Obama seems relaxed, he’s getting laughs, if he is using the teleprompter, you can’t tell. Which is to say: it bodes well for his upcoming campaign surrogate tour for Harris.
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Obama talks about January 6th. If Trump wouldn’t protect his own vice president, he says. “What makes you think he cares about you?”
Trump wants people to be divided and angry, says Obama, because he thinks it boosts his chances.
“He doesn’t care who gets hurt,” Obama says.
“It’s crazy,” Obama says, his voice taking on a high pitch for emphasis.
Donald Trump “sees power as a means to an end”, Obama says.
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Obama has just compared Donald Trump to Fidel Castro.
He takes aim at Trump’s social media posts. “Constantly trying to sell you stuff,” he says.
A Trump bible, for example. “You could not make this stuff up. If you saw it on Saturday Night Live, you’d say, this is too much.”
“What I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that’s good for you Pennsylvania,” he says.
“Because there is absolutely no evidence that this man thinks about anybody but himself.”
Obama is wearing a blue button down, sleeves rolled up: informal, approachable. A look that says: I like pancakes and understand the youth.
“I mean I am the hopey changey guy,” he says.
There are three ways to vote, Obama says.
You can vote early, request a mail-in ballot, or vote on November fifth.
“Bit if you’re at this rally, you’re probably voting,” he says, “unless you’re 12”.
“But even if you’re 12,” you can help encourage your friends and family to vote, he says.
Obama now speaks about the back to back hurricanes that have hit the US in the last fortnight.
He thanks Fema workers – the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Having competent leaders makes a difference, he says. And today he’s asking people to vote for some of those leaders.
I love the people in Pittsburgh. I love the food in Pittsburgh. I don’t usually do this, but this is a bit of a Yelp rating. I had some of Pamela’s Pancakes,” he says.
He last had them ten years ago and made sure to get them again this time. “Tell ‘em!” someone shouts from the crowd.
Obama on stage
Barack Obama is now on stage. The crowd is cheering and screaming. “Are you fired up,” he says. "It is good to be back on Pennsylvania. It is good to be back in Pittsburgh. I love Pittsburgh.”
Ahead of tonight’s campaign appearance, Obama surprised campaign workers and volunteers at a field office in Pennsylvania, the New York Times reports.
He said, specifically addressing black men: “You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses. I’ve got a problem with that.”
“Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that,” Obama said, adding that the “women in our lives have been getting our backs this entire time. When we get in trouble and the system isn’t working for us, they’re the ones out there marching and protesting.”
What is the electoral college?
Pennsylvania is the swing state with the highest number of electoral college votes: 19.
The electoral college is a group of 538 people, called electors, who officially cast their votes for the US president after citizens have voted. This is a requirement outlined in the US constitution. The electors are chosen by political parties in each of the US’s 50 states ahead of the election.
Different states have different numbers of electoral college votes, with the number decided based on the census. The number of votes is equal to its total congressional delegation: the number of senators plus the number of representatives. While not a state, the District of Columbia – as in Washington DC – is allocated three electoral college votes.
This is why the total is 538: 100 senators plus 435 representatives plus three for DC.
A candidate needs more than half – or at least 270 – of the electoral college votes to win. In most states, all of the electoral college votes from the state go to the same candidate. The exceptions are Maine and Nebraska, which allocate two electoral votes to the state popular vote winner, and then one electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each congressional district.
The party that wins a state has its electors formally vote for its candidate. This happens a few weeks after the November election – and after US states have certified their election results – on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December.
In 2020 Donald Trump tried to remove electors in some states before the electoral college vote but the US supreme court rejected that attempt the week before.
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What are swing states?
Pennsylvania is the swing state with the highest number of electoral college votes: 19.
Swing states, or battleground states, are where campaigns tend to spend the most money trying to win over undecided voters, or voters who they hope might be convinced to switch from supporting the other team to theirs.
Voters in the seven swing states are likely to decide the election this year. The states, and the number of electoral college votes up for grabs, are Arizona (11), Georgia (16), Michigan (15), Nevada (6), North Carolina (16), Pennsylvania (19) and Wisconsin (10). Together they account for 93 electoral college votes, or more than a third of what a candidate needs to win.
Swing states are less commonly referred to as “toss-up” or “purple” states – the latter referring to a mix of blue and red.
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Obama campaign event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania begins
The event is starting now.
The event is taking place at Fitzgerald Field House on the University of Pittsburgh campus, as the Harris campaign seeks to encourage young people to turn up to vote – and vote Democrat.
Here is a look at the crowd:
Pittsburgh is out here for Obama. Thousands and thousands. pic.twitter.com/oomnxXLnAk
— Ethan Dodd (@ethandasaxman) October 10, 2024
Kamala Harris’s campaign has raised a record-breaking $1bn within 80 days of her becoming the Democrats’ nominee yet has failed to translate her cash advantage over Donald Trump into a poll advantage in the key battleground states that will probably decide the election.
The vice-president’s fundraising haul, first reported by NBC, dwarfs the $309m raised by Trump’s campaign by the end of August, and equals the amount brought in by Joe Biden for his entire 2020 campaign.
