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.”
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Trump has wrapped up his Milwaukee rally, not long before 11 pm local time.
Despite the late hour, the crowd in Milwaukee rose to its feet to give him a standing ovation as Donald Trump listed off the actions he would take against migrants who commit crimes, the Associated Press reports.
Trump has centered his campaign on hardline tactics to stop illegal immigration, including the death penalty for migrants who are in the country illegally and kill an American citizen.
We are counting down to just three days and a few hours before the 2024 election, and Donald Trump is still riffing to a crowd of supporters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as Kamala Harris has already arrived at her hotel for the night, according to the White House pool reporter.
Harris’ Milwaukee speech tonight was short, peppy, and relentlessly on message. Trump, as is his style, is rambling, hitting his attack lines on the economy and immigration, but also making extraneous attacks, such as criticizing the hair of ABC anchor David Muir, saying 60 Minutes should be shut down, and complaining that he is not allowed to call the Democratic governor of Illinois fat. (Again, he is in Wisconsin.)
“Is there a chance she would resign before the election? Three days?” Trump asks of his Democratic competitor, Kamala Harris. It’s not clear why Trump is airing this idea, other than as part of his claim that Harris looks “rattled”.
“I actually think they should have left Joe, he would have done just as well, maybe better,” Trump says.
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Now Trump, speaking in Wisconsin, is attacking the Democratic governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker.
“I am not allowed to use the fat word. That’s the other word you cannot use,” Trump says, to some laughter from the crowd. “You are not allowed to use the fat word so I will not do it, but that guy is disgusting.”
“I took a lot of heat about two months ago because I said, ‘I think women like me, I do, I think the suburban housewives like me,” Trump said. There are high-pitched cheers from the audience.
“I think they like me because they know I’m going to protect them,” Trump says.
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Talking about his plans for mass deportation of migrants, and expediting deportation of gang members, Trump says that he will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, and said that it’s “incredible” that “we had to go back so far” to find the law he needed.
“That’s when we ran a tough country,” he says, of the year 1798.
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It is past 10pm in Milwaukee and Donald Trump is still talking. He is riffing freely, criticizing journalist David Muir’s hair, and revisiting what he saw as the unfairness of his debate against Kamala Harris, which Muir moderated.
Then he spoke about his lawsuit against CBS News and 60 Minutes, saying it “should be forced to close”.
Trump sounds a bit tired, and he is delivering his attack lines in a gentler tone that he did earlier in the day in Michigan.
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“You were a very difficult state,” Trump says of Wisconsin, talking about how hard the state was for him to win in 2016, and then falsely claiming that he actually won the state again in 2020. (He did not.)
The AP has a fact check of Trump’s comments just now on the economy, and what his comments leave out: two major hurricanes as well as big strikes.
Donald Trump is saying that the US jobs report today, which showed that employers added 12,000 jobs in October, showed that the Biden-Harris administration is failing on the economy. Last month’s hiring gain was down significantly from the 223,000 jobs that were added in September.
“This is like a depression,” Trump said of the numbers as he heaped insults on Harris.
Economists estimate that Hurricanes Helene and Milton, combined with strikes at Boeing and elsewhere, pushed down net job growth by tens of thousands of jobs in October.
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Kamala Harris appears to be wrapping up her speech, urging her supporters to remind everyone they know to vote, and to reach out to people through text and conversation.
“Let’s please be intentional about building community,” she adds. “There’s something intentional about this whole Trump era. It’s been powered by this idea that Americans should be pointing fingers at each other, and to make people feel alone and to make people feel small, when we all know we have so much more in common than what separates us.”
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“I love Gen Z. I really do,” Kamala Harris laughs, talking about “all the younger leaders I see who are voting for the very first time.”
“Here’s what I love about you guys. You are rightly impatient for change. I love that about you. You are determined to live free from gun violence. You are going to take on the climate crisis. You are going to shape the world you inherit. I know that. I know that.”
“And here’s the thing about our young leaders. None of this is theoretical for them. None of this is political for them. It’s their lived experience. It’s your lived experience, and I see your power, I see your power, and I am so proud of you.”
“I see her today … she’s exhausted. She looks like … she’s exhausted,” Trump says of Kamala Harris, at his Milwaukee rally.
Harris is simultaneously speaking very energetically to her cheering crowd a few miles away.
Both Trump and Harris are performing with a surprising deal of energy tonight after a long day of travel and multiple swing state events.
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The crowd at Trump’s rally has been frustrated with the sound levels in the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, even chanting earlier, “Fix the mic!” the Associated Press reports.
Trump eventually got the message and ripped the microphone from the podium to hold it closer to his mouth. “I think this mic stinks,” Trump said.
Trump has been jumping from topic to topic, mentioning that this is his third campaign rally today, then referencing his rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden nearly a week ago, and then hurling insults at his Democratic rival.
In two different venues across Milwaukee and its suburbs, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’ Wisconsin crowds have been waiting hours to hear the candidates speak, and both crowds sound fired up and enthusiastic.
“When I win … you are four days away from the best jobs, the biggest paychecks, and the brightest economic future the world has ever seen,” Trump tells his Milwaukee crowd, to big cheers.
He said that if Harris wins, the country will sink into a “1929-style depression.”
“I love Wisconsin,” Kamala Harris says, praising the state’s motto, “Forward.”
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump host dueling rallies in Milwaukee
Kamala Harris is now speaking at her Milwaukee rally, while Donald Trump is also addressing his supporters there.
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“I’m not giving Donald Trump a second chance,” Cardi B says. “I am not taking any chances with my future, and I damn sure ain’t taking no chances with the future of my children.
“I’m with Kamala.”
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“We all knew Trump was a hustler … but hustling women out of their rights to their body is nasty work. Hustling Americans out of their hard-earned money by selling Trump watches, Trump sneakers, Trump Bibles … is nasty too,” Cardi B says.
“Do we really trust this man with our economy?” Cardi B asks. “Today it’s your wallet, tomorrow it will be your healthcare rights.”
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“Speaking of healthcare, let’s talk about it … Did you hear what Donnie Trump said the other day?” Cardi B asks.
“He said he’s going to protect women whether they like it or not.”
“Donnie don’t, please. Protection for women, especially if we’re talking about maternal and mental healthcare, isn’t telling them what to do with their bodies. It’s supporting and giving them the care they need for what they choose to do with their bodies.”
“People like Donald Trump don’t believe women deserve rights. And when those rights are taken away, they are nowhere to be found.”
“When a mother’s doing through postpartum, he’s not there to hold her hand. When a child is in foster care or in a shelter because their mother is not mentally stable or financially stable to take care of them, they’re not there … they’re all gone.”
“Trump says he’s going to protect women whether they like it or not. Well, if his definition of protection is not the freedom of choice, if his definition of protection is making sure our daughters have fewer rights than our mothers, then I don’t want it! I don’t want it! I don’t want it.”
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More from Cardi B’s speech about Kamala Harris:
“I believe in every word that comes out of her mouth. She’s passionate. She’s compassionate. She shows empathy, and most of all she is not delusional.”
“Just like Kamala Harris, I, too, have been the underdog, I’ve been underestimated. My success belittled and discredited,” Cardi B says.
“Let me tell you something: women have to work ten times harder, perform ten times better, and still people question us, how we got to the top. They’ll be like: how she got there?”
