Election 2024 Live Updates: Harris Targets Trump Amid John Kelly Remarks

Trump being elected could ‘accelerate’ the time it takes for Social Security to run out

A new report from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget that indicates Trump’s policy plan can quicken the time it takes for Social Security to run out. Currently, it is set to run out in nine years; under Trump, the report says it would take six years.

Social Security is confronting a significant funding challenge as trustees have recently forecasted that the trust fund for retirement and disability programs will run out of money by 2035. Several of Trump’s campaign proposals could hasten that deadline, possibly by several years, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan organization that opposes substantial federal deficits.

The Harris campaign posted a Fox News report on the topic.

Kamala Harris flips key swing state according to latest poll

Vice President Kamala Harris is back in the lead in the swing state of Michigan, according to the latest polling from Quinnipiac University.

A survey released Wednesday found that Harris is ahead of former President Donald Trump 49 percent to 46 percent. The poll was based on the responses of 1,136 likely voters collected by telephone between October 17 and 21.

The poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percent, roughly the same as the gap between Harris and Trump. But it is a positive sign for Democrats as the same poll conducted at the beginning of October found Trump leading by 3 points (50 percent to 47 percent). That poll had a margin of error of 3.1 points and is based on the responses of 1,007 likely voters.

In September, Harris held a 5-point lead (50 percent to 45 percent) in Michigan, according to polling by Quinnipiac University.

Both presidential campaigns have prioritized stops in Michigan in the final weeks before Election Day. The state was won by President Joe Biden in 2020, but poll trackers show that Harris is only marginally ahead of Trump there. On Wednesday, FiveThirtyEight found that Harris is up by 0.6 points on average in the Great Lakes State. She is ahead by 1.8 points across national polls overall.

Read More: Kamala Harris Flips Swing State in New Poll

Trump talks about his faith at Georgia town hall

Donald Trump said he believes his faith gives him a “big advantage” over non-believers during a Believers and Ballots town hall.

“When you have faith, when you believe in God, it’s a big advantage over people that don’t have that,” Trump told the crowd in the battleground state of Georgia.

The GOP presidential nominee is looking to court the evangelical Christian vote in the state with less than two weeks left until the election.

He ended the hour-long rally telling supporters, “We are indeed going to make America great again.”

Map shows House seats most likely to flip in congressional elections

Democrats and Republicans are battling for control of the House of Representatives, viewed as a toss-up by forecasters two weeks before the November 5 election.

Republicans are defending their narrow eight-seat majority, which includes more than a dozen GOP-held seats won by President Joe Biden four years earlier. Like the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, elections experts expect control of Congress to come down to the wire.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans have a clear advantage, and both parties are spending heavily to win a majority. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has spent more than $247 million, while the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has spent $169 million on key House races across the country, according to the nonprofit OpenSecrets.

Read More: Map Shows House Seats Most Likely To Flip in Congressional Elections

Walz says there is ‘one path to stopping Donald Trump’

Tim Walz tweeted on Wednesday that Democrats have “one path’ to stopping Trump from winning the 2024 election.

Kamala Harris’ running partner shared a clip of himself at the Madison, Wisconsin, rally where he told the crowd how he and Harris planned to win the presidential race.

“There is one path to making sure we stop this guy,” he said.

“We have to do the work, have the courage, and beat him at the ballot box.”

Lindsey Graham defends Trump as ‘friend of the Jewish state’ after Kelly’s Hitler claims

Sen. Lindsey Graham has defended Donald Trump as a “friend of the Jewish state” amid claims the former president praised Hitler.

Trump’s former White House chief-of-staff John Kelly told The New York Times and The Atlantic yesterday that the Republican presidential nominee was a “fascist” who had praised Adolf Hitler who he said ”did some good things.”

Retired Army Gen. Mark A. Milley and retired Gen. Jim Mattis have also suggest Trump was fascist.

In an appearance on Fox News, Graham fumed he was “tired of the Hitler cr*p when it comes to Trump.

“The one and only Jewish state on the planet is Israel and nobody’s more popular in Israel than Donald Trump,” he said.

“There’s been no better friend to the Jewish state. Hitler wanted to kill all the Jews and Donald Trump is the best friend of the Jewish state.”

