Kamala Harris’ most likely path to the presidency hinges on her winning the swing state of Michigan – but with just weeks left until Election Day, she is facing an unexpected groundswell of opposition from the state’s Jewish population, which has increasingly soured on the Biden administration’s response to the Middle East conflict. 

The drop-off in support among Jewish voters could spell trouble for Harris in Michigan, considered to be a must-win state, and where the state’s Muslim and Arab American populations have been increasingly vocal about their disapproval of the U.S. response to Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

Now, discontent now appears to be spreading to the state’s Jewish voters as well, threatening a key bedrock of support in the state.

Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., whose suburban Detroit district is home to a large Jewish American population, told the New York Times this week that she has seen a drop-off in support for Harris among younger Jewish voters who are disenfranchised by the Biden administration’s handling of the Middle East crisis and failure to take stronger action on a policy reset in the region.

Stevens told the Times that the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that Hamas launched on Israel have indeed rallied some Jewish constituents together to combat what they see as rising hatred and antisemitism. But she noted that other, younger voters in the community are turned off by the administration’s unwavering support for Israel in the face of the intensifying conflict – policies enacted under the Biden administration, but which Harris must now confront as the party’s presidential nominee.

Nearly two-thirds of Michigan’s Jewish electorate identifies as Democratic or Democratic-leaning, according to data collected by Brandeis University’s Steinhardt Social Research Institute. In previous elections, this majority has been a fairly reliable bedrock of support for Democratic presidential nominees.

But that support is anything but guaranteed this year. ‘I do know some more independent-type voters, and I have heard from friends with young families, of friends of theirs who have traditionally voted Democrat, that they feel a little split,’ Stevens told the Times.  

This loss of support among Jewish voters in the state could be particularly damaging to Harris’ chances of victory in Michigan and her broader path to the presidency, which hinges on victory in the key battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Still, it’s Michigan where Harris could find herself in particularly hot water. 

As the violence in the Middle East escalates, Harris has struggled to earn the support of Michigan’s Muslim and Arab American populations, including some who have organized local voters to withhold support for the vice president in order to protest the Biden administration’s response to the war. 

The state is home to roughly 300,000 voters of Middle Eastern descent, according to the most recent census data.

In recent months, some groups have urged communities to back Green Party candidate Jill Stein, while others said they are weighing the idea of backing Republican candidate Donald Trump – an almost unthinkable position just four years ago, when the former president’s so-called ‘Muslim ban’ and other policies prompted Muslim voters to support Joe Biden by a strong 64% to 84% majority in 2020, according to exit polls.

Georgia Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson re-introduced a death row appeals bill that would allow death row inmates the opportunity to introduce newly discovered evidence in their appeal. 

H.R. 9868, also called the Effective Death Penalty Act, was initially introduced in 2009 and later in 2020. The bill would amend a provision in the U.S. Code that currently governs circumstances under which a state prisoner can file a habeas corpus petition. 

‘We’ve got innocent people on death row right now with no opportunity to show compelling new evidence of innocence,’ Johnson said in a press statement released on Wednesday. ‘The status quo is inhumane and unconstitutional.’ 

Under current law, a federal court cannot grant a habeas corpus petition unless the petitioner has already exhausted all state court remedies. This requirement was explained by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999, with the Court stating that such a requirement ‘is designed to give the state courts a full and fair opportunity to resolve federal constitutional claims before those claims are presented to federal courts.’ 

The bill would allow a death row inmate to not only introduce newly discovered evidence that ‘demonstrates that the applicant is probably not guilty of the underlying offense,’ but to also raise an ineffective counsel claim on direct appeal. Some states do not currently allow for such a claim on direct appeal. 

The added provision comes as a result of the 2022 Supreme Court case, Shinn v. Ramirez, when the Court held that a habeas corpus court may not conduct an evidentiary hearing or consider evidence beyond the state-court record based on an ineffective counsel claim. 

‘I believe we should completely abolish the death penalty, but while 25 states – half of which are in the South – still have some form of capital punishment on their books and some states like Alabama, Texas and Georgia continue to hold state executions – America needs the Effective Death Penalty Appeals Act to help wrongly convicted people on death row present newly discovered evidence that they are innocent,’ Johnson said in the statement. 

Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-ME, Democratic House Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., are co-sponsoring the bill. 

The Supreme Court, which kicked off its new term earlier this month, heard oral arguments Wednesday on an appeal from Oklahoma inmate Richard Glossip, who has maintained his innocence in connection with a 1997 murder-for-hire of the owner of a motel he previously worked at. Glossip’s initial conviction was reversed by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals after the court found he had received ‘constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel in numerous respects,’ according to the brief filed. 

Glossip now argues before the Supreme Court that he did not receive a fair trial as a result of the prosecution suppressing evidence of a key prosecution witness’s testimony. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not participate in hearing the appeal due to his prior involvement in the appeals process while serving on a lower court. 

Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, remained silent Thursday on whether he still supports eliminating the Electoral College, after the Harris campaign insisted his position did not reflect that of the campaign’s. 

‘I think all of us know, the Electoral College needs to go. We need a national popular vote,’ Walz said Tuesday during a campaign fundraiser at the home of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Walz made similar comments at an earlier fundraiser in Seattle, as well.

While running for president in 2019, Harris said she was ‘open’ to the idea of abolishing the Electoral College. However, according to campaign officials pressed on the issue following Walz’s remarks, eliminating the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote is not an official position of Harris’ current campaign.

Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Walz repeatedly to inquire whether he still supports replacing the Electoral College with a national popular vote, particularly after his campaign came out against it. A response was never received, but the Harris-Walz campaign did release a statement to certain news outlets suggesting Walz’s remarks were intended to express support for the Electoral College process.

‘Governor Walz believes that every vote matters in the Electoral College and he is honored to be traveling the country and battleground states working to earn support for the Harris-Walz ticket,’ a Harris campaign spokesperson said in a statement sent to select media outlets like CNN and USA Today. ‘He was commenting to a crowd of strong supporters about how the campaign is built to win 270 electoral votes. And, he was thanking them for their support that is helping fund those efforts.’ 

Debate over whether a national popular vote should replace the Electoral College surged in 2016 when Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote, cementing his victory despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. ‘I think it needs to be eliminated,’ Clinton told CNN after her 2016 loss to Trump. ‘I’d like to see us move beyond it, yes.’ Clinton made similar calls earlier in her career as well.

Just last month, Democratic Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin suggested there could be deadly consequences for Americans if the Electoral College was not done away with. Raskin said a national popular vote was a far better option than the current ‘convoluted, antique, obsolete system from the 18th century, which these days can get you killed as nearly it did on Jan. 6, 2021.’

The Electoral College has been something that both Republicans and Democrats have tried to do away with in the past, but contemporary calls for its abolition surged among Democrats after Clinton’s loss. The process was established by the nation’s Founding Fathers, seen as a compromise between the election of president by vote in Congress and election by a popular vote of qualified citizens. Electoral College votes, of which 270 are needed for any presidential candidate to win, are allocated based on the Census. The process effectively allows voters in states with lower populations to have a similar impact on the election as those voters living in higher population densities. The Electoral College is also thought to be a protective measure against super thin margins and excessive recounts.

In May 2023, as governor, Walz signed a broad ranging election bill that included a provision to allocate the state’s electors based on who receives the most votes nationwide, even if it doesn’t match the outcome in their state. The measure, known as the ‘National Popular Vote Interstate Compact,’ has been supported by 17 states and the District of Columbia, but will only take effect after all the states that have signed on have a total electoral vote count of 270. Right now, those supporting the reform only have 209, according to CBS News.

Polling from the Pew Research Center released last month showed a majority of Americans favor moving away from the Electoral College. Since 2016, the sentiment has steadily increased, and, according to Pew, more than 6 in 10 Americans today prefer the national popular vote over the Electoral College. 

Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project Action, a nonprofit that advocates in favor of retaining the Electoral College, argued Walz ‘said the quiet part out loud’ when he insisted the Electoral College should be eliminated. 

‘Democrat leaders don’t think they should have to campaign in places like Michigan and North Carolina, they want California and New York to decide every election,’ Snead argued. ‘There is a pattern here. Democrats claim to love democracy, then set their sights on any institution that stands between them and political power: the Supreme Court, the Senate filibuster, and the Electoral College.’

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. 

‘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.

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 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. 

Democratic strategists are calling on the Harris campaign to get more aggressive amid concerns her early momentum, spurred largely by Harris’ debate performance and the Democratic National Convention, has waned due to a number of factors.

‘I’m scared to death,’ Democratic strategist James Carville said Wednesday. 

‘Now that the sugar high is gone, people have realized what Kamala Harris has said from the start, which is that she is the underdog,’ Anthony Coley, a former Biden and Obama staffer turned political consultant, told The Hill. 

‘If you’re not nervous, you’re not paying attention,’ former Harris communications director Jamal Simmons added.

Meanwhile, David Axelrod, widely regarded as the political mastermind behind former President Obama’s 2008 victory, recognized that ‘Harris had a great launch, right through the convention and the debate,’ but he acknowledged ‘the race has plateaued.’ 

Carville’s remarks that he is ‘scared to death’ about Nov. 5 came during an interview with MSNBC’s Ari Melber. Carville estimated that with Hurricane Milton dominating the news cycle, Harris only has about 20 days to amplify her messaging.

An anonymous Democratic strategist told The Hill that Harris is still ‘fine-tuning her message’ way too close to Election Day. ‘We are in the ‘make the sale’ phase of the campaign now. We’re not still tweaking the message,’ the strategist pointed out.  

Some of the criticism from Democratic strategists also included suggestions the Harris campaign get more aggressive.

‘They need to be sharp. They need to be aggressive. They need to stop answering questions and start asking questions,’ Carville insisted on Wednesday. ‘I think she and the whole campaign need to be much more aggressive and much less passive than they are.’

‘In these campaigns, every time you clear a bar, the bar gets raised,’ added Axelrod. ‘You have to lift your game and adjust your strategy.’

With Election Day rapidly approaching, polling in three critical battleground states show former President Trump making gains, but the race still remains a toss-up between the two candidates. 

According to polling from Quinnipiac University, Harris is maintaining a 3-point advantage over Trump in battleground Pennsylvania. However, that is a drop from Harris’ 6-point lead in Quinnipiac’s September polling of Pennsylvania voters. 

Quinnipiac polling in Michigan shows Trump with a 3-point edge, and it shows him with a 2-point advantage in Wisconsin. Quinnipiac’s Michigan polling last month had Harris leading by 5 points, while its Wisconsin polling had her at a 1-point advantage over Trump. 

‘That was then, this is now,’ said Tim Malloy, a polling analyst at Quinnipiac. ‘The Harris post-debate starburst dims to a glow as Harris enters the last weeks slipping slightly in the Rust Belt.’