Closing summary
Thanks for joining us today. This blog is closing soon. Here’s where things stand:
Kamala Harris campaigned “neighborhood-to-neighborhood” in Philadelphia and stopped at a Puerto Rican restaurant before delivering her remarks in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
Donald Trump delivered a speech in front of thousands of people who traveled to Madison Square Garden in New York City at a campaign rally. He mostly repeated some of the issues he aims to tackle if he were to be elected, including immigration, the war between Israel and Hamas, and crime.
Kamala Harris addressed a boisterous crowd in North Philadelphia, promising supporters that she would win a seemingly deadlocked presidential race with just nine days left before election day.
Donald Trump’s warm-up speakers at the Madison Square Garden rally were crude and xenophobic at times, seemingly in an attempt to double down on Trump’s rhetoric and to play to the hardcore fans here.
Kamala Harris shared her plan to create a task force in Puerto Rico geared toward improving the economy in the cash-strapped island. The message came in tandem with offensive remarks by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” during Donald Trump’s rally.
In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union this morning, JD Vance and host Jake Tapper had a heated exchange over statements former Trump administration officials have made calling the ex-president a fascist.
Donald Trump will also be visiting several battleground states ahead of Election Day.
His schedule includes a visit to Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday and a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday.
Trump is also slated to travel to Wisconsin and Nevada this week.
Kamala Harris addressed a boisterous crowd in North Philadelphia on Sunday, promising supporters that she would win a seemingly deadlocked presidential race with just nine days left before election day.
“Nine days left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, and we know this is going to be a tight race until the very end,” the vice-president told hundreds of supporters. “And make no mistake: we will win.”
Echoing a message that she has hammered at every campaign stop in recent weeks, Harris framed the election as a choice between “two extremely different visions for our nation”. Harris accused Donald Trump of waging a selfish campaign of vengeance while she and her supporters work toward a better future for all Americans.
“We have an opportunity before us to turn the page on the fear and the divisiveness that have characterized our politics for a decade because of Donald Trump,” Harris said. “We have the ability to turn the page on that same old tired playbook because we are exhausted with it, and we are ready to chart a new way forward.”
Harris took the stage after visiting a predominantly Black church and a barbershop in western Philadelphia, underscoring how important the city will be in her electoral strategy. Harris’ ability to turn out Democrats in Philadelphia will be key to winning Pennsylvania, which could serve as the tipping point state in the electoral college.
“There is too much on the line, and we must not wake up the day after the election and have any regrets about what we could have done in these next nine days,” Harris said. “The election is here, and the choice, Philly, is truly in your hands. The path to victory runs right through all of the leaders who are here.”
Here’s more on the rally in Philadelphia:
Vice President Kamala Harris called Donald Trump “increasingly unstable and unhinged” after delivering his remarks at a rally in New York City.
With about a week left for the elections, Harris will be stopping at several battleground states for a final push of support. She will campaign in Reno, Nevada, on Thursday, the same day Harris is scheduled to host a concert and rally with the norteño band Los Tigres del Norte in Phoenix, Arizona.
Meanwhile, her running mate Tim Walz will be in Manitowoc and Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Monday.
Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 28, 2024
He is seeking unchecked power in his second term, he has promised retribution and jail time for his political opponents, and he has violated his oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
Puerto Rican leaders are infuriated over Tony Hinchcliffe’s comments about the U.S. territory, calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” during Donald Trump’s rally in New York City.
Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner, Jenniffer González-Colón, called the remarks “despicable, inappropriate and disgusting.”
New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortés asked her Puerto Rican followers to share the clip with their families.
Organizing ask: I need every Boricua on here to take that rally clip and drop it in your family WhatsApps and group chats. 🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 27, 2024
ESPECIALLY if you have family in these states. And give them the link to https://t.co/0UX182dJe5 while you’re at it.
Ya tu sabes ⬇️ https://t.co/QYmwMIGT9E
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Donald Trump has finished delivering his remarks in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
He called Election Day “the most important day in the history of our country.”
“We will make America powerful again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America healthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again, and we will make America great again,” he concluded.
Former president Donald Trump is over an hour into his speech at a rally in Madison Square Garden.
He has so far promised to cut taxes, raise wages, end the war in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East, rebuild the military, and remove critical race theory from schools.
He also proposed a bill to impose a one-year jail sentence for anyone who burns the American flag.
At his rally in New York, Donald Trump congratulated his wife, Melania Trump, on the release of her new memoir.
“I was nervous when I read it,” he confessed. “I said, ‘I wonder if she said some bad stuff about me.’ I was very nervous, but she’s great.”
He thanked several of the speakers who took the stage before him, as well as the chief executive officer of Madison Square Garden Sports and Madison Square Garden Entertainment, James Dolan, for providing the venue.
Donald Trump once again calls Democrats 'the enemy from within'
At a rally in New York City, Donald Trump referenced a report that stated the US would not win if a war were to break out against China.
“I said to myself, assuming that’s true, how stupid are you to put out a report like that?” Trump said, possibly referring to a report by The Brookings Institution. “You don’t put out reports like that, and it’s not true. We would kick their ass.”
