Closing summary
This blog is closing now – thanks for following along. Here’s a summary of day:
More than 57.5 million people have already voted in US election. With six days until the 2024 election, more than 57.5 million Americans have already voted as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida. Of the 57 million, just over 30 million voted early in-person and about 27 million voted by early mail.
A new CNN poll shows Kamala Harris leading over Trump by six points in Wisconsin and five points in Michigan, key battleground states. Harris leads Trump by 48% to 43% among likely voters in Michigan and 51% to 45% in Wisconsin. The candidates are tied at 48% in Pennsylvania.
Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Nicky Jam has withdrawn his support for Donald Trump after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday. “Never in my life did I think that a month later a comedian would come to criticize my country, to speak poorly of my country, and therefore I renounce any support to Donald Trump and move aside from any political situation. Puerto Rico deserves respect,” he said.
Trump and Harris each held rallies in Wisconsin. Trump riffed on his appearance in a garbage truck earlier, and wore a reflective vest of the kind often worn by sanitation workers. The crowd laughed as he said that he liked the vest because it was flattering. Harris spoke to a hugely enthusiastic crowd and seemed at ease and energetic. The strongest part of her speech was when she addressed first-time voters, specifically, telling them that issues including the climate crisis, gun control and abortion restrictions weren’t political to them: these were their lived experience.
In an op-ed for the Guardian, Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, addresses progressives’ concerns about voting for Harris given the administration’s support for Israel’s war.
Kamala Harris held a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, this afternoon. “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,” she said.
Harris said that she strongly disagrees with criticisms of people based on who they voted for. Speaking on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday following Joe Biden’s “garbage” remarks, Harris said that Biden had “clarified his comments”, adding: “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they voted for.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former California governor, has announced he is endorsing Kamala Harris. He joins a running list of Republicans crossing party lines to vote against Donald Trump.
The US supreme court has paused the ruling by a lower court that would have restored voting rights to approximately 1,600 voters in Virginia. In its brief order, the supreme court wrote: “The application for stay presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is granted.”
Virginia’s Republican governor Glenn Youngkin has hailed the supreme court’s ruling, calling it a “victory for common sense and election fairness”. Youngkin had ordered state officials to identify and cancel the voter registration of alleged non-citizens unless they could prove their citizenship in two weeks.
Tim Walz appeared on Good Morning America, saying: “We know it’s going to be close, but we’re going to win this thing.” Speaking to host George Stephanopoulos, Walz said: “We’ve got the better ground game, we’ve got the excitement, we’ve got the momentum on our side.”
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Many Puerto Ricans who have moved to the mainland will be able to make their voices heard on 5 November, with large communities in Pennsylvania and Florida being targeted by both campaigns.
Those who remain in the territory meanwhile, have made numerous efforts to become a state in their own right. The island has more people than the five smallest states combined and statehood is supported by many, but the final decision lies with Congress – and recent efforts have stalled.
Those delays and persistent disfranchisement means some Puerto Ricans are eager to leave the US orbit altogether.
On Tuesday, alongside elections for local politicians and an informal straw poll for their favoured presidential candidate, they will vote in their seventh non-binding referendum on status – this time putting full and partial independence up against statehood.
“It’s not fair that that all of these decisions are being made as if we were savages, as if we were people who can’t have self determination,” Betancourt says. “I don’t want to vote for the United States – I want to vote for the president of Puerto Rico.”
Read the full story here:
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Residents have no say over Washington’s decisions that control their everyday lives, according to Karina Claudio Betancourt, a student in Puerto Rico’s capital city, San Juan.
“Elections impact us because the president decides what to do or not to do with Puerto Rico right now,” they say.
Betancourt points to Donald Trump’s response to Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island, and the Obama administration’s imposition of a board controlling government funding.
“Basic transportation and health services and things that impact us day-to-day are decided by the Congress of the United States and by this fiscal oversight board, but we don’t get to vote for any of that,” they say. “People are fed up.”
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Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally was meant to be a triumphant return to the city that made his name. Instead, the event has reheated simmering tensions on the island territory of Puerto Rico, where locals say they feel like second-class citizens, days out from a historic US election.
Comments from a comedian at Trump’s rally this week, describing Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage”, might have fired up local resentment against the Republican candidate, but those who live there will be unable to show their anger through the ballot box.
Residents of Puerto Rico are among the more than 3 million Americans whose votes won’t count, when the country elects its president next week.
Most residents of the US territories – Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands and the Northern Marianas – are citizens and pay federal taxes. Many have family on the mainland.
But the territories have no votes in the electoral college that ultimately decides the president.
“They’re just basically captive to whatever Congress and the president want to do to them,” says Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, a law professor at Indiana University. “To be a citizen means to be a member of the political community. Not in the US.”
It’s one of the few things uniting the disparate territories, which range from Puerto Rico, home to 3 million citizens in the Caribbean, to American Samoa, closer to Australia than America with a population of just 50,000.
Read more here:
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One reason for Harris’s energy: as we reported earlier, a new CNN poll shows Kamala Harris leading over Trump by six points in the state.
Harris leads Trump by 51% to 45% among likely voters in Wisconsin.
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A tale of two Wisconsin rallies: Trump kept his relatively tight, for him – it was just over 60 minutes – while Harris spoke for her usual 20 minutes.
Trump riffed on his appearance in a garbage truck earlier, and wore a reflective vest of the kind often worn by sanitation workers. The crowd laughed as he said that he liked the vest because it was flattering.
Harris spoke to a hugely enthusiastic crowd and seemed at ease and energetic. The strongest part of her speech was when she addressed first-time voters, specifically, telling them that issues including the climate crisis, gun control and abortion restrictions weren’t political to them: these were their lived experience.
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Harris ends that hugely energetic speech, in response to which she received very loud cheers from the crowd.
Harris addresses first-time voters: 'This is not political. This is your lived experience'
“We love our country. And when you love something, you fight for it,” Harris says.
Harris’s speech tonight, unsurprisingly, is a combination of last night’s major address in Washington DC and her previous speeches.