But Democrats’ joy over the bounty is being tempered by a lack of evidence that it is giving her the edge she will need in the battleground states to win enough of them to affect the election outcome in her favor.
In other US news, an equipment failure at a former Colorado gold mine has left one person dead and a dozen others trapped, authorities said Thursday.
The elevator descending into the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine, which now operates as a tourist site, near the town of Cripple Creek, had a mechanical issue around 500ft (152 meters) beneath the surface. It created a “severe danger for the participants” and one person was killed, Jason Mikesell, the Teller county sheriff, said at a press conference.
Crews were able to rescue 11 people, but 12 people are still at the bottom of the mine, about 1,000ft (305 meters) deep. They are in safe conditions and in communication with authorities, said Mikesell. Rescuers are working to get the elevator back online.
Obama’s campaign event for Kamala Harris will be starting in ten minutes’ time. Follow along live here.
Kamala Harris says de-escalation needed in Middle East
Kamala Harris has told reporters in Las Vegas that de-escalation is needed in the Middle East.
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Kamala Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, will campaign in Detroit, Michigan on Friday – hot on the heels of Trump, who spoke there on Thursday – insulting Detroit during his address.
Walz will deliver remarks at a campaign event in Macomb County, according to the Harris campaign. It is his third solo visit to the state since being named the vice-presidential Democratic nominee.
As Florida grapples with the effects of Hurricane Milton, presidential campaigning remained in full swing in battleground states across the US on Thursday
Kamala Harris attended a Univision town hall in Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon. She will then go to an evening rally in Phoenix while remaining in close contact with the White House and monitoring federal disaster response efforts, her campaign said.
Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, spoke at the Economic Club of Detroit, where he complained about the federal response to Hurricane Helene as he seeks to gain a political advantage from the tropical weather.
Even amid the hurricane, however, both the Harris and Trump campaigns are using their travel strategically, trying to increase support with key voting blocs who could decide an election expected to be exceedingly close.
Former President Barack Obama is also hitting the campaign trail on Thursday night, making his first appearance for Harris at a rally in Pittsburgh. That begins what the Harris campaign says will be a series of campaign stops Obama will make on the vice president’s behalf.
Barack Obama will host the first of a series of campaign events for Kamala Harris this evening in an hour’s time. He is speaking in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The state, with 19 electoral college votes, is all but essential to winning the presidency.
Obama remains one of the Democrats’ most powerful surrogates, second perhaps only to his wife, Michelle Obama. His return to the campaign trail follows a rousing speech at the Democratic national convention in August, in which he cast Harris as a forward-looking figure and a natural heir to his diverse, youth-powered political coalition.
Harris was one of Obama’s earliest supporters when he launched a long-shot presidential bid against Hillary Clinton in 2007. She would go on to knock on doors for him ahead of the Iowa caucuses in 2008. In 2010, as president, he endorsed Harris in her successful bid to be the attorney general of California. At the time, he called Harris “a dear, dear friend of mine”.
“I want everybody to do right by her,” he said then.
Though Obama remained publicly silent following Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump this summer, he was considered to be among the party elders who helped the president realize that his path to victory in November had all but disappeared.
Harris’s campaign, the structure of which she inherited from Biden, already includes several former Obama campaign staff. Among them are strategist David Plouffe, Stephanie Cutter – who was Obama’s deputy campaign manager in 2012 – and Mitch Stewart, Obama’s grassroots strategist for both campaigns. Stewart is Harris’s adviser for battleground states, among which Pennsylvania is seen as a must-win for either side.
This is Helen Sullivan taking over the Guardian’s live US elections news. I’ll bring Obama’s speech to you live, with news and analysis.
Trump insults Detroit during speech … in Detroit
Donald Trump attacked the city of Detroit in a speech he was giving while stumping for votes in Detroit.
The former US president and Republican nominee was speaking on Thursday at the Detroit Economic Club in the city, which is the biggest city in Michigan – one of the most crucial swing states in the 2024 US election.
But Trump, whose speeches are frequently rambling and lengthy discourses rather than set piece deliveries, could not stop himself from lambasting the city in which he was speaking by pointing to Detroit’s recent history of economic decline from its heyday as the home of American car production.
As he was speaking about China being a developing nation, Trump said: “Well, we’re a developing nation too, just take a look at Detroit. Detroit’s a developing area more than most places in China.”
He later returned to the theme, warning of an economic disaster if his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, wins in November’s election.
“Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president. You’re going to have a mess on your hands,” Trump said.
Michigan polling shows Harris and Trump still caught up in a very tight race.
Democrats in the state reacted angrily to the insults and saw a chance to score political points.
Tempe, Arizona police announced today that an office for the Democratic National Committee was shot at in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Washington Post reports. According to police, it’s the third time an unidentified individual has shot at the campaign office since 16 September. Fortunately, given the late hour (each of the three shootings has occured between midnight at 1am), no one was in the building.
Police have released images of a 2008-2013 Silver Toyota Highlander they believe may be involved in the shootings and offered a $1,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest.