Later, he once again called Democrats “the enemy from within.”
“They’ve done very bad things to this country,” he said. “They are indeed the enemy from within, but this is who we’re fighting. These are the people who are doing such harm to our country with their open border policies, record-setting inflation, the green new scam, and everything else that they’re doing.”
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Donald Trump called Vice President Kamala Harris “grossly incompetent” and a candidate with “a very low IQ.”
“She’s unfit for office. Everyone knows it,” he said. “No one respects her, no one trusts her, no one takes her seriously.”
He later repeated misleading criticism of the Biden administration’s hurricane response in North Carolina, where Hurricane Helene ravaged the state, and then boasted about not using a teleprompter.
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Donald Trump is repeating his usual anti-immigrant comments at a rally in Madison Square Garden.
He showed a video montage of television news snippets related to crimes committed by migrants in the US.
“The United States is now an occupied country,” he said. “On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history, and get the criminals out.”
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At his rally in New York City, Donald Trump said that, if elected, he would support a tax credit for family caregivers who take care of a parent or a loved one.
“They add so much to our country and are never spoken of,” he said.
Trump also said that he would make interest on car loans fully tax deductible, “but only for cars made in America.”
Donald Trump appeared at 7.11pm – introduced by Melania – to a cacophony of noise and Lee Greenwood singing his walkout song God Bless the USA.
Trump is essentially bringing back his happy place by recreating the RNC euphoria at this Madison Square Garden rally: the speakers copied his dark rhetoric again, Hulk Hogan ripped his shirt again, Melania spoke again and Trump has the opportunity to bask in his supporters adulation.
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Donald Trump is delivering his speech at a rally in Madison Square Garden
Trump walked out to a live version of Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA, his usual walkout song.
“I’m thrilled to be back in the city I love,” Trump said. “I’d like to begin by asking a very simple question. Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” he asked.
The crowd screamed: “No!”
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Melania Trump, the former president’s wife, makes remarks following Elon Musk’s speech.
“Our lives are complicated, even during the best of times, and sadly today, a declining quality of life, coupled with economic instability makes it difficult for business to thrive,” she said.
“New York City and America need their magic back,” she added, “a country of tomorrow that will shape our future and reset expectations for the generations.”
She introduced the next speaker: Donald Trump.
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Elon Musk is delivering remarks at Donald Trump's campaign event in New York City
Elon Musk is scheduled late into the series of speakers taking the stage at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden, highlighting the influence the Tesla CEO holds in the campaign.
“We’re going to get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook,” Musk said. “America is going to reach heights that it has never seen before. The future is going to be amazing.”
During Donald Trump’s campaign rally in New York City, the CEO of the UFC, Dana White, said that Kamala Harris is “not an agent of change.”
“Change is needed, but change will not come from the status quo, and she is the status quo. If you want real change, you’ll vote for proven leadership,” he said.
Later, Howard Lutnick, the CEO of the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, took the stage. He spoke about the firm’s history before expressing his support for the former president.
“Donald Trump loves this city, no matter how crappy they treat him. He is back because he loves you and he loves this city,” he said.
McDonald’s seems to be a recurring theme in the speeches at Donald Trump’s campaign event. Earlier, JD Vance questioned Kamala Harris’s stint at the fast food joint.
Now, the former president’s son Donald Trump Jr is on the stage and used McDonald’s as an example of rising food costs.
“Let me tell you, if Donald Trump Jr has sticker shock at McDonald’s, we have a serious problem,” he said.
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Lara Trump called New York City “the greatest city on Earth in the greatest country on Earth,” pointing to her father’s contributions to the city’s development.
“New York City made Donald Trump, but Donald Trump also made New York City,” she said. “He changed the skyline of this city, rebuilt it.”
Former president Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump and his wife, Lara Trump, are speaking at the campaign rally in New York City.
“This is so much more than a political movement. This is the greatest family in the world. We are fighting for a country we love,” Eric said.
“Somebody tried to kill him, and despite that, every single time he stands up and he says ‘fight, fight, fight’,” he added.
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Senator JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential pick, is speaking at Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden.
“I’ve got the easiest job in American politics,” he said. “Think about this. All I’ve got to do is remind people what life was like when Donald J Trump was President of the United States.”
Then, Vance said Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic VP pick, has the “hardest job in American politics” because he has to defend Vice-President Kamala Harris.
“Please say a prayer for Tim Walz, because they’re asking him to do the impossible,” he added.
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The international reggaetón star Bad Bunny shared Kamala Harris’s message to Puerto Ricans.
Bad Bunny has been more involved in politics in recent months, especially in Puerto Rico, where he purchased billboards in protest of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party.
WOW! Bad Bunny just shared VP Kamala Harris’s plan for Puerto Rico just moments after a speaker at Trump’s rally called PR “garbage.” This is a big deal. Thank you, Bad Bunny. pic.twitter.com/6B4spOIcV8
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) October 27, 2024
Phil McGraw, best known for his television show Dr Phil, is delivering remarks at Donald Trump’s rally. He said he doesn’t agree with everything the former president says, but still endorses him.
