There’s less than a week until Election Day, and Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are focused on the crucial battlegrounds set to determine the race for the White House.
Trump is holding two rallies on Wednesday, one in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and another in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Harris is holding rallies in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Raleigh, North Carolina, before traveling to the University Of Wisconsin-Madison.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on Wednesday also reacted to President Joe Biden appearing to refer to Trump’s supporters as “garbage.”
Harris told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland that while the president has clarified his comments, she does not agree with criticisms of voters based on who they are supporting in the election, including Trump’s insults against voters on the left. Congressional Democrats running in tight 2024 races across the country also criticized Biden’s “garbage” remark.
Keep up with the USA TODAY Network’s live coverage from the campaign trail.
Harris rallies in Wisconsin; Nevada, Arizona next
Harris told an overflow crowd in Madison, Wisconsin on Wednesday night that Donald Trump is “unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power.”
“I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,” Harris said at the Alliant Energy Center, reciting lines she gave in her “closing argument” speech the previous night at the Ellipse in Washington. “He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at my table.”
The rally in Wisconsin, one of the seven critical battleground states in the election, took Harris back to the city she grew up in from the ages 3 to 5. An overflow crowd of more than 13,000 attended, the Harris campaign said.
“Just like the Wisconsin state motto tells us: we will move forward, because ours is a fight for the future,” Harris said.
Harris is set to travel Thursday to Arizona and Nevada for campaign rallies in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada. She then returns from the brief western swing back to Wisconsin for get-out-the-vote events Friday in Outagamie County and Milwaukee.
In Madison, Harris gave what’s become her standard stump speech in the final days of the campaign, railing on Trump as a vengeful former president focused only a m himself and casting herself as a president “for all Americans” who would enter the White House with a “to-do list” of priorities. The folk rock band Mumford & Sons performed ahead of Harris’ speech.
As she spoke, Harris faced multiple interruptions from pro-Palestinian protesters who oppose Israel’s war against Hamas – a common occurrence during her rallies.
“We all want the war in Gaza to end and get the hostages out as soon as possible, and I will do everything in my power to make it heard and known,” Harris said.
– Joey Garrison
Trump again sidesteps committing to election results
From the seat of a personalized garbage truck in Wisconsin, Trump told reporters Wednesday he would accept the results of the election – “if they find no evidence of cheating.”
The former president has for years made false claims about fraud impacting the 2020 presidential election, allegations that were rejected by courts across the country.
“I hope that we’re going to declare a victory,” Trump said during remarks to the press before his speech in Green Bay tonight.
“I think we’re going to have a big enough victory to maybe have it that night,” he added.
– Savannah Kuchar
Harris says gender, race won’t be why she gets votes
If she wins next week’s election, Vice President Kamala Harris would be several firsts: the first woman elected president. The first Black female president. And the first Asian American president.
But in an interview with ABC News Wednesday, Harris said she doesn’t expect the history-making component of her candidacy to be the reason people vote for her.
“I’m fully aware of my gender and race, let’s start with that,” Harris said with a laugh. “I know that it will be very significant in terms of the glass ceiling will be broken, but I do not expect that anyone is going to vote for me because of my gender or race.”
“It has to be because I earned their vote with a plan to make their lives better,” Harris said.
Harris was also asked whether she believes being a female candidate has subjected her to a “double-standard” in her race against Trump. Former first lady Michelle Obama, during a campaign rally week, said the media and others are holding Harris to a “higher standard than her opponent.”
“I need to earn the vote of the people, and that is the work I’m doing,” Harris responded.
– Joey Garrison
Trump in Wisconsin: ‘How do you like my garbage truck?’
Donald Trump arrived at his event in Wisconsin in the passenger seat of a garbage truck, specially designed with a Trump 2024 sign on the side. It’s a reference to a comment Joe Biden made on Tuesday in which he appeared to call Trump supporters “garbage.”
“How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump asked reporters ahead of his rally in Green Bay Wednesday. “This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”
Taking questions from the press before his speech on Wednesday, Trump again denied knowing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe. Hinchcliffe over the weekend performed at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally and called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.” Biden on Tuesday said his comment was only a reference to Hinchcliffe’s insulting joke.
Still, Trump has repeatedly insulted Democratic leaders and voters for months on the campaign trail, including calling some Democrats “the enemy from within” and more dangerous than the country’s foreign adversaries. He has also described Harris and her allies as “Marxists,” communists,” and “low IQ” individuals.
– Savannah Kuchar
Trump makes ‘garbage’ his primary campaign issue
So far, “garbage” has been one of Trump’s main themes in the final days of the campaign.
Trump brought up Biden’s reference to “garbage” right off at the bat at his Green Bay rally, and denounced the Harris and Biden campaigns for other insults hurled at the Republican nominee and his supporters, from “fascist” to “Nazi.”
