New whistleblower records allege a failure of the Secret Service to provide funding for Homeland Security “jump teams” and their travel to support security efforts on the campaign trail ahead of the November election.

One email sent on Sept. 26 read, “Subject: Jump Team ‐ Out of Money,” according to a record obtained by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and his oversight team. 

The Department of Homeland Security’s investigation unit jump team provides “a mechanism to build the connections between mission support and the front-line,” according to the DHS website. 

FOR WISCONSIN DEMS, A 2024 WIN IN THE BATTLEGROUND STATE IS YEARS IN THE MAKING

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), an agency within DHS, is charged with addressing global threats. 

“Jump Team members are responsible for helping to solve immediate issues, guide how funding is allocated, and to assist in developing solutions to deliver support most effectively to our front-line,” the DHS website added. 

In the wake of two separate assassination attempts against former President Trump, who is currently campaigning to be president again, jump teams have been deployed to assist the U.S. Secret Service. 

SEE IT: WISCONSIN DAIRY FARMER SAYS ‘NO QUESTION’ TRUMP ADMIN WAS ‘MUCH BETTER’ THAN BIDEN-HARRIS

However, the documents provided to Grassley’s office via legally protected whistleblower disclosures show that fears of unpreparedness and mismanagement in the DHS and Secret Service could still be true, despite efforts to ramp up security. 

“Please do not submit or resubmit Jump Team authorizations. There is only $33 on the line right now,” DHS officials told HSI agents on Sept. 9, per Grassley. The senator’s office pointed to this email as an example of just how low the funds had fallen. 

On Sept. 26, agents were informed, “We will not receive more money for Jump Team this year.” 

The email instructed agents not to use the usual methods of expensing items, laying out a process of what to do instead. 

“If by some miracle money is added, you will be notified immediately,” the email continued. 

“The Secret Service has a critical, no-fail protective mission to carry out. Based on protected whistleblower disclosures, it neglected to transfer enough funds for HSI to reimburse its agents, calling into question the agency’s ability to manage federal resources and raising major concerns,” Grassley said in a statement. “Congress and the American people have witnessed too many Secret Service shortfalls in recent months – they deserve answers, and it’s Congress’ job to bring transparency and accountability.” 

WISCONSIN SENATE RACE SHIFTS TO ‘TOSS UP’ BY HANDICAPPER AS TAMMY BALDWIN FIGHTS FOR RE-ELECTION

In the Sept. 26 email from a DHS official, they revealed that “we had over $371,000 worth of Jump Team Authorizations Fail last night.” 

According to Grassley’s office and the documents it has obtained, agents have been required to pay for expenses the agency can’t cover. The senator noted that this would be in violation of the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits agencies from obligating or spending federal funds before they are appropriated.

Reimbursements to agents are also apparently being delayed, and employees are left with uncertainty about their pay. 

In a Wednesday letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas; acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe; Patrick Lechleitner, the deputy director and senior official performing the duties of the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and Katrina Berger, HSI executive associate director, Grassley described that “HSI agents are deployed, usually on very short notice, across the country on Jump Teams from as short as a few days for as long as multiple weeks, several times throughout the year.”

TRUMP, REPUBLICANS VENTURE TO BLUE AREAS IN WISCONSIN TO BOOST GOP TURNOUT

“The whistleblower disclosures further show that in some cases HSI agents have had to pay for their own travel expenses such as flights, food, rental cars, and hotels, and other incidentals, because HSI has delayed reimbursing agents for costs due to the Secret Service failing to transfer funds to HSI.”

“If you have an explanation to add context to these emails, I welcome it,” he told the leaders. 

Grassley requested additional information from the department and agencies, including documentation about the finances of HSI and its jump teams. 

Neither the Secret Service nor Homeland Security immediately provided comment to Fox News Digital.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday refused to answer questions about an Afghan national accused of an Election Day terror plot on behalf of ISIS, amid ongoing concerns about the vetting of those brought to the U.S.

Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich questioned Mayorkas at a White House briefing on Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, who was arrested and charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and receiving a firearm to be used to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism.

The filing in the case initially said Tawhedi came to the U.S. on a Special Immigrant Visa, in Sept. 2021 after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and is now on parole, although officials have since clarified that he came to the U.S. via humanitarian parole and later applied for SIV status.

