Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to address the nation about his path forward in the presidential race this Friday.

Kennedy’s press secretary, Stefanie Spear, posted the announcement about ‘the present historic moment and his path forward’ on social media on Wednesday afternoon.

The announcement comes after Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, blasted Democrats on Tuesday, saying she ‘fully supports’ a role for Kennedy in a future Trump administration. Shanahan also hinted that they could end their campaign and back former President Trump.

Shortly before the announcement, Amaryllis Kennedy, Kennedy’s daughter-in-law and campaign manager, emailed campaign staff.

‘For the last 19 months (22 months for the original core), this team – this family – has worked seven days a week, ten plus hours a day, in blizzards and blazing heat, sacrificing family time, personal commitments, and any hope of sleep, in service to our shared vision for this country,’ she wrote. ‘Never, in all these months, has Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sidestepped his movement to communicate his heart through back-channel leaks. Nor would he ever, especially in this most consequential moment for us all. So please, hold tight until you hear directly from him.’

Randall Terry is a lifelong pro-life activist who founded the Operation Rescue group, which he headed until 1991. He and the group were known for their controversial tactics targeting abortion clinics, blocking entrances and staging raucous protests as Terry and associates racked up dozens of arrests and enormous sums in civil judgments along the way.

In 2024, Terry won the Constitution Party nomination for president and is running to make the sanctity of human life the focal point of his campaign, with an advertising strategy explicitly designed to boost the Trump campaign and hurt the Democrats.

‘My mission is still the same, and that is to make it a criminal act to kill a human being from conception until birth. For that to happen, you have to be in the political realm. You have to be a lawmaker,’ he said. ‘I am not going to win the presidency. I’m not running to win. I’m running to be the margin of defeat … in the swing states. Because I’m a federal candidate, I can run television ads 60 days from the election, and the TV stations are required by law to take them, so I can target Catholic and African-American voters in Wisconsin, in Michigan, in Pennsylvania.’

He dismisses the argument that he is likely to serve as a spoiler, taking disproportionately more votes from Trump in the election.

‘My candidacy is based around the three Ds: defend children, defeat the Democrat nominee, destroy the Democrat[ic] Party. That’s the mission. And for every one voter that leaves voting for Trump, for me, there’s going to be 20 that leave the Democrats because of the way our ads are targeted, because of our messaging. So, Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, he has thrown in with us. He’s raising money for us. And he has said every Republican in America should be giving you money. You’re the secret weapon, because we can torpedo the Democrats with this message, which ultimately is going to end up helping Trump.’

Terry’s economic policies focus on reducing regulation and taxation and boosting energy production and independence.

‘The Constitution Party’s economic policy is simple: less regulation, lower taxes,’ he said. ‘Stop putting a gun to people’s head to pay for your favorite giveaway. America had averaged a 1% tax on the entire populace up until 1913, with the exception of the Civil War when they were retiring war debt. When we had incredibly low taxes, low government regulations, we became the economic wonder of the world,’ he said. ‘And now, with so much government regulation and so much taxes, we are driving business to foreign shores, or we’re bankrupting it. You want to have a great and free and prosperous country? Drill, baby, drill, open up the pipeline. Bring fuel here. … Make us energy independent. Become an exporter of oil and tell Saudi Arabia and Venezuela bye-bye.’

Terry said he is concerned that the Ukraine conflict is serving as a distraction from the machinations of China, which he views as a far greater threat.

‘I think that Putin’s obsession with the ancestral territorial parts of Russia is what is driving him. And the question is, how much American treasure, how much American blood … are we prepared to be shed in these conflicts? And that, to me, is where we have real and honorable disagreements. We’re sitting by while China is ready to become literally the dominant force in the world. China is poising themselves to be the dominant force militarily and economically. … We’re sitting by while China is preparing to take over Taiwan and to become the military and economic powerhouse of the world, but we’re obsessing over Russia and Ukraine. I smell a rat.’

Terry believes that the emerging Moscow-Beijing axis will enable the export of tyranny and continues to pose a significant threat to the West. He also argues that failed American policies have driven the two powerhouses together.

‘Historically, the Russian communists and the Chinese communists have not gotten along,’ he said. ‘We are driving Russia into the arms of China. We have far more in common with the Russians historically with our connection to Christianity, Russian Orthodoxy,’ he said, ‘but they are discussing, now openly, breaking the stronghold of the American dollar over oil. Once oil is no longer forced by law, by international treaties to be traded in dollars, all bets are off.’