Her speech was interrupted near the start by a person calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and she responded quickly. If that person continued shouting “Ceasefire!” the sound was drowned out by the crowd cheering when Harris said: “I am speaking now.”
Harris addresses young, first-time voters: “You, who grew up with active shooter drills, are fighting to keep this country safe. You, who have fewer rights than your mothers.”
She also addressed the climate crisis, an issue that has been on the backburner for the Democrats during this campaign.
“This is not political,” Harris says. “This is your lived experience”.
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Harris repeats her line: if Trump is elected, “on day one he will walk into the Oval Office with an enemies list,” she says. “I will walk in with a to-do list focused on your needs. And at the top of my list will be bringing down your cost of living.”
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“It is time for a new generation of leadership in America,” Harris says.
Harris repeats her record as a prosecutor, saying she isn’t afraid of a tough fight.
“If you give me the chance to fight on your behalf as president, there is nothing in the world that will stand in my way of fighting for you.”
“So Madison, early voting has started […] you can vote through November 3rd. And we need you to vote early, Wisconsin,” Harris says.
“And make no mistake: we will win.”
Harris is energetic, the crowd is energetic.
Someone in the crowd is chanting: “Ceasefire now!”
Harris stops her speech. “Listen,” she says, “we all want the war in Gaza to end.” She says she will do everything in her power to make that happen. Everyone has a right to be heard, she says. “But right now, I am speaking.”
There is a sustained and very loud cheer from the crowd – this is one of Harris’s most famous lines.
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Harris holds rally in Madison, Wisconsin
Kamala Harris is on stage now in Madison, Wisconsin.
“It’s good to be back,” she says. “And many of you may know when I was five years old, my parents taught at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.”
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In the days leading up to the election, mysterious monuments continue to pop up in cities across the US poking fun at candidate Donald Trump and his supporters, the Guardian’s José Olivares reports:
On Wednesday in Maja Park in Philadelphia, a large statue of Trump was propped up. Titled “In Honor of a Lifetime of Sexual Assault”, the monument, showing Trump smiling and holding his hand in a suggestive manner, quotes from the infamous 2005 recording – leaked in 2016 – in which Trump is heard bragging about sexually assaulting women.
The monument was quickly removed, Philly Voice reported.
On Sunday, a similar satirical statue was found in Portland, Oregon. It was beheaded that day and further damaged by a Portland city council candidate and Trump supporter, who filmed himself chipping away at the base of the statue.
Read the full story here:
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Alice Herman
There are 13,000 people at the Harris event in Madison, according to the Harris-Walz campaign.
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Kamala Harris is expected to speak in 40 minutes’ time in Madison, in the swing state of Wisconsin.
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Trump is wrapping up. “Just in conclusion”, he says, and repeats various falsehoods, mainly about Harris, whom he earlier criticised for speaking about him too much.
Trump begins with various things he will make America again. These include “healthy”, “proud”, “safe”, and, of course, “great”.
Trump is once again played off by Village People’s gay anthem, YMCA.
Village People sent Trump a cease and desist letter in 2023 asking him to stop using the song at campaign events.
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The Guardian’s Alice Herman is in Madison, Wisconsin for the Kamala Harris event. She reports:
Mumford & Sons, the British folk-pop band, is now performing – an offering to the elder millennial rallygoers, who seem way more into this set than Gracie Abrams’s younger fans. (The young woman who sobbed throughout Abrams’s set appears unmoved by Mumford & Sons so far).
Harris has rolled out a series of celebrity endorsers and performers during her rallies so far this year, from Beyoncé, who appeared at a Harris rally in Texas, to Jennifer Lopez, who is scheduled to make an appearance at a Nevada rally later this week.
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The Guardian’s Alice Herman is in Madison, Wisconsin, for the Kamala Harris event.
She reports: Gracie Abrams, a popular gen Z singer-songwriter, is performing in Madison at the Alliant Energy Center, where Harris is scheduled to speak soon. Her performance was likely a draw for some in the crowd – including the young woman in the risers to my left who has been sob-singing every lyric during Abrams’s performance.
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Trump plays a video about Jocelyn Nungaray, who was killed in Texas when she was 12 yeas old by two Venezuelan men who reportedly entered the country illegally.
The video features Nungaray’s mother talking about her daughter and what happened, and is incredibly sad.
Trump has talked about Nungaray before. During Trump’s presidential debate against then presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Trump repeatedly brought up her murder and assault.
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As Trump began speaking about his “favorite chart” – the one about illegal immigration that he was talking about on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania when a gunman tried to kill him – a woman in the audience began shouting: “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
It’s what Trump shouted that July afternoon as the Secret Service hustled him away, and become a rallying cry for his supporters.
The audience picked up the chant, and Trump paused to soak it in, before saying: “That’s an aggressive youngster. He’s going to go places.”
Apparently he didn’t get a good look at who started the chant.
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Trump is repeating his well-worn, racist and false statements about immigration.
He claims he wants to “protect the women of our country” – from immigrants.
He says he is going to protect women “whether they like it or not”.
It is a statement with menacing undertones, given that Trump has boasted about limiting abortion access for women: a procedure that can be key to keeping women safe. He has done this despite the majority of Americans supporting abortion rights.
More than 60% of Americans now believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
“We broke Roe v Wade,” Trump has bragged:
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Meanwhile Kamala Harris has touched down in Wisconsin, where she will be speaking in 90 minutes’ time.
Her stepdaughter, fashion world darling Ella Emhoff, is with her, per the pool report. In a profile published this week, the New York Times called her the “second daughter of New York’s downtown”.
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Trump says he has sold 10,000 black Maga hats – it is unclear whether this is true.
The red Maga hat is the most recognisable Trump supporter accessory, and was the subject – or inciting incident – of a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode.
And more recently:
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Trump claims that his profession is “very dangerous” but that if he had to do it again he would, “every time”.
Trump was injured during an assassination attempt in July during which the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed. In September, a second man, Ryan Wesley Routh, was charged with attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate. Authorities said he spent 12 hours camped outside Donald Trump’s golf course before the Secret Service spotted him with a rifle. He pleaded not guilty to attempting to assassinate the former president as well as other federal charges.