Graham added that he knew Trump “up close and personal” and he rejected any suggestion he was a fascist or had support for the Nazi leader.

“To these generals, you’re entitled to your opinions, but I think you’re dead wrong.”

Sarah Jessica Parker endorses Harris and Walz: ‘For the love of my country’

Actress Sarah Jessica Parker has endorsed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for president and vice president of the U.S. In an Instagram post this morning, the actress known for playing Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City and its sequel series And Just Like That, Parker wrote: “With an abundance of joy, optimism and pride, I am voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz.

How well-liked is Kamala Harris in Donald Trump’s home state? Recent polls indicate a change

Despite Democratic optimism about flipping Florida on November 5, Vice President Kamala Harris’ favorability has declined in the state, according to a recent poll.

Democrats have previously said that Florida—and its 30 Electoral College votes—could be in play for Harris on Election Day, with some polls suggesting the race is close. In September, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison said that the party thinks it “has a shot” in Florida and that people may be “surprised on election night about what happens in the state.”

Florida has an electoral history of voting both blue and red, sometimes by very narrow margins. Donald Trump won the state twice, in 2016 and 2020, while Barack Obama carried the Sunshine State in 2012 with 50 percent of the vote and in 2008 with 51 percent. The 2000 contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore came down to just a few hundred votes in the state, with the Supreme Court settling the count in Bush’s favor by just over 500 votes.

Less than two weeks from Election Day, polling shows Trump leading in the state. The Hill‘s aggregate state poll finds Trump with a 6.1 percent lead over Harris as of Wednesday afternoon.

The most recent Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey of 860 likely Florida voters, conducted between October 18 and 20, found that Harris is losing favorability among voters in the state.

Read More: How Popular Is Kamala Harris in Donald Trump’s Home State? Polls Show Shift

Trump says he get complaints about groceries in Georgia appearance

Donald Trump talked about how he gets complaints about groceries while at a “faith-focused” town hall in Zebulon, Georgia.

Why does it take so long to count votes? Two pivotal counties help explain

A pivotal county in the swing state of Pennsylvania expects to have all its mail-in ballots counted soon after polls close on Election Day.

Some 2,000 miles away, in another swing county in the swing state of Arizona, officials are warning the wait could last up to two weeks.

That chasm reflects the growing concerns that the U.S. voting system, which is carried out by various state and local offices with their own patchworks of procedures and rules, is ill equipped to deal with the new era of mail-in and early voting rules that gained popularity last cycle, when a raging pandemic led to major changes in how the country picks its president.

In western Pennsylvania, officials from Allegheny County said Tuesday that they were on track to deliver their election results for Pittsburgh and the surrounding area a few hours after 8 p.m. on Nov. 5, when polls close, because of an all-hands-on-deck approach they have been testing. Allegheny is home to about 1.25 million residents.

“People want results quickly. That’s the expectation, that’s the bar,” Abby Gardner, director of communications for Allegheny County, told Newsweek Wednesday. “No one has said to us ‘I’m worried that you are going to have your results too fast, it should take you longer’.”

Read More: Why Does It Take So Long to Count Votes? Two Pivotal Counties Help Explain

Rep. Mike Waltz on John Kelly’s comments about Trump praising Hitler: ‘It doesn’t make sense to me’

Florida Rep. Mike Waltz said he believes former Trump chief of staff, John Kelly, is not being truthful regarding Trump’s admiration for Hitler in an interview with CNN.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” he said. “I find the timing suspicious and is just completely divorced from the man that I’ve come to know in Donald Trump and how he’s dealt with Gold Star families, how he’s been caring, how he’s been compassionate.”

Lindsey Graham blames Harris after North Korea sends 3,000 soldiers to Russia against Ukraine

Lindsey Graham criticized the Biden-Harris administration for offering “no deterrence” after North Korea sent 3,000 soldiers to train in Russia against Ukraine.

“I think this is just another sign of how dangerous the world is under Biden-Harris,” the South Carolina Senator said on Fox News.

“There is no deterrence.”

He claimed that, unlike under Donald Trump, North Korea “feels comfortable joining Russia trying to destroy Ukraine.”