He defended Trump from people who call him a bully.
“To be a bully, there has to be an imbalance of power, and when there’s not, it’s just called a debate, and he’s just better at it than anybody else,” McGraw said.
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Speakers double down on Trump rhetoric at Madison Square Garden
Donald Trump’s warm-up speakers at the Madison Square Garden rally have been crude and xenophobic at times, seemingly in an attempt to double down on Trump’s rhetoric and to play to the hardcore fans here.
The remarks in some ways are nothing new — Trumpworld celebrities typically speak in dark and visceral terms to copy Trump and win over his base — but they were notably pointed on Sunday.
From the start, Tony Hinchcliffe, the host of the Kill Tony podcast, stoked racial animus about Latinos and African Americans.
Latinos “love making babies”, Hichcliffe said to raucous laughter. “There’s no pulling out. They come inside, just like they do to our country.”
“There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchcliffe also said.
Then the radio host Sid Rosenberg leaned into attacking Democrats, using ad hominem slurs to describe Hillary Clinton — a villain to Trump supporters who lapped it up.
“Hillary Clinton. What a sick son of a bitch. The whole fucking party. A bunch of degenerates. Lowlives, Jew-haters and lowlives. Every one of ‘em. Every one of ‘em,” Rosenberg said.
And Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who lost his prime time perch in the wake of the network getting sued for defamation over promulgating false 2020 election fraud claims, went after Kamala Harris.
“As the first Samoan Malaysian low IQ, former California prosecutor to ever be elected president,” Carlson falsely said in a mocking tone of Harris’s racial background, “no, she’s not impressive.”
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Hulk Hogan, the retired WWE wrestler, has taken the stage, sporting yellow sunglasses and a red “Trump-Vance” tank top. He took a few jabs at Vice-President Kamala Harris.
“Kamala is responsible for the border crisis, and Kamala is also responsible for inflation,” he said. “She acts like she’s the victim, and then all of a sudden, she flips, she flops, she spins and turns it around and acts like she’s gonna be the damn hero.”
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The disgraced former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is expressing his support for former president Donald Trump at a campaign event in New York City.
“He’s liberated us in the deepest and truest sense,” Carlson said about Trump. “And the liberation he has brought to us is the liberation from the obligation to tell lies. Donald Trump has made it possible for the rest of us to tell the truth about the world around us, and that’s the single most liberating thing you can do for people.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, Tulsi Gabbard, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in that order, took the stage at Donald Trump’s campaign rally at Madison Square Garden. Ramaswamy made transphobic remarks, while Gabbard listed some of the ways she believes Vice President Kamala Harris will harm the country.
“A vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for economic hardship, high cost of living, poverty and homelessness,” Gabbard said. “And a vote for Donald Trump is a vote for economic prosperity and opportunity for every single one of us as Americans.”
So far, the speakers at Donald Trump’s rally in New York City have resorted to lewd language and racist remarks in their speeches.
A standup routine from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, for example, was filled with racist stereotypes of Latinos, Jews and Black people.
“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” said Hinchcliffe, whose joke was flagged by Democrat Kamala Harris’ campaign.
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Speaker Mike Johnson made an appearance at Donald Trump’s rally in New York City.
He said he felt a resurgence of the Republican party and pointed to a widespread dissatisfaction with current policies under the Biden administration.
“We’re in a battle between two completely different visions for who we are as a nation and who we’re going to be,” Johnson said. '“This is not your father’s Democratic Party. They are now full on Marxism and socialism.”
Kamala Harris unveiled her plan for Puerto Rico, the economically embattled US territory
The vice-president said she would create an “opportunity economy taskforce” in efforts to foster economic growth in the Caribbean archipelago by creating more jobs.
She also recognized the need to urgently rebuild Puerto Rico’s energy grid. The US territory is still facing the aftermath of several hurricanes that ravaged the power grid. Puerto Rico is also undergoing the effects of austerity measures imposed by a non-elected fiscal board after the local government filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history.
“I will cut red tape to ensure disaster recovery funds are used quickly and effectively, and work with leaders across the island to ensure all Puerto Ricans have access to reliable, affordable electricity,” she said.
“I will never forget what Donald Trump did and what he did not do when Puerto Rico needed a caring and incompetent leader,” she said. “He abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back-to-back devastating hurricanes and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults,” she added.
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Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, wrapped up her nearly 15-minute speech in Philadephia.
She encouraged the crowd to convince their families and friends to get out and vote, using similar phrases to those in her campaign ads.
“There is too much on the line, and we must not wake up the day after the election and have any regrets about what we could have done in these next nine days,” she said.
Vice President Kamala Harris directed her remarks toward younger voters in the Pennsylvania crowd.
“Is Gen Z in the house?” she asked. “You are rightly impatient for change. You are rightly impatient. You who have only known the climate crisis, you are leaders in what we need to do to protect our planet.”
“You, who grew up with active shooter drills,” she said. “You, who right now know fewer rights than your mothers and grandmothers understand the importance of fighting for the right of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do.”
Kamala Harris has started delivering her remarks at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
The Vice President spoke about the war in Gaza less than five minutes into her speech.