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Kamala Harris’s campaign event in Las Vegas has concluded, and the vice-president will be en route to Phoenix shortly. Harris is expected to speak again this evening at 6.30pm Arizona time (9.30pm ET) – just after former president Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver remarks on behalf of Harris’s campaign in Pittsburgh.
For those who were unable to attend the Las Vegas town hall, the event will air on Univision this evening at 10pm.
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A day after Donald Trump insulted them, the hosts of The View are reacting to the former president.
“Donald Trump, I want to thank you for personally telling so many lies and committing so many alleged crimes and providing us with material on a daily basis,” said co-host Sunny Hostin. “You help us do our jobs and I’m so appreciative.”
Trump spoke about Hostin, and her co-host Whoopi Goldberg, at a campaign event in Pennsylvania yesterday. He called Hostin “dumber than Kamala” and Goldberg “demented”, adding that she had a “foul mouth”.
Goldberg told the Associated Press she was proud of her reputation. “I was filthy and stand on that fact. I have always been filthy.”
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Kamala Harris is campaigning today at a Univision town hall in Las Vegas, in hopes of strengthening her support among Latino voters. She’ll be stopping in Arizona later in the day.
At the town hal, – which was hosted by the US’s largest provider of Spanish-language content – the vice-president answered questions about immigration, Medicare and Hurricane Milton.
In response to one woman, who spoke of her mother’s recent death and asked Harris about her plan for those who “live and die in the shadows”, Harris referenced the Biden administration’s proposals to create a pathway to citizenship, the New York Times reports. And in response to another, who shared her own story of contracting long Covid, Harris said she had advocated to define the post-viral illness as a disability under federal law.
Meanwhile, speaking about the disinformation surrounding the federal government’s hurricane response, she reiterated the refrain she has held to in the past days that “this is not a time for people to play politics.”
Kamala Harris asked in Univision town hall about the information around the hurricane response:
— Sarah Ewall-Wice (@EwallWice) October 10, 2024
Harris There has been a lot of dis and misinformation.
"This is not a time for people to play politics," she said.
For more on Harris’s supporters (and detractors) within the Latino electorate, check out reporting from the Guardian’s Joseph Contreras and Melissa Hellmann.
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With the fifth circuit court of appeals hearing arguments today on a case that could determine the future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca), the Obama-era law protecting immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation, members of Congress are speaking up.
Representatives Greg Stanton of Arizona, and Salud Carbajal and Lou Correa of California – who are affiliated with the New Democrat Coalition Immigration and Border Security task force – have released the following statement:
Once again, the fate of the DACA program is in the courts – just the latest attempt by anti-immigrant judges and politicians to upend the lives of Dreamers and their families.
It’s unacceptable that many of our colleagues across the aisle, for so many years, have failed to join Democrats in passing the American Dream and Promise Act. These talented young individuals are American in every way but legal status, yet they live in constant fear and uncertainty. If the courts were to strip away DACA protections without a legislative solution in place, the negative effects would reverberate across the country.
Dreamers are embedded in the fabric of American communities. They work and pay taxes, attend our colleges and universities, and serve in our military. Ending the DACA program would mean pushing hundreds of thousands of talented people out of the workforce – a blow the U.S. economy can’t afford.
The vast majority of Americans, of all backgrounds, believe Dreamers deserve a pathway to citizenship. New Dems call on our colleagues to work across the aisle to pass legislation years in the making to finally end this legal limbo.”
Here’s some Guardian coverage of the ongoing challenges faced by Daca recipients:
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More Michigan politicians are speaking up in defense of the city of Detroit today after Donald Trump insulted the manufacturing hub while speaking there.
“Detroit is the epitome of ‘grit,’ defined by winners willing to get their hands dirty to build up their city and create their communities – something Donald Trump could never understand,” Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer wrote on Twitter/X.
Detroit is the epitome of “grit,” defined by winners willing to get their hands dirty to build up their city and create their communities—something Donald Trump could never understand.
— Gretchen Whitmer (@gretchenwhitmer) October 10, 2024
So keep Detroit out of your mouth. And you better believe Detroiters won’t forget this in… https://t.co/Q5VHuCfbkd
Michigan congressman Shri Thanedar added: “keep Detroit and our people out of your mouth.”
I represent Detroit in Congress. Detroit is a city with a booming economy, diverse culture, and some of the best people in America.
— Shri Thanedar (@ShriThanedar) October 10, 2024
Donald Trump: keep Detroit and our people out of your mouth. We will elect Kamala Harris. https://t.co/wAOhD20E73
And Michigan state representative Joe Tate chimed in: “This is the greatest city in the country & we’ve bounced back after Trump killed our jobs, closed our businesses, & tried to throw out our votes.”
Donald Trump might not remember where he is right now so here’s a quick reminder about what Detroit’s all about. This is the greatest city in the country & we’ve bounced back after Trump killed our jobs, closed our businesses, & tried to throw out our votes. #Detroit threw Trump… pic.twitter.com/pvaffVa0QC
— Joe Tate (@SpeakerJoeTate) October 10, 2024
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Detroit mayor says city revitalizing 'without Trump's help'
Detroit’s Democratic mayor, Mike Duggan, had this to say about Donald Trump insulting the city during his visit today:
Detroit just hosted the largest NFL Draft in history, the Tigers are back in the playoffs, the Lions are headed to the Super Bowl, crime is down and our population is growing. Lots of cities should be like Detroit. And we did it all without Trump’s help.