“They treat our whole campaign like garbage,” Trump told the Wisconsin crowd.
Trump, who has described his opponents as “Marxists” and “communists,” also used the terms “Crooked Joe” and “Lyin’ Kamala” and accused them of running a “corrupt administration.”
– David Jackson
Trump will declare victory if he loses, Liz Cheney alleges
Former Rep. Liz Cheney said Wednesday the country should prepare for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to declare victory on Nov. 5, even if he loses.
“We all need to be ready for the fact that on election night, he’s going to declare victory, even though he will not be the victor,” she said.
As USA TODAY reported in an exclusive story this week, a Trump-aligned group is has telegraphed that it is planning to sue over this year’s election results, according to one of group’s founders.
Cheney, a lifelong Republican, made the comments during a conversation hosted at George Washington University that covered the role of media and rise of disinformation. She along with her father — former Vice President Dick Cheney — has endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 White House race after years of speaking out against Trump.
She co-chaired a House select committee’s investigating of Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, but eventually lost her primary battle to a Trump-backed challenger.
– Phillip M. Bailey
Harris says campaign is ‘ready’ for premature Trump claims
Vice President Kamala Harris said her campaign and team of lawyers are prepared if Republican nominee Donald Trump declares victory prematurely on election night before all ballots are counted in a repeat of the 2020 election.
“We are, sadly, ready if he does,” Harris said in an interview Wednesday with ABC News. “If we know that he is actually manipulating the press and attempting to manipulate the consensus of the American people based on fiction … we’re prepared to respond.”
With mail-ballots that skewed toward Democrats still uncounted, Trump declared victory on election night 2020 based on preliminary leads he built from in-person voting. But when the mail ballots were finally counted, he lost the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to Joe Biden and lost the election.
In the weeks that followed, Trump lobbed countless false accusations of voter fraud to try to overturn the election. And on Jan. 6, 2021, a mob of Trump supporters tried to stop Congress’ count of electoral votes during an attack at the Capitol.
“I think he is capable of anything, as proven by what he did on January 6,” Harris said when asked whether she is concerned Trump might against interfere with Congress’ certification of the election results.
– Joey Garrison
Trump inflates number of supporters
Trump is overestimating the number of his supporters who are alleged “garbage.”
“I have to begin by saying 250 million Americans are not garbage,” Trump told the crowd.
There are roughly 350 million Americans (including those not registered or too young to vote), according to the United States Census population clock. The voting age population is estimated at more than 262 million, according to the Census Bureau, but not all of them are Trump supporters.
In 2020, Trump won about 47% of American voters or just over 74 million voters.
– Savannah Kuchar and David Jackson
Cornel West asks Supreme Court to make PA polling sites advertise him as a write-in option
Independent presidential candidate Cornel West has asked the Supreme Court to make Pennsylvania polling sites let voters know they can write in his name on Election Day.
West filed that emergency request days before Tuesday’s election after failing to get on the ballot in the battleground state. He is more likely to draw votes away from Vice President Kamala Harris than from former President Donald Trump.
Pennsylvania’s top court backed the secretary of state’s decision that West lacked the required affidavits for most of his presidential electors so was ineligible.
– Maureen Groppe
‘No Obamacare:’ Mike Johnson says Republicans will overhaul health care if Trump wins
House Speaker Mike Johnson told a crowd of supporters Monday night that there will be “no Obamacare” if former President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans win the upcoming election on Nov. 5.
Republicans will propose “massive reform” to the Affordable Care Act if they win control of both chambers in Congress and the presidency, Johnson, R-La., said at a campaign event for Republican House candidate Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania on Monday evening.
“Health-care reform’s going to be a big part of the agenda,” Johnson said about Republicans’ plans. He added that the GOP wants to take a “blowtorch to the regulatory state,” with healthcare among the key sectors they plan to focus on.
Republican leaders have floated repealing the ACA – a law that provides insurance coverage to millions of Americans and protects those with pre-existing conditions – since it was enacted by Democrats in Congress and President Barack Obama in 2010. Trump promised during the 2016 campaign to eliminate the law.
– Karissa Waddick
‘How dare he’: Brett Favre criticized Joe Biden ‘garbage’ comment
Football star Brett Favre appeared at a Trump rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, ahead of the former president’s remarks. While on stage, Favre responded to Biden’s comments on Tuesday in which he appeared to refer to Trump supporters as “garbage.”
“I can assure you we’re not garbage. How dare he say that?” Favre said.
Biden quickly said he was only referring to a comedian who made insulting jokes at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally over the weekend.
Favre, 55, played for the Green Bay Packers for 16 seasons, retiring from football in 2010. In his speech Wednesday he touted Trump’s record as the reason for his support.