“We must seize this opportunity to end this war and bring the hostages home,” she said. “I will do everything in my power to meet that end.”
Jacob Roberts, a 26-year-old voter from Westchester attending Harris’ rally in North Philadelphia, has already voted early for her.
He told the Guardian that he feels optimistic about the outcome of the election, even as polls show a tied race in Pennsylvania.
“I’m seeing a lot of Kamala yard signs around,” Roberts said. “I actually just drove out to western Pennsylvania. I didn’t see a lot of Trump signs on barns or anything, so I think we’re looking good.”
Asked whether he was disappointed to miss some of the Eagles game to attend the rally, Roberts said it was well worth it.
“This is our country we’re talking about,” Roberts said.
Brenda Exon, a 60-year-old voter from Wallingford known as the “Philly Pride Lady,” is at Kamala Harris’ rally in Philadelphia with her “timeline to liberty” apron.
The apron tells the story of Philadelphia, from the founding of Pennsylvania to the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the civil rights movement.
“Our Philly story is our nation’s story, and that’s what we’re fighting for really. We don’t want Donald Trump to take this away,” Exon said.
“We’re coming up on our 250th [anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence], and who should be president celebrating that in 2026? Kamala Harris.”
Brenda Exon, the “Philly Pride Lady,” is at the Harris rally with her apron, which tells the story of Philly starting with William Penn.
— Joan Greve (@joanegreve) October 27, 2024
“Our Philly story is our nation's story, and that's what we're fighting for really. We don't want Donald Trump to take this away.” pic.twitter.com/SZIUROGtoV
Trump approved Rudy Giuliani to be on the stage tonight at the Madison Square Garden rally, according to a person familiar.
Giuliani walked into the stage at the Trump rally to the loudest cheers so far of the event and a standing ovation from a capacity Madison Square Garden.
Giuliani opened by referencing when Pope John Paul came to NY in 1995, a visit Giuliani presumably recalls because it took place while he was mayor.
It’s the kind of anecdote that will play well with most of the crowd here but there are many younger Trump supporters here who have no idea what that’s about.
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Governor Tim Walz joined Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the congresswoman from New York, on a Twitch livestream as the two played the American football video game Madden and talked about the election.
The unconventional campaign appearance comes as the Harris-Walz campaign tries to drum up support among young male voters. In 2020, Ocasio-Cortez’s first appearance on Twitch was one of the platform’s most-watched events at that time.
Here’s Michael Sainato with more on the stream:
On the six-year anniversary of a shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff have released statements acknowledging the mass shooting.
“Six years ago today, a white supremacist committed the deadliest attack on American Jews in our nation’s history,” Emhoff wrote. “We honor the lives of those lost on that horrific day by continuing our fight against antisemitism and hate in all its forms.”
Six years ago today, a white supremacist committed the deadliest attack on American Jews in our nation’s history. When I visited Tree of Life in June for the groundbreaking ceremony, I told the families that @VP and I would never let the world forget what the poison of… pic.twitter.com/vFVqqkYcef
— Douglas Emhoff (@SecondGentleman) October 27, 2024
A federal judge blocked the state of Virginia from removing suspected noncitizens from the voter rolls, CNN reported.
The court cited potential violations of a federal ban on “systematic” removals within 90 days of an election.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision paves the way for a potential Supreme Court battle as early voting begins in Virginia. Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have rallied around the case, arguing that noncitizen voting is a significant election risk, despite its rarity.
The order clarifies that Virginia can still prevent noncitizen voting by canceling registrations on an individual basis or prosecuting noncitizens who vote.
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Today so far
Thanks for joining us this morning. As I hand over to my colleague Coral Murphy Marcos, here are the main headlines we’ve been following today so far:
In a bevy of Sunday morning talk show appearances, JD Vance defended Donald Trump against claims from former Trump staffers that the ex-president has authoritarian tendencies. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris described her choice to deliver her closing argument speech at The Ellipse, Lindsey Graham denounced attacks against Trump’s character and Bernie Sanders said Trump has “strong tendency toward authoritarianism”.
This morning, Kamala Harris campaigned “neighborhood-to-neighborhood” in Philadelphia, kicking off the morning by attending services at a predominantly Black church before heading to a nearby barbershop to speak with young Black men. She’ll be stopping at a Puerto Rican restaurant later this afternoon before speaking at a rally this evening.
Supporters of Donald Trump’s have already begun gathering at Madison Square Garden as the ex-president prepares to deliver his closing arguments there. Campaigning in Nevada today, Tim Walz has criticized the rally as “a direct parallel” to a Nazi rally held at the venue in 1939.
Following the news that the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times will not endorse a presidential candidate this year, the New York Times opinion section has published a full page image reminding readers that it endorsed Kamala Harris last month. Earlier this week, our own editorial page strongly endorsed Kamala Harris for president.
In the final days of the 2024 election, Harris’s campaign has slowballed Joe Biden’s offers to campaign for his vice-president, Axios reports.
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We are now in the warmup act-phase of the rally. The jumbotron is playing super-cuts of Kamala Harris saying in TV interviews that she couldn’t think of any Biden administration policies she would change, which gets prolonged boos.