AFGHAN NATIONAL CHARGED WITH ELECTION DAY TERROR PLOT REIGNITES VETTING CONCERNS 

Heinrich asked Mayorkas how he was brought to the U.S. and the screening he underwent. But Mayorkas said he wished to focus on the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. He was in North Carolina and participated in the briefing remotely.

“Over 200 people have lost their lives in Hurricane Helene. We have reports that at least ten individuals have lost their lives as a result of Hurricane Milton. And I’d be very pleased to answer your question in a different setting, but we’re here to talk about emergencies and the support that we can deliver to people in desperate need,” he said.

Heinrich asked again, specifically asking why he did not have answers prepared, but Mayorkas said that was not the case.

“What I said is, I’d be pleased to discuss this issue at a different time, but I am here to speak about disasters that have impacted people’s lives in real time. And that is a subject that I am addressing today,” he said.

Heinrich followed up to ask again but Mayorkas again declined.

“Jacqui, your persistence in questioning can be matched by my persistence in answers,” he said.

After the exchange, a senior administration official told Fox News that Tawhedi was screened three times. He was screened first to work security for the CIA in Afghanistan, then for humanitarian parole to enter the U.S. in 2021 – where he was vetted and screened in a third country — and then for special immigrant status, for which he was approved. His status has not yet been finalized. Currently, officials believe he was radicalized after coming to the U.S.

There is also no indication that there were any red flags that should have barred his entry at any point in the process. His alleged co-conspirator in the case entered the country in 2018 and also passed vetting to receive a green card.

AFGHAN MAN IN OKLAHOMA PLOTTED ELECTION DAY TERROR ATTACK IN US ON BEHALF OF ISIS, JUSTICE DEPT SAYS

The U.S. brought in more than 97,000 evacuees during the evacuation in 2021, of which about 77,000 were admitted via humanitarian parole, through a program called Operation Allies Welcome. 

But the new case has renewed concerns about vetting in the program, which have been identified for years by the DHS internal watchdog and by Republicans in Congress. In 2022, the DHS Office of Inspector General released a report in which it said it found that officials “did not always have critical data to properly screen, vet, or inspect the evacuees.” 

“As a result, DHS may have admitted or paroled individuals into the United States who pose a risk to national security and the safety of local communities,” the report said.

DHS OIG FAULTS AFGHAN VETTING, WARNS NATIONAL SECURITY THREATS MAY HAVE ENTERED US

A Pentagon inspector general report the same year revealed that at least 50 evacuees were brought to the U.S. whose information indicated “potentially serious security concerns” and that officials were unable to locate dozens with derogatory information.

A 2024 report found “vulnerabilities” in the processes of two DHS agencies for resolving derogatory information. It also found that DHS did not have a process for monitoring the expiration of the two-year parole period and guidelines for determining “re-parole” for parolees are “undefined.”

The Biden administration has repeatedly defended the vetting process, arguing that there is a multilayered process that includes classified and unclassified vetting, including against Pentagon and FBI databases as well as Interpol notices and other information. 

“Afghan evacuees who sought to enter the United States were subject to multi layered screening and vetting against intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism information,” a DHS spokesperson said on Wednesday. “If new information emerges after arrival, appropriate action is taken.” 

But the latest revelation has only fueled concerns from Republicans. In a letter to Mayorkas on Tuesday, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green said it was “unacceptable that the Biden-Harris administration is precariously failing to take measures to safeguard U.S. national security by allowing alleged terrorists into the interior of the United States to plot terrorist attacks.”

Fox News’ Matteo Cina contributed to this report.

The West’s response to Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 has been brought under fresh scrutiny this week – as outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg insisted the war in Ukraine may not have happened if the U.S. and NATO had a stronger response to that incursion. 

“If we had delivered a fraction of the weapons we have delivered after 2022, we may have actually prevented the war,” he said in an interview with Politico.

Stoltenberg, a Norwegian politician, led NATO from 2014 until last week. 

President Biden reportedly expressed a similar sentiment. 

“They f—ed up in 2014,” Biden said, according to Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward’s upcoming book, “War,” obtained by Fox News Digital. 