— Mayor Mike Duggan (@MayorMikeDuggan) October 10, 2024
Once the fifth largest city in the country with a population that topped 1.8 million in the 1950s, Detroit’s economy has struggled in decades and the city went bankrupt in 2013. Its population is now about 630,000, but last year, it began adding residents once again.
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In addition to insulting his host city, Donald Trump used his speech at the Detroit Economic Club to propose making interest on car loans fully deductible.
Such a policy, he argued, would spur Americans to buy vehicles made by Detroit’s automakers:
🚨NEW POLICY ALERT🚨
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 10, 2024
"I am announcing that as part of our tax cuts, we will make interest on car loans fully deductible." pic.twitter.com/Gs1bvB6VbR
The former presidenthas made cutting taxes a cornerstone of his economic policies, including exempting taxes on tips – a policy that Kamala Harris says she also supports.
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In visit to Detroit, Trump insults Detroit
Donald Trump outlined his economic proposals in a speech to the Detroit Economic Club this afternoon, and could not stop himself from insulting the most populous city in swing state Michigan.
Referring to Kamala Harris, Trump said: “Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she is your president. You’re going to have a mess on your hands.”
“The whole country is gonna be like — you wanna know the truth? It’ll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if [Kamala Harris is] your president.”
— The Recount (@therecount) October 10, 2024
— Donald Trump, in Detroit, to the Detroit Economic Club pic.twitter.com/4QWPwdQYmB
The former president’s speech was yet another barnburner. It lasted for about an hour and 45 minutes, and he’s now sitting down for a Q&A.
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Biden hits out at Trump over hurricane disinformation, saying 'get a life, man'
Joe Biden grew salty this afternoon at the White House, when reporters covering his speech on the response to hurricanes Milton and Helene asked him if he planned to talk to Donald Trump about the misinformation he has been spreading about the storm.
“Are you kidding me?” the president replied. Then, addressing Trump himself, Biden said: “Mr president Trump, former president Trump, get a life, man. Help these people.”
Asked if he planned to call Trump, Biden replied: “No!”
You can see the moment here:
Reporter: "Have you spoken with former President Trump?"
— The Recount (@therecount) October 10, 2024
Biden: "Are you kidding me? *speaks directly to Trump*... Get a life, man. Help these people."
Biden then says he doesn't plan to speak to Trump and that the press should hold him accountable for hurricane misinformation. pic.twitter.com/DvRbP3nJnK
Trump and his supporters have been making an array of untrue claims about the government’s response to the hurricanes that have devastated swaths of the south-eastern US, outraging emergency officials.
Here’s more:
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Barack Obama to hit campaign trail for Harris this evening; Michelle Obama relaunches voter turnout drive
As former president Barack Obama is hitting the campaign trail for Harris this evening, former first lady, Michelle Obama, through her national, non-partisan voting initiative When We All Vote has relaunched Party at the Polls, the organization’s program to increase voter turnout.
In a news release announcing the relaunch, When We All Vote said that during the month of October and into November, the organization’s partners and volunteers will host nonpartisan celebrations near early voting locations across the country in order to “increase voter turnout and bring their communities together to cast their ballots”.
The parties are free to attend and open to everyone in the community, it added.
Voting is something to celebrate! 🗳️🎉🙌🏾
— When We All Vote (@WhenWeAllVote) October 10, 2024
When We All Vote is bringing the party to the polls with more than 500 #EarlyVoting events across the country. Join us for free food, music, games and more.
Grab your #VotingSquad and find a party near you at https://t.co/YH3EnsLEGZ! pic.twitter.com/7fq8MsfLpJ
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President Joe Biden has just been speaking at the White House about the federal response to Hurricane Milton in Florida.
You can read about that in our Hurricane Milton live-blog here:
Democratic vice-presidential candidate and governor of Minnestoa, Tim Walz, is scheduled to campaign in Wisconsin on Monday.
The Harris campaign said on Thursday that Walz will campaign in Green Bay and Eau Claire, and that this will be his fifth visit to the state since becoming the vice-presidential candidate.
This comes as a recent Quinnipiac university poll published this week showed Kamala Harris trailing Trump by two percentage points in Wisconsin.
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Bernie Sanders will also be campaigning on behalf of Vice-President Harris.
Sanders will hold events in key battleground state Michigan, in Traverse City and Marquette.
The senator “will discuss the most pressing issues facing working class residents of the Great Lakes State. The Senator will focus in particular on the Harris campaign’s plans to lower costs for working families, protect Social Security, and expand Medicare.”
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Bill Clinton hit campaign trail for Harris in southern battleground states
Bill Clinton is going to hit the campaign trail for Kamala Harris, focusing on battleground states in the south.