Expected to speak later in the program: Rudy Giuliani, the Trump lawyer and co-defendant in the Fulton county election interference case.
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A long line of people are waiting to enter the venue in North Philadelphia where Kamala Harris will be addressing supporters this afternoon.
On the way into the venue, supporters can see signs reading “Philly for Kamala” and “We Choose Freedom”.
Long line to see Kamala Harris speak in North Philly this afternoon - a true sign of commitment from her supporters, given that the Eagles are playing. pic.twitter.com/1CpwpoZQ6M
— Joan Greve (@joanegreve) October 27, 2024
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With several hours to go until Trump’s scheduled speaking time at Madison Square Garden, the venue is already fully filled in the lower and mid sections. The difference today compared with some other Trump rallies is that there is seating, including for the space in front of the stage.
Overhead, the jumbotron is flashing Trump’s campaign slogans, such as “No Tax on Tips” and “Make America Wealthy Again”, but there’s also the occasional ad for people to buy Maga hats. Most people here are already wearing Maga hats so it’s unclear how many people are buying.
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A day after Joe Biden visited Arizona to formally apologize for the federal government’s role in the American Indian boarding school system, Tim Walz visted the state to campaign in the capital of the Navajo Nation – a symbol of Native voters’ potential sway in the presidential election.
Wearing a turquoise necklace and horned toad pin, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate spoke yesterday alongside Arizona senator Mark Kelly as about 750 supporters held aloft signs reading “Sko Coach!” (slang for “Let’s Go Coach!”) and “Yíiyáh Man!” (Diné for “scary”) alongside a sillouette of Donald Trump.
Ten days from Election Day, @Tim_Walz could be anywhere, but he’s here in Window Rock because he and @KamalaHarris care about Native communities.
— Captain Mark Kelly (@CaptMarkKelly) October 27, 2024
And in an election this close, Navajo Nation has the power to put @KamalaHarris in the White House and @NezForAZ in the House. pic.twitter.com/QQIZQ2uGkr
“I understand that it is a privilege to be standing here on Navajo land,” Walz said. “I am grateful that you would see fit during the year as we talk about your vote to make Kamala Harris president of the United States, for your incredible hospitality.”
Walz also acknowledged the flags flying at half-staff in the Navajo Nation Veterans Memorial Park, where the event was held. “The Navajo Nation and the nation of the United States lost a treasure in John Kinsel Sr, one of the original Navajo Code Talkers,” Walz said, noting the code talker who died last week at the age of 107.
Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz speaking in front of the Window Rock and acknowledging the late Navajo Nation Code Talker John Kinsel Sr. pic.twitter.com/3qbEbciYWU
— Arlyssa D. Becenti (@ABecenti) October 26, 2024
Navajo Nation president Buu Nygren, who invited the Harris-Walz campaign to visit the capital of the largest tribe in the United States, also spoke at the event. “Governor Walz coming here today recognizes the voice of Native Americans and the huge impact we will have at the polls this year,” Nygren said.
Tim Walz is in Window Rock, AZ today as the Harris Walz campaign stops on Navajo Nation. While driving here, I saw Trump supporters driving in Gallup with campaign flags attached to their vehicles. Here are some photos from what I’ve seen so far at this event. pic.twitter.com/ktQdMyhYFw
— Noel Smith (@nsmithdt) October 26, 2024
Walz’s visit to the Navajo Nation comes as Kamala Harris is trailing in the polls in Arizona, a state that Biden famously won in 2020, largely due to the support of Native American voters. If Harris wins the election, making Walz her vice-president, Minnesota Lt Gov Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, would become the first Native American woman to serve as a state’s governor.
Democratic leaders have tried to make inroads among Native voters in recent weeks. On Friday, Biden traveled to the Gila River Indian Community outside Phoenix to apologize for the US government’s role in forcing thousands of Native American children to attend Indian boarding schools – a policy which has been widely recognized as an element of genocide. And on Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the Democratic National Committee announced that it had launched a “six-figure ad campaign” aimed at turning out Native American voters in Arizona, North Carolina, Montana and Alaska. It is the party’s third Native-focused campaign this year, and “the most the DNC has ever spent on a campaign targeting Native voters”.
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An array of big tech executives have spoken with Donald Trump in recent days, seeking to rekindle their relationships with the ex-president as the possibility of his return to office hangs by a narrow margin, CNN reports. In recent weeks, Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Amazon’s Andy Jassy have all called Trump. Earlier this summer, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg also reached out to Trump after his attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“There are some that seem to be waking up to the fact that like: ‘Holy sh*t, this guy might get elected again. I don’t want to have him, his administration, going after us,’” a person close to Trump told CNN. “What he’s saying out loud, I think they hear, and they’re taking it seriously.”
As CNN reports: “Whoever is sworn in next year will immediately face decisions over whether to continue President Joe Biden’s crackdown on Big Tech.”