“Let me tell you something: I can’t stand a bully. But just like Kamala, I always stand up to one. All the time, I’m ready for them.”
“Ima be real with you all. I wasn’t going to vote this year. I wasn’t. But Kamala Harris joining the race, she changed my mind. Completely. I did not have faith on any candidate until she joined the race and said the things that I wanted to hear.”
Cardi B: I don’t like bullies, but like Kamala Harris… I always stand up to one. pic.twitter.com/3yU9AREUZD
— Renee 🪷 (@PettyLupone) November 2, 2024
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“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” Cardi B tells Harris supporters in Milwaukee. “Are we ready to make history?” she asks. The crowd cheers.
Reading off a cellphone, Cardi B says, “I do not take lightly the call to show up. The call to speak up. The call to deliver a message that’s been on my heart for a hot minute now.”
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As Robert F Kennedy Jr is speaking at Trump’s Milwaukee rally, Cardi B has taken the stage at Harris’ rally.
Simultaneous Milwaukee events tonight. Warm-up speakers on now.
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) November 2, 2024
Harris: Cardi B.
Trump: RFK Jr. pic.twitter.com/6GvYIdN1iW
Cardi B makes her grand entrance at the Kamala Harris rally. pic.twitter.com/TnBvEpnoE2
— ໊ (@BardisMedia) November 2, 2024
Vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr speaks at Milwaukee rally
Robert F Kennedy Jr has once again taken the stage for Donald Trump, this time at a Trump rally today in Milwaukee.
RFK Jr, who called an end to his third-party presidential bid to endorse Trump, is a popular figure at Trump rallies: the crowd is chanting “Bobby! Bobby! Bobby!” in response to his comments.
Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic who is now aiming for a major healthcare role in Trump’s administration, just said that Trump “never said anything nasty about me. He was always very civil.”
This is simply untrue:
Trump on RFK Jr. as recently as this May: https://t.co/RgZ4ElMe20 pic.twitter.com/4LCRSi5vF6
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 2, 2024
Kennedy also fired back at Trump when they sparred quite uncivilly this spring:
When frightened men take to social media they risk descending into vitriol, which makes them sound unhinged. President Trump's rant against me is a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims that should best be resolved in the American tradition of presidential debate.…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) April 27, 2024
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As we wait for Trump and Harris to take the stage at their respective Milwaukee rallies, here’s some insight from Washington Post reporter Matt Viser, reporting earlier today on why the Harris campaign is feeling more optimistic in recent days:
Senior Harris campaign officials say campaign’s internal data show them winning by double digits among battleground state voters who made up their mind in the last week. Focus groups, officials say, show damage to Trump from Madison Square Garden rally and Puerto Rico comments.
— Matt Viser (@mviser) November 1, 2024
Harris campaign clearly views Madison Square Garden rally as a turning point among late-breaking undecided voters, in ways that's giving them confidence in the final days. “It really broke through," senior campaign official says. "It’s helped gel their feeling about this race.”
— Matt Viser (@mviser) November 1, 2024
Viser’s reporting inspired some quips about Tony Hinchcliffe, the pro-Trump comedian who called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage” at the Madison Square Garden rally.
If @TonyHinchcliffe ends up costing Donald Trump the election it will be the funniest thing he’s ever done https://t.co/UF26ZZBCgU
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) November 1, 2024
My colleague Alice Herman is reporting from the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, where Trump is scheduled to speak tonight:
I just spoke with Jason Tyler, a dedicated Republican activist who has canvassed for Trump with Turning Point Action, the GOP of Rock county and other conservative organizations.
He told me he’s apprehensive about the 2024 election and worries about non-citizens voting illegally in the presidential election – a key talking point among Trump’s allies, who have highlighted rare instances of voter fraud by non-US citizens, stoking anxieties on the right about election fraud.
Tyler will be volunteering as a poll observer in Rock county on election day, where he told me he will be looking for non-US citizens.
“My biggest thing I would be looking for is if somebody can’t speak English and start there,” said Tyler, who acknowledged that the bar for challenging a ballot is high enough in Wisconsin that he would not likely succeed in preventing a voter from casting a ballot.
“It’s very difficult – the only thing that I can really do is I can ask for their information, you know, find out who they are, and I can report that, if I felt that there was something weird about it,” said Tyler. “I can’t really tell that person not to vote.”
After we spoke, Tyler tracked me down to add that he’s frustrated with the idea that Trump’s inflammatory comments about immigrants are racist.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Tyler, adding that his wife emigrated to the US from the Philippines. “She loves Donald Trump.”
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Kamala Harris’s motorcade arrived about half an hour ago at the Wisconsin State Fair Park Exposition Center, per the White House pool report.
Crowds in two locations in Milwaukee are still waiting for Trump and Harris to speak, in dueling rallies in the key midwest swing state.
The Democrats have a more dynamic rally line-up tonight, with multiple celebrity performers. Grammy-nominated GloRilla is on stage right now at the Harris rally. At the Trump rally, supporters are listening to the campaign’s traditional and sometimes strange mix of recorded tunes.
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“Shoutout to Kamala Harris!” Flo Milli tells the crowd in Milwaukee after performing two of her songs. The artist urges them to vote.
She is followed by Wisconsin senator Tammy Baldwin.
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In his remarks at a Kamala Harris rally, comedian Keegan-Michael Key said he does not like public speaking and finds it uncomfortable, but that he thinks everyone should do what they can in the last days of this important election.
Keegan-Michael Key takes the stage: pic.twitter.com/E0uQ8EiEta
— Shia Kapos (@ShiaKapos) November 2, 2024
The United States is pretty big, but the Harris and Trump campaigns are frequently in the same swing state locations in these final days of the campaign. That includes tonight, when both Trump and Harris are rallying voters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From the Associated Press tonight:
As Election Day nears and the electoral math to secure a presidential victory comes down to seven states, Trump and Harris are scheduling more stops and their travel itineraries are coinciding in time and place.
Harris’ Air Force Two landed a bit ahead of Trump with members of the media following Trump seeing the motorcade after arriving at the Milwaukee airport.
Walz’s plane was on the tarmac as Trump landed earlier Friday in Detroit.
Speaking in Milwaukee, comedian Keegan-Michael Key is comparing the “choice” between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as a choice between driving a car to cross the US-Canadian border, and taking a barrel over Niagara Falls.
Kamala Harris’s rally tonight in Milwaukee is also a concert, which is slated to feature Cardi B as a speaker, and a number of other musicians.
Cardi B Will Join Vice President Kamala Harris At Milwaukee Rally https://t.co/YhkTfIx5TY pic.twitter.com/fMt1onUAwy
— 106.7 WTLC (@1067WTLC) November 2, 2024
At the Milwaukee Fairgrounds covering Harris campaign concert event with GloRilla, Flo Milli, MC Lyte, The Isley Brothers, DJ GEMINI GILLY and remarks by Cardi B. Hey, it’s Friday and there are 4 days to the election. So we go with the flow. pic.twitter.com/rgSWzXmFM1
— Shia Kapos (@ShiaKapos) November 2, 2024
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My colleague Victoria Bekiempis has the full recap of Trump’s Michigan rally earlier today. Trump is scheduled to rally again tonight in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
A Wisconsin man who has been volunteering as a door-to-door canvasser says it’s been “unsettling” to discover how many voters are still undecided between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
John Cassanos, 63, of Milwaukee, told the Associated Press “a surprising number of people are still undecided”.
