Trump rallies in Pennsylvania as he and Harris campaign in key states this week

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance claimed Monday that Vice President Kamala Harris is trying to silence Christians and throw anti-abortion advocates in jail, arguing she is “a chief opponent of freedom of conscience, of free speech and of religious liberty in this country.”

Speaking specifically on abortion, Vance said Republicans are the “pro-life party,” and while he acknowledged there will be disagreements among conservatives, he argued Harris goes beyond disagreement.

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally on Monday, September 23, in Indiana, Pennsylvania.

Former President Donald Trump on Monday raised doubts about early voting and suggested without evidence that fraud occurs even as he has been encouraging supporters to cast their ballots early.

Trump, who regularly lies about the outcome of the 2020 election and spreads false claims about voter fraud, added: “But we’re not going to let it happen again. You know, too big to rig, right?”

The comments come a day after Trump, in virtual rallies, urged supporters in Virginia and Minnesota to vote early and by mail. “Our country is in big trouble. And you can do it by mail or early in person or on Election Day, but make sure your ballot counts and check it,” he told Minnesota voters.

Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, urged North Carolina faith-based voters to use early and mail-in voting during remarks Monday.

“Look, I don’t love that this country has gone from Election Day to election season, but it is what it is, and we gotta play by the rules that are set, so use early voting. Use mail-in voting. Use voting on Election Day,” Vance said at an event in Charlotte.

Some background: The Trump campaign in June announced a program aimed at promoting absentee, mail-in and early in-person voting — practices the former president has disparaged for years while promoting false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams appears on CNN on Monday, September 23.

Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams told CNN on Monday that a controversial rule passed recently by the state’s election board that requires that ballots be hand-counted will “create chaos.”

The Georgia State Election Board voted 3-2 last week to require counties to hand-count the number of ballots cast at polling places on Election Day. The passage, which had the support of three Donald Trump allies, occurred despite bipartisan objections from election officials and poll workers.

Abrams also warned that the rule was designed to undermine trust in the state’s elections and will make it difficult for poll workers in November.

Rep. Don Bacon speaks with CNN's Manu Raju on Monday, September 23.

Rep. Don Bacon, a swing-district Nebraska Republican, said Monday that Trump needs to change his strategy to win the key electoral vote awarded by Bacon’s district by focusing on policy issues and avoiding “talking about Taylor Swift, talking about other things.” 

Bacon pleaded for Trump to run “a disciplined campaign talking about how wages exceeded inflation” and focusing on the border.”

“I really think he has a winning argument,” he added. 

Nebraska election law: Bacon said the fight to change how Nebraska awards electoral votes was a “good discussion” but predicted it will likely wait until the next legislative session. His comments came after a pressure campaign from Trump to change Nebraska election law was dealt a significant setback. A pivotal state senator said Monday he would not support a last-ditch effort to overturn a law that awards electoral votes by congressional district rather than statewide winner-take-all.

Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will no longer support Mark Robinson in the North Carolina gubernatorial race after a CNN report revealed the GOP nominee made inflammatory comments on a porn website more than a decade ago.  

Kemp’s office issued a statement after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained photos of a Robinson fundraiser the governor attended last month. 

“The governor attended the fundraiser as Vice Chair of the Republican Governors Association and will not be offering further support to the Robinson campaign,” spokesperson Cody Hall told CNN in a statement Monday night. 

The latest blow to Robinson comes after several of his campaign staffers stepped down Sunday amid the scandal that has engulfed his race in the final weeks. National Republican groups are pulling financial support for Robinson, and the nominee did not appear with former President Donald Trump when he was in the state Saturday.

On Monday, GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance said it was up to Robinson to “make his case,” though he did not disavow him. 

Several GOP lawmakers have privately conceded that Robinson will likely lose by a wide margin, with concerns that it could hurt Republican turnout in November. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, attacked Donald Trump for his proposal to increase domestic oil production to tamp down inflation, arguing in Monday remarks focused on climate policy that the former president’s pledge to “drill, baby, drill” is “not a solution.”

Walz used the catchphrase Trump regularly invokes when describing his plan to mitigate rising costs, suggesting that focusing on the price of gas does not represent a complete picture of the state of the US economy.

Walz also criticized Trump for reportedly offering oil industry executives to roll back environmental regulations in exchange for help raising $1 billion for his campaign, suggesting that voters won’t agree with the former president’s close relationship to the oil industry.

“People are smarter than that,” he said.

Former President Donald Trump talks as he visits Sprankle's Neighborhood Market in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, on Monday, September 23.

Former President Donald Trump made an unannounced stop at a Pennsylvania supermarket in between campaign events Monday and helped a woman who was checking out with her three kids pay for her groceries. 

Trump gives a customer $100 for groceries as he visits Sprankle's Neighborhood Market.

“Here, it just went down a hundred bucks,” Trump said as he handed the woman money at Sprankles Neighborhood Market in Kittanning. “We’ll do that for you from the White House.”

There was also a rare on-camera moment with Trump and one of his campaign managers, Susie Wiles. 

“Turn the cameras on her, she’s running the campaign and doing a fantastic job,” Trump said.

Artificial intelligence is helping “improve” rather than “revolutionize” influence operations from Russia and Iran aimed at November’s US elections, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in an assessment released Monday.

“The (US intelligence community) considers AI a malign influence accelerant, not yet a revolutionary influence tool,” an ODNI official told reporters.

The new US assessment is a counterpoint to some of the media and industry hype about AI-related threats. But the technology is still a top concern for US intelligence officials monitoring threats to the presidential election.

The risk to US elections from foreign, AI-generated content depends on the ability of foreign operatives to overcome restrictions built into many AI tools, to develop their own sophisticated AI models, or to “strategically target and disseminate” AI-generated content, the official said. “Foreign actors are behind in each of these three areas.”

Iran, for example, has used AI to generate content in Spanish about immigration, which Tehran perceives as a divisive US political issue, the ODNI official said. US officials believe Tehran is trying to undercut former President Donald Trump’s candidacy.

Russia has generated the most AI content related to the US election of any foreign power, according to the ODNI official. The AI-laced content — videos, photos, text and audio — have been consistent with Moscow’s efforts to boost Trump’s candidacy and denigrate Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, the official said.