A spokesperson for the Harris campaign confirmed the news about the former US president and husband to Hillary Clinton on X, writing “The Harris campaign unleashes the Big Dog.”
Clinton will travel to Georgia on Sunday and later make a stop in North Carolina.
NEW >> The Harris campaign unleashes the Big Dog
— Ian Sams (@IanSams) October 10, 2024
Bill Clinton to hit the rural South for Harris this week, stumping in Georgia and eastern North Carolina, "going back to a kind of campaigning that he hasn't done since before he became the 'Comeback Kid'"https://t.co/DcZUSxUDJp
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More tributes to the late Ethel Kennedy have begun to pour in, particularly from her famous family. Maria Shriver took to X to express her love for her aunt.
Shriver’s mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver was the sister of Robert F Kennedy Jr, thus making her Ethel Kennedy’s sister-in-law.
Shriver called her aunt “a woman of deep faith”. Shriver, a journalist, was previously the first lady of California when she was married to actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
My aunt, Ethel Kennedy passed this morning. What a life she led. What a huge family she created and leaves behind. I’m so glad I was able to laugh with her this summer, to share memories with her. She was a devoted sister-in-law to my mother, a one of a kind aunt to me and my… pic.twitter.com/u5ruoc4vye
— Maria Shriver (@mariashriver) October 10, 2024
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Biden calls Ethel Kennedy 'American icon', says she persevered through tragedy
In a statement, Joe Biden praised Ethel Kennedy as an “American icon” who “showed our whole nation a way forward” after the assassination of her husband, Robert F Kennedy.
“Ethel Kennedy was an American icon – a matriarch of optimism and moral courage, an emblem of resilience and service. Devoted to family and country, she had a spine of steel and a heart of gold that inspired millions of Americans, including me and Jill. We were blessed to call her a dear friend,” the president said.
He continued:
Ethel’s husband, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, was one of my heroes, inspiring an entire generation to make real that promise for all Americans. Together, they were guided by values that were the same as those my grandparents and parents taught me around the kitchen table: Everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect. We each have an obligation to one another, to give hate no safe harbor, and to leave no one behind.
After his shattering death, Ethel showed our whole nation a way forward, turning pain into purpose and continuing his march toward civil rights and social justice, an end to poverty at home, and securing peace abroad — all while raising their 11 children. Four years later, when I lost my own wife and infant daughter, Ethel was always there for me and my sons. She helped us find strength and perseverance. She taught us how to channel grief into the service of a greater good.
You can read the entirety of Biden’s statement here.
The day so far
It does not look like Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will debate again prior to the 5 November election. Yesterday evening, the former president declared “THERE WILL BE NO REMATCH!”. In response, Harris’s campaign manager today said Trump was doing “a disservice to the American people”, and announced the vice-president would hold a live town hall in Pennsylvania on 23 October. Separately, Ethel Kennedy died at the age of 96. The widow of Robert F Kennedy, the Democratic New York senator and former attorney general who was assassinated while campaigning for the presidency in 1968, Ethel Kennedy later became a noted campaigner for human rights. Barack Obama remembered Kennedy, to whom he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014, as “an emblem of enduring faith and hope, even in the face of unimaginable grief”.
Here’s what else has happened today:
Gateway Pundit, a rightwing website, settled a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers who were targeted by conspiracy theorists after the 2020 vote.
New polling finds Democratic candidates trailing in Montana, Texas and Florida’s Senate races. If the trend is confirmed, it will likely mean the GOP gains control of the chamber.
Voters of Tomorrow, a youth advocacy group that has endorsed Harris, says it has hit a milestone of more than five million direct contacts with young voters.
Obama says Ethel Kennedy 'touched the lives of countless people around the world'
Barack Obama, who awarded Ethel Kennedy the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014, remarked on her passing, calling her “an emblem of enduring faith and hope, even in the face of unimaginable grief”:
Ethel Kennedy was a dear friend with a passion for justice, an irrepressible spirit, and a great sense of humor. She touched the lives of countless people around the world with her generosity and grace, and was an emblem of enduring faith and hope, even in the face of… pic.twitter.com/lTukrEl9hI
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 10, 2024
Robert F Kennedy Human Rights released a statement remarking on the death of the advocacy group’s founder, Ethel Kennedy:
Statement by RFK Human Rights Board of Directors on the passing of RFK Human Rights Founder, Ethel Kennedy. pic.twitter.com/0nidCkIN9D
— Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (@RFKHumanRights) October 10, 2024
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Harris campaign calls Trump's refusal of second debate 'disservice to the American people'
Kamala Harris’s campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon has hit out at Donald Trump after he said he would not debate the vice-president again.
“Donald Trump’s refusal to join Vice President Harris on the debate stage again is a disservice to the American people. They deserve to see the candidates side-by-side one more time before casting their ballots for one last look at their vastly different visions for America,” O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.
“After backing out of 60 Minutes and doing 27 straight interviews with conservative media, unfortunately it is clear Trump would rather cocoon himself in safe spaces and avoid real questions about his harmful plans and failed divisive leadership. Trump fears another debate where Vice President Harris would hold him accountable in front of tens of millions of Americans.”