“When Trump wins, this is going to come to him pretty quickly,” he continued. “The day Trump wins, Russia is going to be less likely to recruit North Koreans to fight in Ukraine. So if you want to get the world back in order, it’s a pretty easy decision.

“Kamala Harris is going what you see and Trump is going to stop it.”

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed reports that North Korean soldiers had been deployed in Russia on Wednesday.

“What exactly they’re doing is left to be seen. We’re trying to gain better fidelity on it,” Austin said.

He added it was a serious issue if their intention is “to participate in this war on Russia’s behalf.”

Trump slams Harris on Muslim’s support of her

Donald Trump shared another post on Truth Social about Kamala Harris, speaking on how she “embraces” former Rep Liz Chaney.

“Why would Muslims support Lyin’ Kamala Harris when she embraces Muslim hating Liz Cheney, a total loser, whose father brought years of war, and death, to the Middle East???”

Watch: Dramatic moment suspected drunk driver nearly hits Harris motorcade

A suspected drunk driver narrowly missed Vice President Kamala Harris’ motorcade while traveling the wrong way on a highway in Milwaukee this week.

Footage from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation obtained by Newsweek shows a white SUV approaching Harris’ motorcade at about 8:30 p.m. Monday while headed westbound in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 94 at the Marquette Interchange.

The driver of the SUV, a 55-year-old man who wasn’t immediately identified, travels past the motorcade at a slow speed before being stopped by deputies from the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office at the end of the procession, the footage shows.

Deputies found an “open intoxicant” inside in the vehicle, sheriff spokesperson James Burnett told Newsweek early Wednesday.

Read More: Dramatic Video Shows Moment Wrong-Way Driver Nearly Hits Harris Motorcade

Florida voters showing increasing support for abortion measure branded ‘radical’ by Ron DeSantis

Voters in Florida are showing increasing support for a new measure that would limit the state government’s ability to have a say on abortions, despite Governor Ron DeSantis’ attempts to brand the change as “radical.”

Emerson College’s latest polling showed a rise in the number of voters wanting to see Amendment 4 pass, paving the way for a constitutional right to an abortion up to fetal viability—around 23 weeks.

The survey showed 53.2 percent of voters planned to vote yes, against 29.8 percent of those stating “no.” In an April poll, support stood at 42.4 percent.

“In poll after poll, we’re encouraged to see that the overwhelming majority of Floridians support ending Florida’s extreme abortion ban by passing Amendment 4,” Keisha Mulfort, senior communications strategist at the ACLU in Florida, told Newsweek on Wednesday.

“Recent polling makes clear that turnout will be the deciding factor, especially with the state’s coordinated effort to spread misinformation and confuse voters,” she said.

Read More: Ron DeSantis Could Be Headed for a Disappointing Election Night

Harris stops at Philadelphia’s oldest deli ahead of CNN town hall

Kamala Harris stopped off at Philadelphia’s Famous 4th Street Deli ahead of her CNN town hall in Pennsylvania this evening.

“We are going to win,’ she told supporters as she joined Mayor Cherelle Parker, the first Black woman to run the city, at Philly’s oldest deli for a volunteer appreciation event. “13 days. Lots of work to do.”

It’s not the first time the Famous 4th Street Deli has hosted a Democrat on the campaign trail.

Barack Obama and Sen. Bob Casey previously dined at the deli which has a plaque to commemorate their visit.

Trump says he needs “massive turnout” from supporters to secure election against “cheats”

Donald Trump warned he needed a massive turnout from supporters to “secure” the election against people who wanted to “cheat” the results, during a town hall in Georgia.

The former president said he “never want[s] what happened in 2020 to happen again”, during a video clip at Zebulon, Georgia for the Believers and Ballots Faith Town Hall.

Trump was referring to when he lost the election and falsely claimed that it had been “stolen.”

“I will secure our elections. We are going to go to paper ballots, same day voting, voter ID,’ he continued. “We are going to do it properly.

“We are going to protect the vote. Keep your eyes open because these people want to cheat.”

He urged supporters to turnout in massive numbers to “swamp” the Democrats.

“If you swamp them, they can’t cheat,” he said.

“Republicans must win and we must use every appropriate tool to beat them.”