Read more here.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance speaks at a campaign event in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday, September 23.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance refused to say whether the Trump campaign still endorses Mark Robinson, the scandal-plagued GOP gubernatorial candidate in North Carolina, saying that it’s Robinson job to make the case to voters in his state that his inflammatory statements were false. 

Pressed by CNN whether the Trump campaign still endorses Robinson, Vance said the media is more focused on “a sex scandal” than the struggles of American citizens.

As CNN’s KFile reported, Robinson made a series of inflammatory comments on a porn forum more than a decade ago, including referring to himself as a “black NAZI,” saying he enjoyed watching transgender pornography and expressing support for reinstating slavery. Robinson has denied making the comments.  

Former President Donald Trump plans to hold an event in Butler, Pennsylvania — the site of the first assassination attempt against him — on October 5, according to a source familiar with the plans.

Trump was injured when a gunman fired multiple shots at the July 13 rally. One rally attendee was killed, and two others were seriously injured.

Election officials in Montana shut down the state’s early voting website for a few hours Friday after a glitch affected a small number of overseas voters.

A local news report gained traction over the weekend after one of the affected voters said they received a ballot that didn’t include Vice President Kamala Harris as an option.

The Montana secretary of state’s office said Monday that officials “received a report of a ballot not displaying properly” for one of the overseas voters. The statement did not acknowledge that the apparent glitch had anything to do with Harris.

The officials said the voting portal was taken offline for several hours Friday for “troubleshooting.”

The affected overseas voter has “since been contacted and no further action is required.” The temporary shutdown affected only a “few voters,” the statement said, noting that only military and overseas voters use the electronic system to cast ballots.

Officials working for Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, a Republican, blasted “egregious misinformation campaigns circulating online” and circulated an image of a sample ballot for Montana voters that clearly includes Harris’ name.

This snafu has no bearing on the physical ballots that will be sent to absentee voters and the ballots that Montanans will use for in-person voting, Jacobsen’s office said.

Campaign officials are weighing a potential visit by Vice President Kamala Harris to the US-Mexico border while in Arizona on Friday as the campaign tries to close the gap with former President Donald Trump on the issue of immigration, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

Immigration has featured prominently in the 2024 presidential election. Democrats, grappling with years of border crises, have tried to flip the script on Republicans after the GOP blocked a bipartisan border measure earlier this year.

Some Harris campaign officials remain concerned about the gap in polling, which shows Trump holding a lead on the issue, but also see an opportunity to narrow a gap they believe is closing, according to one of the sources.

No final decision has been made, according to another source.

CNN reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.

Friday’s visit to Arizona would come at a time when border crossings are the lowest they’ve been since 2020 — and comes on the heels of new polling that shows Trump leading in the battleground state.

US officials have touted back-to-back months of low border crossings, citing recent executive action curbing asylum access at the US southern border, even as Trump levies campaign attacks over the Biden administration’s handling of border security.

Read more here

Former President Donald Trump pledged Monday to try to win Omaha’s electoral vote after his effort to change Nebraska’s election law was dealt a serious setback.

Trump’s post comes after state Sen. Mike McDonnell said in a statement Monday that he would not vote to change the law, which awards electoral votes by congressional district, before the November election. McDonnell was seen as one of the last best hopes from Republicans to change the law.

The former president had been pressuring Republicans to change the state’s election law before November. 

Some background: The fight over a single electoral vote from Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which has become known as Omaha’s blue dot, has emerged as a symbol of just how close the race between Trump and Kamala Harris has become.

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson speaks before former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Asheville, North Carolina, on August 14. 

Senate Republicans spoke on Monday about the scandal engulfing Mark Robinson, the North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate who has seen his campaign implode in the aftermath of a CNN report exposing his X-rated and racist posts on a porn website.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, would not say whether he would vote for Robinson in November, calling it “immaterial.” But he said he would instead be squarely focused on helping Donald Trump carry North Carolina and would stump for down-ticket candidates.

“I won’t be campaigning for Robinson,” Tillis told CNN. “How I vote is less relevant than what I’m focused on.”

Senate GOP Whip John Thune, who is running to be Republican leader next Congress, expressed concern that Robinson “hasn’t been able to explain” the story.

Republican Sen. Ted Budd of North Carolina said he still plans to vote for Robinson for governor, though he called the allegations “very disturbing.”

“I’m going to always vote for Republicans because we have the best platform,” he said.

Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, meanwhile, slammed Robinson and said he should step aside.

“Of course he should step aside. It’s outrageous, disgusting, vile and his efforts to say it wasn’t him need to show a good deal more substance, Romney said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham said that if CNN’s reporting about Robinson is correct, the candidate is “toast,” but if the company is wrong, it could be “bankrupt.”

“If y’all are wrong, you will be bankrupt. And if you’re not wrong, he’s toast,” the South Carolina Republican said, pointing to a CNN reporter. “If he can’t credibly rebut these accusations, he’s a zombie.”

This post has been updated with additional information.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event on Monday, September 23, in Smithton, Pennsylvania.

Former President Donald Trump on Monday said he would be able to act unilaterally to implement his tariff proposals if he’s reelected, saying he doesn’t need the support of lawmakers.

“I don’t need them. I don’t need Congress, but … I’d rather get their support,” he said at an event in Smithton, Pennsylvania, when asked by a reporter about economists who say his tariff proposals would lead to increased prices for Americans.

“The ones that understand business are all supportive,” he said, pointing to GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick, who was present at the event and who praised Trump for his “fair reciprocal trade” policies.

Trump also threatened 200% tariffs on John Deere if the company follows through on its announced plans to layoff staff in the Midwest and move some production to Mexico.

“I’m just notifying John Deere right now, if you do that, we’ll put a 200% tariff on everything that you want to sell into the United States,” he said, adding that the same policy would be applied to “anybody else that does this.”

Some background: A former senior trade official told CNN this month that Trump can likely apply tariffs he’s proposing unilaterally without approval from Congress, though it is possible lawmakers could amend current law to claw back that trade authority.