Cassanos cast his ballot for Harris Wednesday in one of the nation’s key swing states.
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What’s the view from Michigan journalists on Trump’s visit to Dearborn today? I’ve been following Niraj Warikoo, a Detroit Free Press reporter who has been covering Arab American and Muslim American issues for the past two decades. Some of the angles he’s highlighted this week:
The Trump campaign’s outreach to local Arab American and Muslim voters is the “most extensive” of any Republican presidential nominee in almost a quarter century.
The Trump campaign’s outreach to Arab-American and Muslim voters is the most extensive for a Republican nominee since George Bush 24 years ago when he came to Dearborn to meet with Arab-American leaders. Trump is scheduled to visit Dearborn today. https://t.co/YWOXh0uON8
— Niraj Warikoo (@nwarikoo) November 1, 2024
“The outreach also reflects the political rise of Michigan’s Yemeni American community, which has struggled for years to gain recognition by Democrats, and at times facing discrimination,” Warikoo reported, noting: “Many of the imams and groups who have endorsed Trump are of Yemeni descent, though he has gained support from others as well.”
The Yemeni-American community in Michigan is in the spotlight as they forge a political identity, rebelling against traditional political machines they feel have marginalized them. Despite having lower median income, many Yemenis are backing Republicans.https://t.co/YWOXh0uON8
— Niraj Warikoo (@nwarikoo) November 1, 2024
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The governor of Washington says he has activated some national guard members prior to next week’s election, the Associated Press reports:
Washington state Gov Jay Inslee has activated some Washington National Guard members to be on standby in the event they are asked to support local law enforcement and the Washington State Patrol during election week.
Inslee said in a news release on Friday that the activation is a precautionary measure taken in response to incidents in October in which incendiary devices were set off on ballot drop boxes in Vancouver, Washington, and in Portland, Oregon.
He also cited US Department of Homeland Security warnings of threats to election infrastructure during the 2024 election cycle as a reason for the measure. His order activates as many members of the Washington National Guard as determined necessary for up to four days, beginning Monday and ending at 12.01am on 8 November.
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The Democratic mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, posted on social media about his decision not to meet with Donald Trump today. He also had a message to members of his own party, as did the representative Rashida Tlaib:
The architect of the Muslim Ban is making a campaign stop in Dearborn. People in this community know what Trump stands for - we suffered through it for years. I’ve refused a sit down with him although the requests keep pouring in.
— Abdullah H. Hammoud (@AHammoudMI) November 1, 2024
Trump will never be my president.
To the Dems…
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, whose district includes Dearborn, echoes Mayor Hammoud, saying Trump is an Islamophobe and serial liar. She also blames Democrats for allowing Trump to gain support. Tlaib and Hammoud are not endorsing Harris or Trump. pic.twitter.com/U7AdJ7JfDs
— Niraj Warikoo (@nwarikoo) November 1, 2024
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Why did Arab Americans in Dearborn want to host Trump in their community? The Associated Press spoke with Albert Abbas, one of the locals who hosted Trump there, and who said the Biden-Harris administration “has failed miserably in all aspects of humanity”.
“We look to a Trump presidency with hope and envisioning a time where peace flourishes, particularly in Lebanon and Palestine,” Abbas said today.
He told the Associated Press that Trump allies had reached out to him several weeks ago about hosting Trump in Dearborn. Before hosting Trump, Abbas said he wanted to see a statement from Trump that he said showed Trump “has the intentions of ending the war and helping us rebuild Lebanon and helping the displaced and the injured”.
That statement came Wednesday, when Trump posted on X that he wanted to “stop the suffering and destruction in Lebanon.”
“I will preserve the equal partnership among all Lebanese communities,” Trump said on X. “Your friends and family in Lebanon deserve to live in peace, prosperity, and harmony with their neighbors, and that can only happen with peace and stability in the Middle East.”
Once Trump put out the statement, Abbas said he agreed to host the event.
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Top Arab American community leaders declined to meet Donald Trump during his trip to Dearborn, Michigan, today, the Associated Press reports. But even some of those who declined to meet the Republican candidate said his visit was important.
More from the Associated Press:
Donald Trump on Friday met with Arab Americans in Dearborn, Michigan – the nation’s largest Arab-majority city – as the Republican presidential nominee works to court the potentially decisive group despite his history of Islamophobic rhetoric and policy.
Trump’s visit marked the first by either candidate, according to a local leader, Osama Siblani. Top community leaders in Dearborn, including the city’s Democratic mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, declined an invitation to meet with Trump while he was in town. Many community leaders say that while Harris has never earned their endorsement, they are still overwhelmingly opposed to Trump.
Siblani, a prominent figure in the community who has engaged with Democratic leaders about ongoing tensions, noted that many ‘do not trust’ Trump because of his past policies and remarks. However, he emphasized the significance of Trump’s visit to Dearborn.
‘Kamala should have done this months ago,’ Siblani said.
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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.
The lawyers for Musk and his America Pac had argued that the lawsuit, which is seeking to halt the sweepstakes in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, needed to be resolved in federal court as it referenced the 5 November presidential election.
But the presiding US district judge Gerald Pappert disagreed with that contention in a five-page opinion, writing that the motivations of the Philadelphia district attorney, Larry Krasner, were irrelevant – and that his office had the power to bring the case in state court.
A hearing was scheduled in Pennsylvania state court on Monday, the day before the election.
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It’s been a busy day of campaigning across the US, but Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are not done yet. Both candidates will be holding evening rallies in and around Milwaukee tonight, Trump at the downtown Fiserv Forum, and Harris at the Wisconsin State Fair Park Exposition Center in the Milwaukee suburbs.
“If voters in Wisconsin had any doubt about the state’s importance in the road to the White House, the candidates’ nearly constant visits to the state should put those to rest,” Wisconsin Public Radio reported.
Meanwhile, in Traverse City, Michigan, Tim Walz is hammering home that same message of unity – appealing to independent and Republican voters.
“We’ve got independents and Republicans coming over to this campaign. People who are adhering to the old Republican party values that added to this country. That’s not Donald Trump,” he said.
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When Kamala Harris asked the rally crowd how many of them had voted already, she heard a roar of cheers and applause in response.
“Oh, my goodness, that’s great! Thank you,” she said.
Wisconsin has seen a record number of people voting early this year, with officials in some municipalities already reporting that more than 50% of registered voters in their region have cast early ballots.
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In her closing pitch, Harris is once again emphasizing that she is looking to be a political consensus builder.
“Here is my pledge to you. Here is my pledge to you as president. I pledge to seek common ground and commonsense solutions to the challenges you face,” she said. “I pledge to listen to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make. I will listen to experts. I will listen to the people who disagree with me. Because, you see, unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy.”
Repeating a line she’s been using often lately, she added: “He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at the table.”
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Harris takes stage in Wisconsin for latest rally
Kamala Harris is taking the stage in Little Chute, Wisconsin.
She was introduced by the senator Tammy Baldwin, who told the crowd: “We are the battleground state in this election.”