“It’s time to bench Kamala and put in the starting quarterback,” Favre set, setting off chants of “Brett! Brett!” from the crowd.
– Savannah Kuchar
Trump, RNC amplify voter fraud claims
Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee are amplifying voter fraud claims in multiple key Pennsylvania counties a week before Election Day, Nov. 5.
“They’ve already started cheating,” Trump told his audience in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Tuesday night.
The eastern Pennsylvania counties at the center of Trump and the RNC’s claims are among the key swing counties expected to determine which presidential candidate wins the state. Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes, the most of any swing state ,and polls show it tied between Trump and Kamala Harris.
“The Trump campaign seems to be setting the stage for a repeat of 2020,” Penn State Behrend associate political science professor Robert Speel told USA TODAY. “If the Electoral College depends on Kamala Harris winning Pennsylvania, I think the Trump campaign is laying some groundwork to question the results from Pennsylvania.”
–Sarah D. Wire
Hunter Biden says another Donald Trump presidency would be ‘the end of America’
The president’s son, Hunter Biden, painted a bleak picture when asked what he worries about most this election season: “Losing our democracy to a fascist minority,” Hunter Biden told Politico in written statements Wednesday.
“This is not a normal election where we are arguing about tax rates or school vouchers,” he added. “A second Donald Trump presidency is potentially the end of America as we’ve known it.”
His interview with Politico marks Hunter Biden’s first comments about the 2024 presidential election, since his father, Joe Biden, ended his bid for reelection over the summer. The embattled member of the first family referenced Harris’ friendship with Joe Biden’s other son, Beau Biden, who died in 2015. Harris served as California’s attorney general while Beau Biden was in the same role in Delaware.
“President Biden chose Kamala Harris to be his vice president and passed the torch to her because of her dedication to service, her unyielding pursuit of justice and her profound decency,” Hunter Biden told Politico. “These are the qualities that my brother so admired about Harris when he was alive, and I know he would be so proud of her now.”
Hunter Biden faces sentencing on gun charges and tax charges, in separate cases, later this year.
– Savannah Kuchar
Kamala Harris tells Gaza protesters election is about ‘your right to be heard’
Kamala Harris pushed back Wednesday at pro-Palestinian protesters who interrupted her speech during a campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, telling them that the election is about “your right to be heard.”
“Let me say something,” Harris said as Gaza protesters shouted over her remarks. “We are six days away from an election, and ours is about a fight for democracy and your right to be heard.
“That is what is on the line in this election. Look, everybody has the right to be heard, but right now I am speaking,” Harris said, turning to a line she’s previously used to respond to protesters.
In the lead-up to the Nov. 5 election, interruptions from demonstrators protesting the humanitarian toll of the Israel-Hamas war, particularly Israel’s actions in Gaza, have been a regular occurrent for the vice president on the campaign trail. Harris often reiterates her support for an immediate cease-fire agreement and the return of hostages in Gaza, but this time she opted to turn the focus to the election.
– Joey Garrison
Harris reiterates she’ll be ‘president for all Americans’
In her speech at a Pennsylvania rally Wednesday, Kamala Harris pledged to be a “president for all Americans,” emphasizing dark rhetoric from Donald Trump about dealing with political enemies. Harris’ address also came as Joe Biden sparked backlash Tuesday night after appearing to call Trump’s supporters “garbage.”
“At this particular moment, it should be emphasized that unlike Donald Trump I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy from within,” Harris told the crowd in Harrisburg.
The vice president made a similar pitch in North Carolina earlier on Wedneday. She has disagreed with the president and “any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”
“(Trump) wants to put them in jail; I’ll give them a seat at the table,” Harris said in Pennsylvania.
– Savannah Kuchar
Puerto Rican reggaeton star Nicky Jam withdraws Trump endorsement
Puerto Rican reggaeton star Nicky Jam withdrew his support on Wednesday for Donald Trump in next week’s election, the latest fallout after a comedian insulted Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” during the Republican presidential nominee’s Sunday rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
In a video post on Instagram, Jam said he decided to endorse Trump last month because he thought the Republican nominee would be better for the economy.
“Never in my life would I have imagined that a month later a comedian would come and insult my country and speak so poorly about my country,” said Jam, speaking in Spanish from the seat of a vehicle. “For that reason, I’m withdrawing my support for Donald Trump and am stepping aside from any politics. Puerto Rico will be respected.”
Several Puerto Rican stars, including Grammy-winning artists Bad Bunny, Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez, have condemned the “garbage” insult, which came from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who goes by the stage name Kill Tony. In addition to calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” Hinchcliffe made crude jokes about Latino and Black people.
Puerto Ricans form a growing segment of the population in Pennsylvania, which has 19 electoral votes up for grabs, the most of any of the seven battleground states. The insult has ignited a backlash in Allentown, Pa., the state’s third largest city that’s more than half Latino.
