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Sunday, November 15, 2026Nov 15

Trump and Clinton turn to battleground states in the South

FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016, file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix. Trump and Hillary Clinton are making competing Labor Day pitches in Ohio, setting the stage for a critical month in their testy presidential campaign. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016, file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix. Trump and Hillary Clinton are making competing Labor Day pitches in Ohio, setting the stage for a critical month in their testy presidential campaign. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) – With Labor Day behind them, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are pushing ahead in top presidential battlegrounds in the South.

Trump, the Republican nominee, is set to campaign in Virginia and North Carolina on Tuesday, two critical states in his path to the presidency. Clinton, the Democrat, is campaigning in Florida in search of an advantage in the nation’s largest swing state. A Clinton victory in Florida would make it virtually impossible for Trump to overcome her advantage in the race for 270 electoral votes.

The day before in swing state Ohio, Trump softened his stance on immigration while Clinton blasted Russia for suspected tampering in the U.S. electoral process.

In a rare news conference aboard her new campaign plane, Clinton said she is concerned about “credible reports about Russian government interference in our elections.”

“We are going to have to take those threats and attacks seriously,” Clinton told reporters traveling with her from Ohio to Illinois.