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The orange reflective vest Donald Trump is wearing has made him appear even more orange, at least on the Resch Center jumbotron.
Trump’s orange-tinged skin tone is a signature part of his appearance, something the left often mocks, and which the right has mocked back with its “orange man bad” meme directed at liberal outrage.
Trump rarely wears anything but a suit (unless he’s golfing), but is clearly trying to make the most of Joe Biden’s comment yesterday in which the president appeared to describe his supporters as “garbage” – something the White House disputes.
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Trump is doing a bit now about being reluctant to wear the vest on stage, wondering whether he could wear it over a suit, and so on.
He says his campaign staff told him it would make him look thinner, at which point he was sold on the idea. That gets laughs and applause from the crowd.
“I may never wear a blue jacket again,” he says.
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The audience in Green Bay’s Resch Center stood up for the first 10 minutes or so of Trump’s speech, but now they’re in their seats.
It’s worth settling in for a Trump speech – they’ve stretched to about the 90-minute mark lately (about the length of a movie) with the ex-president riffing on all kinds of things.
He just played a video of Kamala Harris mentioning his name in her speeches, which draw a huge applause.
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Trump plays a recording of about 15 times Kamala Harris has used his name while making speeches during an election in which he is her opponent.
“That’s all she talks about because she and Joe have absolutely no achievements,” Trump says, falsely.
He continues talking about Harris.
Then Trump talks garbage.
One of his advisers said: “Sir, the hottest word right now is garbage.”
He then says his campaign staff managed to organise the garbage truck on short notice, and that he felt uncomfortable driving it while wearing a suit. “And then they said sir, we have a vest.”
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Trum says the “most beaautiful words to me” are “religion, number one and love number two”.
He pauses, then says: “and tariffs, number three”.
He has said this before.
Trump is promising to levy tariffs on all imports in a bid to boost American manufacturing, a proposal that economists say would probably mean higher prices for consumers while angering US allies.
The International Monetary Fund warned this week that the tariffs could hurt global growth, as it upgraded its forecast for the UK economy.
The Washington-based organisation said tariffs trigger tit-for-tat trade wars that impoverish the economies involved in the dispute and the wider global economy.
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A reminder of what it is Trump is riffing on:
On Tuesday Biden appeared to call supporters of Donald Trump “garbage”.
The president clarified that he didn’t mean Trump supporters, but rather the attitude of a comedian who performed at a Trump rally and made several racist statements – including calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” – towards Latinos. The official transcript had Biden saying: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s – his – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.” The comment nevertheless set off echoes of Hillary Clinton’s infamous “basket of deplorables” put-down of a section of Trump’s supporters in 2016.
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“And by the way, I want to thank all of our incredible sanitation workers across America,” Trump says, in a continuation of his garbage-truck-driver schtick.
Here is the scene my colleague Chris Stein referred to earlier – Trump answering questions from reporters while seated in a garbage truck.
He falsely stated that Harris was responsible for Biden’s use of the word “garbage”, calling it “the comment made by really both of them”.
He also wildly overstated his support, calling the remark about his supporters an insult to “maybe 250 million people”.
Trump got 74.2m votes in 2020 (to Biden’s 81.2m):
Arriving in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Trump answers reporters questions while sitting in a garbage truck .. pic.twitter.com/xegSclxY0q
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) October 30, 2024
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“We’re done with their hatred, we’re done with their hysteria,” Trump says of the Democrats.
“Joe Biden’s comments were the direct result of Kamala’s efforts to portray everyone who is not voting for her as … subhuman,” Trump says. This statement is false – Harris has been careful not to insult Trump supporters.
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Just before Donald Trump took the stage in Green Bay, a video played showing him in shirtsleeves with a reflective vest on, declaring: “Hello everybody, this is Donald J Trump. Two hundred fifty million people are not garbage.”
It then cut to his photo op earlier today, where he took questions while sitting in the driver’s seat of a garbage truck and honking its horn.
Now he’s on stage, in the same reflective vest.
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Donald Trump is on stage. He starts by saying: “I have to say 250 million Americans are not garbage”, referring to Joe Biden’s ambiguous comments yesterday.
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Turnout at rallies is no guarantee of election victory, but the Trump campaign must be pleased with the sight in Green Bay tonight.
Just about every seat in the approximately 10,000-seat Resch Center is full, with the former president yet to take the stage.
Brown county, of which Green Bay is the seat, is friendly GOP territory, voting for Republican presidents in every recent election, with the exception of when Barack Obama was first elected in 2008, and when Bill Clinton was re-elected in 1996.
Donald Trump is expected to speak soon at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
This is Helen Sullivan taking over our live US politics coverage. I’ll bring you any key developments from Trump’s speech, and Kamala Harris’s speech in Wisconsin in two-and-a-half hours’ time.
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Summary
Here’s a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
A new CNN poll shows Kamala Harris leading over Trump by 6 points in Wisconsin and 5 points in Michigan, key battleground states. Harris leads Trump by 48% to 43% among likely voters in Michigan and 51% to 45% in Wisconsin. The candidates are tied at 48% in Pennsylvania.
Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Nicky Jam has withdrawn his support for Donald Trump after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday. “Never in my life did I think that a month later a comedian would come to criticize my country, to speak poorly of my country, and therefore I renounce any support to Donald Trump and move aside from any political situation. Puerto Rico deserves respect,” he said.
Kamala Harris held a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, this afternoon. “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,” she said.
Kamala Harris said that she strongly disagrees with criticisms of people based on who they voted for. Speaking on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday following Joe Biden’s “garbage” remarks, Harris said that Biden had “clarified his comments”, adding, “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they voted for.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former California governor, has announced he is endorsing Kamala Harris. He joins a running list of Republicans crossing party lines to vote against Donald Trump.
The supreme court has paused the ruling by a lower court that would have restored voting rights to approximately 1,600 voters in Virginia. In its brief order, the supreme court wrote: “The application for stay presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is granted.”