– Joey Garrison
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin endorses Donald Trump for president
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon, endorsed Donald Trump for president on Wednesday, saying that he was impressed with how human space exploration was “elevated” under the former president’s administration.
“Under President Trump’s first term, America saw a revitalized interest in space,” Aldrin said in a statement. “His Administration reignited national efforts to get back to the Moon, and push on to Mars – programs that continue today.”
Aldrin cited Trump’s executive order reinstating the National Space Council and him signing into law the creation of a U.S. Space Force.
He said that more broadly, the nation is facing “major economic challenges, stability in our communities, and rule of law concerns.”
“For me, for the future of our Nation, to meet enormous challenges, and for the proven policy accomplishments above, I believe the nation is best served by voting for Donald J. Trump,” he wrote.
– Sudiksha Kochi
Top anti-abortion group contacting millions of voters
Canvassers from one of the nation’s largest abortion opponents, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, have visited 4 million homes persuading voters to cast a ballot for Donald Trump, the group confirmed in a statement on Wednesday.
Abortion opponents have largely stuck with the former president over Kamala Harris, though Trump angered some conservative groups when he announced earlier this year he believes abortion rights or restrictions should be left up to individual states.
Abortion has ranked as one of this year’s top voter issues, two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The decision upturned a constitutional right to abortion and returned decisions about abortion accessibility to individual states.
In their efforts “to protect life across America,” SBA Pro-Life America aims to reach 10 million voters in 2024 from states they have identified as battlegrounds: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
– Savannah Kuchar
Harris keeps small lead over Trump in final Economist/YouGov election poll
Harris is leading Trump by more than one percentage point in a new Economist/YouGov out Wednesday, further indicating a close race.
The poll of 1,446 registered voters showed 47% of registered voters either planned to vote for Harris or had already voted for her, while 46% indicated they supported Trump. Due to rounding, the gap is actually closer to two percentage points, the poll stated. Harris’ lead among registered voters is within the poll’s margin of error (± 3.4 percentage points).
The poll was conducted from Oct. 26 to Oct. 29 and is the final Economist/YouGov poll planned before the election. Forty percent of respondents said they had already voted.
– Kinsey Crowley
Researchers: 16 counties where election deniers could try to refuse to certify a White House winner
Researchers at the nonprofit advocacy group Informing Democracy are keeping an eye on 16 counties nationwide they consider a top concern for potentially refuse to certify the presidential election or deadlock to prevent certification.
The deadline for states to certify a winner is Dec. 11. Courts have traditionally ruled certification is a ceremonial function that election boards can’t refuse. But Informing Democracy researchers identified the counties where election boards have members who have denied elections or promoted misinformation serving as a majority or as half of an evenly divided board.
Lindsey Miller, the group’s director of strategic research, Cochise and Mojave counties in Arizona; Alcona, Bay, Kalamazoo, Tuscola and Wayne counties in Michigan; Washoe County in Nevada; Pickaway and Portage counties in Ohio; and Berks, Bradford, Butler, Fayette, Lancaster and Northampton counties in Pennsylvania.
“Those are areas that we think are a top concern,” Miller said. “The places we are most concerned about are where election deniers are concentrated.”
– Bart Jansen
Biden will attend successor’s inauguration in January
President Joe Biden will attend his successor’s inauguration in January regardless of whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump wins next week’s election, the White House said Wednesday.
“This president believes in the peaceful transfer of power, and that’s what you’re going to see this president do,” White House spokesman Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Biden recognizes that the American people want to see a peaceful transfer of power, and attending the inauguration of the new president is part of that process, Jean-Pierre said. “He is certainly going to partake,” she said.
Outgoing presidents traditionally have attended their successor’s swearing-in ceremony on the steps of the Capitol on Jan. 20. Trump broke that tradition in 2021 and refused to attend Biden’s inauguration.
– Michael Collins
Harris emphasize ‘common ground’ after Biden ‘garbage’ comments
Vice President Kamala Harris renewed her vow to work with Americans across the aisle and find common ground following President Joe Biden’s comments where he referred to former President Donald Trump’s supporters as “garbage.”
“North Carolina, I am asking for your vote. I am asking for your vote and here is my pledge to you, as your president, I pledge to seek common ground and commonsense solutions to the challenges you face,” said at a get-out-the-vote rally in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday. “I am not looking to score political points, I am looking to make progress.”
On Tuesday evening, Harris pledged she would be a president to all who supported her – and all who didn’t – as she made a pitch to undecided voters. Harris on Wednesday ahead of her North Carolina rally said she disagreed with Biden’s comments and “with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”
Throughout the North Carolina rally, Harris underscored how she would be willing to work with people who don’t agree with her policies.
