Summary
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaigned in midwest swing states today, ending with dueling rallies in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, seen as a crucial state to win. Here are some of today’s key updates from myself and my colleagues:
Cardi B spoke at Harris’ Milwaukee rally, saying that she had not been planning to vote in this presidential election, but that Harris convinced her to do so. She called Harris an “underdog” whose accomplishments as a woman have been repeatedly demeaned and underestimated.
Despite facing criticism over saying yesterday that his prominent Republican critic Liz Cheney should have rifles shooting at her, Trump revisited his remarks about Cheney and her father Dick Cheney, calling her a war hawk and a coward. Harris had called Trump’s rhetoric about Cheney “disqualifying”.
The supreme court rejected an emergency appeal from Republicans that could have led to thousands of provisional ballots not being counted in Pennsylvania, and left in place a state supreme court ruling that election officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected.
Trump visited Dearborn, Michigan, to tout his support among Arab Americans and Muslim Americans who are angry with the Biden Harris administration over their support for Israel and the human death toll in Gaza and Lebanon. While key Arab American leaders chose not to meet with Trump, some called his in-person visit important, and criticized Harris and the Democratic party.
Dearborn’s Democratic mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, posted on X, “The architect of the Muslim Ban is making a campaign stop in Dearborn…To the Dems - your unwillingness to stop funding & enabling a genocide created the space for Trump to infiltrate our communities. Remember that.”
The prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr campaigned for Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin, earning big cheers from Trump supporters as the former third-party candidate reportedly is aiming for a major healthcare role in Trump’s White House.
A federal judge on Friday denied an attempt by America Pac – the political action committee founded by Elon Musk to support Donald Trump’s campaign for a second presidency – to move to federal court a civil suit brought by the Philadelphia district attorney over a daily $1m prize draw for registered voters. A hearing was scheduled in Pennsylvania state court on Monday, the day before the election.
Arizona’s attorney general has launched an investigation into whether Donald Trump violated state law through his violent rhetoric against Liz Cheney. In a statement to 12News on Friday, attorney general Kris Mayes said: “I have already asked my criminal division chief to start looking at that statement, analyzing it for whether it qualifies as a death threat under Arizona’s laws.”
The justice department announced on Friday it is deploying election monitors in 86 jurisdictions in 27 states for the general election on 5 November. “The Justice Department enforces federal voting rights laws that protect the rights of all eligible citizens to access the ballot,” an official statement said. “The department regularly deploys its staff to monitor for compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections in communities all across the country.”
Updated
Trump has wrapped up his Milwaukee rally, not long before 11 pm local time.