Virginia’s Republican governor Glenn Youngkin has hailed the supreme court’s ruling, calling it a “victory for common sense and election fairness”. Youngkin had ordered state officials to identify and cancel the voter registration of alleged non-citizens unless they could prove their citizenship in two weeks.
Tim Walz appeared on Good Morning America, saying, “We know it’s going to be close but we’re going to win this thing.” Speaking to host George Stephanopoulos, Walz said, “We’ve got the better ground game, we’ve got the excitement, we’ve got the momentum on our side.”
Donald Trump is taking questions from reporters while sitting in a garbage truck branded with his campaign logo.
“This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden,” Trump said.
It’s quite a move, days after his campaign caught flack for platforming a comedian who compared Puerto Rico with an island of garbage.
Asked about reports that Elon Musk, who has become a close ally, has been in communication with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Trump responded: “Elon is a great guy, he’s one of our geniuses.”
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The Guardian’s Chris Stein is in Green Bay, reporting on the Trump rally there.
Donald Trump is holding a rally this evening in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and booked himself perhaps the best warm-up speaker he could hope to get in the football-mad city: Brett Favre, a legendary former quarterback for the Green Bay Packers NFL team.
“I have not done an event like this before, but I’ve decided it’s time,” Favre told the crowd at an indoor arena next to the football stadium, where quite a few people had forgone wearing Maga hats and Trump shirts in favor of Packers jerseys. One of the last small cities with an NFL team in the United States, Green Bay sits in Brown county, a Republican-leaning area of a swing state that’s regarded as one of the most evenly divided in the country.
After lamenting the financial damage done by inflation and the human toll of fentanyl overdoses, Favre said: “We’ve already had President Trump once. We’ve already seen Kamala in action. We can compare, and we know this is better.”
“So, it’s time to pitch Kamala, and put in the star quarterback,” Favre said. “USA, it’s a great country. We all know that. Kamala broke it, Trump will fix it.”
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Canvassers for Elon Musk’s America PAC in Michigan were subjected to poor working conditions, unreasonable quotas, and in some cases were misled about the fact that they would be promoting Donald Trump, Wired reports.
From Wired:
In Michigan, canvassers and paid door knockers for the former president, contracted by a firm associated with America PAC, have been subjected to poor working conditions: A number of them have been driven around in the back of a seatless U-Haul van, according to video obtained by WIRED, and threatened that their lodging at a local motel wouldn’t be paid for if they didn’t meet canvassing quotas. One door knocker alleges that they didn’t even know they were signing up for anything having to do with Musk or Trump.
A representative for Musk and America PAC did not return a request for comment.
Labor grievances and disputes have been a common thread across Musk’s companies. The Guardian has reported on injuries and safety issues at Tesla. Black workers at the company have also alleged race discrimination and harassment. A pregnant worker at Neuralink alleges she was forced to work with a monkey that was carrying herpes. Employees at SpaceX have sued Musk and the company for sexual harassment and whistleblower retaliation, among other wrongdoing.
Bernie Sanders: 'We cannot sit this election out'
In an op-ed for the Guardian, Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, addresses progressives’ concerns about voting for Kamala Harris given the administration’s support for Israel’s war.
He writes:
I understand that there are millions of Americans who disagree with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the terrible war in Gaza. I am one of them.
While Israel had a right to defend itself against the horrific Hamas terrorist attack of 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 innocent people and took 250 hostages, it did not have the right to wage an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people.
It did not have the right to kill 42,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of whom were children, women and the elderly, or injure over 100,000 people in Gaza. It did not have the right to destroy Gaza’s infrastructure and housing and healthcare systems. It did not have the right to bomb every one of Gaza’s 12 universities. It did not have the right to block humanitarian aid, causing massive malnutrition in children and, in fact, starvation.
And that is why I am doing everything I can to block US military aid and offensive weapons sales to the rightwing extremist Netanyahu government in Israel. And I know that many of you share those feelings. And some of you are saying, “How can I vote for Kamala Harris if she is supporting this terrible war?” And that is a very fair question.
And let me give you my best answer. And that is that even on this issue, Donald Trump and his rightwing friends are worse. In the Senate and in Congress Republicans have worked overtime to block humanitarian aid to the starving children in Gaza. The president and vice-president both support getting as much humanitarian aid into Gaza as soon as possible.
Trump has said that Netanyahu is doing a good job and that Biden is holding him back. He has suggested that the Gaza Strip would make excellent beachfront property for development. It is no wonder Netanyahu prefers to have Donald Trump in office.
But even more importantly, and this I promise you, after Harris wins we will, together, do everything we can to change US policy toward Netanyahu – including an immediate ceasefire, the return of all hostages, a surge of massive humanitarian aid, the stopping of settler attacks on the West Bank, and the rebuilding of Gaza for the Palestinian people.
Read the full piece here:
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A Pennsylvania judge on Wednesday sided with Donald Trump’s campaign and agreed to extend an in-person voting option in suburban Philadelphia, where long lines on the final day led to complaints voters were being disenfranchised by an unprepared election office.
A lawsuit demanding an extension of Tuesday’s 5pm deadline in Bucks county until today was filed this morning after long queues outside the county’s election offices on the last day for applications led to security guards cutting off the line and telling some of those waiting they would not be able to apply.
Videos of the scenes were widely circulated on social media, fuelling rumours of voter suppression.
The Trump campaign was joined by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick in the lawsuit alleging that voters waiting outside election offices for mail ballots were turned away empty-handed and ordered to leave after the deadline expired at 5pm on Tuesday.
“This is a direct violation of Pennsylvanians’ rights to cast their ballot – and all voters have a right to STAY in line,” the Trump campaign said.
Judge Jeffrey Trauger said in a one-page order that Bucks county voters who want to apply for an early mail ballot now have until Friday.
The queues for late mail ballots were a result of Pennsylvania not having an early on-site voting system at designated spots, as is the case in some other states. Instead, voters can apply for ballots on-demand at election offices before filling them out and submitting them on the spot, a procedure that takes about 10 minutes.
The flood of late applicants overwhelmed electoral workers in Bucks county’s administration building in Doylestown, leading to a long queue which was cut off at around 2.45pm on Tuesday, according to CBS.