When interrupted by pro-Palestine protests, Harris responded: “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at the table.”
– Rebecca Morin and Sudiksha Kochi
Trump denounces ‘garbage’ attacks – and launches attacks of his own
During a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday, it took Donald Trump a little more than ten minutes to denounce President Biden’s “garbage” comment, telling supporters that’s what he and Harris really think of them.
“You can’t lead America if you don’t love Americans,” Trump told supporters in Rocky Mount, N.C. “And you can’t be president if you hate the American people … and there’s a lot of hatred.”
Seeking to boomerang the Democratic attacks, Trump also reminded the cheering crowd that their opponents have described them as Nazis and fascists. Trump has described Harris and her allies as “Marxists,” communists,” and “low IQ” individuals.
Trump began the Rocky Mount event by alluding to the attacks and describing opponents as “horrible people.” He also told his followers: “Some people you just can’t get along with.”
– David Jackson
Who will win the election? Kamala Harris, according to election historian
Renowned election forecaster Allan Lichtman has predicted correctly the last nine out of 10 presidential elections, and he’s standing by his prediction that Kamala Harris will win the election next week.
Lichtman said on his YouTube channel Tuesday night that despite polls showing a night-bitingly close race, his prediction isn’t wavering.
“Nothing has changed to change my prediction that I made on Sept. 5,” Lichtman said, “in defiance of the polls.”
– Sam Woodward
Michigan, Maine Democrats in tight races criticize Biden ‘garbage’ remark
A pair of congressional Democrats running in tight 2024 races became the latest members of President Joe Biden’s party on Wednesday to criticize his “garbage” remark about Donald Trump’s supporters.
Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic Senate candidate running in Michigan, and Rep. Jared Golden, who is running for a fourth term in Maine, both took issue with the comments from the sitting president of the United States.
“In terms of what President Biden said yesterday, he shouldn’t have said it. I mean, it’s inappropriate. And, for me, I just think that kind of talk is the last thing we need in our politics,” Slotkin told WWJ Newsradio, a local Michigan radio station.
Writing on X, Golden also raised concern with Biden’s comments. “Any elected official or candidate who calls Americans or America ‘garbage’ is flat out wrong. We don’t need leaders to add fuel to partisan fires that are dividing us.”
“Americans are bound together as citizens of our great country,” added Golden in a follow-up tweet. “What we need most is to work together toward common goals and to overcome common challenges for the good of our communities and country.”
Golden represents a large rural district encompassing central and northern Maine. His race against Republican challenger Austin Theriault, a former NASCAR driver, is considered a toss-up, according to the Cook Political Report.
Slotkin, a three-term U.S. congresswoman, is running against Republican Mike Rogers for a Senate seat left open by retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Numerous polls show Slotkin leading by a few percentage points against Rogers.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro have also sought to distance themselves from Biden’s remarks with just days to go before Election Day on Nov. 5.
Biden on Tuesday addressed offensive comments that comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made at Trump’s rally on Sunday, where he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
The president during a virtual event with Voto Latino disavowed those comments and went on to say: “The only garbage I see floating out there are his supporter’s – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American,” according to a transcript released by the White House.
The president and the White House quickly clarified that the Biden was talking about Hinchcliffe specifically.
– Sudiksha Kochi and Rebecca Morin
Youth turnout to break records?
Voter-registration nonprofit Vote.org says that 80% of the nearly 2 million voters it helped register in this election cycle are aged 18-34, a key demographic courted by politicians. Because young people typically vote at lower rates than older Americans, they represent a significant pool of votes that can reshape elections if they participate.
“This surge of engagement shows that voters know what’s at stake in this election and intend to have their say at the ballot box,” said Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey.
Vote.org worked with both large and small influencers, from social media personalities at historically Black colleges and universities all the way up to pop superstar Taylor Swift, who helped spark a record-breaking 35,000 people to sign up on National Voter Registration Day this fall, a 22.5% increase jump in voter registrations from 2023.
In 2020, about 50% of people aged 18-29 voted, according to Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. In comparison, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 75% of people aged 75 and older voted in that election.
In a statement to USA TODAY, Hailey said restrictive voting measures passed in many states – from making it harder to vote by mail to limiting polling locations and raising registration requirements – suggests there are politicians who want fewer people to participate in the 2024 election.
Young people see through that, Hailey said, adding: “If your vote didn’t matter, then there wouldn’t be so many efforts to make it harder to vote. The close races we’re seeing up and down the ballot highlight the power each and every voter holds: when you cast your vote, you’re taking a significant step towards deciding the future of your community and our democracy.”
– Trevor Hughes
Walz pressed on whether the campaign is speaking enough to men, Arab Americans
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz said in a Wednesday interview with “CBS Mornings” that the Harris campaign’s message to both men and Arab Americans, particularly in Michigan, will prove successful on Nov. 5.