‘We don’t even know what’s going to happen at that point. And if they come up with some kind of a new triumvirate or any coalition between Russia, which has massive oil fields that are untapped, China, which is a massive economic powerhouse, and then maybe Iran or some other heavy oil producing [country] … they’re going to be able to tell the West, ‘Go to hell, we’ll do whatever we want.’ And they will be exporting their political tyranny, and they will be not just in control of Hollywood but in control of small governments.’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday night defended Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign strategy – which has been criticized for being light on policy – insisting she will have ‘time to articulate nuances’ later. 

‘She’ll have more … detail, and I believe that will start on Thursday night,’ Newsom told Fox News’ Peter Doocy in Chicago Tuesday evening. Harris is slated to give her only formal address to the convention on Thursday, the final night of the convention.

Newsom has come to defend Harris’ campaign strategy, responding to detractors who have criticized her for an approach that appears to be lacking in any real, substantive policy details. Harris’ campaign website still contains no policy section, and as a candidate, she has yet to sit for any interviews or hold a press conference. Additionally, until last Friday, Harris had not released any formal policy positions since entering the race in mid-July, when she unveiled her economic agenda.

Meanwhile, four years ago, when then-Vice President Joe Biden was running for office, he tasked an entire group of advisers with generating a 110-page policy document, according to The New York Times. It was the same with Hillary Clinton in 2016, the Times also pointed out, which noted that she had more than 200 distinct policy proposals on record during her campaign. Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has outlined his policy platform in a lengthy, 20-point document, covering a wide range of topics. 

‘What kind of substantive campaign is Harris intending to run?’ Washington Post columnist Matt Bai asked last week. ‘Or does she really need substance at all?’

On Monday, the DNC released its policy platform after having to republish it following Biden’s decision to drop out of the race. The platform mentions Biden’s name 287 times and until it was corrected, had a reference to Biden’s ‘second term,’ suggesting Harris’ supposedly forthcoming policy positions may not differ dramatically from the last administration. However, her economic policies unveiled last week, which include price control measures for the food and grocery store industry, suggested a Harris-Walz administration could potentially be far more progressive than the Biden-Harris administration.  

Harris is set to accept the Democratic nomination on Thursday.

Vice President Kamala Harris has not released a policy page on her campaign website to detail her positions on key issues such as the economy and immigration, sparking the Trump campaign to create and release a platform website for her, Fox News Digital exclusively learned. 

‘Kamala Harris has yet to tell voters what her policies are, so we thought we’d help them out. Kamala Harris wants to open the borders, raise taxes, and free criminals,’ a Trump campaign national press secretary told Fox News Digital about the website. 

Kamala2024policies.com launched Wednesday morning on the third day of the DNC and takes viewers to a website declaring, ‘Kamala Harris’ dangerous policies are nothing to laugh about.’ The site details nine policy platforms for the Harris campaign, including declaring Harris fought ‘to set murderers free,’ wants to ‘abolish the border,’ seeks to ‘eliminate private health insurance’ and wants to give illegal immigrants Social Security and Medicare. 

‘Border Czar Kamala Harris opened the southern border to illegal alien criminals and deadly fentanyl, and as vice president, was the tie-breaking vote for far-left spending bills that raised taxes and sent prices skyrocketing for families across the country. While Harris has tried to rewrite history on her extreme record, she can’t hide from her promises to set murderers free, dismantle America’s border security, raise costs with massive spending bills, bring back the Green New Deal Scam, eliminate private health insurance, and more,’ the website states. 

The platform website notably hits the Harris camp on some of the most important issues this election cycle: the economy, spiraling inflation and taxes. 

‘Record high gas prices under the Harris-Biden administration is the ‘price to pay for democracy.’ Remember, Kamala proudly delivered the deciding vote that allowed the $1.9 trillion ‘stimulus’ to be passed. Don’t listen to former Obama economist Jason Furman, who said the spending bill is ‘too big,’ or former Obama and Clinton economist Larry Summers, who said the ‘tremendous wall of money’ led to inflation, or former Obama economic advisor Steven Rattner, who called Kamala’s $1.9 trillion stimulus ‘the original sin’ of inflation,’ the website says. 

On taxes, the Trump camp said ‘the middle-class will need to pay more’ under a potential Harris administration.  