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Protesters interrupted Harris about 8 minutes into her remarks here.
It was difficult to hear what they were saying, but I could hear the word “genocide”.
The crowd began chanting “USA!” and Harris reminded the crowd that democracy was on the line in this election. “Ours is about a fight for democracy and your right to be heard. That is what is on the line in this election,” she said. “Look, everybody has a right to be heard, but right now I am speaking.”
After another protester interrupted a few minutes later, she said: “At this particular moment it should be emphasized that unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy from within. He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at the table.”
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Shawna Barnes, a 45-year old healthcare worker from Philadelphia, said she’s concerned that men aren’t supporting Harris in this election. When she’s knocked on doors, she’s noticed that the women are often all in, but the men are “iffy”.
“Black and brown women are going to come out and support. White women of course are going to support. The men are just kind of like afraid,” she said as Mr Brightside by The Killers blasted on the sound system. “I don’t think it’s about gender, I just think it’s fear.”
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Harris in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, promotes her economic plan
Kamala Harris is speaking at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in Harrisburg, where she is promoting her economic proposals.
"We stand for working people, we stand for middle class growth and strength,” Harris said.
She derided Donald Trump’s tariff proposals, and warned that he would dismantle the popular Affordable Care Act. “We know what’s on the line. We know that Donald Trump will try, like he has so many times to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, which would throw, millions of Americans off of their health care and take us back to when insurance companies could deny people with pre-existing conditions,” she said.
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Donald Trump’s team is reportedly considering withholding federal grants from police departments that decline to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to ease deportations.
NBC News reports that the former president’s team is working on plans to force sanctuary cities such as Chicago, and states such as California to work with the federal government to help Trump deliver on his promise of mass deportations.
The Guardian has not independently verified NBC’s reporting.
Withholding funding from police departments who decline to work with Ice will undoubtedly face legal challenges. During Trump’s presidency, several states sued the administration after it cut off grants to sanctuary cities, and appealed a court decision that sided with Trump – running out the clock on Trump’s term before the supreme court could issue a final decision on the matter.
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57.5m people have already voted in US election
With six days until the 2024 election, more than 57.5 million Americans have already voted as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida.
Of the 57 million, just over 30 million voted early in-person and about 27 million voted by early mail.
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I spotted Minerva Ortiz-Garcia, 68, walking around with a small Puerto Rican flag before the rally started so I stopped her to ask what she thought of the racist joke a speaker made before Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
“I feel horrible. I’m Puerto Rican, I actually started to cry,” she said. “How could someone say that about an island that is trying to survive [Hurricane] Maria?”
Ortiz-Garcia, a flight attendant, lives in Easton, which is in eastern Pennsylvania, a part of the state that is extremely competitive and has a huge Latino population. She said she thought many Latino voters in her part of the state were waiting for Harris to reach out to them directly.
“I think that people want her to say something directly,” she said.
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I’ve been chatting to a few voters at a Kamala Harris rally here at the Farm expo building in Harrisburg, where there’s a vague smell of horses as the crowd swag surfs and dances to Motown hits such as We Are Family and Aretha Franklin’s Respect.
I just spoke with Corine Wherley, a 38-year-old librarian from Harrisburg who is attending her first political rally ever. She said she decided to come to the rally because she was so alarmed by what she heard during Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
“A lot of it was the rhetoric around ‘this secret’ and other things like that they’re planning on doing,” she said, referring to Trump’s comment that he has a “little secret” with House speaker Mike Johnson, that many took to be a plan to contest the election. “They’re like: ‘I can do whatever I want,’ and I think that’s what scares me.”
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Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Nicky Jam has withdrawn his support for Donald Trump after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday.
On Wednesday, the singer posted a video on social media saying: “The reason I supported Donald Trump is because I believed it was what’s best for the economy in the United States, where a lot of Latinos live … a lot of immigrants that are suffering over the state of the economy … With [Trump] being a businessman, I felt it was the right move.”
He went on to add: “Never in my life did I think that a month later a comedian would come to criticize my country, to speak poorly of my country, and therefore I renounce any support to Donald Trump and move aside from any political situation. Puerto Rico deserves respect.”
Nicky Jam walks back on his endorsement of Donald Trump in new video:
— Pop Base (@PopBase) October 30, 2024
“I retract any support to Donald Trump… Puerto Rico deserves respect” pic.twitter.com/mafI7LDDcP
In September, Nicky Jam made an appearance at one of Trump’s rally during which he was misgendered by the former president.
“Do you know Nicky? She’s hot!” Trump said to the crowd, adding: “Where’s Nicky? Where’s Nicky? Thank you, Nicky. Great to be having you here.”
Trump: Latin music superstar Nicky Jam. Do you know Nicky? She’s hot
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 14, 2024
(Nicky Jam is a man) pic.twitter.com/njv0MxAgEB
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The battleground states for the White House overlap significantly with the states where Democrats are fighting to keep or gain majorities in state legislative chambers, noted Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC).
“While the overlap has opened some opportunities for unprecedented collaboration, this environment has also produced steep challenges for state legislative candidates to get their message out, especially through paid communication,” Williams told reporters on a press call today.
Williams noted that the Harris campaign was now spending more on paid ads each week than the DLCC’s entire budget for this election cycle, which is $60m. The gap in resources could heighten the risk of “ballot rolloff”, the phenomenon of voters only filling out the top of their ballot without continuing down to lower-level races.
“Our historical data indicates that, in presidential years, we face the challenge of ballot rolloff most acutely,” Williams said. “Communicating and educating voters on who their state legislative candidates are is incredibly important to mitigate underperforming the top of the ticket.”
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Although much of the country is focused on the presidential and congressional races, the results of this year’s state legislative elections will have vast consequences on Americans’ everyday lives.
On a press call today, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) reported that state legislative control appears to be a true toss-up in several battleground states, reflecting the neck-and-neck nature of the presidential race.
“Right now, just 12 legislative seats are deciding six legislative majorities in the biggest battleground states across the country, and all our polling shows that this election will be incredibly close,” said Heather Williams, president of the DLCC.