“I think it is working and on Election Day, it will work when we win this election,” Walz, the two-term Minnesota governor, said.
Many Arab Americans in Michigan have been hesitant to support Harris and Walz after the Biden’s administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict. An exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll found that Harris and Trump are deadlocked in Michigan, 47% to 47%, among 500 likely voters.
“I think the message here is, for those folks, is that there’s one ticket here that is going to find the pathway to stabilization in the Middle East, but also one that is going to respect their human rights here, push back against Islamophobia, make sure that they have the right to fully engage in our system here,” Walz said on CBS.
The Harris campaign also is trying to address a notable gender gap. A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll found that women decisively Harris, 53% to 36%, while men overwhelmingly support Trump, 53% to 37%.
Asked about the Harris campaign’s message to male voters, Walz replied, “For the women in their lives that they love, their wives, their daughters, their partners, whoever it may be, this election, really, their lives are at stake.”
– Sudiksha Kochi
Georgia polling places could be ‘ghost town’ on Election Day after heavy early voting
Georgia election officials say turnout is running so high with early in-person voting and absentee ballot returns that polling places could be a “ghost town” on Election Day on Nov. 5.
Nearly 3.1 million people voted in person by Wednesday morning, according to Blake Evans, the state elections director. About 200,000 absentee ballots have been accepted, out of 341,520 issued, he said.
Officials urged anyone who still has an absentee ballot to deliver it to an election office or drop box rather than mail it.
The 45.4% turnout is about two-thirds of the entire turnout in 2020, according to Gabe Sterling, chief operating officer for the state secretary of state. The 2020 turnout was second only to 1960 turnout, when the voting population was much smaller before the Voting Rights Act, he said.
“There is a possibility it could be a ghost town on Election Day,” Sterling said. “We’re going to have a record turnout, more than likely.”
– Bart Jansen
Voter roll lawsuits offer insight into how Trump could challenge 2024 election results
Former President Donald Trump has declined to commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election, and lawsuits challenging state voter rolls provide a roadmap of how he could fight the outcome.
The lawsuits build on election fraud claims that Trump has been making – without proof – since his first presidential run.
In late November of 2016, Trump claimed without evidence that he only lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton that month because millions of people voted illegally. At his Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally, Trump similarly alleged that noncitizens – who aren’t eligible to vote in federal elections – cast 36,000 ballots in Arizona in 2020.
In this election, the Trump campaign is again suggesting the election may be rigged by noncitizen voting.
“While radical Democrats have allowed non-citizen voting in California and D.C., states such as Walz’s Minnesota have no system to keep non-citizens off the rolls, resulting in an open door to illegal voting,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to USA TODAY.
Several lawsuits over voter rolls have been dismissed, and some were filed within 90 days of the Nov. 5 election, which is a period under the National Voter Registration Act when states generally can’t purge groups from their registration lists.
For some, those realities raise the question of why the lawsuits are being filed at all, and especially – in many cases – so close to an election.
“The natural conclusion is it’s to set the stage for claiming an election was stolen,” David Becker, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation & Research, which works with Republican and Democratic election officials to strengthen confidence in elections, told USA TODAY.
– Aysha Bagchi
Conservative super PAC posts Trump ads on tents for homeless population
Red tents offering temporary housing picturing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump are popping up in the Los Angeles area.
“Hate this tent? Visit TurnTheTownRed.com” the red tent reads.
The conservative super political action committee behind the effort is called Turn the Town Red. It’s “Red Shelter Initiative” is aimed at “combating homelessness” by placing “high-quality, weather-resistant tents across the city” according to the PAC’s website. It also says its trying to “increase conservative representation in the media” and re-elect Trump to the White House.
“We are committed to working with our donors, to ensure all money is held until a satisfying political game-plan to end the danger for both the homeless and housed is reach by our elected officials. For now, citizens are safer with a barrier of a tent between them.”
Posts circulating online of the tents are pushing back on the project, claiming that political advertising on these shelters is exploitive.
– Sam Woodward
Arnold Schwarzenegger endorses Harris
Former California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he will vote for the Democratic ticket in the presidential election.
“I will always be an American before I am a Republican,” he wrote in a social media post Wednesday. “That’s why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”
The professional bodybuilder and actor turned GOP politician served as governor from 2003 to 2011. California is Harris’ home state.
Schwarzenegger encouraged his followers to vote even if they disagree with him, but gave reasons he will not support former President Donald Trump.
“He will divide, he will insult, he will find new ways to be more un-American than he already has been, and we, the people, will get nothing but more anger,” Schwarzenegger said. “I want to move forward as a country, and even though I have plenty of disagreements with their platform, I think the only way to do that is with Harris and Walz.”