“That’s why we are here,” the 81-year-old said. “We f—ked it up. Barack never took [Russian President Vladimir] Putin seriously.”

NORTH KOREA TROOPS NOW FIGHTING FOR RUSSIA IN UKRAINE, SEOUL SAYS 

“We did nothing. We gave Putin a license to continue!” the president went on. “Well, I’m revoking his f—ing license!”

In 2014, the Kremlin annexed the Crimean Peninsula after the so-called Revolution of Dignity, when Ukrainians ousted Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych. It was a quick and bloodless takeover. Russia flooded the regions with migrants and fended off Ukrainian efforts to take it back. 

The Obama administration provided Ukraine with defensive weapons, sanctioned the Kremlin and kicked Russia out of the G-8, but some, even reportedly including Obama’s then-vice president, Biden, believe he should have done more. 

It came as Russia had also invaded Ukraine’s Donbas region and shot down a Malaysia Airlines flight with nearly 300 people on board. 

He stopped short of providing Ukraine with lethal weaponry. As president, Donald Trump reversed Obama’s policy, approving a plan to sell Ukraine Javelin missiles for $47 million.

In a 2014 interview with The Atlantic, Obama said he saw no benefit in the U.S. getting involved in the unfolding events in Europe related to Russia and Ukraine.

“The fact is that Ukraine, which is a non-NATO country, is going to be vulnerable to military domination by Russia no matter what we do,” Obama said. “This is an example of where we have to be very clear about what our core interests are and what we are willing to go to war for.”

In 2012, Obama famously downplayed the threat of Russia during a debate with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Romney had asserted that Russia was the U.S.’s greatest geopolitical foe. 

RUSSIA JAILS MERCENARY STEPHEN HUBBARD FOR FIGHTING AS A MERCENARY IN UKRAINE 

“The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years,” Obama chided at the time.

He also tasked his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, with pursuing a “reset” in U.S.-Russia relations, scrapping plans by President George W. Bush to build a missile shield in Eastern Europe that Russia saw as a direct military threat. Putin called that decision “correct and brave.”

Obama defended his 2014 policy in a 2023 interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. 

“Ukraine of that time was not the Ukraine that we’re talking about today,” Obama said. “There’s a reason there was not an armed invasion of Crimea, because Crimea was full of a lot of Russian speakers, and there was some sympathy to the views that Russia was representing.”

The U.S. has offered some $175 billion in security assistance and financial aid since the outbreak of war in 2022. 

Earlier this week, Ukraine struck a large oil terminal off the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea in the latest wave of attacks on Russian-controlled energy facilities. 

Russia has suffered some 600,000 casualties in its war with Ukraine – more than its losses in every conflict since World War II combined, according to U.S. officials. 

This September was the deadliest month of the entire war for Russia, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on a call Wednesday. 

“Russian losses, again both killed and wounded in action, in just the first year of the war exceeded the total of all Soviet losses in any conflict since World War II combined,” the official said.

However, the steep casualties are not a “definitive metric” of success for Ukraine, the official warned. Ukraine has also suffered mass casualties, though the U.S. has not disclosed how many. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in February that some 31,000 troops had been killed. 

The U.K. ministry of Defence put Russia’s daily casualty count at 1,271 in September, and said some 648,000 Russians had been killed or injured in the war. 

NORTH KOREAN TROOPS NOW FIGHTING FOR RUSSIA IN UKRAINE, SEOUL SAYS 

“It’s kind of the Russian way of war where they continue to throw mass into the problem, and I think we’ll continue to see high losses,” the U.S. military official said.

South Korea warned earlier this week that North Korea was sending its forces to fight alongside the Russians. 

Russia has also lost two-thirds of its pre-war inventory of tanks to Ukraine, along with 32 medium-to-large naval vessels. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is “trying to avoid a mass mobilization because of the effect that would have on Russia’s domestic population,” the official said. 

“At this point, he has been able to significantly increase the pay of these voluntary soldiers, and he has been able to continue to field those forces without doing a major mobilization.”

“And I think we’re just watching very closely how long that stance can actually be one that he can maintain, and I think it’s an important one for all of us to watch very closely,” the official added.