‘Kamala Harris wants to eliminate the Trump tax cuts, which would mean a massive tax hike on middle-income families,’ the site says. ‘Harris was the deciding vote for the ‘Inflation Reduction Act,’ which decreased the ‘average after-tax income for taxpayers at every income level. Americans earning less than $200,000/year saw their taxes rise by $16.7 billion in 2023.’

Harris proposed a handful of economic policies last week, including plans to implement federal price controls on groceries and other everyday expenses and raising the corporate tax rate, but the campaign has not detailed those policies or any others on its official website. The campaign website instead features biographies of both Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as well as donation buttons and a merchandise shop. 

Harris and Walz are in Chicago this week, where thousands of supporters are gathered for the Democratic National Convention. Harris rose to the top of the Democratic ticket last month after President Biden dropped out of the race amid mounting concerns over his mental acuity and age. Shortly after dropping out, he endorsed Harris to take up the mantle. 

Despite becoming the party’s presumptive nominee 31 days ago, Harris has also not yet held a formal press conference or sit-down interview with the media to detail her vision of a potential Harris administration. She has instead held repeated campaign events and rallies across the country, speaking to the crowds and only giving informal remarks to reporters while on the trail. 

Historically, presidential candidates have had campaign policy pages readily available for voters. When President Biden was on the campaign trail in 2020, a group of advisers crafted a 110-page policy document, according to The New York Times, which also reported Harris’ lack of a campaign platform on her site. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 had a page with 200 distinct policy proposals on record. 

Former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign website also includes a tab titled, ‘platform,’ which features the GOP’s 20-point policy agenda that covers issues ranging from the economy, ongoing crime and tax cuts.  

Pressure has also built on the Harris campaign to hold a press conference after weeks of avoiding the media, including CNN’s Jim Acosta questioning Harris’ communications director Michael Tyler last week on air. 

‘I’m sure this is not going to be the first time you’ve heard this question, but the Trump campaign is also going after the vice president for not doing enough interviews, for not holding a press conference. Would it kill you guys to have a press conference? Why hasn’t she had a press conference?’ Acosta asked. 

Tyler said that Harris and Walz have been ‘busy’ traveling across the country, citing multiple campaign rallies.

‘Michael, you know a campaign rally isn’t really a press conference,’ Acosta said to Tyler. ‘Why hasn’t she had a press conference? She’s the vice president, she can handle the questions. Why not do it?’ 

Tyler said Harris would hold a press conference at some point and would sit down for an interview with a media outlet by the end of the month. 

Some supporters of the Harris-Walz ticket have, meanwhile, struggled to identify the vice president’s accomplishments in interviews with Fox News in recent days. 

‘I really don’t know much of what she did,’ Bernard, an independent voter from New York who attended the American Federation of Teachers’ Convention last month, told Fox News Digital of Harris. 

‘I’m not sure I know enough about her accomplishments to answer that question,’ added Eric, a Harris supporter from Massachusetts.

The DNC kicked off in Chicago on Monday and has included a handful of high-profile Democrats taking the stage at the United Center to sing Harris’ praises, while also declaring support for Biden after dozens of Democrats called on him to exit the race last month. Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former first lady Michelle Obama and former President Barack Obama have all held solo speeches this week in support of the Harris-Walz ticket. 

‘As a prosecutor, Kamala stood up for children who had been victims of sexual abuse,’ former President Obama said Tuesday evening. ‘As an attorney general of the most populous state in the country, she fought big banks and for-profit colleges, securing billions of dollars for the people they had scammed. After the home mortgage crisis, she pushed me and my administration hard to make sure homeowners got a fair settlement. Didn’t matter that I was a Democrat. Didn’t matter she had knocked on doors for my campaign in Iowa – she was going to fight to get as much relief as possible for the families who deserved it.’

He also praised Biden as a friend and ‘brother,’ despite his reported role in helping oust his former vice president from the 2024 White House run. 

‘History will remember Joe Biden as an outstanding president who defended democracy at a moment of great danger. And I am proud to call him my president, but even prouder to call him my friend,’ the 44th president said of Biden. 

Harris is slated to take the DNC’s stage on Thursday evening, when she will deliver her acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination. 

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report. 

A national poll finds that the 2024 vice presidential nominees are both still fighting to make themselves known to the U.S. voting public. 

The poll, conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, shows 4 out of 10 Americans don’t know enough about Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to form an opinion. 

The same goes for about 3 out of 10 Americans regarding Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee.