Democrats are looking to maintain their narrow majorities in state legislative chambers in Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania while attempting to regain majorities in Arizona and New Hampshire. The new legislative maps in Wisconsin also represent a key opportunity for Democrats.
“The stakes couldn’t be higher, as nearly half of Americans currently have their rights protected by Democratic majorities in state legislatures,” Williams said.
“Decisions on fundamental freedoms are happening in the states, and many of the dangers of Project 2025 and Trump’s MAGA [’Make America Great Again’] agenda will continue to advance through our statehouses no matter the outcome at the top of the ticket.”
Harris takes lead over Trump in Wisconsin and Michigan - poll
A new CNN poll shows Kamala Harris leading over Trump by 6 points in Wisconsin and 5 points in Michigan, key battleground states.
Harris leads Trump by 48% to 43% among likely voters in Michigan and 51% to 45% in Wisconsin.
The candidates are tied at 48% in Pennsylvania.
The vice president’s slim advantage is due in part to “relatively strong performance among White voters and White voters without college degrees, two groups which traditionally break Republican,” CNN said.
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Interim Summary
Here’s a look at where things stand:
Kamala Harris held a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, this afternoon. “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,” she said.
Kamala Harris said that she strongly disagrees with criticisms of people based on who they voted for. Speaking on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday following Joe Biden’s “garbage” remarks, Harris said that Biden had “clarified his comments”, adding, “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they voted for.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former California governor, has announced he is endorsing Kamala Harris. He joins a running list of Republicans crossing party lines to vote against Donald Trump.
The supreme court has paused the ruling by a lower court that would have restored voting rights to approximately 1,600 voters in Virginia. In its brief order, the supreme court wrote: “The application for stay presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is granted.”
Virginia’s Republican governor Glenn Youngkin has hailed the supreme court’s ruling, calling it a “victory for common sense and election fairness”. Youngkin had ordered state officials to identify and cancel the voter registration of alleged non-citizens unless they could prove their citizenship in two weeks.
Tim Walz appeared on Good Morning America, saying, “We know it’s going to be close but we’re going to win this thing.” Speaking to host George Stephanopoulos, Walz said, “We’ve got the better ground game, we’ve got the excitement, we’ve got the momentum on our side.”
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“I see the promise of America in all the young leaders who are voting for the first time,” Kamala Harris said.
“You’ve only known the climate crisis and are leading the charge to protect our planet and our future. You young leaders who grew up with active shooter drills, who are trying to keep our schools safe, you who have known fewer rights than your mothers and grandmothers and are standing up to fight for freedom to make your own decisions about your own bodies. None of this for you young leaders is theoretical. This is not theoretical for you. It is not political for you. For our young leaders, this is your lived experience, and I see you, and I see your power, and I am so proud of you,” she added.
“Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,” Kamala Harris said.
“He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at the table,” she added.
“We have an opportunity in this election to turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump, who has been trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other. We know that is who he is but, North Carolina, that is not who we are,” Kamala Harris said.
“It is time for a new chapter where we stop with the pointing fingers at each other, and instead let us lock arms with one another, knowing we have so much more in common than what separates us,” she added.
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Kamala Harris is now on stage in Raleigh, North Carolina, for a campaign rally.
Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates.
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Donald Trump is claiming – without evidence – that Pennsylvania is cheating and has filed a lawsuit against Bucks county.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that the state is “cheating, and getting caught, at large-scale levels rarely seen before”.
He did not specify what constituted the state’s cheating.
In a separate statement, Trump’s campaign announced on Wednesday that it has filed a lawsuit against Buck county for “turning away voters.”
Again, without evidence, the campaign claimed that voters were being turned away early, saying:
“The Pennsylvania Department of State made clear if voters are in line at a county elections office by 5:00PM, the counties MUST give voters the opportunity to apply for their mail-in ballot. Pennsylvania voters were turned away as early as 2:30PM.”
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The Guardian’s democracy reporter Rachel Leingang reports on the most pervasive myths and lies about US elections:
Harris rejects criticizing Americans based on who they vote for after Biden 'garbage' remarks
Kamala Harris said that she strongly disagrees with criticisms of people based on who they voted for.
Speaking on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday following Joe Biden’s “garbage” remarks, Harris said that Biden had “clarified his comments”, adding, “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they voted for.”
In response to whether she is worried that Biden’s comments could increase the country’s political divisiveness ahead of the elections, Harris said:
“I’ve been very clear with the American public – I respect the challenges that people face, I respect the fact that we all have so much more in common than what separates us.”
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Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former California governor, has announced he is endorsing Kamala Harris.
He joins a running list of republicans crossing party lines to vote against Trump.
“I want to tune out. But I can’t. Because rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets,” Schwarzenegger wrote on X. “To someone like me who talks to people all over the world and still knows America is the shining city on a hill, calling America a trash can for the world is so unpatriotic, it makes me furious.
“And I will always be an American before I am a Republican. That’s why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”
He added that electing Trump as president would be “four more years of bullshit with no results that makes us angrier and angrier, more divided, and more hateful”.
I don’t really do endorsements. I’m not shy about sharing my views, but I hate politics and don’t trust most politicians.
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) October 30, 2024
I also understand that people want to hear from me because I am not just a celebrity, I am a former Republican Governor.
My time as Governor taught me to…
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The legal dispute centers on a 7 August executive order by the Republican Virginia governor, Glenn Youngkin, ordering the state to run its voter registration rolls against DMV data on a daily basis to check for non-citizens.
The justice department and civil rights groups sued, saying that the state was violating a federal law that prohibits systematic removals of voters within 90 days of a federal election.
The US district judge Patricia Giles granted an injunction request last week to restore the voters.
Voting experts have long warned that comparing voting rolls to DMV data is not a reliable way to find non-citizens on the rolls because there may be paperwork errors and people can become naturalized after getting their driver’s license. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit said they had identified several people who were in fact citizens but had their registrations wrongly canceled.