Trump has proposed tariffs on all $3 trillion worth of imports into the United States, including a 60% tariff on imports from China and a 10% across-the-board tariff on imports from other nations. He has said he is considering tariffs of up to 20% on most imports in a bid to protect working-class jobs and punish what he labels unfair trading practices.

This post has been updated with additional comments from Donald Trump.

The College Democrats at the University of Pittsburgh.

As the November election nears, the campaigns of both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are working hard to energize younger voters.

But while polls showed Trump gaining ground with this powerful voting bloc when he was running against President Joe Biden, momentum among younger voters appears to have shifted back to the Democrats with Harris at the top of the ticket.

A New York Times/Siena College poll released Thursday found that 58% of nationwide likely voters ages 18-29 supported Harris, while 37% backed Trump in a two-way race.

The same poll conducted in July — before Biden dropped out of the race — found that 48% of that age group supported Biden and 45% backed Trump.

“I was not, I would say, as invigorated as I feel today,” said Mariam Bangurah, the secretary of the College Democrats at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

A daughter of immigrants, Bangurah said Harris’ background and relative youth have galvanized younger voters, but she knows supporters of the vice president can’t become complacent.

“We are doing well, but we really need to keep that energy, and that’s what I’m worried about,” Bangurah said.

Some Republicans are seeing the shift in momentum too.

“I think she’s helping young voters get out, and for that I am grateful, regardless of who you are voting for,” said Electra Janis, a commissioner in Washington County, outside Pittsburgh.

Read more about the fight for the youth vote in Pennsylvania.

The Georgia State Election Board meets on Monday.

A Georgia State Election Board meeting became contentious on Monday as two members of the Republican-controlled board defended their reasons for approving a controversial new election rule requiring county election officials to hand-count the number of ballots cast on Election Day.

Friday’s vote was 3-2, with three Donald Trump allies supporting the move, and a Democratic and independent GOP-appointed member of the board strongly opposing it, calling it an added step that could delay the results of the presidential election in the battleground state.

Trump last month praised the three GOP members for their efforts.

Monday, one of those Republicans, Dr. Janice Johnson, decried what she said were media inaccuracies and partisan attacks.

“The so-called news is delivered as a scary fairy tale or perhaps an end-of-the-world apocalypse tale,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s speech was followed by a contentious back-and-forth between Republican Janelle King and Sara Tindall Ghazal, the board’s lone sitting Democrat. King took issue with Ghazal’s appearance on MSNBC, where she questioned her colleagues’ agendas.

“You are creating a conspiracy based off an assumption … you are alluding to the fact that we are doing something that is somehow dishonest, just because you disagree,” King said.

“I am expressing concern about the fact that this board is acting in a way that the attorney general has stated is unlawful,” Ghazal replied.

Read more about the contentious election board meeting.

CNN’s Mounira Elsamra contributed to this post.

North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson talks to the media outside a campaign event in Boone, North Carolina, on Monday.

Mark Robinson, the GOP’s scandal-plagued nominee in the North Carolina governor’s race, is still scheduled to speak alongside Dr. Ben Carson, the Trump campaign’s national faith chairman, at a conference Saturday, an organizer told CNN.

Both men are set to speak at the North Carolina Faith & Freedom Salt & Light Conference on Saturday afternoon, an organizer told CNN.

It may be the first time a Trump campaign official appears at an event with Robinson since a bombshell CNN report revealed inflammatory comments he made on a porn website.

Robinson returned to the campaign trail Monday, the day after his campaign confirmed that several top operatives had quit.

Speaking to reporters outside an event in Boone, Robinson said he would not directly answer questions about the CNN report.

“You folks want to focus on tabloid trash, and quite frankly I am sick of it, and every time I get in front of you, I’m going to cut you off and tell you, you need to refocus yourself on the issues that matter to people,” he said.

Some background: The Trump campaign did not invite Robinson to Donald Trump’s rally Saturday in North Carolina, and the former president made no mention of the lieutenant governor in his remarks. Before Saturday, Robinson had been to most, if not all, of Trump’s recent North Carolina events.

On Friday, Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, launched a television advertisement tying Trump to Robinson — the first time the Harris campaign has used an ad to connect the former president with a down-ballot candidate.

CNN’s Eric Bradner contributed to this post.

This post has been updated with additional information.

The House formally expanded the jurisdiction of the task force investigating the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump to include both attempts. 

The task force was initially created to investigate the attempt at Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

In order to formally expand that investigation to include the September 15 attempt at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, the House needed to sign off.

A sketch of Ryan Routh as he appears at a hearing on Monday.

Federal prosecutors said Monday that they plan to seek an indictment charging Ryan Wesley Routh with attempting to kill former President Donald Trump in Florida this month.

Prosecutor Mark Dispoto told Magistrate Judge Ryon McCabe that “there is probable cause to believe that the defendant tried to assassinate … Donald Trump,” adding that prosecutors plan to present the new charge to a grand jury. So far, Routh has been charged with two firearms offenses.

Dispoto told the judge that Routh had traveled to West Palm Beach “for one reason and one reason only, and that was to kill the former president of the United States.” Dispoto also said Routh engaged in a “monthlong plan to assassinate the former president.”

Routh had a “clear line of fire” from his “sniper’s nest” from the fence bordering the Trump International Golf Club, Dispoto said. The prosecutor added that Trump was 12 to 15 minutes away from arriving at the sixth hole, where Routh had a clear shot just 100 feet away. 

The setup from Routh’s position, which included bags hung on the fence with armored plates inside that were able to withstand shots from the pistols Secret Service agents carry, was “nothing short of a sniper position,” Dispoto said. “Something you might see in a movie or a war zone.”

Defense attorneys for Routh argued that the crude way a scope was attached to the rifle — with tape — indicated the work of an “unsophisticated” and unknowledgeable individual.

“I’m not interested in his level of skill” to “carry out these acts,” the judge later added.

The judge ordered Routh to remain detained pending further proceedings.

Former President Donald Trump said Monday he thought any Catholic who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris “should have their head examined,” as he criticized her decision not to attend the Al Smith charity dinner in New York City next month. 

Trump said on Truth Social that it would be an “honor” to attend the Catholic fundraiser on October 17. CNN previously reported Harris’ campaign had informed organizers she would not attend.