The Biden administration has gone after Apple and Google for violating antitrust laws in still pending lawsuits. Read more here:
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Walz compares Trump rally and Nazi event both held at Madison Square Garden
Campaigning in Nevada today, Tim Walz has criticized Donald Trump’s planned rally at Madison Square Garden this evening as “a direct parallel” to a Nazi rally held at the venue in 1939. The comparison comes in the final days of a race where the Harris-Walz campaign has increasingly tried to draw attention to statements previous Trump appointees have made calling their former boss a “fascist”.
“Donald Trump's got this big rally going at Madison Square Garden. There's a direct parallel to a big rally that happened in the mid 1930s at Madison Square Garden. And don't think that he doesn't know for one second exactly what they're doing there.” - Tim Walz in Henderson, NV pic.twitter.com/wQxz24YwcF
— Dylan Wells (@dylanewells) October 27, 2024
On 20 February 1939, in the lead-up to the second world war, 20,000 people attended a pro-Hitler rally at Madison Square Garden organized by the German American Bund.
“Donald Trump’s got this big rally going at Madison Square Garden. There’s a direct parallel to a big rally that happened in the mid 1930s,” Walz said. “Don’t think that he doesn’t know for one second exactly what they’re doing there.”
Earlier this month, New York Democratic state senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, whose district includes the Garden, called on the venue to cancel the rally, saying: “Allowing Trump to hold an event at MSG is equivalent to the infamous Nazis rally at Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939.”
Here’s Edward Helmore with more on the 1939 rally:
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Dan Osborn told ABC News on Sunday that he hopes to kick off a “national movement” if his run for a US senate seat in Nebraska as an independent candidate topples Republican incumbent Deb Fischer.
Describing himself as “frustrated” with US politics’ two-party system, Osborn has a slight edge – 47.8% to 46.4% – over Fischer, according to a polling index from the Hill/Decision Desk HQ. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has shifted the contest toward Osborn, moving it from a solidly Republican race to one that now only leans in that direction, as the Hill noted.
Osborn has gotten to this point while refusing all party endorsements, even as Democrats have supported his first-time candidacy. He has also effectively portrayed the two-term Fischer as someone beholden to so many interests that in one campaign ad Osborn argued that she should wear sponsorship patches like racecar drivers do.
“I think this is the start of something special,” Osborn said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “People are ready for it. And I want to be a part of it.”
Fischer’s backers include the Republican White House nominee Donald Trump, who won all five of Nebraska’s electoral college votes when he captured the presidency in 2016 and then took four as Joe Biden defeated him in 2020. The cornhusker state’s two US senators and three US House representatives are all Republicans, making Osborn’s credible challenge against Fischer that much more notable.
Democrats and Republicans are, respectively, trying to defend 23 and 11 US Senate seats during the 5 November presidential election. And as ABC also noted, if he wins, Osborn could help decide which party controls the chamber depending with whom he chooses to caucus.
Osborn is a Navy veteran and former union president who led a strike against the cereal giant Kellog’s in 2021.
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Harris campaign slowballs Biden's offers to campaign – report
In the final days of the 2024 election, Kamala Harris’s campaign has slowballed Joe Biden’s offers to campaign for his vice-president, Axios reports.
“President Biden wants to campaign for Vice President Harris in the last days before the election,” the outlet writes. “Harris’ campaign keeps responding: We’ll get back to you, three people familiar with the dynamic told Axios.”
Although it’s grateful for Biden’s service, Harris’s team is wary of aligning her with the increasingly unpopular president. “He’s a reminder of the last four years, not the new way forward,” a person familiar with the situation told Axios.
Yesterday, Biden began campaigning for Harris on his own, attending union events in Pittsburgh. There, he reportedly called Republican White House nominee Donald Trump “a loser as a candidate and … a loser as a man”, among other remarks.
Biden also called said the choice between Trump and Harris in the 5 November election was one of “decency versus lack of decency”.
Members of the president’s team told Axios they believe Harris’s campaign is underestimating the current president’s appeal among white, working-class communities in the state where he was born.
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Epic scenes outside Madison Square Garden in New York where thousands of Maga supporters have descended to hear the former president speak this evening.
Hours before Trump is scheduled on stage the streets of midtown Manhattan are packed. The main line of attendees, standing 20-wide, are filling an entire block of 33rd Street.
In line at the Trump Madison Square Garden rally in Manhattan. Six hours to go til Trump speaks and I’m already swamped in a vast crowd pic.twitter.com/8cP7gqEvaL
— Ed Pilkington (@Edpilkington) October 27, 2024
Periodically they chant “USA! USA!” and “Let’s Go Trump!”. Supporters are carrying placards saying “Pardon Trump Now” and “Never Surrender”.
A man paraded up and down the line carrying a sign saying “Fuck Kamala. We ain’t voting for that hoe (sic)”.
Later, an imitator of the North Korean supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, walked the line giving a regal wave.
A group of four women from Queens had travelled into Manhattan early, sitting for hours on camping chairs. Lori, who didn’t want to give her last name, said she was passionate about Trump because of “crime, inflation, the border, lack of respect”.
What did she mean by lack of respect? “If you have a different political opinion you shouldn’t be demonized.”
Lori said friends of hers in New York now shunned her after she became a Trump supporter. “You can’t be mean to people,” she said.