–Rachel Barber
Georgia secretary of state ‘ready to defend the results’
Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who famously resisted former President Donald Trump’s call to “find” nearly 12,000 votes to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in the state in 2020, reiterated his commitment Wednesday to upholding the results this election.
Speaking at a press conference, Raffensperger said his grandson lost a playoff baseball game the night before, but the whole team accepted the loss with grace.
“Just as an American, I think that’s wonderful, because I think that’s what America is,” Raffensperger said.
“I have no control over human behavior,” Raffensperger went on. “I will hold both parties accountable to you, the voters of Georgia, and I stand ready to defend the results of the election with election officials all across the states. We will do our job.”
– Aysha Bagchi
Harris breaks with Biden over ‘garbage’ comment about Trump supporters
Vice President Kamala Harris disagreed with President Joe Biden’s comments where he appeared to refer to former President Donald Trump’s supporters as “garbage,” saying that while the president clarified his remarks, she does not agree with criticisms of voters based on who they’re supporting.
“First of all he clarified his comments, but let me be clear: I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” she told reporters at Joint Base Andrews. Harris pointed to her speech on the Ellipse on Tuesday evening where she pledged to be a president for all Americans as she courted undecided voters.
“I’ve been very clear with the American public, I respect the challenges that people face,” Harris added. “I am serious, what I mean when elected president, I will represent all Americans, including folks who don’t vote for me and address their needs and their desires.”
Biden on Tuesday addressed offensive comments that comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made at Trump’s rally on Sunday, where he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Biden during a virtual event with Voto Latino disavowed those comments and went on to say: “The only garbage I see floating out there are his supporter’s – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American,” according to a transcript released by the White House.
– Rebecca Morin
Walz dismisses concerns that Democrats’ recent rhetoric undercuts unity message
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz insisted in a Wednesday interview that his comparison of Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally to a Nazi event and Biden’s recent ‘garbage’ comment do not undercut the Harris campaign’s message of unity.
“Certainly not,” Walz said on ‘CBS Mornings.’
“I’ve represented rural areas. I’ve represented Democrats, Republicans, independent, same thing with the Vice President,” added Walz, a former Minnesota congressman and now the state’s two-term governor.
Walz argued that Trump’s rhetoric is responsible for causing division in the country. “President Biden was very clear that he’s speaking about the rhetoric we heard at that so it doesn’t undermine it,” Walz said.
Biden’s comments come after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe said Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage” at the former president’s Madison Square Garden rally. Biden said during a zoom call with a nonprofit organization that the only “garbage” he saw “floating out there” were “his supporter’s,” though it was not clear at the time whether he was referring to Hinchcliffe or all of Trump’s supporters. Many Republicans interpreted it as the latter.
Walz also rebutted reports that Biden is being sidelined by the campaign.
“President Biden’s the president the United States. He’s running it. Vice President Harris is our candidate and will be the next president. And I think there’s two different positions there,” Walz said.
– Sudiksha Kochi
Josh Shapiro, top Harris surrogate, reacts to Biden’s ‘garbage’ remark
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a top surrogate for Harris, reacted to the fallout stemming from President Joe Biden’s “garbage” comment on Tuesday night that many Republicans claimed were directed towards Donald Trump’s fans
Biden’s comments come after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe said Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage” at the former president’s Madison Square Garden rally. Biden said during a zoom call with a nonprofit organization that the only “garbage” he saw “floating out there” were “his supporter’s,” though it was not clear at the time whether he was referring to Hinchcliffe or all of Trump’s supporters.
Many Republicans interpreted it as the latter. Biden later posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he “referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage.”
“I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn’t support,” Shapiro said on CNN’s “The Source” when asked about Biden’s remark.
The White House had attempted to clean up Biden’s comment, saying that he was referring to the rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as “garbage.” Pressed on whether he thinks Biden needs to come out and clarify his comment, Shapiro said that the president “will decide what he wants to say.”
“It’s certainly not words that I would choose and I think it’s important that we remain focused on the contrast between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and not attacking supporters of either candidate,” Shapiro said.
— Sudiksha Kochi
Walz distances Harris campaign from Biden’s comment: ‘We want everyone’
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, on Tuesday said Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is clear they want all Americans to be included in their campaign.
“Let’s be very clear: The vice president and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone as a part of this,” Walz said during an interview with ABC News.
The comments come after President Joe Biden came under fire for comments he made while denouncing an offensive joke made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe about Puerto Rico during a rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden over the weekend.
Biden said: “The only garbage I see floating out there are his supporter’s – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American,” according to a transcript released by the White House. Biden and the White House later clarified that the president was talking about “the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by” Hinchcliffe specifically.