Walz is currently enjoying a higher level of support among U.S. adults, maintaining a 36% favorability rating compared to Vance’s 27%. 

This is compounded by Vance’s higher unfavorability rating among those polled, with 44% holding an unfavorable view compared to Walz’s 25%.

Vance’s popularity within the Republican Party is on the rise. In mid-July, only 3 out of 10 Republicans reported favorable feelings towards the Ohio senator as former President Donald Trump’s running mate — 6 out of 10 didn’t know enough about him.

The current polling finds that Vance’s support within the Republican Party has doubled to 6 out of 10 among Republicans — mostly attributable to a rise in awareness about him and his policies.

Similarly, the AP-NORC poll found Walz maintains favorable opinions with 6 out of 10 Democrats, with approximately 3 out of 10 not knowing enough about him to form an opinion. 

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll was conducted from Aug. 8 to Aug. 12. 

It surveyed 1,164 adults via the NORC ‘probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel,’ which it describes as ‘designed to be representative of the U.S. population.’ Its margin of error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

There are 76 days until Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

But if Americans vote like they did in the last two election cycles, most of them will have already cast a ballot before the big day.

Early voting starts as soon as Sept. 6 for eligible voters, with seven battleground states sending out ballots to at least some voters the same month.

It makes the next few months less a countdown to Election Day, and more the beginning of ‘election season.’

States have long allowed at least some Americans to vote early, like members of the military or people with illnesses. 

In some states, almost every voter casts a ballot by mail.

Many states expanded eligibility in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic made it riskier to vote in-person.

That year, the Fox News Voter Analysis found that 71% of voters cast their ballots before Election Day, with 30% voting early in-person and 41% voting by mail.

Early voting remained popular in the midterms, with 57% of voters casting a ballot before Election Day.

Elections officials stress that voting early is safe and secure. Recounts, investigations and lawsuits filed after the 2020 election did not reveal evidence of widespread fraud or corruption. 

The difference between ‘early in-person’ and ‘mail’ or ‘absentee’ voting.

There are a few ways to vote before Election Day.

The first is , where a voter casts a regular ballot in-person at a voting center before Election Day.

The second is , where the process and eligibility varies by state.

Eight states vote mostly by mail, including California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. Registered voters receive ballots and send them back.

Most states allow any registered voter to request a mail ballot and send it back. This is also called mail voting, or sometimes absentee voting. Depending on the state, voters can return their ballot by mail, at a drop box, and/or at an office or facility that accepts mail ballots.

In 14 states, voters must have an excuse to vote by mail, ranging from illness, age, work hours or if a voter is out of their home county on Election Day.

States process and tabulate ballots at different times. Some states don’t begin counting ballots until election night, which delays the release of results.

Voting begins on Sept. 6 in North Carolina, with seven more battleground states starting that month

This list of early voting dates is for guidance only. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, go to Vote.gov and your state’s elections website.

The first voters to be sent absentee ballots will be in North Carolina, which begins mailing out ballots for eligible voters on Sept. 6.

Seven more battleground states open up early voting the same month, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Nevada.

September deadlines

In-person early voting in bold.

Sept. 6

North Carolina – Absentee ballots sent to voters

Sept. 16

Pennsylvania – Mail-in ballots sent to voters

Sept. 17

Georgia – Absentee ballots sent to military & overseas

Sept. 19

Wisconsin – Absentee ballots sent

Sept. 20

Arkansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah, Wyoming – Absentee ballots sent to military & overseas
Minnesota, South Dakota – In-person absentee voting begins
Virginia – In-person early voting begins
Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia – Absentee ballots sent

Sept. 21

Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington – Absentee ballots sent to military & overseas
Indiana, New Mexico – Absentee ballots sent
Maryland, New Jersey – Mail-in ballots sent

Sept. 23

Mississippi – In-person absentee voting begins & absentee ballots sent
Oregon, Vermont – Absentee ballots sent

Sept. 26

Illinois – In-person early voting begins 
Michigan – Absentee ballots sent
Florida, Nevada – Mail-in ballots sent
North Dakota – Absentee & mail-in ballots sent

Sept. 30

Nebraska – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 4

Connecticut – Absentee ballots sent

Oct. 6

Michigan – In-person early voting begins 
Maine – In-person absentee voting begins & mail ballots sent
California – In-person absentee voting begins & mail ballots sent
Montana – In-person absentee voting begins
Nebraska – In-person early voting begins 
Georgia – Absentee ballots sent
Massachusetts – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 8