O’Malley Dillon also announced Harris would participate in a live town hall organized on 23 October in Pennsylvania, a swing state vital for her chances of winning the White House.
Ethel Kennedy became known nationally across the United States in the 1960s, a period when her husband, Robert F Kennedy, served as attorney general and then a Democratic senator representing New York, before he was assassinated while campaigning for president in 1968.
After his death, she founded the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights advocacy group.
Here are some images of Ethel Kennedy and her family from years past:
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The Guardian’s Robert Tait sums up the state of the presidential race for Kamala Harris in this new piece. While the vice-president and her allies have brought in a massive $1b in donations since she launched her campaign, all signs point to her being tied with Donald Trump in the state’s that count most:
Kamala Harris’s campaign has raised a record-breaking $1bn within 80 days of her becoming the Democrats’ nominee yet has failed to translate her cash advantage over Donald Trump into a poll advantage in the key battleground states that will probably decide the election.
The vice-president’s fundraising haul, first reported by NBC, dwarfs the $309m raised by Trump’s campaign by the end of August, and equals the amount brought in by Joe Biden for his entire 2020 campaign.
But Democrats’ joy over the bounty is being tempered by a lack of evidence that it is giving her the edge she will need in the battleground states to win enough of them to affect the election outcome in her favor.
In the latest warning sign for the vice-president, a Quinnipiac university poll published on Wednesday showed her trailing Trump by two and three points respectively in Wisconsin and Michigan – states which, along with Pennsylvania, Democrats have labelled the “blue wall”.
The survey showed Trump ahead by 48-46% in Wisconsin and 50-47% in Michigan. Harris has a narrow lead in most nationwide polls.
Harris maintains a three-point advantage in Pennsylvania, according to Quinnipiac, as Barack Obama arrives in the state to campaign for Harris. The former president will headline a Thursday rally in Pittsburgh, where he is expected to urge naturally pro-Democrat voters to turn out for the 5 November poll.
From the Associated Press, here’s more on the death of Ethel Kennedy, and the legacy she leaves behind:
Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Senator Robert F. Kennedy who raised their 11 children after he was assassinated and remained dedicated to social causes and the family’s legacy for decades thereafter, died on Thursday, her family said. She was 96.
Kennedy had been hospitalized after suffering a stroke in her sleep on 3 October, her family said.
“It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother,” Joe Kennedy III posted on X. “She died this morning from complications related to a stroke suffered last week.”
The Kennedy matriarch, whose children were Kathleen, Joseph II, Robert Jr, David, Courtney, Michael, Kerry, Christopher, Max, Douglas and Rory, was one of the last remaining member of a generation that included President John F Kennedy. Her family said she had recently enjoyed seeing many of her relatives, before falling ill.
“She has had a great summer and transition into fall,” said a family statement, issued after she was hospitalized. “Every day she enjoyed time with her children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was able to get out on the water, visit the pier and enjoy many lunches and dinners with family. It has been a gift to all of us and to her as well.”
Ethel Kennedy, widow of senator Robert F Kennedy, dead at 96
Ethel Kennedy, a noted human rights campaigner whose husband Robert F Kennedy was assassinated in the midst of the 1968 presidential campaign, has died at the age of 96.
Her grandson, Joe Kennedy III, confirmed her death:
It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother, Ethel Kennedy. She died this morning from complications related to a stroke suffered last week. Along with a lifetime's work in social justice and human rights, our mother leaves behind…
— Joe Kennedy III (@joekennedy) October 10, 2024
Rightwing site Gateway Pundit settles lawsuit from Georgia election workers
Georgia election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman have settled their lawsuit against far-right site the Gateway Pundit, who they accused of defaming them following the 2020 election.
Here’s more on the agreement, from the Guardian’s Sam Levine:
The Gateway Pundit, the far-right news website that played a critical role in spreading false information about the 2020 election, has settled a defamation lawsuit with Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two Georgia election workers it falsely accused of wrongdoing.
Notice of the settlement was filed in circuit court in Missouri, where Freeman and Moss had sued the site for defamation. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed in the filing.
The two women have settled suits with One America News, another far-right outlet. But the settlement with the Gateway Pundit is significant because the site was particularly influential in peddling false claims about the election.
The site’s founder, Jim Hoft, had refused to concede that the site said anything false about the women, even though the state quickly debunked accusations of wrongdoing and a longer investigation formally cleared them. The site had declared bankruptcy in an attempt to delay the case, but a judge dismissed the effort earlier this year.
You will not be surprised to learn that the Trump campaign says the inflation data is proof the economy will be worse under Kamala Harris.
In a statement, national press secretary Karoline Leavitt pointed to the fact that month-on-month inflation was slightly higher than expected (rising at 0.2% when 0.1% growth was predicted) and that prices overall have risen over the past three years (but without mentioning that wages have risen, too).
“If Kamala is given another four years, our economy will nosedive into the worst depression this country has ever seen. Americans will continue to be robbed of their paychecks with astronomical inflation and higher taxes. There is only one solution to fix our economy: re-electing President Trump. He’s a businessman with a proven track record of success and will turn Kamala’s worsening economy around on day one,” Leavitt said.