FMR ESTONIA PRESIDENT TELLS US TO STOP BEING AFRAID OF PUTIN 

Ukraine’s military said it struck a base in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region storing nearly 400 strike drones on Wednesday.

Russia has made some progress in the Donetsk region, taking the town of Vuhledar earlier this month and pressing toward Povrosk, a key railroad hub and supply station for Ukraine. 

The U.S. official said the Russian strategy around Vuhledar and Povrosk had brought “substantial casualties” for minor gains.

Russia’s Kursk region, which Ukraine invaded in August, is also in the midst of heavy fighting. Ukraine had hoped to divert Russian troops from the front line to defend Kursk. Russia has since recaptured some of the region, though the military official said that Ukrainian troops could hold onto the Kursk region for months or longer. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to pour billions into Ukraine’s defense. Last month, President Joe Biden announced an $8 billion package for Kyiv to supply it with military equipment through January. It is the last of the $61 billion that Congress approved in April for Ukraine. 

Despite Zelenskyy’s calls, Biden has resisted authorizing Ukraine’s use of U.S.-given long-range missiles, known as ATACMs, to strike inside Russia and take out its stores of weapons capabilities, for fear of escalation. 

Many U.S. lawmakers have backed Zelenskyy’s request, but the U.S. official said the Biden administration is not considering reversing its policy. He said many of the arms that Ukraine is looking to take out, like Russia’s deadly glide bombs, have been moved out of range of ATACMs. 

Former President Trump is proposing that federal education dollars “follow the student” in his possible second term, while pushing his “universal school choice policy,” and stressing that he backs it “all the way.” 

The former president championed school choice last week, making his strongest case yet for the movement on the federal level. 

“We want federal education dollars to follow the student, rather than propping up a bloated and radical bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.,” Trump said at an event in Milwaukee.  

TRUMP PUSH TO DISMANTLE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT MET WITH ENTHUSIASM IN HOUSE GOP

“If you want a better education for your child, Kamala Harris stands in your way,” Trump said. “Kamala and the Radical Left Democrat Party want to keep Black and Hispanic children trapped in family government. I think that’s really the reason.” 

The former president said he believes school choice “is the civil rights issue of our time.” 

“A child’s fate should be determined by their love of education, by their parents, by so many factors. But it can’t be determined by a ZIP code,” Trump said. “And no parent should be forced to send their child to a failing government-run school.” 

Trump’s universal school choice would allow parents to send their children to public, private or religious schools.

Trump’s stance is reflected in the 2024 Republican Party platform. According to proponents of school choice, it recognizes a role for both federal and state governments in expanding tax credit scholarship programs and Education Savings Accounts, which currently serve more than a million K-12 students across the country. 

The Trump campaign said school choice “leads to higher graduation rates, higher parental satisfaction and involvement, lower costs, increased competition among schools, and higher reading and math test scores.” 

At this point, 11 states have universal school choice, and 32 states and Washington, D.C., have at least one private school choice program – but 18 states have none. 

“Before President Trump took office, zero states had a universal school choice policy. Now, almost a dozen do, and it is in large part because of the voice and visibility that he gave to elevate the issue into the national consciousness during COVID – but even before that,” former Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News Digital.

“There is an increase in the number and needs of American school children with respect to alternatives to conventional public schools,” Conway said. “There is an increase in resistance among Kamala Harris and Democrats to allow these types of alternatives – these types of options and choices – to be in the hands of parents.” 

On the other side of the aisle, Democrats are expanding their opposition to school choice, and teachers’ unions rejoiced when Vice President Kamala Harris tapped Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, dubbing the ticket as a major win for public educators. 

Walz is a former teachers’ union member who has said he is opposed to the school choice “agenda.” 

MINNESOTA WALZ-APPOINTED BOARD REQUIRES TEACHERS TO ‘AFFIRM’ THEIR STUDENTS’ GENDER IDENTITIES

Teachers’ unions pushed hard to prolong school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many districts shuttered for more than a year. 

Former Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Walz was a “5-alarm fire for parents and students.” 

As for the Democratic Party platform, Democrats support all children “no matter their ZIP code” to have access to a “quality public K-12 education and for college to be affordable for every American.” 

Democrats are looking to push federal dollars toward public schools in an effort to “expand opportunities for higher education and job training.” 