23 Nobel Prize-winning economists call Harris’s economic plan ‘superior’ to Trump’s

Harris’s economic plan was deemed “vastly superior” to Trump’s by 23 recipients of the Nobel Prize for economics in a letter signed by them all.

“While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we believe that, overall, Harris’ economic agenda will improve our nation’s health, investment, sustainability, resilience, employment opportunities, and fairness and be vastly superior to the counterproductive economic agenda of Donald Trump,” the economists wrote in the letter.

Trump calls Harris’s campaign ‘toxic’

Donald Trump raged on Truth Social about the Harris campaign and the ads he appears in.

“Kamala Harris’ sinking Campaign has become so TOXIC, that Democrat Senators in four different States are using me in their advertisements, and stating that they are with President Trump on Tariffs, and numerous other things,” he wrote. “While it is a great compliment, it is not fair to those Republican Senate Candidates, Bernie Moreno, Dave McCormick, Eric Hovde, and Sam Brown, who are with me all the time. These Democrats have voted with Crooked Joe Biden almost 100% of the time. They only pretend to be on my side when Elections roll around. OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA, WISCONSIN, NEVADA: VOTE FOR BERNIE MORENO, DAVE MCCORMICK, ERIC HOVDE, AND SAM BROWN – THEY ARE THE ONES WHO ARE WITH US!”

Tim Walz shows off ‘I voted’ sticker as he urges supporters to cast their ballots early

Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz shows off his “I voted” sticker as he and his wife cast an early ballot on Minnesota.

Gov. Walz shared a picture of himself with wife Gwen on X, formerly known as Twitter, both wearing the bright red voting stickers.

“We just early voted,” the captioned the picture.

“Now it’s your turn.”

More than 20 million Americans have already cast their ballots with less than two weeks to go before the 2024 election.

Karine Jean-Pierre tells reporter to ‘pay attention to the source’ in regard to Trump’s ‘lazy’ comment

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to a reporter’s question about Trump recently calling Harris “lazy as hell.” She said, “Pay attention to the source.”

John Kelly says Trump is a fascist, but still has not endorsed Harris

Retired Marine General John Kelly, former President Donald Trump’s longest-serving White House chief of staff, has again publicly criticized the Republican nominee, this time labeling him a “fascist” just weeks ahead of Election Day.

Kelly made headlines on Wednesday after The Atlantic published an article and The New York Times released an interview in which he said that Trump had praised Adolf Hitler in his presence while also citing other concerns about Trump’s desire for authoritarian control.

“He commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too,’ ” Kelly recalled to The Times. In his interview with The Atlantic, Kelly recalled that when Trump raised the idea of needing “German generals,” Kelly would ask if he meant “Bismarck’s generals,” referring to Otto von Bismarck, the former chancellor of the German Reich who oversaw the unification of Germany.

Despite his harsh assessment of Trump and making it clear that he will not support his former boss in his bid for a second White House term, Kelly has not suggested that he will endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. With just 13 days remaining, the general continues to remain reticent about publicly endorsing the Democrat, which has caused some disappointment among fellow Trump critics.

Read More: John Kelly Says Trump Is a Fascist, But Still Has Not Endorsed Harris

Vance explains how ‘no tax, no tips’ would work

JD Vance said that cutting spending on migrants will help the “no tax, no tips” policy thrive. At a Las Vegas rally, Vance told a reporter who asked about the policy, “It’s a fair question. The government’s spending way more money than it takes in right now, and I think that there are so many areas where we can cut wasteful spending, frankly. Stop spending hundreds and billions of dollars in fraudulent Medicare and Social Security claims to illegal aliens, so we can save a lot of money and we can give back to the American people.”

Trump shares new attack ad

Donald Trump shared an ad attacking Kamala Harris, writing on Truth Social, “I JUST ASK ONE SIMPLE QUESTION—WHY DIDN’T SHE DO IT? WHY HASN’T SHE DONE IT? SHE’S BEEN THERE FOR THREE AND A HALF YEARS…”

The ad targets Harris’s stance on fracking, and the border crisis, among other topics. He said in the ad, “We’re a failing nation. We’re a nation that’s in serious decline.