Public opinion polls have recently shown that the economy is the most important issues to voters, and many indicate Donald Trump is seen as better able to handle it.
White House cheers as inflation grows at slowest rate since early 2021
Following the release of September consumer price data that confirms inflation has dropped dramatically since reaching a four-decade high earlier in Joe Biden’s term, the White House’s top economist Lael Brainard said the country is making progress in controlling costs.
“Today’s report shows inflation has fallen back down to 2.4%, the same rate as right before the pandemic. We keep making progress, with inflation returning to pre-pandemic levels, 16 million jobs created, lower interest rates, and low unemployment,” said Brainard, who is the president’s national economic adviser.
“President Biden and Vice-President Harris will keep fighting to lower costs – by building new homes to lower rents, capping prescription drug costs and reducing health insurance premiums, and lowering taxes for middle-class families – as congressional Republicans keep pushing trickle-down economics that would raise costs by nearly $4,000 per family while cutting taxes for billionaires and big corporations.”
Here’s more on the inflation data, and what it means for the world’s largest economy:
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As Florida begins to assess the damage wrought overnight by Hurricane Milton, youth climate activists are calling for a presidential town hall focused on the federal response to the extreme weather events.
Activists with the youth-led Sunrise Movement are asking cable networks to hold a town hall in North Carolina, where hundreds of people were killed this month by Hurricane Helene. They propose 17 October, the day early voting begins in the battleground southern state.
“Media networks need to do their jobs and host a Hurricane Town Hall,” said Shiva Rajbhandari, a 20-year-old North Carolina student. “In just the last two weeks, millions of people have been affected and thousands have lost their homes, loved ones and livelihoods. I’m sick of seeing death count headlines and pretending like this is just an act of God. The climate crisis is here, it’s caused by big oil, and the American people deserve to know what our future President will do to keep us safe and hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for its crimes against humanity.”
They are pitching the town hall as a way to address rampant misinformation that has flourished in the aftermath of the disasters. Donald Trump has amplified falsehoods that the Biden administration misdirected Fema funds to house undocumented migrants and that only people who lost their homes were eligible for $750 federal payments.
A town hall is unlikely at this stage – Trump has rebuffed calls for a second debate. His running mate JD Vance is in North Carolina today, and Kamala Harris will return to the state this weekend.
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A tidbit on Joe Biden’s relationship with Ron DeSantis.
Earlier this week, the Florida governor declined to take a call about Hurricane Milton from Kamala Harris because its purpose “seemed political”, an aide to DeSantis told NBC News. The vice-president, in turn, criticized the governor, calling the decision “irresponsible” and “selfish”.
Biden nonetheless spoke warmly of DeSantis yesterday, saying “he’s been very gracious” in terms of the response to Milton. NBC News now reports that Biden wasn’t aware of the tension between Harris and the governor. Here’s more:
That Biden didn’t include a response about her wasn’t meant as a jab at Harris, whom he endorsed as the Democratic nominee to replace him when he stepped aside from the top of the ticket on July 21. Biden hadn’t been briefed about the dynamic involving Harris and DeSantis, the person familiar with the situation said.
“He wasn’t tracking a specific back-and-forth,” the source said, adding that Biden was “focused on the response itself”. The person was granted anonymity to speak freely about the matter.
DeSantis ripped Harris on Fox News this week, charging that it was she who was trying to insert politics into the recovery.
“I’ve had storms under both President Trump and President Biden, and I’ve worked well with both of them,” he said. “She’s the first one who’s trying to politicize the storm, and she’s doing that just because of her campaign. I don’t have time for political games.”
Here’s more on the spat:
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Biden and DeSantis talk after Hurricane Milton sweeps through state
With Hurricane Milton’s remnants now over the Atlantic Ocean after slicing across central Florida, Joe Biden spoke with the state’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis about the storm’s impacts.
“The Governor said they are still assessing the damage across the state. He thanked the president for the extensive federal support to prepare for and respond to the storm. The president reiterated that he will provide any support the state needs to speed response and recovery,” the White House said.
After a short-lived campaign for the White House, DeSantis is now backing Donald Trump and routinely criticizes Biden, but the pair have put their differences aside repeatedly to collaborate on hurricane response over the past three years.
Floridians are surveying the damage wrought by Milton, which appears not to have caused as much destruction as expected. Follow our live blog for the latest:
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Another crucial race in determining Senate control is in Pennsylvania, where Democrat Bob Casey is standing for re-election against Republican David McCormick. The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports that newly unearthed documents show ties between McCormick and Russian borrowers:
David McCormick, the Republican candidate for US Senate in Pennsylvania, led the largest hedge fund in the world while it managed and advised funds holding hundreds of millions of dollars in Russian debt, documents obtained by the Guardian show.
Filings with the US Department of Labor, known as form 5500s, show that from 2017 to 2021, Bridgewater Associates managed funds holding as much as $415m in Russian sovereign bonds. Since 2019 these types of investment have been subject to increasingly stringent US sanctions, in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Holding such assets is not illegal, but the question of McCormick’s work with foreign investments and how it might influence his political career has already coloured his current campaign, against the incumbent Democratic senator, Bob Casey.
