Election eve has arrived with the race for the White House still very tight — with the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll out Sunday showing Kamala Harris slightly ahead nationally but Donald Trump ahead in some key swing states — and the two candidates deadlocked in Pennsylvania.
Harris is spending her last full day campaigning in battleground Pennsylvania while Trump is hitting the trail in North Carolina and Pennsylvania before ending the day in Michigan.
IN PHOTOS: The road to Election Day 2024 across the US
Latest Developments
Nov 5, 4:05 AM
Trump says he is running against ‘evil Democrat system’
Former President Donald Trump used his final campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to attack high profile Democrats including President Joe Biden and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
Trump told attendees he is “not running” solely against Vice President Kamala Harris. “I’m running against an evil Democrat system,” he said. “These are evil people.”
Trump launched into attacks on Biden, pushing unfounded claims that Harris only became the nominee because Democrats wanted to be “politically correct.”
Trump then made fun of Harris’s name calling it “a strange name,” before pivoting back to criticize Biden.
“I wasn’t running against Biden either,” Trump said. “He was stuck in a basement. I didn’t even run against him. Now running against a very evil system, and we have to defeat that system, and America’s future will be an absolutely incredible one.”
The former president also mouthed an expletive when referring to Pelosi. “She’s a crooked person,” he added. “She’s a bad person, evil.”
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh
Nov 5, 3:45 AM
Trump suggests supporters to blame if he loses
Former President Donald Trump’s final campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, saw the Republican presidential nominee urging supporters to head to the polls while also again casting doubt on the security of the electoral process.
Multiple times throughout Trump’s speech he told supporters to go out to the polls “tomorrow.” However, given the rally was happening after midnight, people in the crowd started yelling “today” and then Trump falsely said the election was happening on Wednesday.
“It sounds so much better when you say tomorrow, Wednesday,” Trump said. “But that’s okay. I want to be exactly accurate for them, but go out today and vote. And I guess seven o’clock or whatever, whatever time it is, doesn’t matter, and we’re going to have the greatest victory in the history of our country.”
Trump then suggested that his supporters might be to blame if he does not defeat Vice President Kamala Harris.
“There’s nothing they can do” if Republicans turn out, Trump said of his opponents. “In other words, to make you feel a little guilty, we would only have you to blame.” Later, Trump claimed he has the “silent majority” and urged his supporters to “speak up.”
MORE: Election Day officially begins as Harris and Trump tie in Dixville Notch midnight vote
The former president also again cast doubt on the security of voting machines, despite officials and experts confirming the security of the election system.
“Perhaps I will be president in less than 24 hours, or maybe it will take these machines that we pay so much for two weeks,” Trump said, claiming that paper ballots would be cheaper, faster and more secure.
“What the hell is happening in the inside of those machines?” he continued. “If you wait, we want the answer tomorrow, tonight,” Trump said, quickly correcting himself. “We want the answer tonight.”
“You have to cheat,” Trump said about Democrats. “Who the hell is going to approve that stuff? Who’s going to prove open borders with criminals pouring into our country by the millions now they have to cheat. They have to cheat, and they do, and they do it very well, actually.”
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh
Nov 5, 3:05 AM
Walz ends campaign addressing ‘guys in the crowd’ on reproductive rights
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke for less than five minutes during his final campaign rally of the 2024 presidential race — focusing on reproductive rights.
The governor and his wife, Gwen, participated in the campaign’s Election Eve festivities on Monday in the pivotal battleground state of Michigan following their blitz through Wisconsin.
“You could probably tell from these rallies, all across the country tonight, this team is running like everything’s on the line — because everything’s on the line,” Walz said in Detroit.
Addressing the “guys in the crowd” about reproductive rights, Walz said the issue “really underlines the stakes in this election.”
“I want you to think about the women in your life that you love,” he said. “Their lives are at stake in this election. Donald Trump appointed those Supreme Court justices who repealed Roe v. Wade, and he brags about it.”
MORE: What are the key issues for voters in swing states that could decide election?
Vice President Kamala Harris, Walz said, would codify reproductive freedom if a bill came upon her desk as president.
“When Congress passes that bill to restore reproductive freedom, President Harris will sign it into law,” Walz said.
“Kamala and I trust women, it’s that simple. Now tomorrow, women all across America, of every age, both parties, are going to send a loud and clear message to Donald Trump, whether he likes it or not.”
Walz ended his remarks by stressing the historical significance of Tuesday’s election.
“There’s going to be a day you’re going to be sitting in that rocking chair, and you’re going to be rocking on that porch,” Walz said. “And a little one is going to come home from school and ask, what did you do in the 2024 election, where the American experiment survived, where the rule of law survived, where decency survived?”
Walz added, “And you’re going to be able to answer: ‘Every damn thing I could’.”
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Nov 5, 12:50 AM
Dixville Notch, New Hampshire votes split evenly between Harris and Trump
The first six ballots of the 2024 presidential election have officially been counted in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.
Of the six registered voters in the town, three votes were cast for Vice President Kamala Harris and three votes went to former President Donald Trump.
Nov 5, 12:22 AM
Oprah joins Harris onstage for final campaign rally in Philadelphia
Vice President Kamala Harris’ final campaign rally in the 2024 presidential election was a star-studded event outside of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Monday.
Famed talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, joined Harris onstage where they aimed to motivate voters ahead of Election Day.
“One more day, just one more day in the most consequential election of our lifetime,” Harris said. “And momentum is on our side.”
Nov 4, 11:22 PM
Joe Rogan and Elon Musk defend Trump’s controversial Liz Cheney comments
On Joe Rogan’s podcast, Elon Musk defended various comments Donald Trump has recently faced backlash for, saying he’s being misunderstood.