The comments about Catholics echo what Trump has said about Jewish Americans. The former president has repeatedly said any Jewish person who votes for Harris “should have their head examined.” 

Trump claimed Harris has a “History of anti-Catholic actions,” and falsely claimed that “Catholics are literally being persecuted by this Administration.” 

Some background: The historic Al Smith dinner traditionally features light roasts by the two major-party nominees in presidential election years. Trump stunned attendees in 2016 when he abandoned the collegial banter and launched a series of personal attacks on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who in her own remarks had offered the expected round of self-deprecating humor.

The affair, which is sold out this year, is named after the first major-party Catholic presidential nominee, four-term New York Gov. Al Smith, the Democratic standard-bearer in 1928.

Ryan Routh, fourth from left, is depicted in a scene from a federal courtroom in Florida on Monday.

A federal magistrate judge has ruled that Ryan Routh will remain detailed pending trial after being charged with two firearms offenses in connection with what prosecutors have indicated was an attempted assassination of Donald Trump while golfing in Florida earlier this month.

The judge cited the letter Routh allegedly wrote about the assassination attempt as well as other evidence prosecutors presented, including that agents found a fingerprint belonging to Routh on tape used to attach a scope to the rifle found outside the golf course.

A witness told investigators that Routh had dropped off a box at his home months before, which “contained ammunition, a metal pipe, miscellaneous building materials, tools, four phones, and various letters.” After learning of the apparent assassination attempt, the witness opened the box, according to the filing.

One letter, addressed to “The World” said: “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster.”

The judge added that Routh’s travels to Ukraine “shows skill in crossing borders” and that evidence presented by prosecutors showed “substantial….efforts to stalk former president Donald Trump in an attempt to assassinate him.”

Former President Donald Trump on Monday accused Democrats, without evidence, of “getting ready to CHEAT” by using a legal process that has allowed US service members and other US citizens living overseas to cast their ballots for decades. 

Trump pointed to the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UOCAVA, which was enacted in 1986 and allows US service members, their families and other US citizens residing abroad to register and vote absentee in elections for federal offices.

The post is the latest example of Trump accusing Democrats, without evidence, of preparing to cheat in the 2024 contest and raising doubts about the integrity of the election as November barrels closer. Trump regularly spreads baseless conspiracy theories about voting in the 2020 presidential election and lies about its outcome. 

Nebraska State Sen. Mike McDonnell, a former Democrat who joined the Republican Party earlier this year, was seen as one of the last best hopes from Republicans to change the law before November.

A pressure campaign from Donald Trump and Republican allies to change Nebraska election law was dealt a significant setback Monday as a pivotal state senator said he would not support overturning a law that awards electoral votes by congressional district, rather than statewide winner-take-all.

State Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha said in a statement Monday that he would not vote to change the law in Nebraska before the November election.

McDonnell was seen as one of the last best hopes from Republicans to change the law before November. He made clear that he had no interest in supporting a change so close to the election. 

“Nebraska voters, not politicians of either party, should have the final say on how we pick a President,” McDonnell said.

The fight over a single electoral vote from Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which has become known as Omaha’s blue dot, has emerged as a symbol of just how close the race between Trump and Kamala Harris has become. Even if Harris won the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, but carried no other key battlegrounds, she would still need the electoral vote from Nebraska’s 2nd District to secure the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.

Trump believes he will win four electoral votes from Nebraska, but it’s the fifth one that he has been increasingly fretting about — leading him and Republican allies to mount a last-ditch effort to try to change state election law only weeks before ballots are cast.

The state’s Republican governor, Jim Pillen, has said he was still prepared to convene a special session of the Nebraska Legislature before the election to change the law, but he would do so only if there was sufficient support. The statement from McDonnell seemed to close the door to the issue this year, officials said. 

Neither Pillen nor the Trump campaign immediately responded to a request for comment.

This post has been updated with additional information.

North Carolina gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson speaks to the media Monday in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

North Carolina GOP gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson will be without key outside support in what has been the most expensive governor’s race of the year so far, as national Republicans are indicating they won’t spend any more to support the scandal-plagued candidate.

In a statement Monday, the Republican Governors Association acknowledged that after its current media buy expires Tuesday, “no further placements have been made.”

Through Tuesday, the RGA and its affiliated PAC had combined to spend almost $16 million on the North Carolina governor’s race, one of the most competitive gubernatorial contests of the cycle.

Outside spending from those Republican groups, in addition to a series of Democratic outside groups, helped push the race to rank as the most expensive gubernatorial contest of the year. Since the primary on March 5 through today, the parties — including campaigns and outside groups — had combined to spend nearly $87 million on the race, with Democrats outspending Republicans by about $57.9 million to $28.7 million.

With national Republicans pulling out of the race, that disparity is set to expand over the final weeks of the contest.

Some background: The news comes a day after several top operatives on Robinson’s campaign stepped down in the aftermath of a CNN report uncovering inflammatory comments he made on a porn website. The lewd comments included Robinson describing himself as a “black Nazi” and how he used to go “peeping” on women at a public gym when he was 14 years old.

Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends a campaign rally for Donald Trump in Glendale, Arizona, on August 23.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked the Supreme Court on Monday to keep his name on New York’s presidential ballot, even though he suspended his campaign in August and backed former President Donald Trump.

In an emergency appeal, Kennedy argued that New York voters who signed petitions supporting him “have a constitutional right to have Kennedy placed on the ballot — and to vote for him, whether he is campaigning for their vote or not.”

Kennedy suspended his independent presidential campaign in August and endorsed Trump, pledging to remove his name from the ballot in a handful of battleground states yet encouraging supporters in noncompetitive states traditionally won by Republicans or Democrats to vote for him.

But in the weeks since he dropped out, Kennedy has made more direct appeals to his supporters to back Trump regardless of where they live, while also withdrawing his name from the ballot in some deeply Republican states.

Kennedy was removed from the ballot in New York because, election officials said, he included an invalid address on his nominating petition. Lower courts, including the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, have rejected his efforts to challenge that decision.

Read more about Kennedy’s efforts to remain on the New York ballot.