Here’s footage of the line of people before the event:
This is the line right now to see Kamala Harris in Little Chute, Wisconsin (population 12,358) pic.twitter.com/TCOiFcsTG1
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) November 1, 2024
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Supreme court rejects Republican argument on Pennsylvania ballot counting: AP
The supreme court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal from Republicans that could have led to thousands of provisional ballots not being counted in Pennsylvania, the Associated Press reports.
The justices left in place a state supreme court ruling that elections officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected.
As of Thursday, about 9,000 ballots out of more than 1.6 million returned have arrived at elections offices around Pennsylvania lacking a secrecy envelope, a signature or a date, according to state records.
Pennsylvania is the biggest presidential election battleground this year, with 19 electoral votes. Donald Trump won the state in 2016, then lost it in 2020.
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“November 5 will be the most important day in the history of the country,” Trump says, leading the crowd as they shout together: “We will make America great again.”
The rally has concluded. Trump spoke for about two hours, with some brief pauses for videos and cameos from other speakers.
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“I will prevent world war three from happening,” Trump tells a Michigan audience, as he appears to be wrapping up his closing arguments here. He is due to speak at another rally a few hours from now in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“We will teach our children to love our country and to honor our history and to always respect our great American flag,” Trump says.
He says he will support legislation that would impose a penalty of one year in prison for burning the American flag. (The US supreme court ruled in 1989 that flag-burning is constitutionally protected speech under the first amendment.)
“We will get critical race theory and transgender insanity the hell out of our schools,” Trump adds.
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As Trump is still speaking in Michigan, Kamala Harris will be speaking again soon in Little Chute, Wisconsin. You can watch here:
Watch Live: Vice President Harris speaks in Little Chute, Wisconsin https://t.co/b2qEyN97BX
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) November 1, 2024
Trump revisits criticism of Liz Cheney, calling her a war hawk and a coward
After facing intense criticism for suggesting at an Arizona rally that Liz Cheney, a former Wyoming representative and major Republican critic, should have guns firing at her, Trump talked about her again at his rally in Warren, Michigan, calling her a warmonger who was not brave enough to fight herself, and accusing her father, Dick Cheney, of being responsible for massive losses of live across the Middle East when he was George W Bush’s vice-president and one of the major architects of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Kamala is campaigning with warmongers like Liz Cheney … she picks Liz Cheney, whose father virtually destroyed the Middle East,” Trump said.
In his first term, Trump said, Cheney was always telling him: “We should attack this nation, that nation, nations that people have never even heard of we should attack … but if you give Liz Cheney a gun and put her into battle facing the other side with guns facing at her, she wouldn’t have the courage or the strength … to even look the enemy in the eye: ‘Oh, we ought to go attack Iran, Iraq, everybody.’ That’s why I broke up with her. All she wanted to do is to go to war with everybody … .”
Despite advocating for other people to go to war, Trump said, Cheney herself stays comfortably at home, or at “her father’s lavish home, he got from killing a large portion of the Middle East … these war hawks, they want to draft your kids to fight in wars, and they will never fight themselves.”
The Michigan pro-Trump audience was largely silent during these remarks about Cheney, which are strikingly more in line with leftist criticism of the Bush-Cheney administration, and the aftermath of the Iraq war, than typical Republican views on these conflicts.
Trump himself, as the child of a wealthy New York family, famously got a deferment for bone spurs that allowed him to avoid serving in the Vietnam war.
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Trump touts 'overwhelming support' from Arab Americans in Michigan
As he approaches the end of his speech in Warren, Michigan, Trump is touting his support from Muslims and Arab Americans in Michigan.
“Now the most amazing thing is happening, we’re also wining overwhelming support from your Muslim community right here in Michigan. Muslim and Arab right here in Michigan, that’s something, that’s progress,” Trump said.
“And I just came from an incredible meeting with the Lebanese community in Dearborn. Last week I was honored to be endorsed by a group of some of the most important imams and Muslim leaders in your state.”
Trump also talks about being grateful to Bill Bazzi, the mayor of Dearborn Heights, and Dr Amer Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan, who have both endorsed Trump, and says Bazzi is in the audience at the rally.
“I need every Muslim American in Michigan to get the hell out and vote, please, Mr mayors,” Trump says.
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“Kamala’s closing message to the American people is that she hates you,” Trump says. “She’s from San Francisco, she’s a Marxist.” (Harris did serve as district attorney of San Francisco, but is definitely not a Marxist.)
“My closing message is that I love America.”
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Big cheers and whistles from the Michigan audience as Trump once again promises to carry out the largest deportation in American history.
Even bigger cheers as Trump promises the death penalty for any immigrant who kills a US citizen or a law enforcement officer.
Here’s an in-depth look by my colleague Lauren Gambino about how Trump’s mass deportation plan would affect immigrants across the US:
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An editor at the Huffington Post is highlighting a story out of Oklahoma, about a 109-year-old woman’s choice for president:
Inbox: Lessie Benningfield Randle, one of the last known living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, cast her ballot for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race. She turns 110 on Nov. 10.
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) November 1, 2024
“All of our children deserve a president who will inspire them to learn from history, not a tyrant who will try to erase it,” Randle said.”https://t.co/uBS7Ms6xOI
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) November 1, 2024
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In Michigan, Trump is now riffing on the sacrifices he says he has made for his political movement:
“Somebody said to me: ‘Are you glad you did it?’ I said, absolutely. But I could have been on the best beaches in the world. I own the best beaches in the world,” Trump says, to laughs from the crowd. “ … I could have had those waves smacking me in the face. That white, beautiful white skin that I have would be nice and tan. I got the whitest skin ’cause I never have time to go out in the sun. But I have that beautiful white, and you know what, it could have been beautiful, tan, beautiful. But you know what, if I had the choice, I wouldn’t even think about it, I would do exactly what I’ve done, because we’re going to make America great again.”
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As Trump is still speaking in Michigan, JD Vance addresses a crowd in North Carolina, assisted by Donald Trump Jr:
📍Selma, NC@JDVance takes the stage, says he’s confident Trump will win North Carolina again, announces @DonaldJTrumpJr planned to join him at this rally but his flight was delayed. pic.twitter.com/jkszjzpy50
— Taurean Small (@taureansmall) November 1, 2024
.@DonaldJTrumpJr eventually showed up, addressed the crowd. There’s another garbage truck near the stage at this event btw. pic.twitter.com/KBUoJhg77e
— Taurean Small (@taureansmall) November 1, 2024
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Harris supporters are sharing a clip of Donald Trump speaking in Warren, Michigan, just now, when he praised a book by Steven Moore, one of the co-authors of Project 2025.
BREAKING: After trying for months to disavow Project 2025, the jig is up. At one of Trump’s final campaign stops, he just praised Project 2025’s author, Steve Moore. Trump can’t hide anymore. We aren’t going back. pic.twitter.com/pxsgA0uAo5
— Kamala’s Wins (@harris_wins) November 1, 2024
More on Moore here:
Trump is now criticizing “Shawn Fain or whatever the hell his name is”, the president of the United Auto Workers, who is campaigning for Kamala Harris. The crowd boos.
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Trump says he can’t sleep easily and that he’s “always tossing and turning” thinking about China and the “Russia hoax” and how to make money for the American people.
“I don’t feel like a senior. Does anybody feel like a senior?” Trump, 78, says, to some cheers. “I feel better – I think I’m sharper and better now than I was 25, 30 years ago. I do, I swear. I’ll let you know when I don’t.”