Donald Trump and allies had distorted the removals, saying that the lower court decision meant that non-citizens were going to be placed back on the voter rolls. But the state had not provided conclusive evidence that many of those removed were non-citizens.
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The supreme court made the ruling to pause the lower court ruling on its emergency docket and did not give a rationale for its decision, which is customary for rulings on an expedited basis.
All three liberal justices on the court – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – said they would not have halted a lower court ruling earlier in October ordering the state to restore the voter registrations.
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Virginia attorney general welcomes supreme court ruling
Virginia’s Republican attorney general Jason Miyares has also lauded the supreme court’s decision to strip away voting rights from approximately 1,600 people, saying:
“I am pleased to announce that the US Supreme Court granted Virginia’s emergency stay to keep noncitizens off our voter rolls.”
🚨🚨BREAKING: I am pleased to announce that the US Supreme Court granted Virginia’s emergency stay to keep noncitizens off our voter rolls.
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) October 30, 2024
Virginia Republican governor claims supreme court ruling is 'victory for election fairness'
Virginia’s Republican governor Glenn Youngkin has hailed the supreme court’s ruling that allowed the state to proceed with its removal of approximately 1,600 voter registrations, calling it a “victory for common sense and election fairness”.
Youngkin, who ordered state officials to identify and cancel the voter registration of alleged non-citizens unless they could prove their citizenship in two weeks, said:
“Clean voter rolls are one important part of a comprehensive approach we are taking to ensure the fairness of our elections. Virginians also know that we have paper ballots, counting machines not connected to the internet, a strong chain of custody process, signature verification, monitored and secured drop boxes, and a ‘triple check’ vote counting process to tabulate results. Virginians can cast their ballots on Election Day knowing that Virginia’s elections are fair, secure, and free from politically-motivated interference.”
We are pleased by the Supreme Court’s order today. This is a victory for commonsense and election fairness. I am grateful for the work of Attorney General @JasonMiyaresVA on this critical fight to protect the fundamental rights of U.S. citizens. Clean voter rolls are one…
— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) October 30, 2024
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Supreme court rules Virginia can stop 1,600 people from voting
The supreme court has paused the ruling by a lower court that would have restored voting rights to approximately 1,600 voters in Virginia.
In its brief order, the supreme court wrote:
“The application for stay presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is granted. The October 25, 2024 order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia … is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of the Court.”
BREAKING: The U.S. Supreme Court has paused a lower court ruling that orders Virginia to restore some 1,600 registered voters that a state program purged too close to this fall’s election in violation of the National Voter Registration Act pic.twitter.com/7OzDN8eGg2
— Hansi Lo Wang (he/him) (@hansilowang) October 30, 2024
Last week, Virginia was asked to permit more than 1,600 people to the vote after a federal judge ruled that the state had illegally revoked those rights.
The Guardian’s voting rights reporter Sam Levine reported then that the plaintiffs who brought forth the lawsuit said that many people were being incorrectly identified as non-citizen by the Department of Motor Vehicles by checking the wrong box on a form.
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In a new interview with CBS Mornings, Tim Walz said, “People are hungry to come back together … They’re hungry for us to find solutions.”
Walz, who spoke to Good Morning America earlier this morning, said: “One that’s talking about unifying us, one that’s talking about bringing folks to the table … The American tradition of disagreeing and debating but still doing it in a respectful manner.”
He went on to add that one of the most important campaign issues was restoring federal reproductive rights across the country, saying, “Restoration of Roe – that’s what we’re looking for.”
In response to Arab American voters in Michigan who have voiced their disapproval towards Kamala Harris over her support of Israel, Walz said, “There’s one ticket here that is going to find the pathway to stabilization in the Middle East, but also one that is going to respect their human rights here – push back against Islamophobia – make sure that they have the right to fully engage in our system here.”
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A former Republican congressional candidate has been charged with stealing ballots in Indiana.
Reuters reports:
A Republican former congressional candidate was charged with stealing ballots during a test of a voting system in Madison county, Indiana, state police said on Tuesday.
During the test on 3 October, which involved four voting machines and 136 candidate ballots marked for testing, officials discovered that two ballots were missing, according to the Indiana state police.
Voter fraud is rare in the United States, and courts dismissed multiple lawsuits of alleged electoral fraud brought by former president Donald Trump and some of his Republican allies who accused Democrats of stealing the 2020 election. Trump faces the Democratic vice-president, Kamala Harris, in a 5 November presidential election.
For the full story, click here:
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Walz says election will be close but hails Democrat ground game
Tim Walz appeared on Good Morning America, saying, “We know it’s going to be close but we’re going to win this thing.”
Speaking to host George Stephanopoulos, Walz said, “We’ve got the better ground game, we’ve got the excitement, we’ve got the momentum on our side.”
He added that his biggest concern was that “that Donald Trump has brought up a pessimism to folks, that folks don’t believe that their vote matters. Those votes do matter … Make sure you participate in this democracy. I think you’re going to see Donald Trump continue to spiral downward in this really difficult and hateful rhetoric.”
In response to Joe Biden’s “garbage” remark, Walz said, “The president’s clarified his remarks, but let’s be very clear: the vice-president and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone as a part of this. Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric is what needs to end … and what I say is, there’s a place for all of us here.”
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With the election just a few days away, here is what the presidential and vice-presidential candidates are going to be up to today, according to Politico:
Donald Trump will hold a rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, at 1pm ET then a rally in Green Bay Wisconsin at 7pm ET.
JD Vance will hold a town hall with Democrat-turned-Republican Tulsi Gabbard in Bedford, Pennsylvania at 5.30pm ET.
Kamala Harris will hold rallies in Raleigh, North Carolina, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Madison, Wisconsin.
Tim Walz will make appearances on Good Morning America and CBS Mornings before holding campaign events in Charlotte, Greensboro and Asheville, North Carolina.
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Nikki Haley: 'not a time to have anyone criticize Puerto Rico or Latinos'
In a new interview on Fox News, Nikki Haley, a Donald Trump critic-turned ally, said now was “not a time to have anyone criticize Puerto Rico or Latinos”.
