Election 2024 Latest: Trump and Harris work to expand their coalitions in final weeks of election

The lines that have long defined each party’s policy priorities are blurring as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump seek to expand their coalitions in the final weeks of a fiercely competitive presidential election. The contest may well hinge on how many disaffected suburban Republicans vote for Harris and how much of Democrats’ traditional base — African Americans, Latinos, young people and labor union members — migrates to Trump.

That’s prompting both candidates to take stances that would have once been anathema to their bases, scrambling longtime assumptions about what each party stands for.

Trump is expected to travel to the swing state of Pennsylvania on Monday to speak about his plans to counter U.S. reliance on China with a group led by a loyalist who served as his top intelligence official. The event on Monday focuses on proposals to increase America’s food supply and to protect U.S. farmers. Harris will visit Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

Later Monday, Trump is expected to rally voters at 7 p.m. Eastern in Indiana, Pennsylvania, a town east of Pittsburgh, where he hopes conservative, white working-class voters help him pull ahead of Harris.

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Here’s the latest:

Vice President Kamala Harris’ transition team has reached an agreement with the General Services Administration to accept pre-election support from the federal government to prepare for her potential presidency.

The agency, which is required by law to offer office space, technology support and other resources to major party nominees, posted the agreement to its website on Monday. The signed memorandum, which governs IT, record-keeping and ethics policies, is dated Sept. 19.

There was no word on whether former President Donald Trump’s team would reach an agreement before Election Day. But the agency said it was prepared to provide services to the Trump transition team once an agreement is executed and services are accepted.

Transition planning is well under way across the federal government in advance of the Jan. 20, 2025 handoff by President Joe Biden to Trump or Harris.

Last week, Chief of Staff Jeffrey Zientshosted a meeting of the White House Transition Coordinating Committee — the government’s senior-most transition planning group — and for the first time this year included Harris and Trump representatives. And agencies are preparing detailed briefing memos on their activities to share with the eventual winner’s team.

Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail Monday and expected to travel to the swing state of Pennsylvania to speak about his plans to counter the U.S. reliance on China with a group led by a loyalist who served as his top intelligence official.

The former president and Republican presidential nominee is attending the 3 p.m. Eastern event in a rural area outside of Pittsburgh hosted by the Protecting America Initiative, which is led by Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, and former New York congressman Lee Zeldin.

Trump has embraced tariffs as he tries to appeal to working-class voters who oppose free-trade deals and the outsourcing of factories and jobs. The event on Monday focuses on proposals to increase America’s food supply and to protect U.S. farmers.

The National Agricultural Law Center estimates 24 states ban or limit foreigners without residency and foreign businesses or governments from owning private farmland. The issue emerged after a Chinese billionaire bought more than 130,000 acres near a U.S. Air Force base in Texas and another Chinese company sought to build a corn plant near an Air Force base in North Dakota.

Later on Monday, Trump is expected to rally voters at 7 p.m. Eastern in Indiana, Pennsylvania, a town east of Pittsburgh, where he is hoping conservative, white working-class voters help him pull ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris, his opponent. Harris is also visiting Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

The man accused in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump at a golf course in Florida left behind a note saying that he intended to kill the former president and maintained in his car a handwritten list of dates and venues where Trump was to appear, the Justice Department said Monday.

The new allegations were included in a detention memo filed ahead of a hearing Monday at which the Justice Department was expected to argue that 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh should remain locked up as the case moves forward.

The details are meant to buttress prosecutors’ assertions that Routh is a threat to public safety with a premeditated plan to kill Trump — a plot officials say was thwarted by a Secret Service agent who spotted a rifle poking out of shrubbery on the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris walks over to speak to members of the media upon her arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke/Pool)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to members of the media upon her arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke/Pool)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to members of the media upon her arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke/Pool)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign event at Wilmington International Airport in Wilmington, N.C., Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump walks from the stage after speaking at a campaign rally at Wilmington International Airport, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Wilmington, N.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Wilmington International Airport, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Wilmington, N.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

PARIS (AP) — France’s new government dominated by conservatives and centrists gathered for the first time Monday as Prime Minister Michel Barnier set budget and migrant issues as top priorities.