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Trump gives an update on sales of “Dark Maga” merchandise: Trump was talking about Elon Musk, and what role the billionaire will play in cutting government spending in a Trump administration. “You know where he is right now? He’s campaigning in Pennsylvania for Donald Trump. How cool is that,” Trump said.
At one rally, Musk appeared and wore a “Dark Maga” black hat, Trump said, that the Republican candidate hadn’t even been aware his campaign made. That hat hadn’t sold well, maybe two hats, Trump said, until Musk wore it. Then the campaign sales of those hats took off.
“They sold 71,000 black hats, can you believe it?” Trump says. “You make money with money, that’s how it is.”
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“But now that very low-IQ person who wants to be – have we ever had a low-IQ president before?” Trump asks of Kamala Harris.
“It’s like your high school football team playing … what’s a good team today … oh, the Detroit Lions,” Trump tells his Michigan audience. He tells them Kamala Harris wouldn’t have been able to figure out which local sports team to reference.
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Trump attempts to walk back comments on Liz Cheney facing guns 'trained on her'
In a post on Truth Social, Trump appeared to be trying to walk back his comments about how Liz Cheney, one of his most prominent Republican critics, should face having rifles “shooting at her”.
https://t.co/NWeW9KmWsH pic.twitter.com/S0uU7sN35c
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 1, 2024
His comments yesterday have been widely condemned, including by Cheney and Kamala Harris, and are also under investigation by Arizona’s attorney general.
“She’s a radical war hawk,” Trump said of Liz Cheney at an event in Arizona. Then said: “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
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“We love everybody right?” Trump says. He drops his voice. “No, we don’t.”
Then Trump launches into an attack on Kamala Harris’s message of unity, a central part of her approach.
“What about her, she’s always talking about, ‘You know I want to bring the country together, Trump is Hitler, ah, excuse me I shouldn’t have said that,’” Trump says, in a voice imitating Harris.
He goes on with the imitation. “‘We want to get together as a country,’ ‘They’re all racists, they’re all this, they’re all that, but we want to have peace, and we want to get along.’”
Updated
Trump tells his supporters that “the fake news” won’t even report on the bad jobs numbers. If you’re curious how just how false that claim is, you can Google it:
Trump is now discussing the underwhelming economic numbers for last month.
“This is not good news for them,” he says, of Harris and the Democrats. “How would you like to have an election in four days?”
Some experts agree with Trump on this one:
“You know, there are those that say that if we don’t win this election you may never have another election in this country … with these radical left lunatics that we’re dealing with,” Trump says.
As you recall, Trump himself actually sparked this conversation over whether there might not be elections in the future, because of what he said to Christian voters earlier this year:
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Trump is now talking about the 2020 Democratic primary, talking about how early Kamala Harris dropped out and revisiting his rude nicknames for various Democratic presidential candidates from the previous election cycle, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
“This will be America’s new golden age,” Trump pledges. “Every problem facing us can be solved, and it’s going to be solved quickly.”
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Abortion rights advocates are mourning the loss of Nevaeh Crain, an 18-year-old pregnant teenager from Texas who died in October 2023 after three emergency room visits as she sought care for intense abdominal pain.
ProPublica’s reporting on Crain, who would have turned 20 today, underscored the potentially fatal threat posed by abortion bans, argued Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All.
“Pregnancy should not be a death sentence. Nevaeh Crain should be here, celebrating her 20th birthday today,” Timmaraju said in a statement.
Timmaraju placed the blame for abortion bans on the shoulders of Republican politicians like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, the incumbent senator who is facing a tough re-election fight against Democrat Collin Allred in Texas.
“This has to stop,” she said. “And our best chance to do that is to vote for reproductive freedom, from vice-president Harris to Colin Allred and all the way down the ticket, so we can restore the right to abortion and end these bans.”
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“It seems so poignant,” Trump says, of the question he keeps asking, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” The crowd roars: “No!”
“We’re going to miss these rallies aren’t we?” Trump says onstage in Michigan, but promises his supporters that when he is back in the White House, the spirit of the rallies will continue in a different form.
His supporters will someday look back and realize, “there was something very, very, special about what we all did together,” Trump says, speaking of his rallies. He also speculates about few people future presidential candidates will draw to their rallies.
“This has been the thrill of a lifetime for me, and for you, and for everybody,” Trump says.
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The White House pool report has an amusing detail from Janesville for the punctuation nerds: Someone behind Harris on the stage was holding a “,la” sign (comma “la”), which is the proper pronunciation of her name.
Donald Trump is now taking the stage in a rally in Warren, Michigan.
Robert F Kennedy Jr says that he prayed to God every day to help him find a way to resolve America’s chronic disease crisis, and that he considers Donald Trump the answer to that prayer.
Kennedy also embraced an anti-trans talking point, talking about how Democrats are “destroying women’s sports” and how Trump will protect women.
R.F.K. Jr. Said Trump Promised Him Control of Public Health Agencies. The Campaign Called That Premature.: https://t.co/B8GhKbuhLW
— Len Deffinbaugh (@ldeffinbaugh) October 30, 2024
Talking about how he is still on the ballot in many states after ending his third-party presidential bid, Robert F Kennedy Jr urges people not to vote for him.
“I do not want you to vote for me,” Kennedy says. “If you want to see me go to Washington, you better vote for Donald Trump.
Robert F Kennedy Jr is taking the stage at a Donald Trump rally in Warren, Michigan, to huge cheers.
More background from Mother Jones on RFK Jr’s current “Make America Healthy Again” movement:
I wrote about RFK's MAHA movement, which is fundamentally an addled and ironic argument to investigate and deregulate the federal agencies in charge of public health. And wellness influencers are leaping aboard: https://t.co/jRVe2KB9Zo
— Anna Merlan (@annamerlan) October 30, 2024
RFK has been making grandiose claims about his role in a possible Trump administration, claiming Trump "promised me…control of the public health agencies,” including HHS, the CDC, FDA, NIH, USDA, “and a few others.” But! https://t.co/yWtbkoQLaz
— Anna Merlan (@annamerlan) November 1, 2024
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From NBC News’s Yamiche Alcindor:
Senior Harris campaign officials say aides "fully expect" Trump will declare victory before all votes are counted and that there are hundreds of lawyers around the country and in battleground states with "thousands of pages of pleadings" ready to fight GOP legal maneuverings.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) November 1, 2024
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“Do we believe in freedom? Do we believe in opportunity?” Harris asks in Janesville, as the crowd cheers. Her voice sounds a little more strained than usual, as if the nonstop campaign speeches are catching up with her.
An old piece about how presidential candidates handle vocal strain on the campaign trail: https://t.co/oOLmZfdJX2
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 1, 2024
“Five days from now you don’t want to look back on these four days and regret what you might have done,” Harris says, urging her supporters in Wisconsin to keep organizing, keep knocking on doors, texting, calling, reaching out to friends and neighbors, and keep urging people to vote right through to election day.
In Janesville, Harris calls Trump “an existential threat to America’s labor movement” and says that “he will appoint a union buster to run the Department of Labor.”
Updated
The audience boos as Kamala Harris says that
Donald Trump promised that the Chinese company Foxconn was going to invest billions of dollars and create manufacturing jobs in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, which were promises that did not come true, she says.