California – Ballot drop-offs open
New Mexico, Ohio – In-person absentee voting begins
Indiana – In-person early voting begins
Wyoming – In-person absentee voting begins & absentee ballots sent

Oct. 9

Arizona – In-person early voting begins & mail ballots sent

Oct. 11

Colorado – Mail-in ballots sent
Arkansas, Alaska – Absentee ballots sent

Oct. 15

Georgia – In-person early voting begins
Utah – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 16

Rhode Island, Kansas, Tennessee – In-person early voting begins
Iowa – In-person absentee voting begins
Oregon, Nevada – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 17

North Carolina – In-person early voting begins 

Oct. 18

Washington, Louisiana – In-person early voting begins
Hawaii – Mail-in ballots sent

Oct. 19

Nevada, Massachusetts – In-person early voting begins 
Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas – In-person early voting begins 
Colorado – Ballot drop-offs open

Oct. 22

Hawaii, Utah – In-person early voting begins 
Missouri, Wisconsin – In-person absentee voting begins

Oct. 23

West Virginia – In-person early voting begins

Oct. 24

Maryland – In-person early voting begins

Oct. 25

Delaware – In-person early voting begins

Oct. 26

Michigan, Florida, New Jersey, New York – In-person early voting begins 

Oct. 30

Oklahoma – In-person early voting begins 

Oct. 31

Kentucky – In-person absentee voting begins

Randall Terry is a lifelong pro-life activist who founded the Operation Rescue group, which he headed until 1991. He and the group were known for their controversial tactics targeting abortion clinics, blocking entrances and staging raucous protests as Terry and associates racked up dozens of arrests and enormous sums in civil judgments along the way.

In 2024, Terry won the Constitution Party nomination for president and is running to make the sanctity of human life the focal point of his campaign, with an advertising strategy explicitly designed to boost the Trump campaign and hurt the Democrats.

‘My mission is still the same, and that is to make it a criminal act to kill a human being from conception until birth. For that to happen, you have to be in the political realm. You have to be a lawmaker,’ he said. ‘I am not going to win the presidency. I’m not running to win. I’m running to be the margin of defeat … in the swing states. Because I’m a federal candidate, I can run television ads 60 days from the election, and the TV stations are required by law to take them, so I can target Catholic and African-American voters in Wisconsin, in Michigan, in Pennsylvania.’

He dismisses the argument that he is likely to serve as a spoiler, taking disproportionately more votes from Trump in the election.

‘My candidacy is based around the three Ds: defend children, defeat the Democrat nominee, destroy the Democrat[ic] Party. That’s the mission. And for every one voter that leaves voting for Trump, for me, there’s going to be 20 that leave the Democrats because of the way our ads are targeted, because of our messaging. So, Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, he has thrown in with us. He’s raising money for us. And he has said every Republican in America should be giving you money. You’re the secret weapon, because we can torpedo the Democrats with this message, which ultimately is going to end up helping Trump.’

Terry’s economic policies focus on reducing regulation and taxation and boosting energy production and independence.

‘The Constitution Party’s economic policy is simple: less regulation, lower taxes,’ he said. ‘Stop putting a gun to people’s head to pay for your favorite giveaway. America had averaged a 1% tax on the entire populace up until 1913, with the exception of the Civil War when they were retiring war debt. When we had incredibly low taxes, low government regulations, we became the economic wonder of the world,’ he said. ‘And now, with so much government regulation and so much taxes, we are driving business to foreign shores, or we’re bankrupting it. You want to have a great and free and prosperous country? Drill, baby, drill, open up the pipeline. Bring fuel here. … Make us energy independent. Become an exporter of oil and tell Saudi Arabia and Venezuela bye-bye.’

Terry said he is concerned that the Ukraine conflict is serving as a distraction from the machinations of China, which he views as a far greater threat.

‘I think that Putin’s obsession with the ancestral territorial parts of Russia is what is driving him. And the question is, how much American treasure, how much American blood … are we prepared to be shed in these conflicts? And that, to me, is where we have real and honorable disagreements. We’re sitting by while China is ready to become literally the dominant force in the world. China is poising themselves to be the dominant force militarily and economically. … We’re sitting by while China is preparing to take over Taiwan and to become the military and economic powerhouse of the world, but we’re obsessing over Russia and Ukraine. I smell a rat.’