A Republican Jewish advocacy group launched an ad on Monday claiming Vice President Kamala Harris would “make things worse” for Jewish Americans.

The spot comes just days after former President Donald Trump suggested that “the Jewish people” would be partially to blame if he loses in November. 

“Antisemitism at home, terrorist massacres overseas — Kamala Harris would make things worse,” the ad from the Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund opens, over images of Hamas fighters and pro-Palestinian protests in the US.

According to AdImpact data, RJC Victory Fund has about $500,000 worth of airtime booked this week, and about $5 million booked through Election Day.

The new spot, which began airing on Fox News in the Philadelphia media market on Monday, demonstrates how the conflict between Israel and Hamas has injected turmoil into the 2024 race and shaped its messaging — though foreign policy in general accounts for a small share of campaign advertising compared with top issues such as the economy, immigration and abortion rights.

Some background: Since Hamas’ October 7 attacks last year, Trump has repeatedly admonished Jewish Americans to vote for Republicans, blasting the Democratic Party and members who have criticized Israel’s policy. 

The former president has suggested that “any Jewish person who votes for Democrats “hates their religion” and hates “everything about Israel”; said, before President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, that any Jewish person who votes for him doesn’t love Israel and “should be spoken to”; and argued that “if you’re Jewish and vote for a Democrat, you’re a fool.” 

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer takes the stage to speak at a rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in July. He will be playing Walz in a mock debate with vice presidential candidate JD Vance later this week, two sources familiar with the planning said.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance has spent the last month engaging in intense prep sessions ahead of the debate with his Democratic counterpart, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on October 1.

That preparation includes reviewing footage of the governor’s previous speeches and studying binders of research regarding his policies, a person directly involved in the debate prep told CNN.

The preparation is also expected to include a mock debate later this week with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer playing the role of Walz, while Monica Crowley – Donald Trump’s former assistant secretary for public affairs at the Treasury Department – will sit in as the mock moderator, two sources familiar with the planning said.

Vance’s team approached Emmer, a Republican congressman from Minnesota who has known Walz for years, to aid in the Ohio senator’s debate preparation, the sources said. Emmer has spent the last month studying Walz’s mannerisms and rhetoric to prepare for the role. The New York Times first reported Emmer’s involvement with Vance’s debate preparation.

Vance has been working closely with his top political aides and with senior Trump adviser Jason Miller, who took the lead on the former president’s debate prep, to study for the October 1 showdown. The group has met in person at Vance’s Cincinnati home, as well as on Zoom over the last several weeks, with a focus on helping the Ohio senator better understand Walz stylistically, as well as on familiarizing Vance with Walz’s record as both a Minnesota congressman and governor, the person said.

Read more about Vance’s debate preparations.

CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this post.

This post and headline have been updated with additional developments.

Republicans have gained in voter registration compared to Democrats across four key battleground states since the 2020 election.

In Arizona, Republicans have built their registration lead over Democrats from a three-point lead in November 2020 to a six-point lead in the latest available data.

Across the key states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Nevada, Democrats still have a registration lead, but Republicans have overall shrunk their deficit since the 2020 election. Democrats in Pennsylvania have halved their lead in voter registration, only leading by four points now compared to eight in 2020.

In both Nevada and North Carolina, Democrats only lead Republicans in voter registration by one point. Those leads were much larger in 2020 in both states, with a five-point advantage for Democrats in Nevada and a six-point lead in North Carolina.

More context: These numbers aren’t necessarily predictive of election results, and in all of these states, especially in Nevada and North Carolina, the share of voters who aren’t registered with either party has increased since November 2020.

In the other three core presidential battlegrounds: Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin, voters don’t register by party.

There is still plenty of time to register in these states. People wanting to cast a ballot in Arizona, North Carolina and Pennsylvania can continue registering to vote into October. Nevada has Election Day voter registration.

Visit CNN’s voter handbook to find out how to vote in your state.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic Party's vice presidential candidate, speaks at a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on September 12.

The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections said Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, was misspelled as “Tom” Walz in some ballots that were emailed to overseas voters last Friday.

The office was made aware of the error less than 18 hours after the ballots were sent and the error was “immediately corrected.” Link said the vendor made a manual change to the approved ballot “without authorization” and incorrectly typed “Tom” instead of “Tim” Walz.

The affected voters were emailed a recommendation to download the updated ballot.

Link said the error would not affect the counting of the votes.

Dozens of young voters told CNN that the economy is a key issue for them this election. Along with the economy, young voters also name abortion, immigration, foreign policy, climate and gun control as other priorities.

A recent GenForward survey conducted by the University of Chicago supports what those voters told CNN. Asked what was the most important problem facing the country, 12% of US adults ages 18-26 picked economic growth, 11% said income inequality and 10% chose poverty.

The two presidential nominees — former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris — seem to be aware of how crucial young Americans will be this fall as they’ve looked to reach these voters where they are, whether that is Trump posting TikToks with Gen Z internet personalities or Harris embracing her own memes.

Here’s what the young voters CNN spoke with said about some the issues they care about this election:

Read more about what issues are motivating young voters this election cycle.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Uniondale, New York, on Wednesday.

Former President Donald Trump argued in an interview that aired on Monday that it would be “a bad thing for the country” for him and Vice President Kamala Harris to debate again while Americans are already voting. 

Trump said Saturday at a campaign rally he thought it was “too late” to have another presidential debate because Americans have begun casting their ballots in the 2024 election after Harris accepted an invitation from CNN to participate in another presidential debate in October.

Days after debating Harris earlier this month, Trump declared on Truth Social that there would not be another presidential debate. 

Former first lady Melania Trump attends the final night of the Republican National Convention in July.

Melania Trump has barely been seen on the campaign trail this year. One of the few times she has appeared at a political event, she’s received a six-figure paycheck – a highly unusual move for the spouse of a candidate.

The former first lady spoke at two political fundraisers for the Log Cabin Republicans this year, and she was paid $237,500 for an April event, according to former President Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosure form. The payment was listed as a “speaking engagement.”