Harris’ campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, but her website lays out her plan to “ensure parents can afford high-quality child care and preschool for their children.” 

Harris also plans to focus on working to “end the unreasonable burden of student loan debt and fight to make higher education more affordable, so that college can be a ticket to the middle class.” 

Harris said she would work to “scale up programs that create good career pathways for non-college graduates.” 

But Conway explained that parents are focused on having more of a role in their child’s education – now more than ever. 

“There is a continuation of the parent’s rights renaissance that started during COVID and spilled over into 2021 and into Glenn Youngkin’s election over Terry McAuliffe in 2021 and continues unabated in so many states across this country,” Conway said, noting that since the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered schools at the request of the teachers’ unions, there “are a higher number of people running for school board, and you have more parents engaged in choices of schools and character of curricula.” 

“There is a need for a charismatic and compelling leader to take this on,” Conway said, referring to Trump. 

By December 2020, Trump signed an executive order to expand education opportunities for American children and families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. That order offered flexibility to provide children with emergency K-12 scholarships to access in-person learning opportunities – an effort to provide an in-person learning option after prolonged school closures. 

The Trump administration also invested nearly $1.5 billion in the development of public charter schools and, under his tax reform bill, made it possible for parents to withdraw up to $10,000 tax-free per year from 529 education savings plans to cover public, private, or religious K-12 schooling costs. 

“President Trump says this is the civil rights issue of our time, and it is true, but also, when you look at the sheer numbers of charter schools and school choice scholarship recipients and even the alternatives, like homeschooled students – and that is still a growing piece – but parents want to take things into their own hands. They know their children best,” Conway said. “If Trump is re-elected, this is going to be a biggie.” 

As for the word “choice,” Conway said the left “wants to own that word” but only when it relates to abortion.

“The Democrat Party really only wants to talk to women from the waist down, whereas, these parents of school-aged children want people to talk to them from the waist up – their eyes, ears, brain and hearts – and that includes them giving choices,” she said. “We should not be ceding the word ‘choice’ and the idea that women have a right to choose to the left based on abortion. It should be, women have a right to choose where their children go to school and what is taught there.”

But Democrats believe school choice is anti-public schools – something Conway pushed back on – and argue that it would take funding away from teachers and schools themselves. 

“It is just about competition,” she said. “You can customize your coffee 14,000 different ways at Starbucks. You can get Amazon to deliver anything to your home this afternoon. And yet, you are stuck with one choice for school.” 

She added: “It is like shopping in a Soviet Safeway for your child’s education, and it makes no sense, and it does not match the rest of the way we live our lives.” 

The Harris-Walz campaign did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment. 

FIRST ON FOX: A woman whose skull was fractured by an illegal immigrant let out of jail as part of a program launched by then San Francisco DA Kamala Harris is blasting the vice president over a resurfaced speech where Harris discusses the matter as being the result of a “glitch” in the system. 

“That ‘glitch’ certainly had a negative impact on my life,” Amanda Kiefer, who suffered a brutal attack at the hands of an illegal immigrant in 2008 while she walked down the street with friends, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “It would be easier to believe it was a mistake if Democrats in San Francisco didn’t have a long history of enabling illegal immigration, choosing not to prosecute illegal immigrant criminals and refusal to deport anyone.”

“It wasn’t a “glitch” that the Biden Harris administration has let in millions of illegal immigrants, including tens of thousands of known, convicted criminals and those on the terror watch list. At a certain point, it can’t be incompetence, it’s intentional. Harris doesn’t care about Americans’ safety.”

Then San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, in a resurfaced speech, blamed a “glitch” in the system while discussing the attack on Kiefer.

CBS ’60 MINUTES’ AIRS TWO DIFFERENT ANSWERS FROM VP HARRIS TO THE SAME QUESTION

“But whenever you’re rolling out something new, there will at some point become apparent that there is a mistake or a glitch in the design, and when you’re in these kinds of positions, that mistake or glitch is on the front page of the paper,” Harris said during a 2010 Women in Leadership conference at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business while discussing the “Back on Track” program she launched that allowed non-violent offenders to avoid jail and instead enter job training and eventually have their records expunged.