More context on Harris' current remarks in Wisconsin: https://t.co/7Tt7HXfq4f
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) November 1, 2024
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“Madame president! Madame president!” the union crowd in Janesville chants, briefly interrupting Kamala Harris’s speech.
People watch from the rafters as VP Kamala Harris speaks at an IBEW union hall in Janesville #Wisconsin.
— Sarah Lehr (@SarahGLehr) November 1, 2024
At one point, the crowd starts chanting “Madame President.” pic.twitter.com/z6VWJ0qddr
Updated
In Janesville, Harris is preaching to the union choir on the benefits of collective bargaining, saying “it’s about basic fairness, but sometimes we have to fight for fairness.
“When unions are strong, America is strong,” she adds.
Updated
“Folks are exhausted with this stuff,” Harris says, of what she calls Donald Trump’s past decade of encouraging people to “point fingers at each other”. The audience cheers.
“That’s who he is. That’s not who we are.”
Updated
Kamala Harris holds campaign rally in Janesville, Wisconsin
“It’s great to be in the house of labor,” Kamala Harris says as she arrives to speak at an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union hall in Janesville, Wisconsin.
People wait for Vice President Kamala Harris at an IBEW Local 890 union hall in Janesville #Wisconsin pic.twitter.com/2qM9R057Ok
— Sarah Lehr (@SarahGLehr) November 1, 2024
“You are building America and America’s future,” she tells the union workers, adding she hopes to eventually visit every IBEW local hall in the US.
Updated
Kamala Harris is just now arriving at a campaign event in Janesville, Wisconsin.
People holding signs as the Harris motorcade arrives in Janesville pic.twitter.com/InoygrVd7E
— Sarah Lehr (@SarahGLehr) November 1, 2024
Interim Summary
Here’s a look at where things stand:
Kamala Harris spoke of Donald Trump’s violent rhetoric about Liz Cheney in which he suggested Cheney be shot with “guns trained on her face”. Harris said: “He has increased his violent rhetoric, Donald Trump has, about political opponents and in great detail suggested rifles should be trained on former representative Liz Cheney. This must be disqualifying.”
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.”
The NAACP is condemning participants of a Halloween costume in Mt Pleasant, Pennsylvania, that showed a person acting as “Kamala Harris” chained up and walking behind a vehicle that appeared to have someone dressed up as Donald Trump. In a statement reported by CBS, Daylon A Davis, the president of the NAACP Pittsburgh branch, said: “This appalling portrayal goes beyond the realm of Halloween satire or free expression; it is a harmful symbol that evokes a painful history of violence, oppression, and racism that Black and Brown communities have long endured here in America.”
Donald Trump has sued CBS News for $10bn, alleging an interview with Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes was doctored to cast her in a positive light and amounted to “election interference”. The lawsuit seeking damages was filed in a US district court in Amarillo, northern Texas, which is presided over by a judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has a track record of friendly rulings to rightwing legal filings.
Several House representatives have penned a letter to Joe Biden, requiring a “detailed account of US involvement with Israeli forces in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen and Syria”, as stated by the Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib. The letter, signed by Tlaib, along with Ilhan Omar, André Carson, Cori Bush and Summer L Lee asks Biden, “Is the United States providing military services of any nature to ‘command, coordinate, participate in the movement of, or accompany’ Israeli forces which themselves are imminently engaged in hostilities in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, the West Bank, Syria or elsewhere?”
Greta Thunberg, the 21-year old Swedish climate activist who has frequently criticized the US’s fossil fuels policies, has released her latest statement on Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. In a post on X, Thunberg, who has also been a vocal critic of the US’s military support towards Israel amid its deadly war in Gaza, said: “It is probably impossible to overestimate the consequences this specific election will have for the world and for the future of humanity.”
Arizona attorney general launches 'death threat' investigation into Trump's shooting comments about Liz Cheney
Arizona’s attorney general has launched an investigation into whether Donald Trump violated state law through his violent rhetoric against Liz Cheney who he said should be shot with “guns trained on her face”.
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.”
In an interview with the former Fox host Tucker Carlson on Thursday evening in Arizona, Trump spoke of Cheney, a former Republican House representative of Wyoming and vocal critic of Trump.
“She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face,” Trump said.
In response, Cheney took to X and wrote: “This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant. #Womenwillnotbesilenced #VoteKamala.”
Updated
Kamala Harris appeared to avoid directly answering questions on what her response is to demonstrators protesting Israel’s wars in the Middle East, what she would do to “satisfy” the anti-war protestors and whether she is concerned about how she will perform in the polls across college towns and in Michigan in particular – home to the largest Arab American community in the US.
Harris, who is facing criticism from numerous Arab Americans over her continued support towards Israel, said:
“I’m very proud to have a significant amount of support from the Arab American community, both because of my position about what we need to do in Gaza and in the region to end the war and bring the hostages home, and my commitment to a two-state solution.”
Harris appeared to then redirect her response to living costs, saying:
“But also because within that community, there are many issues that challenge folks that they want to hear about, including what we’re going to do to make housing affordable, what we’re going to do to bring down the cost of groceries, what we’re going to do to invest in small businesses. I have a plan for all of those things, and that is something that resonates within that community and with all Americans.”
Updated
Harris on Trump's violent rhetoric about Liz Cheney: 'This must be disqualifying'
Kamala Harris spoke of Donald Trump’s violent rhetoric about Liz Cheney in which he suggested Cheney be shot with “guns trained on her face”.
Harris said:
“He has increased his violent rhetoric, Donald Trump has, about political opponents and in great detail suggested rifles should be trained on former representative Liz Cheney. This must be disqualifying.”
Hailing Cheney as a “courageous” and “incredible American”, Harris added:
“I will tell you, I know Liz Cheney well enough to know that she is tough, she is incredibly courageous, and has shown herself to be a true patriot at a very difficult time in our country …
We see this kind of rhetoric that is violent in nature, where we see this kind of spirit coming from Donald Trump that is so laden with the desire for revenge and retribution … I think that Liz Cheney is courageous and that we will always make sure that we are all fighting against and speaking out against any form of political violence.”
Vice President Kamala Harris: "He has increased his violent rhetoric, Donald Trump has, about political opponents and in great detail suggested rifles should be trained on former Rep. Liz Cheney. This must be disqualifying...Rep. Cheney is a true patriot." pic.twitter.com/ngVmMPtwKX
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 1, 2024
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Kamala Harris went on to reiterate her pledge to have a Republican member in her cabinet, saying:
“One of the reasons I am going to have a Republican in my cabinet is because I want different views. I enjoy and benefit from the diverse views from different perspectives that allow me then to make the best decisions I can make. That’s a big difference between me and Donald Trump, and that’s a big difference between someone who truly is a leader, and someone who’s in it for themselves, and wants unchecked power.”
Kamala Harris was just speaking to the press on the tarmac ahead of a campaign stop in Wisconsin.
Speaking of Donald Trump, Harris said:
“He talks in a way that suggests that there should be retribution and severe consequences just because people disagree with him. My point is very clear. I believe in our democracy, democracies are complicated in a wonderful way, because we like debate. We accept and receive differences of opinion, and we work them out.”
Justice department to deploy election monitors in 86 jurisdictions including Maricopa and Fulton counties
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.”
Two of the 86 jurisdictions include Maricopa county in Arizona and Fulton county in Georgia, where Trump loyalists questioned the results of the 2020 election and pushed for vote recounts.
