It’s Monday. Dare I say that the sound of cicadas is by far the loudest/busiest thing happening in Washington, D.C., today? … Classic August vibes. Here’s the latest:

• Battleground state polling is incredibly tight. It’ll be a 10-week sprint for Harris and Trump.
• The Sept. 10 debate is back up in the air because of squabbles over muted mics. Trump wants them muted, Harris doesn’t.
• Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery this morning. He then stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant in Falls Church, Va.
• Check out Naomi Osaka’s unique U.S. Open outfit this year. It includes tulle and ribbons.
  
  

Filing on my last day in The Hill’s old office — we’re moving to a bigger space closer to the U.S. Capitol — I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send tips, commentary, feedback and cookie recipes to cmartel@digital-release.thehill.com. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here.  

Vice President Harris and former President Trump have entered a 10-week sprint to Election Day with incredibly close polling in battleground states.

It’ll likely come down to seven states: Those states are Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina

Where does polling stand?: Polling has moved in Harris’s direction in the past several weeks. The Hill and Decision Desk HQ’s polling average 📊 shows Harris narrowly leading Trump in four of the battlegrounds, while Trump leads in two states, and the two are deadlocked in Arizona.

🚨Getting traction: A new poll shows Harris holding a 7-point lead nationally over Trump.

And then there’s RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. handed Trump a boost on Friday when he announced that he’s ending his independent presidential bid and endorsing the former president.

Read more from The Hill’s Brett Samuels: ‘GOP, Democrats prepare for 10-week sprint in dead-even Trump-Harris race’

The Foo Fighters are in a dispute with the Trump campaign over whether they authorized their song “My Hero” to be played at Trump’s rallies.

On one side: A spokesperson for the Foo Fighters told The Hill the band did not give permission to the Trump campaign. In fact, they said any royalties earned off the song would be donated to Harris’s campaign.

On the other side: The Trump campaign said it had “a license” to play the song.

🔎 The full back-and-forth

The Trump and Harris campaigns have been battling over whether microphones should be muted during the ABC Sept. 10 debate, like the last debate between President Biden and former President Trump.

Who stands where?: Trump wants the mics muted between their speaking turns. Harris wants the mics to be live for the entire debate.

From Harris’s campaign: “Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own,” Harris spokesperson Brian Fallon said in a statement.

From Trump’s campaign: “This seems to be a pattern for the Harris campaign,” Senior Trump adviser Jason Miller said in a statement. “They won’t allow Harris to do interviews, they won’t allow her to do press conferences, and now they want to give her a cheat-sheet for the debate. My guess is that they’re looking for a way to get out of any debate with President Trump.”

Then this morning — Trump doesn’t seem to mind either way?: “We agreed to the same rules. I don’t know, doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “The agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted.” 📹 Watch the NBC clip

Ah, the debate over the debate.

💡 Why this matters: It casts doubt on whether the debate will happen as planned. Trump has raised questions about participating in the scheduled September debate.

©  AP

Former President Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery this morning to mark the third anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

💡 Keep in mind: Trump has repeatedly slammed President Biden over the Afghanistan withdrawal.

📹 Watch Trump lay wreaths

Tidbit: Trump also made a surprise visit to a Vietnamese restaurant in Falls Church, Va. 📸 Here’s a photo

1. New York’s 22nd Congressional District
2. Washington’s 3rd Congressional District
3. New York’s 17th Congressional District
4. Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District
5. Michigan’s 7th Congressional District

Read Mychael Schnell’s explainer on each race’s importance.

• ‘The man who will do anything for Trump’: The Atlantic
• ‘Walz extinguishes Democratic doubts with convention performance’: The Hill
• ‘Meet the megadonors pumping millions into the 2024 election’: The Washington Post
• ‘Democrats Taste Victory in November. But Are They Too Confident?’: The Washington Post
• ‘Kamala Harris Is Rerunning Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Campaign’: “But without the fumbles” The Atlantic
• ‘Will the DNC shake up the polls in Harris’s favor?’: Op-ed from pollsters Douglas E. Schoen and Carly Cooperman
• ‘Tight Montana Senate race spotlights tribal safety concerns’: The Hill
• ‘Elon Musk’s Hard Turn to Politics, in 300,000 of His Own Words’: The Wall Street Journal

🐶 Celebrate: Today is National Cherry Popsicle Day, but more importantly, Today is National Dog Day!

🎀 Naomi Osaka’s U.S. Open look is a little unique this year: Tennis star Naomi Osaka is wearing an outfit made by Nike and the designer Yoon Ahn. It has tulle, ribbons and frills, according to The New York Times. I love it.

👔 ‘The Gen Z guide to getting ahead at work’: The Washington Post published a list of tips for young professionals.

The House and Senate are out. President Biden is in Rehoboth Beach, Del., this week. He has no public events today. Vice President Harris is in Washington today, also with no public events. (all times Eastern)

• 2 p.m.: Former President Trump speaks at the National Guard Association in Detroit. 💻 Livestream
• 3 p.m.: A bipartisan House task force investigating the assassination attempt of Trump holds a press conference. 💻 Livestream
• 9: The Senate returns from recess. 📆 The agenda

Here are some tips for finding the cutest — I mean juiciest — strawberries.