Haley, who ran against Trump earlier this year before dropping out the presidential race, added:
“You’ve got Americans who are absolutely not going to vote for Trump. And then you’ve got a percentage in the middle who like Trump’s policies but don’t like his style. That is what they need to focus on. So when you look at these things, it has got to be a story of addition. This is not a time to have anyone criticize Puerto Rico or Latinos. This is not a time for them to get overly masculine with this bromance thing that they’ve got going. 53% of the electorate are women with will vote. They care about how they’re being talked to, and they care about the issues …”
"This is not a time to have anyone criticize Puerto Rico or Latinos. This is not a time for them to get overly masculine with this bromance thing they've got going."
— The Recount (@therecount) October 30, 2024
— Nikki Haley says she hasn't spoken to Trump since June but remains "on standby" if the campaign needs her help pic.twitter.com/HlHtSiau9n
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When Yadira Caraveo, a Democratic party member, won the race to represent Colorado’s eighth district in the House of Representatives in 2022, she eked out a victory, winning by the narrowest margin of any Democrat in the country. This November, Caraveo is facing yet another close race – one that could determine the balance of Congress.
In a district where nearly 40% of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino, the community will be decisive in crowning a winner. The battle for their votes is mostly playing out not on TV or in town halls, but on social media and local radio.
“[Latino voters] are listening to social media and the radio,” said Sonny Subia, Colorado’s volunteer state director for Lulac, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the largest and oldest Hispanic organization in the country …
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Local newspapers are just as relevant as ever this election, as the DNC takes out attack ads.
The adverts that paint Donald Trump as “unhinged, unstable, unchecked” are running in 25 local newspapers in the seven battleground states. The papers include the Delco Times and Erie Times-News in Pennsylvania or the Macomb Daily and Northern Express in Michigan.
On of the ads takes up a full page and is plastered with Trump’s infamous mugshot snapped during his indictment on racketeering charges in Georgia. The ad calls the former president “unhinged, unstable, unchecked” and “unfit to lead”.
“In the final week of the election, Democrats are not leaving any stone unturned, reminding voters in key battleground states that their vote means the difference between chaos and revenge with Donald Trump, or a New Way Forward with Vice President Harris,” Jaime Harrison, the chair of the DNC, told the New York Times.
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Fears grow over Trump's threats to political foes
Donald Trump’s extremist attacks on top Democrats as “the enemy from within” and talk of deploying the military against political foes if he wins the election are stark signs Trump will endanger the rule of law in America, say former US justice department officials and scholars.
Trump’s threats – singling out ex-speaker Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff and others as “the enemy from within” and “more dangerous than China [and] Russia” – jibe with his earlier incendiary talk of using a return to the White House to seek “revenge” against political foes led by Joe Biden. He also suggested the military could be used to quell violence at the polls from “radical left lunatics”.
Those comments, along with Trump’s adamant refusal to say clearly he will accept the election results if he is defeated, prompt critics to say Trump poses unprecedented dangers to the US constitution …
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Election too close to call less than a week from polling day
The latest polls show Kamala Harris enjoys a small lead over her rival Donald Trump. However, the election is still too close to call and a small margin of error could see either candidate in the White House.
The key battleground states, so named because there is no entrenched support for Democrats or Republicans and could swing either way, are Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina.
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Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s controversial set continues to be used as a political football by both sides of the aisle as election night draws closer.
The joke that got everyone’s back up was when Hinchcliffe compared Puerto Rico to a floating island of garbage.
President Joe Biden said Puerto Ricans are “good, decent honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”
Republicans seized on the president’s line, comparing it to Hilary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables,” comment during the 2016 election campaign.
Senator JD Vance of Ohio, Trump’s running mate, said: “This is disgusting. Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half of the country.” Just one day earlier, Vance brushed off the Puerto Rico island-of-garbage comment, saying, “We have to stop getting so offended at every little thing in the United States of America.”
Biden backpedalled somewhat on social media: “Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage – which is the only word I can think of to describe it,” he wrote. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”
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If Donald Trump wins next week’s election, it would be the first time in US history that a candidate wins based on such a huge lie – his falsehood that we have “the worst economy ever”. The former president’s Big Lie has distorted the views of millions of Americans, wrongly convincing many that the US economy is in bad shape.
There’s no denying that many Americans are struggling economically and that inflation was painfully high back in 2022, but inflation is far lower now, and most economists agree that our economy is strong. The unemployment rate is low, inflation is way down, economic growth is solid, and job growth has been remarkably strong. Indeed, the country has added nearly 18m jobs – a record – under the Biden-Harris administration. Not only that, median household income has climbed to $80,610, higher than it was in Trump’s last year in office…
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Biden clarifies ‘garbage’ comments as Harris makes closing speech in Washington
Welcome to our ongoing coverage of the US election campaign as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump continue to make their pitches to voters with less than a week to go to election day.
Current president Joe Biden was forced to clarify comments he made on Tuesday after he was seen in an edited video clip saying “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters”.
He said that a pro-Trump comedian’s “hateful rhetoric” about Puerto Rico was “garbage”.
Republican politicians and rightwing media outlets quickly picked up the clip to argue that Biden had called Trump’s supporters garbage, comparing his remarks with Hillary Clinton’s labeling of half of Trump supporters as belonging in “a basket of deplorables” in 2016.
Elsewhere:
Urged by some allies to apologise for racist comments made by speakers at his weekend rally, Donald Trump took the opposite approach on Tuesday, saying it was an “honour to be involved” in such an event and calling the scene a “lovefest” – the same term he has used to describe the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol.
Harris will spend election night at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss her campaign’s plans. If elected, Harris would be the first graduate of a historically Black university to occupy the Oval Office.
Michelle Obama took the stump in Georgia. The former first lady’s organisation When We All Vote hosted a rally for more than 2,000 people at an arena in College Park, near Atlanta’s airport – a slickly produced event that was dominated by earnest pleas to vote from a star-studded roster.
JD Vance hit back at those who say Trump is a fascist, accusing Harris and her allies of disrespecting second world war veterans as he campaigned on Tuesday in one of the most hotly contested regions of battleground Michigan.
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