“And so you have to take a knock for that,” Harris said in the speech. “When I rolled out Back on Track, I took a big political hit, when a couple of years later, it turned out, especially in criminal law, because when you’re taking, when you’re doing innovation in the criminal justice system, let me tell you what that means. That means I’m doing something differently with somebody who’s on my radar. Why are they on my radar? Because they committed a crime.”

Kiefer was brutally attacked by 20-year-old Alexander Izaguirre, an illegal immigrant, while she walked with friends down a San Francisco street in 2008. Izaguirre stole her purse and then attempted to run her down in a waiting SUV, fracturing her skull. 

Izaguirre had been arrested a few months prior to the attack on drug charges but was able to roam free, thanks to the program launched by Harris.

Harris continued in the speech, “Now, remember, I’m focused on the non-violent offender with these innovative programs, right? The fear will always be that guy will go out and kill a baby and a grandmother tomorrow, and then everyone will look backwards and say, ‘Why didn’t you do it the way it’s always been done? Why did you try something new?’ It’s a big risk. And so when I rolled out Back on Track, couple years in, we learned that there was basically, there was a participant who went out, during the time he was in the program, committed a robbery, there was a horrible injury to the victim. And turned out that this individual is an undocumented immigrant.”

In her speech, Harris went on to mention an article written about her at the time that said, “‘Kamala Harris has created a program to shield illegal aliens.’”

“Right?” Harris said. “And that’s when my friends came really in handy to just say it’s, you know, because I was upset about the unfairness and the mischaracterization and . . . ‘Don’t people want these things fixed? Don’t they understand what innovation requires?’ And, and that’s when you have to rely on your friends who understand what you do and care about you and will support you without judgment, but also give you critical feedback when you need it.”

KAMALA HARRIS STRUGGLING TO SAY HOW SHE’S DIFFERENT THAN BIDEN ON ‘THE VIEW’ SURPRISES CNN PANEL

In 2009, Harris told the press that Izaguirre is “being prosecuted” and “will be deported with my full encouragement and support.” Harris also said at the time that Izaguirre’s release was a “flaw in the design” that was fixed.

Kiefer also spoke out about her experience earlier this year, Fox News Digital reported. She said that the experience was a “red pill moment” for her, leading her to abandon what she said were her liberal political views from the time and embrace candidates such as former President Trump.

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Kiefer appeared alongside Trump when he visited the Arizona border earlier this year and spoke along with other victims of illegal immigrant crime.

“I moved out of San Francisco because I didn’t feel safe there and I don’t think our country is going to be safe under Kamala Harris,” Kiefer said. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign, which did not provide a comment.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee contributed to this report.
 

MADISON, Wis. — Democrats in the state believe they have been laying the groundwork for winning the 2024 presidential election for roughly seven years. 

Wisconsin Democrats Chair Ben Wikler told Fox News Digital in an interview that their “everything, everywhere, all at once” and neighbor-to-neighbor organizing has been building the infrastructure for Democrat nominee Vice President Harris to win the critical battleground state. 

He said Democrats in Wisconsin have been “building teams of neighbors to take responsibility for talking to folks in their surrounding area” continuously “for the last seven years.”

SEE IT: WISCONSIN DAIRY FARMER SAYS ‘NO QUESTION’ TRUMP ADMIN WAS ‘MUCH BETTER’ THAN BIDEN-HARRIS

The Harris campaign is then building off the groundwork they have spent years laying for Democrats, he said. 

Wikler attributed recent statewide electoral wins for Democrats in the last six years to this organizing strategy. 

“What we know is that a trusted messenger matters almost as much as the message,” Wikler said. “And there are Democrats in rural areas talking to other rural voters, in suburbs talking to other suburban voters, in cities talking to other city-dwellers about their votes.”

WISCONSIN SENATE RACE SHIFTS TO ‘TOSS UP’ BY HANDICAPPER AS TAMMY BALDWIN FIGHTS FOR RE-ELECTION

“We think that the messages that Harris and Walz are carrying, they can resonate with everybody,” he said. “And having a messenger who can actually start that conversation and have it not at the talking-point level but at ‘what’s actually happening in our lives and communities’ level makes all the difference. “

Wikler noted that “Wisconsin is the perennial tipping-point state,” referencing its past electoral shifts from going for former President Trump in 2016 to President Biden in 2020.