The two defended Trump’s recent violent rhetoric against former Rep. Liz Cheney, suggesting she should have a rifle “with nine barrels shooting at her,” claiming the former president’s comments have been misconstrued.
“A lot of people reached out to me — they’re like, oh, Trump says he wants to execute Liz Cheney. I’m like, that is utter b—s—. That’s not what he said at all. It’s not what he said at all,” Musk claimed.
“What he’s saying is that, look, if Liz Cheney actually had to fight at the front lines, [she] should think twice about going to war. It’s easy to be a warmonger if you don’t have to, you know, risk dying at the front lines,” Musk said, despite the fact that the backlash Trump faced was about the violent rhetoric itself.
Cheney, a Republican who was once a rising star in her party but lost reelection largely over her vocal criticism of Trump, has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
The two women have appeared together at several events as Harris works to woo disaffected Republican voters.
Nov 4, 11:05 PM
Harris rallies Pittsburgh to cross the finish line with her: ‘Momentum is on our side’
For her second rally of the day, Vice President Kamala Harris addressed a crowd of about 15,000 against the backdrop of an old steel mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Accompanied by Katy Perry’s power vocals, Harris encouraged supporters to utilize their hard-earned momentum to cross the finish line.
“Pittsburgh, this is it. Tomorrow is Election Day. Tomorrow is Election Day, and the momentum is on our side,” she said. “Our campaign has tapped into the ambitions, the aspirations and the dreams of the American people, and we know it is time for a new generation of leadership in America, and I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States.”
She urged the crowd to “turn the page” to chants of “We’re not going back.”
“And we have an opportunity in this election to finally turn the page on a decade of politics driven by fear and division. We are done with that,” she said. “We’re done. We’re done. We’re exhausted with it, and Pittsburgh, we are not going back. We’re not going back.”
She continued: “Ours is not a fight against something. It is a fight for something. It is a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom, like the fundamental freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own life and not let the government tell her what to do.”
Harris’ fairly brief speech was nearly line-for-line the same as her one in Allentown, Pennsylvania, earlier in the day. Her campaign has said that the speeches are being timed ahead of her next and final stop in Philadelphia.
Harris continued to avoid directly using former President Trump’s name, barely referring to him at all except to acknowledge that voters are ready for a president who doesn’t stew over an “enemies list.”
“We are ready for a president who knows the true measure of a leader is not based on who you beat down, it is based on who you lift up,” she said. “And instead of stewing over an enemies list, I will spend every day working on my to-do list. All full of priorities to improve your life.”
-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie
Nov 4, 10:30 PM
Trump says he’s going to let RFK Jr. ‘pretty much do what he wants’
In his “closing message” in Pennsylvania, just a day before the 2024 election, former President Donald Trump touted his relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Trump called the former independent presidential candidate “a credible guy” and said he’s going to be very involved in his administration.
“Bobby Kennedy, you know, he’s a credible guy… He’s going to be very much involved. You know, he’s got a tremendous view on health and pesticides and all this stuff. And we’re not really a healthy country,” Trump said.
Then Trump said he would allow RFK Jr. “to pretty much do what he wants.”
“Bobby’s going to pretty much do what he wants. I want him to do something really important for our country, make people healthier,” Trump said.
RFK Jr. previously said he would oversee public health agencies in Trump’s administration including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.
Nov 4, 10:24 PM
Harris expresses support for Puerto Rico on Spanish-language radio show
In a Spanish-language radio interview released Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris again vocalized her support for Puerto Rico.
“My commitment to Puerto Rico is longstanding. Even when I was in the United States Senate as representative of California, I took on a responsibility for myself of also prioritizing the needs of Puerto Rico, because I was aware that Puerto Rico did not have a U.S. senator, and so I was responsible for getting more resources to Puerto Rico,” she said in an interview on Univision Radio.
She vowed to continue honoring that commitment “when I am elected president of the United States, God willing, and with the votes of the people listening right now.”
She positioned her inclusive approach as a stark contrast to former President Donald Trump’s language in recent weeks, which she called “hateful.”
“Trump’s comments are hateful [and] are, you know, just furtherance of these tropes that are really unfair and meant to divide and demean people,” she said, citing what Jennifer Lopez said onstage while campaigning for Harris last week.
Harris also called immigration reform “one of [her] highest priorities.”
“The immigration system is just broken,” she said, listing a few of her approaches to fixing it, including securing the border, hiring more asylum judges, creating more humane asylum processes and creating a pathway for “hard-working people” to earn citizenship.
-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow and Will McDuffie
Nov 4, 10:27 PM
JD Vance says Pennsylvania will ‘take out the trash in Washington, DC’
Sen. JD Vance delivered his closing message to the voters of Newtown, Pennsylvania, on Monday, advocating for former President Donald Trump to be elected back to the White House.
Vance told the crowd that the only way the country would get a person who is fit to be president is by voting for Trump.
“So tomorrow, we’re going to say to Kamala Harris, you are fired. We don’t want you in the White House. We don’t want you in the Oval Office, we don’t want you anywhere near the halls of power,” the vice presidential candidate said.
Vance again brought up the recent “garbage” comment controversy, falsely claiming Harris called Trump supporters “garbage.”
“So, to Kamala Harris, you shouldn’t be calling your citizens garbage. You shouldn’t be criticizing people for daring to criticize you for doing a bad job. And our message to the leadership, to the elites of the Democratic Party — the people of Pennsylvania are not garbage for struggling under your leadership. But tomorrow, the people of Pennsylvania are going to take out the trash in Washington, D.C., and we’re going to do it together,” Vance said.
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