Updated
Another hotly contested race is taking place in Texas right now.
Ted Cruz, the state’s Republican senator, is facing off against his Democratic opponent, Colin Allred, in historically red Texas. A new University of Texas – Tyler poll found Cruz has 47% support from likely voters while Allred has 45%, which is within the margin of error.
The two candidates have been neck and neck in this election, and if Allred pulls ahead, he will help democrats maintain their narrow Senate majority and make history as the state’s first Black US senator.
Cruz has been challenged in a tight race before. In 2018, he narrowly won over the Democratic Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke.
Updated
Kamala Harris stood before a cheering crowd of hundreds of her supporters in Philadelphia and promised that she would deliver in Pennsylvania, a battleground state considered a must-win in the electoral college.
“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 supporters in Philadelphia last weekend. “And make no mistake: we will win.”
And yet, just a day earlier at a rally in State College, Donald Trump declared: “We’re going to pull this off. It’ll be the greatest victory in the history of our country for all of us – not for me, for all of us.”
The dueling comments reflect a neck-and-neck race in Pennsylvania that is hurtling toward the finish line with no clear frontrunner. The victor of Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes, the most of any battleground state, will probably win the electoral college and determine the trajectory of the country for the next four years.
Read more on this here:
Updated
A top Georgia official says a video that appears to show Haitians voting illegally for Kamala Harris is fake.
Marina Dunbar reports for the Guardian:
A video circulating on social media purporting to show Haitians voting illegally for Kamala Harris is fake, according to the secretary of state in Georgia.
Brad Raffensperger said in a statement that the video had likely been created and spread by Russian government actors trying to interfere in the US election.
“This is obviously fake, and likely it is a production of Russian troll farms,” he wrote. “As Americans we can’t let our enemies use lies to divide us and undermine faith in our institutions – or each other.”
For the full story, click here:
Updated
NAACP condemns Halloween parade with chained 'Kamala Harris'
The NAACP is condemning participants of a Halloween costume in Mt Pleasant, Pennsylvania, that showed a person acting as “Kamala Harris” chained up and walking behind a vehicle that appeared to have someone dressed up as Donald Trump.
In a statement reported by CBS, Daylon A Davis, the president of the NAACP Pittsburgh branch, said:
“This appalling portrayal goes beyond the realm of Halloween satire or free expression; it is a harmful symbol that evokes a painful history of violence, oppression, and racism that Black and Brown communities have long endured here in America.”
Mt Pleasant mayor, Diane Bailey, also condemned the Halloween costume which showed “Donald Trump” flanked by people dressed as Secret Service agents as “Harri” walked behind the vehicle with her hands bound.
“I was appalled, angered, upset,” she said on Thursday. “This does not belong in this parade or in this town,” Bailey said.
The displayed had been allowed by the local volunteer fire department. In a statement, the fire department later apologized for “allowing the offensive participants to take part”. The volunteer fire department added that it would review its processes for future Halloween parades.
Updated
Kamala Harris has taken another jab at Donald Trump over his promises to improve the lives of working class communities across the US, saying:
“Donald Trump pretends to understand workers and the battles they face every day.
Let’s not fall for the okey-doke: He was handed $400 million on a silver platter.”
Donald Trump pretends to understand workers and the battles they face every day.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 1, 2024
Let’s not fall for the okey-doke: He was handed $400 million on a silver platter.
Donald Trump has sued CBS News for $10bn, claiming its interview with Kamala Harris was edited.
Robert Tait reports for the Guardian:
Donald Trump has sued CBS News for $10bn, alleging an interview with Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes was doctored to cast her in a positive light and amounted to “election interference”.
The lawsuit seeking damages was filed in a US district court in Amarillo, northern Texas, which is presided over by a judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has a track record of friendly rulings to rightwing legal filings.
It came after Trump said that CBS should lose its license to broadcast news over the interview.
Updated
Several House representatives demand Biden to give 'detailed account of US involvement with Israeli forces' in Middle East
Several House representatives have penned a letter to Joe Biden, requiring a “detailed account of US involvement with Israeli forces in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen and Syria”, as stated by the Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib.
The letter, signed by Tlaib, along with Ilhan Omar, André Carson, Cori Bush and Summer L Lee asks Biden, among other questions:
“Is the United States providing military services of any nature to ‘command, coordinate, participate in the movement of, or accompany’ Israeli forces which themselves are imminently engaged in hostilities in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, the West Bank, Syria or elsewhere?
In the months of September and October, have US forces been deployed ‘into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities are clearly indicated by the circumstances’ in the region, how many times, and when will members of Congress receive reports pursuant to Section 4 of the War Powers Resolution? What is the legal basis for any such deployments?”
Congress has not authorized the US military to engage in the Israeli government’s expanding regional war, as required by the Constitution. We’re sending a letter to @POTUS requiring a detailed account of US involvement with Israeli forces in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, and Syria. pic.twitter.com/7EgBWPJ4XR
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) November 1, 2024
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Trump remarks about Liz Cheney facing 'nine barrels shooting at her' spark outrage from gun safety campaigners
Donald Trump’s comments suggesting that Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman and one of his most outspoken critics, should be shot at sparked outrage among gun safety advocates.
During an appearance with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in the battleground state of Arizona yesterday, Trump said: “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
John Feinblatt, president of the group Everytown for Gun Safety, pointed to Trump’s remarks as further evidence of why he cannot be trusted to lead the country.
“Time and time again, Donald Trump has used violent rhetoric and threats against his fellow Americans,” Feinblatt said in a statement. “Political violence does not represent the values of our country and has no place in our democracy, and this will be front of mind for voters at the ballot box.”
Cheney herself also responded to Trump’s comments, saying on X: “This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”
Updated
Joe Biden has released the following statement on the latest job report:
In October, unemployment was unchanged at 4.1%, but the devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and new strike activity, lowered job growth. Job growth is expected to rebound in November as our hurricane recovery and rebuilding efforts continue. In addition, I want to congratulate the leadership of the Machinists and Boeing for negotiating a new contract proposal that will be voted on by union members. Machinists at Boeing have sacrificed over the years and deserve a strong contract.
America’s economy remains strong, with 16m jobs created since I took office, including an average 180,000 jobs created each month over the last year – more than the year before the pandemic. We have the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in 50 years, our economy has grown more than any presidential term this century, incomes are up $4,000 over prices, and inflation has fallen nearly to its 2% target.
He added that the national sales tax being proposed by congressional Republicans “would cost families nearly $4,000 a year, hurt American manufacturing and cut hundreds of thousands of jobs”.
Updated
Republicans are preparing to reject US election result if Trump loses, warn strategists.
Robert Tait reports for the Guardian:
Republicans are already laying the ground for rejecting the result of next week’s US presidential election in the event Donald Trump loses, with early lawsuits baselessly alleging fraud and partisan polls exaggerating his popularity to make it harder for his supporters to accept that he did not win, veteran strategists say.
The warnings – from Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans – come as Americans prepare to vote on Tuesday in the most consequential presidential contest in generations. Most polls show Trump running neck and neck with Kamala Harris, the vice-president and Democratic nominee, with the two candidates seemingly evenly matched in seven key swing states.
