Dem
48
Ties
1
GOP
51
The conventions are now behind us. What is ahead of us? Here is a partial list of key dates in the coming months:
September 6: North Carolina and Delaware, per state law, can begin mailing absentee ballots. North Carolina will likely wait until Monday, September 9, however. As to Delaware, its primary isn't until September 10, so we don't see how they can mail ballots until sometime after that date.
September 7: 60 days to the election. This means the Department of Justice, et al., are not supposed to do anything from this date forward that might unduly affect the outcome. This means that in theory, at least, if Kamala Harris has a secret email server, the director of the FBI isn't supposed to yell: WE FOUND EMAILS!!! 10 days before the election. Unless he wants to, of course.
September 10: ABC News debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
September 10: The last state-level primaries, in Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
September 16: Early voting begins in Pennsylvania.
September 18: Possible sentencing of Donald Trump in criminal fraud trial.
September 20: Early voting begins in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Virginia.
September 21: Early voting begins in Vermont.
September 26: Early voting begins in Illinois.
Sometime in October: The Harris-Walz campaign has signaled a willingness to hold a second presidential debate sometime during the month. Whether the details can be worked out is anyone's guess.
Sometime in October: Trump might have to appear in court in Washington, DC.
October 1: CBS News vice presidential debate between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance.
October 1: Federal government may shut down (see above).
October 6: Early voting begins in Maine.
October 7: Early voting begins in California, Montana, and Nebraska. That brings the total to 10 states.
October 8: Early voting begins in Indiana, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wyoming.
October 9: Early voting begins in Arizona.
October 12: Early voting begins in Nevada (all mail-in).
October 15: Early voting begins in Georgia.
October 17: Early voting begins in North Carolina.
October 20: Harris will celebrate her 60th birthday, which will get a fair bit of coverage. This may remind some people that Trump is considerably older than Harris is.
October 22: Early voting begins in Wisconsin.
October 26: Early voting begins in Michigan and New York. That brings the total to 20 states.
November 5: Election Day
November 6, 12:01 a.m. (projected): Trump could begin whining that the election was stolen.
November 20: Joe Biden turns 82. There will be many op-eds talking about how the U.S. dodged a bullet.
December 11: Deadline for the states to issue the certificates of ascertainment.
December 17: Presidential electors gather and vote.
January 3: The new Congress will be sworn in.
January 6: Congress will count the electoral votes under the watchful eye of President of the Senate Kamala Harris, and under the rules established by the new Electoral Count Act.
January 20: Inauguration Day.
January 21: The 2028 presidential campaign commences.
As you can see, we are heading into the home stretch, with voting starting in about a week. (V & Z)