But what about Trump, who regularly demeaned and belittled his rivals? “He’s not mean, he’s joking. It’s like a nervous twitch,” she said.
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Donald Trump will also air a campaign ad during the Philadelphia Eagles’ game today, competing with Kamala Harris’s new ad aimed at turning out Pennsylvania voters.
According to the Trump campaign, the two-minute ad will air during the third quarter of the Eagles’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals, which gets under way at 1pm ET.
The ad, entitled Never Quit, features the voices of Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Trump’s two elder sons.
“President Trump is literally putting his life on the line. and he’s willing to risk it all because he loves this country,” White says in the ad.
The dueling campaign ads come as polls suggest a neck-and-neck race in Pennsylvania, which could serve as the tipping point state in the electoral college.
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Following her appearance at a predominantly Black church in Philadelphia this morning, Kamala Harris has just visited Philly Cuts, a barbershop not far from the west Philadelphia church.
From a barbershop chair, Harris answered questions from several young Black men, including about student loan debt, in a conversation moderated by Pennsylvania state representative Jordan Harris.
Here’s the Guardian’s Andrew Lawrence with more about Harris’s strategy of campaigning at barbershops:
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Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are blazing into the final full week before the election with plans to visit all seven battleground states in four days.
The final sprint will be anchored by an address on the Ellipse near the White House on Tuesday where she will deliver what her campaign has described as the candidate’s “closing argument”.
Along the way, Harris and Walz will be joined by musical artists and celebrities, the campaign said, including Maggie Rogers, Maná, Gracie Abrams, Los Tigres del Norte, Mumford & Sons, Remi Wolf, and The National’s Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner. Harris’s team argues that their star power can help mobilize and motivate voters who have yet to cast ballots and possibly even reach Americans who have tuned out.
Harris is in Pennsylvania today while Trump holds a rally at Madison Square garden in New York. On Monday she will head back to Michigan, overlapping with Walz who will also be in Wisconsin. On Tuesday, she will speak in Washington DC while Walz heads to Georgia. On Wednesday, they will both travel to North Carolina while she stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Then on Thursday she heads west to Arizona and Nevada while he returns to the midwest.
Buckle up!
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As Kamala Harris campaigns across Philadelphia today, her campaign has released a new ad scheduled to air this afternoon during the Eagles’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Whoever produced this @KamalaHarris campaign ad — apparently set to air during this afternoon’s Eagles game — totally gets the Philly ethos. pic.twitter.com/eYSKTKJRnj
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) October 27, 2024
The campaign has also released a second ad geared at Pittsburgh Steelers fans, which will air during the team’s game tomorrow night.
At a rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan last night, former first lady Michelle Obama made a strong appeal to men that reproductive justice matters for them too. Here’s Lauren Gambino with more:
Directing her comments to the “men who love us”, Obama asked them to consider the harm that is done when a government “keeps revoking the basic care from its women”.
Earlier this month, Barack Obama delivered a stern message for Black men in his first campaign event for Harris, telling them to drop the “excuses” and support her. Michelle Obama tried a different tack – asking American men to listen to women this election.
Obama’s appeal reflected the gaping gender divide between the candidates, with women powering Harris and men turning to Trump. She acknowledged the challenges facing the country, and conceded that progress could be too slow, but she argued that sitting out or voting third-party was not the answer.
Read the full story here:
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Following the news that the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times will not endorse a presidential candidate this year, the New York Times opinion section has published a full page image reminding readers that it endorsed Kamala Harris last month.
“Donald Trump says he will prosecute his enemies, order mass deportations, use soldiers against citizens, abandon allies, play politics with disasters. Believe him,” the full page endorsement reads.
The Sunday @nytopinion - for those who have forgotten how it's done. pic.twitter.com/hYO8mYauJx
— Brent Staples (@BrentNYT) October 27, 2024
Earlier this week, our own editorial page strongly endorsed Kamala Harris for president. Here’s our editor Betsy Reed with more on media ownership and democracy:
In a second morning show appearance this morning, JD Vance refused to call Russia an “enemy” and again called John Kelly a “disgruntled ex-employee”. Speaking on Meet the Press, Vance said Russian president Vladimir Putin was “clearly an adversary” but “we have to be smart about diplomacy”, and criticized the former Trump administration officials who have called the ex-president a fascist.
WATCH: @JDVance says Putin is “clearly an adversary,” but the U.S. has to be “smart about diplomacy.” @kwelkernbc: “You’re not willing to go so far as to call him an enemy?”
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 27, 2024
“Well, we're not in a war with him, and I don't want to be in a war with Vladimir Putin's Russia.” pic.twitter.com/2NAhkpo3Nm
Vance also said that a Trump-Vance administration would “stay in NATO” and explained that Donald Trump’s earlier comments on eliminating a federal income tax earlier this week were an “aspirational goal”.
In an appearance on Meet the Press this morning, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders said that while he doesn’t like to use words like “fascist”, Trump has a “strong tendency toward authoritarianism.”
“This is a guy who provoked an insurrection in January, January 6, 2021, to prevent, for the first time in American history, a peaceful transfer of power,” he said.