Harris questions if Trump is ‘fit for one of the hardest jobs in the world’

Responding to a video posted by her campaign of Trump appearing to fall asleep during an event in Miami, Harris questioned whether the former president is “fit” for presidency.

America’s shifting opinions on 2024 election issues

Abortion has overtaken immigration to become the second most important issue, behind the economy, for voters heading into the 2024 election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, Newsweek polling suggests.

The race to the White House is neck and neck and may ultimately come down to just a few thousand votes in key battleground states like Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona. So, to understand voters’ greatest concerns, over the past 16 months polls conducted exclusively by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on behalf of Newsweek asked participants: “Which issues are most likely to determine how you vote in the November 2024 Presidential Election? You may select up to three.” The issues that repeatedly came out on top were the economy, abortion and immigration, making candidates’ signaling on these concerns crucial to success come election day.

Read More: America’s Shifting Opinions on 2024 Election Issues

Harris supports raising federal minimum wage

On Tuesday, Harris stated for the first time that she supports increasing the federal minimum wage to a minimum of $15 per hour after criticizing Trump for avoiding a question regarding his stance on raising it.

Harris had previously expressed that she backed increasing the federal minimum wage, but never gave a number until an interview with NBC News where she was asked about the matter.

“At least $15 an hour, but we’ll work with Congress, right? That’s something that is going through Congress,” she said in the interview.

JD Vance blames immigration for housing crisis during Arizona rally

JD Vance called immigration the “biggest crisis confronting the United States of America” as he hit the campaign trail today.

In an Arizona rally, Donald Trump’s running mate blamed immigration for the US housing crisis.

Both Vance and Trump have made immigration a key focus of their campaign and have called for mass deportation of illegal immigrants.

“We talk a lot about illegal immigration on this campaign,” said Vance. “It’s the biggest crisis confronting the United States of America.

“When you open the border and let 25 million people into your country, you drive up the cost of housing for American citizens.”

Vance pledged to “deport the illegal aliens” if Trump is elected, and also promised to build more homes and build on federal land.

The Migration Policy Institute’s data, shows that around 28%, or three million, illegal immigrants own a home, compared to 65%, or 216 million, American citizens.

Mark Esper comments on Trump’s use of language similar to those John Kelly described

Politician Mark Esper said that he hadn’t heard Trump use language to refer to American military personnel in a derogatory manner. In an interview with CNN, Esper said, “No, not along the lines of what John Kelly and others have outlined.”

He added, however, “[Trump] was very troubled by the fact that we would have America’s wounded warriors out in public, and he did not like that. And I had a couple of instances where we’d have to have that discussion, and he just thought we should conceal them.”

Watch Harris deliver remarks on John Kelly’s comments about Trump

Kamala Harris spoke about former Trump chief of staff John Kelly’s remarks regarding Donald Trump. Watch it here.

Kamala Harris warns Trump wants ‘unchecked power’

Kamala Harris warned voters that Donald Trump wants “unchecked power” during a surprise address from her official residence on Wednesday.

The Vice President said that Trump doesn’t want a military loyal to the constitution, but loyal to him.

“We know what Trump wants,” she said. “He wants unchecked power.

“The question is what do the American people want?”

Harris speaks in surprise address

Kamala Harris spoke briefly to discuss remarks from former Trump chief of staff, John Kelly, calling Trump “dangerous” for invoking Hitler in conversations.

Vivek Ramaswamy shows off his rapping skills as he takes a swipe at Obama

Vivek Ramaswamy has shared a clip of himself rapping to Eminem in a dig at former president Barack Obama.

“C’mon Barack, if you’re going to do it, might as well do it right,” captioned the video, he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The former GOP presidential candidate, who dropped out of the race earlier this year and backed Trump, shared the clip after Obama and Eminem made an appearance at a Kamala Harris rally in Detroit on Tuesday.

Obama quoted some of the lyrics to Lose Yourself after the rapper endorsed Harris.

In response, Ramaswamy shared the clip of himself rapping the song in front a crowd.

Harris to appear on CNN tonight

Kamala Harris will answer questions at a CNN town hall, which Anderson COoper will moderate.

Walz accuses Trump of ‘descending into madness’

Tim Walz accused Donald Trump of “descending into madness” after reports the former president said he wanted “the kind of generals that Hitler had.”