TRUMP, REPUBLICANS VENTURE TO BLUE AREAS IN WISCONSIN TO BOOST GOP TURNOUT

“On the Democratic side, we have a real ground organizing volunteer operation, and we have 16,000 people who’ve done their first volunteer shift with Democrats” since Harris became the nominee late in the campaign. 

He hit Republicans and allied organizations for using “paid canvassers, people who are hired to go knock on doors but don’t necessarily have a connection to the community where they’re having those conversations.”

HERE’S WHAT 2 UNDECIDED WISCONSIN VOTERS ARE HOLDING OUT FOR IN 2024 ELECTION

“I think we’ll see at the end of the day which of these strategies has a bigger effect,” Wikler added. 

This week, Fox News Power Rankings rated Wisconsin as a “Toss Up” going into the presidential election. 

On the ground, Republicans and Democrats alike are expecting the state to come down to just tens of thousands of votes, as it did in 2016 and 2020.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

A new poll released this week shows former President Trump with a strong lead over Vice President Kamala Harris on the subject of immigration – even after Harris has sought to present herself as the best candidate to secure the southern border.

The Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday found Harris leading Trump in Pennsylvania, while Trump is ahead in Michigan and Wisconsin. The three Rust Belt states are being closely watched as they could determine which candidate is the next president.

But on the question of who is best to handle immigration, Trump has the edge in all three states. He carries a four-point lead in Pennsylvania (50-46), a nine-point lead in Michigan (53-44) and an eight-point lead in Wisconsin (52-44).

VANCE, WALZ SPAR ON IMMIGRATION DURING VP DEBATE: BEEN TO THE BORDER ‘MORE THAN OUR BORDER CZAR’ 

Trump was also preferred in all states on the economy and handling the conflict in the Middle East, while Harris was preferred on abortion and preserving democracy.

Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, along with Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada, had razor-thin margins that decided President Biden’s 2020 White House victory over Trump. And the seven states are likely to determine if Trump or Harris wins the 2024 presidential election.

Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are also the three Rust Belt states that make up the Democrats’ so-called “Blue Wall.”

The party reliably won all three states for a quarter-century before Trump narrowly captured them in the 2016 election to win the White House.

A recent Marquette Law School poll found that 49% favor Trump while just 37% favor Harris on immigration, with 8% saying they’d be about the same, and 6% saying neither are good on the issue.

Harris was tasked with tackling root causes of migration to the southern border in early 2021 as border numbers began to surge. She was eventually dubbed the “border czar” by media outlets and critics – although the White House rejected that title.

HARRIS SHIFTS KEY POSITIONS ON BORDER, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AS CAMPAIGN PROMISES ‘PRAGMATIC’ APPROACH

Republicans have accused her of playing a key role in the border crisis and the policies they believe fueled it, including the rolling back of Trump-era policies. Trump has promised to launch a massive deportation operation if elected, restart border wall construction and end Biden-era parole policies.

Critics have also highlighted her more left-wing policies as a senator and presidential candidate in 2019 – including her positions on immigration funding and the detention of illegal immigrants.

Harris’ campaign says her views have changed since 2019 and have been shaped by her involvement in the administration. This year, her campaign has highlighted her past as a prosecutor and noted her backing of a bipartisan Senate bill to increase funding to the border.

Her campaign has noted a recent sharp drop in border encounters since President Biden signed a presidential proclamation in June limiting asylum entries. She has accused Trump of scuppering the border bill for political purposes and of “playing political games.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday doubled down on his fierce criticism of those he accused of deliberately spreading false information about the work the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is doing during hurricane season.

“There is so much false information being spread, and we cannot have people relying on that false information or actually deterred from seeking relief that’s available to them that they need because of that false information,” Mayorkas said on “Morning Joe” Wednesday before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida Wednesday night. “It’s really pernicious.”

Mayorkas, along with DHS and FEMA, have been under pressure over the handling of Hurricane Helene. The agency has been pushing back against claims online that it has diverted resources to illegal immigrants, that it is out of money, that it has been slow in responding and that it is blocking recovery flights. 