WATCH: Kamala Harris has called Donald Trump a "fascist."
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 27, 2024
Sen. @BernieSanders says he doesn't "like using those words but clearly he has a strong, strong tendency toward authoritarianism. … You can describe him as a fascist." pic.twitter.com/VZJq50EDro
Sanders also spoke about Elon Musk’s alleged contacts with Russian president Vladimir Putin (“What really interests me is if ... Trump were to win, whether it would be Elon Musk running the government and Trump working for him or the other way around.”) and the war in Gaza (“Trump is even worse on this issue. ... While I disagree with Biden and Harris — they are still better.”).
In a separate appearance on ABC, billionaire and Democratic supporter Mark Cuban echoed Sanders, saying Trump “absolutely” has “fascist tendencies”.
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Harris addresses Black voters at Philadelphia church: 'God’s power doesn’t just work for us, it also works within us.'
Campaigning in Philadelphia today, Kamala Harris has started her day by delivering remarks at the Church of Christian Compassion, a Black church in west Philadelphia.
Speaking about the Apostle Paul, Harris said, “Paul understood something profound. I believe, pastor, that God’s power doesn’t just work for us, it also works within us.”
“What feeds my spirit — I see faith in action all over. Everywhere I go,” she told attendees. “I see a nation determined to turn the page on hatred.”
After her remarks, the pastor told congregants that there would be a bus outside to take people to the polls, CNN reports. “There are 20 buses at places of faith all over the city of Philadelphia,” he added.
📍West Philly
— aaron navarro (@aaronlarnavarro) October 27, 2024
VP Harris gave remarks during service at the Church of Christian Compassion
“We have 9 days until we decide the future of this nation. What feeds my spirit — I see faith in action all over. Everywhere I go.”
“I see a nation determined to turn the page on hatred.” pic.twitter.com/Ktrdp7BG3m
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JD Vance defends Trump against fascism claims on morning talk shows
In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union this morning, JD Vance and host Jake Tapper had a heated exchange over statements former Trump administration officials have made calling the ex-president a fascist.
"That's really your argument?"
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) October 27, 2024
Watch @jaketapper grill @JDVance over warnings about fascism from former Trump officials ahead of November's election. pic.twitter.com/jWaK4qJ0p2
“So all those 10 people, including the former vice president Mike Pence, all of these people have this horribly damaged worldview, and they’re all just going after Donald Trump because they want to send people into war? That’s really your argument?” Tapper said.
“Absolutely,” Vance answered. “Absolutely that’s my argument.”
“These aren’t conservative Republicans who are concerned about Donald Trump? They’re not? That’s not right?” Tapper asked.
“All of these people, Jake, they came into office thinking that they could control Donald Trump. That when he said he wanted peace in the world--”
“Mike Pence thought he could control Donald Trump?”
“Yes, he did. And when he found out, when he found out that he couldn’t, they all turned on Donald Trump, and a lot of them got fired.”
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Good morning, Cecilia Nowell here today bringing you the latest news of the 2024 election as it happens. As Kamala Harris and Donald Trump prepare to make their closing arguments, Harris is heading today to Philadelphia to campaign “neighborhood-to-neighborhood” while Trump gears up for a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Here are some of the other headlines we’re tracking:
JD Vance and Liz Cheney spoke on CNN’s State of the Union this morning about recent comments from former Donald Trump staffers that the ex-president has authoritarian tendencies. Vance denounced the former Trump officials as bitter about being fired, while Cheney criticized Vance for his own past comments on Trump: “I think what we just watched is what it looks like when someone has got to go through just unbelievable contortions to try to find a way to defend the person that JD Vance himself called ‘America’s Hitler.’”
In an interview that aired this morning on CBS, Kamala Harris described her choice to deliver her closing argument speech at The Ellipse, a park near the White House, on Tuesday – one week before the election. “I’m doing it there because I think it’s very important for the American people to see and think about who will be occupying that space on Jan. 20th,” she said.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, is on ABC’s “The Week” this morning also discussing comments from past Trump administration officials calling the ex-president a fascist. “How about a little self-reflection about the job you did before you criticize others,” he said."
Michelle Obama joined Kamala Harris for a rally yesterday focused on reproductive freedom in Kalamazoo, Michigan (or as Obama called it, “Kamala-zoo”). The former first lady and the vice-president emphasized the stakes for abortion and reproductive healthcare if Donald Trump is re-elected. Earlier in the day, Harris spoke with reproductive healthcare providers at a clinic in Portage, Michigan.
On the first day of early voting in Michigan, Donald Trump also held a rally in Michigan. At an event in Novi, the ex-president was joined on stage by several imams and other leaders of the state’s large Muslim and Arab American community, who denounced Joe Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza.
Later in the evening, Trump spoke at a second event in State College, Pennsylvania, where he again promised to ban sanctuary cities and launch a massive deportation program all while unleashing more personal attacks against Harris.
The Washington Post’s and Los Angeles Times’ decisions not to endorse a presidential candidate has sparked furor (and a slew of resignations) among the papers’ staff.