Trump’s latest disclosure form said Melania Trump was paid by the Log Cabin Republicans for the April fundraiser. But it’s a mystery who actually cut the check: Charles Moran, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, told CNN earlier this month the group did not put up the money for her to speak, and the disclosure form did not give any more information about the source of the payment.

Ahead of the other fundraiser in July for the conservative LGBTQ group, a person familiar said at least one request was made to a donor about a similar payment. It’s unclear whether Melania Trump was ultimately paid. The campaign has not put out the financial disclosure for that period.

Campaign finance and government ethics experts say a payment to a presidential candidate’s spouse to appear at political fundraisers in an election is unusual, ethically questionable and should, at the very least, be properly noted in the disclosure forms.

A spokesperson for Melania Trump declined to comment in response to CNN’s questions.

Read more about the paid appearance here

Law enforcement officers patrol outside the Paul G. Rogers Federal Building and US Courthouse, where Ryan Wesley Routh is expected to attend a hearing Monday in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Ahead of Ryan Routh’s detention hearing Monday morning, Department of Homeland Security agents have posted themselves around the West Palm Beach federal courthouse.

Bomb-sniffing dogs and dozens of agents surround the courthouse, with rifleman posted on a second-floor balcony surrounding the building.

Routh, the man suspected of the second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, is expected to appear before the magistrate judge at 11 a.m. ET to determine whether he will remain behind bars pending an outcome in the case.

He has been charged with two counts — possession of a firearm while a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. 

Prosecutors are asking that Routh continue to be detained.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her allies are dramatically outspending former President Donald Trump and his political network on digital advertising, opening a $100 million lead on digital platforms since she became the Democratic nominee. 

Since July 22, the day after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, through today, Harris and allied Democratic groups have spent nearly $144 million on digital advertising, while Trump and allied GOP groups have spent just $40.2 million, according to AdImpact data.

The Harris Victory Fund — a joint fundraising committee that splits its proceeds between the Harris campaign and dozens of allied Democratic Party committees — accounts for most of the spending, more than $78 million, targeting voters across the country with a blitz of online ads soliciting campaign contributions. It’s a massive investment that has helped power Harris’ record-breaking grassroots fundraising since taking over the ticket.

The Harris campaign, meanwhile, has spent more than $38 million on digital advertising of its own, which includes more than $10 million targeting voters nationally, but also millions in key swing states – the campaign has spent between $3.1 and $3.5 million on digital advertising in each of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, and Nevada. In addition, Harris campaign has spent $2.8 million on digital advertising targeting Nebraska, aimed at the state’s up-for-grabs electoral vote.

On the GOP side, the Trump National Joint Fundraising Committee — the Republican equivalent of The Harris Victory Fund — accounts for most of the digital advertising over the last two months, about $18.8 million total. Nearly $16 million has targeted voters nationally, aimed at online fundraising, while the joint fundraising committee has also spent about $1.3 million on digital advertising in Pennsylvania, the linchpin battleground.

In addition, the committee has spent around $200,000 to $300,000 on digital advertising in the other key swing states like: Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina and Nevada.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff speaks in support of his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, at a campaign event in The Villages, Florida, on September 13.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will campaign in North Carolina and Virginia on Wednesday, the Harris campaign announced on Monday.

Emhoff will speak at campaign rallies in Wilmington, North Carolina and Charlottesville, Virginia before attending a fundraiser in Charlottesville. 

The two-state swing will mark the first trip for Emhoff, who is Jewish, to North Carolina since CNN reported that North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson made antisemitic and racist remarks in a porn forum years ago.

This comes as campaign official said Harris will travel to blue wall and Sun Belt states this week as she continues her aggressive campaign schedule.

Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt said Monday she would be interviewing former first lady Melania Trump about her forthcoming book and that the interview would air on Thursday. 

The former first lady has kept a low profile throughout her husband’s presidential campaign and this will be her first television interview this campaign cycle.

Her memoir is set to publish next month, and the former first lady has been posting videos on X promoting her book in recent weeks.

On Sunday she posted a new video that appeared to be her reading a passage from her forthcoming book about a time during the Trump administration when “violent protests across the country had finally reached Pennsylvania Avenue.”

The White House announced a number of new initiatives aimed at supporting autoworkers, particularly in the key battleground state of Michigan – a crucial state in President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020.

The initiatives announced by the White House on Monday include $1 billion in financing for small- and medium-sized auto suppliers, a new pilot program to train workers in the state’s most populous county for jobs in the automobile supply chain, funding to support more training for workers to install electric vehicle chargers and another initiatives across the state.

Harris has taken up that mantle and has already made multiple trips to Michigan after she took over the top of the ticket. The White House fact sheet announcing the new initiatives notably includes a quote from the vice president touting the programs. It includes zero quotes from Biden.

\ice President Kamala Harris speaks to members of the media after arriving at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Sunday.

Vice President Kamala Harris said Sunday that she will deliver a speech later this week aimed at laying out her “vision” for the economy.

Since entering the race, Harris has unveiled economic proposals focused on making housing, groceries, child-rearing and prescription drugs more affordable. And earlier this month, she added tax relief for small businesses to her economic policy platform. 

Many of the proposals build upon efforts the Biden administration has already unveiled.

Harris will also travel to blue wall and Sun Belt states this week as she continues her aggressive campaign schedule, according to a campaign official.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump

The 2024 presidential election continues to be the closest of the century. In fact, it is the closest race for the White House in the past 60 years.

Polling since the September 10 debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris shows that while the vice president seems to have opened up a slight national edge over her Republican rival, their race remains well within the margin of error and too close to call. This is especially the case when looking at the Electoral College.

On average, according to the latest CNN Poll of Polls, Harris is ahead by 3 points.

You’d have to go back to the 1960 campaign to find a race in which the major-party nominees were always within 5 points of each other in an average of the national polling. Every presidential year since then has had at least three weeks when one candidate was up by 5 points or more.

But perhaps the more important reason this election is too close to call is that this isn’t a national election. Instead, it is a race to 270 electoral votes through the Electoral College.

Indeed, neither Harris nor Trump has a big leg up when you look at the state-level data. Per CNN’s race ratings, Harris starts at 225 electoral votes to Trump’s 219. Seven states and the one electoral vote in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District remain up for grabs.

