committee’s fund-raising also lags behind its Democratic counterpart.
On top of that, Trump’s personal finances may be strained after court orders to pay a combined $540 million in damages from both a civil fraud suit and a defamation case.
Money could be a difference-maker in the 2024 election where margins are expected to be incredibly tight. Spending this cycle is on track to surpass the $14.4 billion record set in 2020, according to OpenSecrets. In 2020, Biden was the first candidate in US history to raise more than $1 billion, compared to the $774 million Trump raised. Trump faced a cash crunch in the final weeks leading up to the election that year, forcing him to slash planned ad spending in key states.
A direct comparison between the complicated network of entities supporting Biden and Trump is difficult to compute, because some organizations, like the GOP-aligned National Rifle Association and progressive group MoveOn, don’t have to publicly report their fund-raising until after the election. Various indicators suggest Democrats are way ahead.
Biden has been able to stockpile cash, while Trump spends millions in a contested primary and his political operation shells out several million per month on legal costs associated with his four criminal indictments.
That’s helped Biden build a large lead over Trump in the money race, though there’s no guarantee Republicans won’t catch up once Trump is officially the nominee. Super PACs, which rely on a small group of deep-pocketed donors, can raise vast amounts of money quickly.
Bloomberg News