“Don’t be the frog in the boiling water and think this is okay,” Kamala Harris’ running mate warned of Trump’s alleged comments, during a rally in Wisconsin.

“As a 24-year veteran of our military, that makes me sick as hell, and it should make you sick,” he added, referring to his time in the Army National Guard.

“Folks, the guardrails are gone. Trump is descending into this madness. A former president of the United States and the candidate for president of the United States says he wants generals like Adolf Hitler had. Think about it,” he added.

The “Hitler generals” allegations were first published in The Atlantic in an article by its editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg which stated Trump once said: “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had. People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.”

Goldberg cited “two people who heard him say this” and John Kelly, Trump’s former White House chief-of-staff, who said the then-president had expressed admiration for the loyalty of “Hitler’s generals.”

The Trump campaign has strongly denied the claims. Trump campaign adviser Alex Pfeiffer said in a statement sent to Newsweek: “This is absolutely false. President Trump never said this.”

Harris on immigrants during Telemundo interview

Harris spoke of her intentions for immigrants looking for a route to U.S. citizenship during a pre-recorded conversation with Telemundo’s Julio Vaqueiro.

“We need smart, humane immigration policy in America that includes a pathway to citizenship, putting more resources at the border in terms of security, honoring America’s history as a country of immigrants, not vilifying people who are fleeing harm, but instead, creating an orderly system for them to actually be able to make their case. That’s where I stand,” Harris said.

New Hampshire governor weighs in on John Kelly’s comments about Trump

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said that he still supports former President Donald Trump following comments about Trump being a fascist from Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly.

The View host compares Trump to Hitler

The View host Joy Behar compared the former president’s rhetoric to that of Hitler, noting that Hitler described immigrants as parasites and referred to Jewish individuals as lice.

“If people still follow this fascist pig, then I don’t know what else to say,” Behar said. He’s willfully ignorant at this point. It absolutely crossed the line for me.”

Trum’s ex-chief of staff calls former president a ‘fascist’

Former Trump chief of staff John Kelly called the former president’s leadership style “dictatorial” and “fascist.”

“Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators – he has said that,” Kelly told The New York Times. “So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”

Michelle Obama could be Harris campaign’s secret weapon

Former first lady Michelle Obama hitting the campaign trail for Vice President Kamala Harris could hugely help the Democratic nominee’s campaign for the White House, experts told Newsweek.

On Saturday, she will appear with Harris at a get-out-the-vote event in Michigan, according to a senior Harris campaign official. Her husband, former President Barack Obama, has been campaigning in swing states and is set to appear alongside Harris at a Thursday event in Georgia. Further details about the events have not been disclosed.

Saturday’s event will be the former first lady’s first time on the campaign trail to support Harris and will coincide with the first day of early voting in Michigan. Michelle Obama will also headline an Atlanta rally on October 29 hosted by When We All Vote, a nonpartisan civic engagement group that she founded in 2018 “to change the culture around voting.”

These events come as a recent poll found that a significant number of Black voters, a crucial voting bloc that propelled President Joe Biden to victory in 2020, remain undecided about their voting choice in November’s election. Michelle Obama’s involvement could provide Harris, the first Black and Asian American woman to serve as vice president, with a boost in the final weeks of a very close race against former President Donald Trump that could be decided by small margins in battleground states like Michigan and Georgia.

Read more: Michelle Obama Could Be Kamala Harris’ Ultimate Weapon

Walz cast his votes in Minnesota

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz participated in early voting on Wednesday in St. Paul, where he cast his vote for Harris and for himself, as reported by a campaign official to CNN.

Walz voted in person at the Ramsey County Elections office in St. Paul, accompanied by his wife, Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz, and their son Gus, who just turned 18 and exercised his right to vote for the first time today.

Invisible Joe Biden disappears from Kamala Harris’ campaign

In the final stretch of the 2024 presidential race, one person seems notably absent from Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign: President Joe Biden.

Since ending his reelection bid in July, Biden has largely stayed off the campaign trail, leaving Harris to carve out her own path and focus on distinguishing herself from the sitting president’s record.

She has dropped all references to “Bidenomics” from her campaign speeches, a term which she and Biden’s administration used to refer to its agenda of investing in domestic manufacturing, infrastructure and clean energy.

