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NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� A judge agreed Friday to postpone Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money case until after the November election, granting him a hard-won reprieve as he navigates the aftermath of his criminal conviction and the homestretch of his presidential campaign.

Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan, who is also weighing a defense request to overturn the verdict on immunity grounds, delayed Trump鈥檚 sentencing until Nov. 26, several weeks after the final votes are cast in the presidential election.

It had been scheduled for Sept. 18, about seven weeks before Election Day.

Merchan wrote that he was postponing the sentencing 鈥渢o avoid any appearance 鈥� however unwarranted 鈥� that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate.鈥�

鈥淭he Court is a fair, impartial, and apolitical institution,鈥� he added.

Sen. Patty Murray speaks out: Don鈥檛 trust Trump鈥檚 promise to use public funding to support IVF

Trump鈥檚 lawyers pushed for the delay on multiple fronts,聽聽and asking a聽. They argued that punishing the former president and current Republican nominee in the thick of his campaign to retake the White House would amount to election interference.

Trump鈥檚 lawyers argued that delaying his sentencing until after the election would also allow him time to weigh next steps after Merchan rules on the defense鈥檚 request to聽聽because of the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 July聽.

In his order Friday, Merchan delayed a decision on that until Nov. 12.

础听聽to have the U.S. District Court in Manhattan seize the case from Merchan鈥檚 state court. Had they been successful,聽聽they would have then sought to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed on immunity grounds.

Trump is appealing the federal court ruling.

The Manhattan district attorney鈥檚 office, which prosecuted Trump鈥檚 case, deferred to Merchan and did not take a position on the defense鈥檚 delay request.

Messages seeking comment were left for Trump’s lawyers and the district attorney’s office.

Election Day is Nov. 5, but many states allow voters to cast ballots early, with some set to start the process just a few days before or after the date Sept. 18.

Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels claims she and Trump had a sexual encounter a decade earlier after they met at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.

Prosecutors cast the payout as part of a Trump-driven effort to keep voters from hearing salacious stories about him during his first presidential campaign. Trump鈥檚 former lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump, whose company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses.

Trump maintains that the stories were false, that reimbursements were for legal work and logged correctly, and that the case 鈥� brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat 鈥� was part of a politically motivated 鈥渨itch hunt鈥� aimed at damaging his current campaign.

Democrats backing their party鈥檚 nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, have made his conviction a focus of their messaging.

In speeches at the party鈥檚 conviction in Chicago last month, President Joe Biden called Trump a 鈥渃onvicted felon鈥� running against a former prosecutor. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, labeled Trump a 鈥渃areer criminal, with 34 felonies, two impeachments and one porn star to prove it.鈥�

Trump鈥檚 2016 Democratic opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, inspired chants of 鈥渓ock him up鈥� from the convention crowd when she quipped that Trump 鈥渇ell asleep at his own trial, and when he woke up, he made his own kind of history: the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions.鈥�

Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars. Other potential sentences include probation, a fine or a conditional discharge, which would require Trump to stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment. Trump is the first ex-president convicted of a crime.

Trump has pledged to appeal, but that cannot happen until he is sentenced.

In seeking the delay, Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove argued that the short time between the scheduled immunity ruling on Sept. 16 and sentencing, which was to have taken place two days later, was unfair to Trump.

To prepare for a Sept. 18 sentencing, the lawyers said, prosecutors would be submitting their punishment recommendation while Merchan is still weighing whether to dismiss the case. If Merchan rules against Trump, he would need 鈥渁dequate time to assess and pursue state and federal appellate options,鈥� they said.

The Supreme Court鈥檚 immunity decision reins in prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restricts prosecutors in pointing to official acts as evidence that a president鈥檚 unofficial actions were illegal.

Trump鈥檚 lawyers argue that in light of the ruling, jurors in the hush money case should not have heard such evidence as former White House staffers describing how the then-president reacted to news coverage of the Daniels deal.