The bottom line is that this year’s presidential race is as close as it could be. One tiny shift in either direction could make all the difference in the world.

Read the full analysis

Prosecutors detailed in a court filing that Ryan Wesley Routh’s position “was directly in line with” the very next hole from where former President Donald Trump was golfing earlier this month.

Prosecutors also noted how a Secret Service agent allegedly spotted and fired at Routh —who had his rifle pointed through a chain link fence.   

While Trump was golfing on the fifth hole of his West Palm Beach golf course in Florida, a Secret Service agent was clearing the area of the sixth hole, riding a golf cart along the fence, which drew a boundary between the course and a major road on the other side. 

When clearing the area, “the Agent spotted the partially obscured face of a man in the brush along the fence line,” prosecutors wrote. 

The man’s position “was directly in line with the 6th hole green,” according to the filing. 

After spotting the man and realizing his rifle was pointed at the agent, prosecutors said “the Agent jumped out of the golf cart, drew his weapon, and began backing away.” Then, when the Secret Service agent saw the barrel of the rifle move, the agent fired at the man and then moved behind a tree to reload his gun, according to the filing. When the agent looked back, the man, later identified by authorities as Routh, was gone.  

“The Agent called out over his radio that shots had been fired by the Agent and that there was a subject with a rifle,” prosecutors said. 

Prosecutors said Routh’s rifle had a scope attached, as well as an extended magazine, allowing the gun to hold more ammunition. The rifle was loaded with 11 bullets, one in the chamber, ready to fire, according to the court filing.

The Martin County Sheriff’s Office released body cam video of the apprehension of Ryan Wesley Routh.

In their filing asking for the suspect in the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump to remain behind bars, prosecutors say he was in the area of Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach and Mar-a-Lago residence across multiple days in the month before he was arrested and had a Google search of how to travel from Florida to Mexico in one of his phones.

The man, Ryan Wesley Routh, also had a handwritten list of dates and venues where Trump has or was expected to appear in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, according to the filing.

Prosecutors wrote that Routh had travelled to West Palm Beach from North Carolina on August 14, one month before taking his position on the outskirts of Trump’s golf course with an SKS rifle when Secret Service spotted him. 

Cell phone data shows him near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and the golf course “multiple days and times” between August 18 and September 15, the day he was arrested, prosecutors say. 

A new filing by federal prosecutors shows a letter that they say was written by Ryan Wesley Routh.

The man who authorities say sat with a rifle in the trees where Donald Trump was golfing earlier this month in West Palm Beach, Florida, previously wrote a letter stating “this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump,” according to a new filing by federal prosecutors.

A witness told investigators that Ryan Wesley Routh had dropped off a box at his home months before, which “contained ammunition, a metal pipe, miscellaneous building materials, tools, four phones, and various letters.” After learning of the apparent assassination attempt, the witness opened the box, according to the filing.

One letter, addressed to “The World” said: “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster.”

Trump “ended relations with Iran like a child and now the Middle East has unraveled,” the letter says.

Read more about the letter here.

With less than 40 days until Election Day, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are hitting the campaign trail this week in a sprint toward November.

Here’s where you can expect to see the presidential candidates today:

Trump is set to visit battleground Pennsylvania on Monday. He will appear as a special guest at an event in Smithton, hosted by “The Protect America Initiative,” a conservative nonprofit organization. Later, he will deliver remarks at a rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania.

Harris will meet with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahya, the president of the United Arab Emirates, at the White House to discuss ongoing tensions in the Middle East, the crisis in Sudan and a “number of bilateral and regional matters.”

Later this week, the vice president will travel to blue wall and sun belt states as she continues her aggressive campaign schedule, according to a campaign official. On Wednesday, she is set to travel to Pennsylvania, and on Friday she will travel to Arizona, followed by Nevada on Sunday.

Harris also confirmed Sunday that she will be delivering an economic speech later this week aimed at laying out her “vision” for the economy.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will attend a series of campaign fundraisers in New York City today before returning to Minnesota this evening.

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, will deliver remarks at two events in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Former President Donald Trump leads Vice President Kamala Harris among likely voters in Arizona, while the two are locked in closer races within the margin of error in Georgia and North Carolina in New York Times/Siena College polling there. Across all three states, the polling points to Trump’s advantages on key metrics, especially on handling the economy.

In Arizona, Trump tops Harris 48% to 43% in a matchup including the names of third-party candidates who will appear on the ballot there. In Georgia, Trump holds 47% support to Harris’ 44% and in North Carolina, it stands at 47% Trump to 45% Harris. There is no clear leader in the race in Georgia and in North Carolina.

In North Carolina, the poll finds Democrat Josh Stein leading in the gubernatorial contest there, with 47% support to 37% for Republican Mark Robinson. The poll was conducted September 17-21 and was mostly complete before CNN reporting on Robinson’s past comments on a porn website emerged.

Across the three states, Trump holds double-digit advantages over Harris among likely voters as more trusted to handle the economy (up 14 points on this score in Arizona, 13 in North Carolina and 12 in Georgia), and is more broadly seen as having policies that have “helped people like you” than Harris is (across all three states, 45% say Trump’s policies have helped people like themselves, 34% that they’ve hurt; for Harris, 42% say her policies would hurt people like themselves, 37% that they would help).

In all three, likely voters are narrowly more likely to say that they trust Trump over Harris to handle whichever issue they name as the most important (50% say they trust Trump on that, 46% Harris).

The two candidates are about even in favorability across the three states, a contrast with some recent national polling finding Harris viewed more positively than Trump (across all three, Trump stands at 47% favorable to 50% unfavorable, while Harris is at 46% favorable to 51% unfavorable).

More on the polls: The polls were conducted by telephone Sept. 17-21 among 713 voters in Arizona, and 682 each in Georgia and North Carolina. Results among likely voters have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.4 points in Arizona, 4.6 in Georgia and 4.2 in North Carolina. For results combined across the three states, the error margin is plus or minus 2.5 points.

Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to blue wall and Sun Belt states this week as she continues her aggressive campaign schedule, according to a campaign official.

On Wednesday, she is set to travel to Pennsylvania, and on Friday she will travel to Arizona, followed by Nevada on Sunday.