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Focus on the agency was fueled when Mayorkas said last week that FEMA does “not have the funds to make it through the season” although he said it did have enough for “immediate needs.” The administration has pushed for Congress to return and pass a spending bill to provide additional funding for the hurricane season.

But the questions over funding led critics to look at the $650 million provided for grants to help illegal immigrants in the Shelter and Services Program (SSP). It led to accusations, including from former President Trump, that money that could have gone to disaster relief was being diverted. The administration pointed to the fact that the funding is congressionally appropriated and is separate from the much larger Disaster Relief Fund. But Republicans have still expressed concern that an “entanglement” in the border crisis has had a knock-on effect.

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Others have pointed to a possible political bias after an “equity” blueprint went vital, saying “Diversity, equity, and inclusion cannot be optional.” 

Republicans have accused the administration of mishandling the response more broadly, with House Speaker Mike Johnson accusing it of “egregious errors and mistakes” and a lack of leadership.

But FEMA and DHS have been pushing back against numerous viral online claims that it says are false, including claims that FEMA grants must be repaid, that it is distributing aid based on demographic characteristics and that it is restricting airspace for recovery operations. 

President Biden has also slammed “reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies that are disturbing people.”

On Wednesday, Mayorkas warned that misinformation can stop recovery efforts.

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“Historically, this country has come together as one in times of crisis, in times of disaster. We need that history to be lived today. We cannot have the irresponsible voices that actually wreak damage to individuals in need and prevent survivors from seeking the relief that is available to them,” he said.

He had made a similar appeal on Tuesday night on MSNBC, speaking on the impact on the workforce and on the ability for individuals to get help.

“It is extraordinarily damaging. Most of all, it is extraordinarily damaging to the survivors of Hurricane Helene, of natural disasters. Individuals lose trust in their government, they are reluctant to seek the assistance that they need to meet their immediate demands — food, water, shelter. They don’t seek it. They are entitled to it. They need it,” Mayorkas said. “We implore them to ignore the false information that is being spread and to seek the help that we have available to them.

“It is also extremely demoralizing to our federal law, our emergency response personnel, the state and local emergency response personnel who are risking their lives in the service of those in need. When we reach into flooded zones, when we reach into a home that has been destroyed to assist another individual, we don’t ask about their party affiliation. We are there to help, and they need to understand that. They need to trust us. They can rely on us.”

Earlier this week, Mayorkas warned that people “are not seeking that relief because of the disinformation, the intentionally false information they are receiving.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis bashed Vice President Kamala Harris for attempting to insert herself into the response to hurricanes Helene and Milton on Thursday.

DeSantis and Harris have clashed in recent days after the governor declined to take a call from Harris regarding the hurricane response. He said Thursday that Harris has “no role” in the process and added that she had never attempted to call him during previous storms in Florida.

“I am working with the president of the United States. I’m working with the director of FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency]. We’ve been doing this now nonstop for over two weeks,” DeSantis said Thursday. 

“Although I’ve worked well with the president, she has never called Florida. She has never offered any support,” he said of Harris. “I don’t have time for those games. I don’t care about her campaign. Obviously, I’m not a supporter of hers, but she’s not, she has no role in this process. And so I’m working with the people I need to be working with.”

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The spat between DeSantis and Harris made its way to the White House press office on Wednesday, with a reporter asking President Biden whether it was the governor’s responsibility to take the vice president’s calls.

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“All I can tell you is I’ve talked to Governor DeSantis,” Biden answered. “He’s been very gracious. He thanked me for all we’ve done. He knows what we’re doing, and I think that’s important.”

Biden has had multiple phone calls with DeSantis since Hurricane Helene began barreling down on the Southeast two weeks ago, followed by Hurricane Milton making landfall late Wednesday, and told both DeSantis and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor to “call him directly” if any further support is needed. 

HURRICANE MILTON FORCES ST. PETERSBURG CRANE COLLAPSE

DeSantis, meanwhile, noted Tuesday morning that all his federal requests for more support have been answered.

Harris has accused DeSantis of “playing political games” amid the hurricanes.

“People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games with this moment, in these crisis situations, these are the height of emergency situations, it’s just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish,” Harris told reporters Monday.

Biden, by contrast, had instead referred to the Florida governor as “cooperative.”