Walz said that Biden had “clarified his remark.”
– Rebecca Morin
Democrats launch final-hour anti-Trump swing state ads
After Harris gave her closing argument to voters last night in Washington, Democrats are launching their own final message this morning, calling Trump “unfit to lead.” The Democratic National Committee purchased full page advertisements in 25 local newspapers across this year’s seven battleground states.
In it, the words “Unhinged. Unstable. Unchecked.” appear above Trump’s mugshot, taken in Atlanta in August.
“In the final week of the election, Democrats are not leaving any stone unturned, reminding voters in key battleground states that their vote means the difference between chaos and revenge with Donald Trump, or a New Way Forward with Vice President Harris,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement.
— Savannah Kuchar
Trump bashes Kamala Harris, avoids talk of racism and Jan. 6
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump practiced the politics of avoidance Tuesday in Pennsylvania.
During an 80-minute rally in Allentown, Trump did not discuss allegations of racism stemming from his Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden, but did praise Latino and Puerto Rican voters.
Nor did he discuss at length Vice President Kamala Harris’ competing speech accusing him of being a threat to democracy and abetting the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.
Instead, he maintained his standard attacks on Harris and urged supporters to get out and vote. “We’re going to win the whole deal,” Trump said.
–David Jackson
When will election results be announced?
It is not clear exactly when the election results will be announced, as the timing depends on a variety of factors. Each state handles its elections differently, ranging from weeks-long early voting to strict voter ID laws.
But you can anticipate delays.
Some key swing states that Trump and Harris are vying for, like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, aren’t permitted to start processing absentee and mail-in ballots until Election Day, which is expected to slow down the count.
— Sudiksha Kochi and Sam Woodward
White House releases transcript of Biden remarks denouncing offensive jokes
Joe Biden denounced offensive jokes that podcast host Tony Hinchcliffe made about Puerto Rico during Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally over the weekend, but the president also made a comment some prominent Republicans quickly called insulting to the former president’s supporters.
“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,’” Biden said during a Zoom call Voto Latino, an organization encouraging Latino and Hispanic youth to become politically engaged. The president said the Puerto Rican people he knew in his home state of Delaware were “good, decent, honorable people.”
Biden added that the only “garbage” he saw “floating out there” were supporters, though it was unclear if he was referring just to Hinchcliffe or all of Trump’s fans. The White House released a transcript Tuesday night attempting to clarify that the president was referring to Hinchcliffe’s act.
– Karissa Waddick
Harris makes closing argument at site of Trump’s Jan. 6 rally
With the White House illuminated behind her, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris made a plea to undecided voters on Tuesday night to “turn the page” on Donald Trump, as she sought to rewrite the legacy of the Ellipse from the Republican’s Jan. 6 speech that preceded an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Harris’ address at times touched on the optimistic approach she said she’d bring to the presidency. Swinging away at Trump, the Democratic presidential candidate also blasted her Republican opponent for cultivating turmoil when he was in the White House.
– Rebecca Morin and Francesca Chambers
Harris and Trump deadlocked in Michigan
Less than a week before Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are deadlocked in the battleground state of Michigan, according to an exclusive new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll.
Harris and Trump are tied, 47% to 47%, a statewide poll of 500 likely voters shows. The results are within the poll’s margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. The poll was conducted between Oct. 24 and 27.
In Kent County, Michigan, which has been a bellwether for the state, Harris leads Trump 47% to 46% among 300 likely voters, the poll shows. The results are within the poll’s 5.7 percentage point margin of error, meaning her lead could have happened by chance.
–Terry Collins
Where do Trump, Harris stand in the polls?
The 2024 presidential race is set to be neck-and-neck up to Election Day. In Real Clear Politics’ average of national polls, Trump leads Harris by 0.4 percentage points, well within the margin of error for all of the surveys included.
The Republican and Democratic nominees are also close in swing states. For example, Harris leads Trump by 0.5 percentage points in Michigan, according to Real Clear Politics’ average.
– Marina Pitofsky
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Where is Trump campaigning on Wednesday?
Donald Trump is splitting his day between two swing states: North Carolina and Wisconsin. In the afternoon, he’s holding a rally in Rocky Mount, a city in eastern North Carolina.
In the evening, he’ll travel to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and address supporters alongside former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.
– Marina Pitofsky
Where is Harris campaigning on Wednesday?
On Wednesday, the vice president will hold rallies in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Raleigh, North Carolina, before traveling to the University Of Wisconsin-Madison for a rally and concert with folk rock band Mumford & Sons, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The get-out-the-vote rally in Wisconsin will also feature performances by Gracie Abrams, Remi Wolf, and The National’s Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner, according to the campaign.
– Alison Dirr, Terry Moseley
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Election 2024 recap: Election Day countdown clock; new polls