The campaign believes this week’s events “reflects the many paths to 270 electoral votes that Vice President Harris has available.” 

It also believes the upcoming schedule outlines “her commitment to winning these states,” and argued the infrastructure is “far outpacing Trump’s” in these key swing states.

Since launching her presidential bid, the campaign team has made over 13.5 million phone calls and knocked on nearly 600,000 doors in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada, according to the campaign. 

A recent CNN Poll of Polls average in Pennsylvania finds no clear leader in the crucial state, with the vice president averaging 49% support compared to 47% for the former president, as other polls also show a tight race nationally.

In recent days, Harris has reiterated that she expects November’s election to be a tight race.

Included in her week of travel will be an economic speech aimed at laying out her vision for the economy. 

Democrats have bet the destiny of the White House on the premise that once voters remember the chaos and divisiveness of Donald Trump’s presidency, he’d suffer an election-defining slump.

Wild weeks of outlandish rhetoric by the ex-president have revived memories of the cacophony of his four White House years and shattered perceptions that he’s running a more disciplined campaign than in 2020 or 2016. But the nature of the race — a toss-up contest in swing states — has not budged.

Trump has peddled baseless rumors that immigrants in Ohio are eating pets. He’s warned that Jewish voters will be to blame if he loses in November. He’s refused to openly condemn a protege in the North Carolina gubernatorial contest who described himself as “black Nazi” on a porn site, as CNN’s KFile reported last week.

Trump also reacted to a second apparent assassination attempt by implying that Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats are inviting such attacks when they highlight his refusal to accept his 2020 election loss and say he’s a danger to democracy.

Despite everything, the ex-president remains locked in what CNN senior political data reporter Harry Enten described Sunday as the closest presidential race since Democrat John F. Kennedy’s narrow win over Vice President Richard Nixon.

Read the full analysis.

With a continued emphasis on reproductive rights, the Harris-Walz campaign is up with a new ad this morning featuring the testimony of a military spouse and her concern about access to fertility care.

In the spot, Yesenia Gomez, living in Tucson, voices anxiety that her husband could be relocated to a state that could curtail her ability to grow her family. 

It comes as the campaign’s Reproductive Freedom bus tour continues this week in Flint, Michigan, another battleground state.

The “Yesenia” ad is part of the Harris-Walz campaign’s $370 million investment in TV and digital reservations between Labor Day and Election Day.

President Joe Biden will speak at Climate Week NYC on Tuesday, touting his administration’s climate agenda and drawing contrasts between Democratic action and Republicans who voted against his 2022 climate law, according to a White House official.

Biden will appear at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum, according to the official, where he’ll speak about his work to lower planet-warming pollution in the US and create clean energy jobs while saving Americans money with energy tax subsidies.

While there, in the final weeks of a neck-and-neck race for the White House between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, Biden will draw a sharp contrast between Democrats and Republicans on energy and climate. The president will point out that Republicans voted unanimously against his climate bill, and many voted against Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law.

Throughout his term, Biden has worked to cement his legacy as the most pro-climate president after making the fight against climate change a central pillar of his administration. He signed billions of new clean energy tax credits and federal grant money into law in 2022 and oversaw dozens of ambitious federal regulations designed to slash pollution from US plants.

Read more about Biden’s speech.

Vice President Kamala Harris raised $27 million during a Sunday fundraiser in New York, the largest amount raised from a single event since she entered the race for president, according to a campaign official.

Harris, speaking to reporters on the tarmac after landing back in Washington, DC, said she believes the high numbers show support for her campaign.

“It’s showing there’s a lot of support for our message and what we need to do in terms of moving forward and charting a new way forward and dispensing with all the ways to divide our country,” Harris told reporters.

Some context: The high-dollar fundraising will be critical for the campaign as she and Donald Trump remain locked in one of the closest presidential races in the past 60 years. Sunday’s total comes as Harris entered the month with significantly more campaign cash than Trump, federal filings show.

Former President Donald Trump debates Vice President Kamala Harris on September 10.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday accepted an invitation from CNN to debate former President Donald Trump on October 23, challenging her rival to another engagement on a public stage in the final weeks of the campaign.

“Vice President Harris is ready for another opportunity to share a stage with Donald Trump,” campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. “Donald Trump should have no problem agreeing to this debate.”

Harris tweeted Saturday that she “will gladly accept a second presidential debate” and that she hopes Trump “will join” her on October 23.

Trump on Saturday argued it was “too late” to have another presidential debate because Americans have begun casting their ballots in the 2024 election.

“The problem with another debate is that it’s just too late, voting has already started,” Trump said at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Presidential nominees have traditionally had the final word in a nationally televised October debate following the vice presidential nominees’ debate. Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, is set to square off against Harris’ vice presidential pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on October 1 in a debate hosted by CBS.

Trump suggested last week that he might be open to participating in a third presidential debate following his September 10 face-off with Harris hosted by ABC in Philadelphia. “Maybe if I got in the right mood,” he told reporters during a stop in California, after previously posting on Truth Social, “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”

Keep reading here about where things stand with the debate.

Former President Donald Trump, in remarks at virtual rallies on Sunday, urged supporters in Virginia and Minnesota to vote early and by mail, despite his false claims that mail-in voting caused election fraud during the last presidential race.

“Early voting in your commonwealth is now underway right now. … You’re the first group, first little group,” Trump said on the call with Virginia voters.

He told Virginia supporters, “Another way you can cast the ballot early is to vote by mail. And you’ve heard a lot about voting by mail, but that’s what we have right now.” 

During a virtual rally with Minnesota voters, Trump echoed past claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election but encouraged voters to vote by mail anyway.

“Our country is in big trouble. And you can do it by mail or early in person or on Election Day, but make sure your ballot counts and check it. You can check it because, you know, bad things go on and bad things went on the last election,” he said.

Some background: The Trump campaign in June announced a program aimed at promoting absentee, mail-in and early in-person voting — practices the former president has disparaged for years while promoting false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

It marked a sharp reversal from Trump’s repeated calls to end the practice of mail-in voting altogether and his discouragement of Republicans from voting any other way but at the polls on Election Day.