Terry believes that the emerging Moscow-Beijing axis will enable the export of tyranny and continues to pose a significant threat to the West. He also argues that failed American policies have driven the two powerhouses together.

‘Historically, the Russian communists and the Chinese communists have not gotten along,’ he said. ‘We are driving Russia into the arms of China. We have far more in common with the Russians historically with our connection to Christianity, Russian Orthodoxy,’ he said, ‘but they are discussing, now openly, breaking the stronghold of the American dollar over oil. Once oil is no longer forced by law, by international treaties to be traded in dollars, all bets are off.’

‘We don’t even know what’s going to happen at that point. And if they come up with some kind of a new triumvirate or any coalition between Russia, which has massive oil fields that are untapped, China, which is a massive economic powerhouse, and then maybe Iran or some other heavy oil producing [country] … they’re going to be able to tell the West, ‘Go to hell, we’ll do whatever we want.’ And they will be exporting their political tyranny, and they will be not just in control of Hollywood but in control of small governments.’

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his wife, first lady Gwen Walz, have clarified that they conceived their children not through IVF, as the governor had previously said or implied in interviews, but through another fertility treatment. 

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, took to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to seize on the revelation and ask, ‘Who lies about something like that?’ after asserting that Walz had deceived the public about having children via IVF, adding to his earlier attack that Walz had ‘lied’ about his service in the National Guard. 

But the Harris-Walz campaign hit back at Vance:

‘The Trump campaign’s attacks on Mrs. Walz are just another example of how cruel and out of touch Donald Trump and JD Vance are when it comes to women’s healthcare,’ Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg told Fox News Digital. ‘Infertility is a deeply personal journey, but the Governor and Mrs. Walz came forward to share their story because they know that MAGA attacks on reproductive rights are putting all fertility treatments at risk.’

Harris campaign spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg argued to CNN that Tim Walz ‘talks how normal people talk. He was using commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatments.’ The couple did not receive in vitro fertilization (IVF) but instead intrauterine insemination (IUI). 

In a statement shared with media, Gwen Walz said that the journey through fertility treatments is riddled with anxiety, agony and ‘desperation that can eat away at your soul.’ 

‘I cannot fathom the cruelty of politicians who want to take away the freedom for couples to access the care they need,’ she said. ‘After seeing the extreme attacks on reproductive health care across the country — particularly, the efforts in Alabama that jeopardized access to fertility treatments — Tim and I agreed that it was time to formally speak out about our experience.’

‘Like so many who have experienced these challenges, we kept it largely to ourselves at the time — not even sharing the details with our wonderful and close family,’ Gwen Walz explained. ‘The only person who knew in detail what we were going through was our next-door neighbor.’

‘She was a nurse and helped me with the shots I needed as part of the IUI process. I’d rush home from school, and she would give me the shots to ensure we stayed on track.’

Tim Walz stated during an interview with MSNBC in July that he had IVF to thank for their children, saying, ‘Thank God for IVF, my wife and I have two beautiful children.’ In other instances, Walz referred to ‘fertility treatments’ and stressed that the issue of IVF rights remained ‘personal’ for him due to the struggles he and his wife went through to have their children. 

Tim Walz has made his support of IVF a central cause after the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos created by IVF treatments should be considered children, which would lay the groundwork for further legislation on treatments. Embryos that have been fertilized but go unused are often discarded, according to the National Institutes of Health.

The ’embryo disposal decision’ deals with the question of storage after successful childbearing. Many couples end up donating good-quality embryos to a research program, but discarding fertilized embryos remains a common practice. 

IVF requires the removal of several eggs and fertilization outside the body before transfer into the uterus, while IUI directly injects the sperm into the uterus. IUI also involved ‘washing’ sperm to separate them from seminal fluid to increase the number of sperm transferred and increase chances of successful fertilization, according to Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials.

Former President Donald Trump shortly after the Alabama ruling stressed, ‘We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder! That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every state in America.’ 

‘Today, I am calling on the Alabama Legislature to act quickly to find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of IVF in Alabama,’ Trump said in a post on Truth Social following the decision. ‘The Republican Party should always be on the side of the Miracle of Life – and the side of Mothers, Fathers, and their Beautiful Babies.’

The correction issued by the Harris-Walz campaign is another they have had to make regarding previous statements Tim Walz has made, including clarification on his National Guard service. 