In its place, Harris has pivoted to what she calls the “opportunity economy,” her plan to grow the middle class through tax cuts, a $6,000 child tax credit for new parents, assistance for first-time homebuyers and tax deductions for new small business startups, among other plans.

Read More: Invisible Joe Biden Disappears From Kamala Harris’ Campaign

Nate Silver’s ‘gut’ tells him Trump will win election

Founder of FiveThirtyEight Nate Silver said that his “gut” tells him that former President Donald Trump will win the election in 12 days. In an essay published by the New York Times, Silver wrote that he believes that his feeling might be “true for many anxious Democrats.” He, however, warned that people shouldn’t put “any value whatsoever on anyone’s gut — including mine.”

Silver wrote that forecasting the race to be 50-50 is the only “responsible” way to depict it.

you should resign yourself to the fact that a 50-50 forecast really does mean 50-50,” he wrote. “And you should be open to the possibility that those forecasts are wrong, and that could be the case equally in the direction of Mr. Trump or Ms. Harris.”

He concluded the essay, “Don’t be surprised if a relatively decisive win for one of the candidates is in the cards — or if there are bigger shifts from 2020 than most people’s guts might tell them.”

1600 Newsletter: Kamala shrugs off Biden’s disastrous debate performance

In an interview with NBC News that aired last evening, Kamala Harris was asked if she had been “honest with the American people” about what she saw working with Joe Biden behind closed doors, and whether she ever noticed “what happened at the debate” in private.

Her answer was very illuminating, I thought. Granted, I’ve never been asked on national television whether my boss is mentally in decline, so I appreciate that it’s a difficult – perhaps sensitive – question to answer. But I am also not running for president. Here is how Harris responded to that very fair and obvious question from NBC’s Hallie Jackson: “It was a bad debate, people have bad debates,” she said with a kind of shrug.

THIS IS WHY PEOPLE CAN’T STAND POLITICIANS.

Everybody in this country knows that Biden’s “bad debate,” which they watched in real time, is the reason he is no longer running for president. People understand how aging works. They have parents who are old, or friends who are losing a step. And they are compassionate about it, because they understand that time comes for us all. But for his chosen successor to shrug off a performance that utterly changed the dynamic of the race, one that was unprecedented in U.S. history, as some kind of one-off nothingburger… that comes off as offensive to voters, and can you blame them? In the immortal words of Groucho Marx, “Who are you going to believe, me or your lyin’ eyes?”

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Harris leads in national polls with 1.7 point lead over Trump

Kamala Harris is leading in the national polls by 1.7 percent with less than two weeks to go until the presidential election, according to FiveThirtyEight’s daily election poll tracker.

But margins remain razor-thin, particularly in the seven key swing states where there is less than one percentage point between the candidates.

With only 13 days left, the race is incredibly tight. The national NBC News poll, conducted between October 4 and 8, had Trump and Harris at a tie, although Trump led Harris by one point when third party candidates were included.

Four major national polls have Trump pulling ahead, including the latest Redfield and Wilton Strategies poll, conducted on October 21, that puts Trump 2 points ahead with 47 percent to Harris’ 45 percent.

But Harris remains ahead in FiveThirtyEight as well as Nate Silver’s tracker, by 1.6 points, and by up to 4 points in polls by YouGov and Morning Consult.

Campaign tracker: Where are the candidates today?

The presidential and vice presidential candidates are hard at work today, all with different commitments in the U.S. as they make their final pitches to Americans 12 days ahead of the election.

Trump is in Georgia today, leading a “Believers and Ballots Faith Town Hall” in Zebulon this afternoon alongside the state’s Lt. Gov Burt Jones, as noted on his campaign website. Later tonight, he will host a rally in Duluth in collaboration with Turning Point Action, the political wing of Charlie Kirk’s conservative organization Turning Point USA. In contrast, Vance is making appearances in Nevada, including events in Reno and Las Vegas where he will discuss topics related to housing and the economy.

Harris will be at a town hall gathering in the Philadelphia suburbs this evening. This event will be moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Walz is actively campaigning in his home state of Minnesota before he heads to give a speech at a campaign event in Louisville, Kentucky.