McCormick stepped down as Bridgewater CEO in 2022, in order to run for Congress and a month before Russia mounted a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But sanctions were first levied three years before that when, according to the firm itself, as co-CEO from 2017 to 2020 and then as sole CEO, McCormick was responsible for “overseeing the firm’s strategy, governance, and operations”.
McCormick himself has said about his time as Bridgewater boss: “Whatever we did I’m responsible for.”
Poll spells trouble for Democrats' hopes of keeping Senate majority
The presidential race may be anyone’s to lose, but the GOP has long been viewed as the favorite to take the Senate back in November.
The Democrats have a 51-49 majority in the chamber, but are almost certain to lose one seat due to West Virginia senator Joe Manchin’s retirement. Their only hope of keeping control next year is to win the re-election of senators representing red states Montana and Ohio, or pick up seats in Texas and Florida, both Republican territory. Even if they manage to win 50 seats, a Donald Trump victory would make them the minority party, as JD Vance would cast the tie-breaking vote to put the GOP in control.
A just-released poll from the New York Times and Siena College shows Democratic candidates trailing in three of those states. In Montana, incumbent Jon Tester is behind his Republican challenger Tim Sheehy by seven points – a result that, if confirmed, would be enough to flip the chamber to the GOP on its own.
The latest Times/Siena polls give Republicans the lead in the Senate races in Montana, Florida and Texas, giving the party a clear path to Senate control.
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) October 10, 2024
Texas: Cruz+4
Montana: Sheehy+7
Florida: Scott+9https://t.co/Akbdqy7JE4
As for those pickup opportunities, the poll indicates they are not looking so good for Democrats. In Texas, incumbent Ted Cruz is up by four points over Democrat Colin Allred, while in Florida, Rick Scott has a whopping nine-point advantage over his challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
The one state not polled is Ohio, where Democrat Sherrod Brown has been leading by a small margin in recent surveys.
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Seeking an edge for Harris, youth voter group steps up outreach to gen Z
As the 2024 election enters its final weeks, Voters of Tomorrow says it has made more than 5 million “direct contacts” with young people – a milestone for the gen Z-led voter outreach organisation.
“This election will be decided by a few thousand voters in key battleground states – and they could very well be young people,” said Santiago Mayer, the 22-year-old executive director of Voters of Tomorrow. “That’s why every contact we make is critical.”
With voting already under way in many states, the teens and twentysomethings behind the group say they’re just getting started. Mayer said the group, which endorsed Kamala Harris, was “on track to more than triple” their effort, which includes making phone calls, sending texts and organizing their friends, families and classmates.
Much of their recent work was focused on voter registration, but as deadlines close they are shifting to making sure young people have a plan for how to vote on election day. In an endorsement of their tactics, Voters of Tomorrow recently announced that it raised over $1m last quarter, a record sum for the years-old organization.
Voters of Tomorrow is partnering with other youth-focused groups, including March for Our Lives, People Power for Florida, and Swifties for Kamala, to co-host phone and text banks in critical battleground states and districts
Approximately 41 million members of gen Z are eligible to vote this year, including millions who were too young to vote in 2020. A national NYT/Siena College survey found likely voters under 30 prefer Harris to Trump 58%-37%. Joe Biden carried the youth vote by a similar margin in 2020.
“Too much is on the line for gen Z to stay home this election,” Mayer said.
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Trump appears to close door for good on debating Harris before 5 November election
It looks like Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will not be debating again before the 5 November election. While the vice-president’s campaign insisted the invitation for a second debate remained on the table, Trump, in a Truth Social post written in his customary all-caps style, yesterday evening said: “THERE WILL BE NO REMATCH!” He made a point of mentioning Harris’s comment days ago that she would not do anything differently than Joe Biden, words the GOP has seized on to argue her election would represent a continuation of the unpopular president’s policies.
With that apparently settled, let’s talk about the state of the race. Less than four weeks to election day, there still is no clear frontrunner. Per our own tracker, Harris has an aggregate lead in five of the swing states expected to decide the race, and Trump in two, Arizona and Georgia. But their margins are slim, and every day brings new polling that often undercuts assumptions about the state of the race. Consider surveys released by Quinnipac University yesterday that found Harris leading in perhaps the most vital swing state, Pennsylvania, but trailing Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin. That data flies in the face of other polls that show her performing better in the latter two battlegrounds but trailing in Pennsylvania, or winning all three.
Here’s what else is happening today:
Barack Obama is hitting the campaign trail for Harris, with an event planned in Pittsburgh at 7pm ET. Harris will be in Las Vegas, with an event planned at 7pm, while JD Vance is hosting a town hall in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Inflation continued to ebb in September, according to just-released data from the labor department. The annual increase in consumer prices was 2.4%, its smallest since February 2021. The issue is nonetheless expected to remain politically potent.
Hurricane Milton has churned across Florida as it heads into the Atlantic Ocean, leaving behind a swath of destruction. Follow our live blog for the latest.
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