But suspicions have been voiced over a spate of recent polls, mostly commissioned in battleground states from groups with Republican links, that mainly show Trump leading. The projection of surging Trump support as election day nears has drawn confident predictions from him and his supporters.
For the full story, click here:
Greta Thunberg, the 21-year old Swedish climate activist who has frequently criticized the US’s fossil fuels policies, has released her latest statement on Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
In a post on X, Thunberg, who has also been a vocal critic of the US’s military support towards Israel amid its deadly war in Gaza, said:
It is probably impossible to overestimate the consequences this specific election will have for the world and for the future of humanity.
There is no doubt that one of the candidates – Trump – is way more dangerous than the other. But no matter if Trump or Harris wins, the USA – a country built on stolen land and genocide on indigenous people – will still be an imperialist, hyper-capitalist world power that will ultimately continue to lead the world further into a racist, unequal world with an ever increasingly escalating climate – and environmental emergency.
With this in mind, my main message to Americans is to remember that you cannot only settle for the least worst option. Democracy is not only every four years on election day, but also every hour of every day in between. You cannot think you have done ‘enough’ only by voting, especially when both those candidates have blood on their hands.
#UsaElection #USA2024 #StopArmingIsrael #FreePalestine #ClimateJusticeNow pic.twitter.com/RZU2nQfMXH
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) November 1, 2024
Updated
The US unemployment rate remained steady, despite the disappointing jobs pressed downwards by hurricanes and strikes.
Here’s reaction from Steven Rattner, who previously led Barack Obama’s auto industry task force. He’s also a Wall Streeter, economics analyst and columnist.
Despite the steep drop in the jobs added number for Oct, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%. pic.twitter.com/GNMnBGi3TI
— Steven Rattner (@SteveRattner) November 1, 2024
Updated
The US dollar has weakened after the shock drop in non-farm payrolls, with data released as part of the monthly jobs report half an hour ago.
The dollar is down by 0.3% against a trade-weighted basket of currencies after initially climbing earlier in the day. The British pound, for example, is now up 0.5% today against the greenback, while the European Union’s euro currency is up 0.1%.
There is a lot of incoming reaction from economics experts to the latest US jobs figures. We are covering reaction and analysis and you can follow a lot of the responses in our business live blog that’s being run out of our London headquarters. You can follow that here.
A Washington Post columnist noted: “The US economy has gained 16.1 million jobs since President Biden took office in January 2021.”
The US economy has gained 16.1 million jobs since President Biden took office in January 2021.
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) November 1, 2024
That’s 6.7 million more jobs than pre-pandemic.
Unemployment rate in Jan 2021: 6.4%
Unemployment rate now: 4.1%
Presidents don’t control the economy. But Biden’s stimulus and… pic.twitter.com/GcF4Z0tCOi
Updated
The US has added only 12,000 jobs in October in the final report before the presidential election.
The Guardian’s Michael Sainato reports:
The US added just 12,000 jobs in October, the last snapshot of the employment market before election day, in a report heavily impacted by the strike at Boeing and two recent hurricanes.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1%.
Temporary impacts from Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton and the ongoing strike by 33,000 Boeing workers in the Pacific north-west had been expected to reduce job growth numbers in October. Economists estimated 120,000 jobs would be added for the month and the unemployment rate would remain steady at 4.1%.
Job creation accelerated unexpectedly in September as the US added a revised 223,000 jobs, in the strongest month of jobs growth since March 2024. Until October the average number of jobs gained per month in 2024 has been about 200,000.
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Harris and Trump campaign in key swing states
With the election just days away, here’s a look at today’s schedules of the Harris-Walz and Trump-Vance campaigns, as reported by Politico:
Kamala Harris will speak at a union hall in Janesville, Wisconsin, at 3.40pm ET. She will then attend a GOTV event in Little Chute at 7.05pm before heading to West Allis for a rally and concert at 10.20pm ET.
Tim Walz will participate in campaign events in Detroit, Michigan, this afternoon. He will then hold rallies in Flint, Michigan, at 3.25pm ET and then Traverse City at 6.45pm ET.
Donald Trump will rally in Warren, Michigan, at 4.30pm ET and then Milwaukee at 9pm ET. He may also be the first major 2024 presidential candidate to visit the Arab-majority city of Dearborn, the Associated Press reports.
JD Vance will hold rallies in Portage, Michigan, at 1pm ET and then Selma, North Carolina, at 5pm ET.
Updated
Liz Cheney responds to Trump: 'This is how dictators destroy free nations'
On Thursday, Donald Trump called former representative Liz Cheney “a very dumb individual”, and added: “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with the rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK, let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
Cheney has vocally opposed Trump since the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol and has become a surrogate for his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.
Cheney responded to Trump’s threatening comments on Friday morning.
“This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death,” Cheney wrote on X.
“We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant. #Womenwillnotbesilenced #VoteKamala”
This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant. #Womenwillnotbesilenced #VoteKamala https://t.co/URH5s929Sa
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) November 1, 2024
Updated
Harris and Trump to visit Milwaukee in final push for Wisconsin
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will host dueling rallies within seven miles of each other on Friday night in the Milwaukee area as part of a final push for votes in swing-state Wisconsin’s largest county.
Milwaukee is home to the most Democratic votes in Wisconsin, but its conservative suburbs are where most Republicans live and are a critical area for Trump as he tries to reclaim the state he narrowly won in 2016 and lost in 2020. It was absentee votes from Milwaukee, which typically are reported early in the morning after Election Day, that tipped Wisconsin for President Joe Biden in 2020.
“Both candidates recognise that the road to the White House runs directly through Milwaukee County,” said Hilario Deleon, chair of the county’s Republican Party.
The dueling rallies – Trump is in downtown Milwaukee and Harris is in a suburb – may be the candidates’ last appearances in battleground Wisconsin before Election Day. Both sides say the race is once again razor tight for the state’s 10 electoral votes. Four of the past six presidential elections in Wisconsin have been decided by less than a point, or fewer than 23,000 votes.
Updated
Harris at 47% and Trump at 46%, latest election polling shows
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the US election. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are locked in a nail-bitingly close US presidential election race. Harris maintains a single point advantage over her Republican rival. As of 30 October, the latest polls put Harris at 47%, and Trump at 46%.
Read more from the Guardian’s poll tracker:
There are four days left until the election. Here are the key recent developments:
Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaigned in the western part of the US, namely the key swing states of Arizona and Nevada.
In her speech, Harris told Nevada: “Make no mistake: we will win.” Adding, “It is time for a new generation of leadership in America … And I am ready to offer that leadership.”
During her appearances, Harris repeatedly criticised Trump’s “very offensive” remarks about being the “protector” of women “whether they like it or not”.
Harris’s speech was followed by a performance by Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas, as she seeks to connect with Latino voters in the final days of the race.
Trump, meanwhile, appeared with far-right media personality Tucker Carlson in Phoenix, Arizona.
Former president Donald Trump launched another attack on former Rep Liz Cheney late Thursday, calling the Republican former Wyoming congresswoman a “war hawk” and suggesting she might not be as willing to send troops to fight if she had guns pointed at her. Cheney has vocally opposed Trump since the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol and has become a surrogate for his Democratic opponent, vice-president Kamala Harris. After calling Cheney “a very dumb individual”, he said: “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with the rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK, let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
More than 65 million people have cast their ballots in the race, as of 31 October at 11pm EST.