Barnier convened a meeting early morning with newly appointed ministers ahead of a brief Cabinet session in the afternoon with centrist President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee presidential palace.

The long-awaited list of government members was unveiled Saturday, more than two months after elections that produced a hung parliament and deepened political divisions as France grapples with growing financial and diplomatic challenges.

Macron told government members Monday a “new era” was starting as the political situation is unprecedented in the country and called on them to “stay on the path to compromise,” according to participants in the Cabinet meeting.

Speaking on television on Sunday evening, Barnier acknowledged a key challenge for his government will be the 2025 budget bill to be debated at parliament starting next month.

Barnier called on France 2 television for a “national effort required to redress the situation" after France was placed earlier this year by the European Union's executive arm under a formal procedure for running up excessive debt.

“I’m not going to further increase the tax burden on all French people,” Barnier promised, yet suggesting that “the wealthiest contribute to this national effort.”

In June, the EU Commission recommended to seven nations, including France, that they start a so-called “excessive deficit procedure,” the first step in a long process before any member state can be hemmed in and moved to take corrective action.

Barnier also vowed to “control and limit immigration" in Sunday's interview. He said the number of migrants coming to France “has become unbearable.”

He referred to measures taken by neighboring countries like Germany, which this month ordered temporary controls at all land borders.

Barnier was appointed at the beginning of the month. His first major political test will come on Oct. 1, when he is set to deliver his general policy speech to the National Assembly, France’s powerful lower house of parliament.

A left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front, secured the most seats in the June-July parliamentary elections but failed to win a majority.

The New Popular Front was not given a chance to form a minority government, and refused to make concessions and join a more left-leaning government alliance.

Barnier argued that the deal made by his conservative allies and Macron's centrists would allow them to have a bigger support at the National Assembly.

Barnier, a 73-year-old political veteran known for his role as the EU’s Brexit negotiator, is no stranger to complex political tasks.

“We’ll make compromises,” he said. “That’s how I managed to unite the European Union’s 27 countries during the Brexit negotiations."

Barnier also insisted there will be “no controversy” between him and Macron despite both coming from a different political background, because "that’s the interest of the country.”

Macron is to head Tuesday to New York for the U.N. General Assembly, before a two-day visit to Canada.

In France, the president holds a dominant role in strategic matters of defense and foreign policy while the prime minister leads the government and usually focuses more on domestic issues.

Left-wing voters and other critics have denounced the appointment of a government they say rejects people's will.

Incoming ministers include staunch conservative Bruno Retailleau, in charge of the interior portfolio. Retailleau, known for his hardline views on immigration, vowed Monday to “restore order" in “the streets” and “at the borders.”

Jean-Noël Barrot, a centrist politician known for his work in digital transformation and European affairs, is the new foreign minister.

New French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, gestures as he delivers a speech during the handover ceremony at the ministry, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

New French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, gestures as he delivers a speech during the handover ceremony at the ministry, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

New French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, right, attends the handover ceremony at the ministry, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

New French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot gets out of a car as he arrives for the handover ceremony, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in Paris. (Thomas Samson, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and Prime Minister Michel Barnier, right, meet with members of the new government during the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, Pool)

New Justice Minister Didier Migaud, arrives to the first weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

New Finance Minister Antoine Armand, waves to journalist as he arrives to the first weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

French President Emmanuel Macron, center, is flanked by new Justice Minister Didier Migaud, left, and new Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau during the first weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, Pool)

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier boards a car after the first weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier boards a car after the first weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

FILE - French Prime Minister Michel Barnier, background center, French President Emmanuel Macron, foreground left, and Macron's wife, Brigitte Macron, foreground right, applaud during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)