The team altered its biography of Tim Walz on the campaign website amid ongoing scrutiny of Walz’s service, changing it from saying he was a ‘retired Command Sergeant Major’ to ‘served as a command sergeant major.’

Tim Walz retired from the Guard after nearly 25 years of service, but his rank was reduced months later, leaving him as a master sergeant. 

National Guard officials have said that he retired before fulfilling requirements for the position, including coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy. The subsequent lower rank was due to benefit requirements and a technicality.

The Trump-Vance campaign did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment by the time of publication. 

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw contributed to this report. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his wife, first lady Gwen Walz, have clarified that they conceived their children not through IVF, as the governor had previously said or implied in interviews, but through another fertility treatment. 

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, took to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to seize on the revelation and ask, ‘Who lies about something like that?’ after asserting that Walz had deceived the public about having children via IVF, adding to his earlier attack that Walz had ‘lied’ about his service in the National Guard. 

But the Harris-Walz campaign hit back at Vance:

‘The Trump campaign’s attacks on Mrs. Walz are just another example of how cruel and out of touch Donald Trump and JD Vance are when it comes to women’s healthcare,’ Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg told Fox News Digital. ‘Infertility is a deeply personal journey, but the Governor and Mrs. Walz came forward to share their story because they know that MAGA attacks on reproductive rights are putting all fertility treatments at risk.’

Harris campaign spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg argued to CNN that Tim Walz ‘talks how normal people talk. He was using commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatments.’ The couple did not receive in vitro fertilization (IVF) but instead intrauterine insemination (IUI). 

In a statement shared with media, Gwen Walz said that the journey through fertility treatments is riddled with anxiety, agony and ‘desperation that can eat away at your soul.’ 

‘I cannot fathom the cruelty of politicians who want to take away the freedom for couples to access the care they need,’ she said. ‘After seeing the extreme attacks on reproductive health care across the country — particularly, the efforts in Alabama that jeopardized access to fertility treatments — Tim and I agreed that it was time to formally speak out about our experience.’

‘Like so many who have experienced these challenges, we kept it largely to ourselves at the time — not even sharing the details with our wonderful and close family,’ Gwen Walz explained. ‘The only person who knew in detail what we were going through was our next-door neighbor.’

‘She was a nurse and helped me with the shots I needed as part of the IUI process. I’d rush home from school, and she would give me the shots to ensure we stayed on track.’

Tim Walz stated during an interview with MSNBC in July that he had IVF to thank for their children, saying, ‘Thank God for IVF, my wife and I have two beautiful children.’ In other instances, Walz referred to ‘fertility treatments’ and stressed that the issue of IVF rights remained ‘personal’ for him due to the struggles he and his wife went through to have their children. 

Tim Walz has made his support of IVF a central cause after the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos created by IVF treatments should be considered children, which would lay the groundwork for further legislation on treatments. Embryos that have been fertilized but go unused are often discarded, according to the National Institutes of Health.

The ’embryo disposal decision’ deals with the question of storage after successful childbearing. Many couples end up donating good-quality embryos to a research program, but discarding fertilized embryos remains a common practice. 

IVF requires the removal of several eggs and fertilization outside the body before transfer into the uterus, while IUI directly injects the sperm into the uterus. IUI also involved ‘washing’ sperm to separate them from seminal fluid to increase the number of sperm transferred and increase chances of successful fertilization, according to Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials.

Former President Donald Trump shortly after the Alabama ruling stressed, ‘We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder! That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every state in America.’ 

‘Today, I am calling on the Alabama Legislature to act quickly to find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of IVF in Alabama,’ Trump said in a post on Truth Social following the decision. ‘The Republican Party should always be on the side of the Miracle of Life – and the side of Mothers, Fathers, and their Beautiful Babies.’

The correction issued by the Harris-Walz campaign is another they have had to make regarding previous statements Tim Walz has made, including clarification on his National Guard service. 

The team altered its biography of Tim Walz on the campaign website amid ongoing scrutiny of Walz’s service, changing it from saying he was a ‘retired Command Sergeant Major’ to ‘served as a command sergeant major.’

Tim Walz retired from the Guard after nearly 25 years of service, but his rank was reduced months later, leaving him as a master sergeant. 

National Guard officials have said that he retired before fulfilling requirements for the position, including coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy. The subsequent lower rank was due to benefit requirements and a technicality.

The Trump-Vance campaign did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment by the time of publication. 

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw contributed to this report.