October 24, 2024, presidential campaign news

Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance speaks at a campaign rally in Waterford, Michigan, on October 24.

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance said former White House chief of staff John Kelly has an ax to grind with former President Trump and is a “disgruntled ex-employee” who is not telling the truth.

“John Kelly was fired by Donald Trump, and he’s pissed off about it and won’t stop talking about it,” Vance said. “You’ve got three or four people who were allegedly in the room when it happened saying he’s making it up. Even Mike Pence’s chief of staff said that John Kelly is making up a bunch of crap about Donald J. Trump,” Vance said.

Without evidence, Vance said he guarantees that Kelly spoke to someone on the Harris campaign before telling his story. He turned his criticism to Harris for focusing more on Kelly that the issues currently facing Americans.

“John Kelly didn’t come out of his own volition. I guarantee he talked to somebody on Kamala Harris’ campaign beforehand. And we got to ask ourselves, why are the media and, more importantly, why is Kamala Harris talking about a disgruntled former employee, instead of the fact that under her leadership, grocery prices are up 25% in the state of Michigan,” Vance said, reminding voters that she cast the tie deciding vote on the Inflation Reduction Act.

“I am offended for my fellow American citizens when a person is running for president of the United States, not on what she’s going to do for the American people, but on a bunch of petty grievances from years ago. Talk about the future Kamala Harris. Talk about what you want to do and shut the hell up about what happened four years ago,” Vance said.

In a series of interviews published Tuesday, Kelly said Trump fits “into the general definition of fascist,” and that he spoke of the loyalty of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi generals. Harris mentioned the comments during her town hall last night with CNN and told Anderson Cooper she believes that Trump is a fascist.

The local reporter who asked the question about Kelly at Vance’s event in Michigan was heavily booed.

“Record the boos of the crowd and that’s my response,” Vance said initially.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign rally in Papillion, Nebraska, on October 19.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz acknowledged his history of criticizing former Vice President Dick Cheney while praising him for endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris during a North Carolina campaign stop on Thursday.

The Democratic vice presidential candidate said that he would welcome Cheney voting for a “true Republican.”

Walz met with veterans at Winnie’s Tavern in Wilmington, North Carolina ahead of a rally in town, where he thanked them for supporting Harris, arguing that protecting the Constitution is the most important factor in November’s election.

While speaking to the supporters, he made a reference to his past criticism of George W. Bush to underscore the ideological differences between he and Cheney.

Walz entered politics for his 2006 run for Congress, where he made opposition to the war in Iraq initiated by the Bush administration a top issue in his successful campaign. Walz and other Democrats at the time sharply criticized Cheney for his role in shaping Bush administration foreign policy.

Former President Donald Trump reacted Thursday to comments from John Kelly, the retired US Marine Corps general who was Trump’s White House chief of staff, saying that when you fire someone, “that person will always say bad things about you.”

“He’s a nasty bully,” Trump added.

This comes after Kelly said in a series of interviews published Tuesday, that the former president fits “into the general definition of fascist” and that Trump spoke of the loyalty of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi generals.

Here’s what else Trump said about his former aides:

“Many of these people don’t know me very well. They really don’t know me very well,” Trump said. “I’m not a dictator. It’s just incredible”

A voter prepares to fill out his ballot on the first day of early voting in Stamford, Connecticut, on October 21.

More than 30 million pre-election ballots have already been cast with less than two weeks to go until Election Day, according to data from 47 states and the District of Columbia gathered by CNN, Edison Research, and Catalist, a company that provides data, analytics and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit advocacy groups, including insights into who is voting before November.

This is about 19% of the total votes cast for president in 2020. California leads the way with more than 3.2 million ballots cast so far, while Florida, Texas, Georgia and North Carolina have all crossed the 2 million ballot threshold.

So far, Republicans have narrowed the advantage in pre-election voting that Democrats held four years ago. In the 26 states where Catalist has comparable data, registered Republicans have cast 32% of the vote, up from 27% at this point four years ago. Registered Democrats make up 42% of those casting early votes, down from 47% at this point in 2020.

This data shows only who is voting, it doesn’t show who they’re voting for. While its possible many of the Republicans who are voting early would’ve voted on Election Day, campaigns encourage their supporters to cast their ballots early so they can more efficiently target their resources in the final days of the race.

And a quarter of the voters so far in these states are affiliated with neither party — a critical group that could decide the election.

According to a recent poll from the Pew Research Center, people who say they plan to vote before Election Day are much more likely to be Kamala Harris supporters than Donald Trump backers.

In 3 key swing states: Republicans make up a bigger share of earlier voters than they did at this point in the 2020 election in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Nevada, according to Catalist data. While fewer voters of both parties have turned out so far relative to the pandemic election of 2020, the dropoff has been smaller among registered Republicans.

Pre-election vote data by party isn’t available in the critical states of Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin because voters in those states don’t register by party.

This post was updated with the latest early voting data

Elon Musk gave $10 million in October to Republicans’ effort to flip the Senate, new Federal Election Commission filings show, the latest example of the world’s richest person flexing his growing political influence and supporting the GOP.

Musk made a $10 million donation to Senate Leadership Fund — the top GOP super PAC engaged in Senate races, aligned with outgoing Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — on October 1, the group’s pre-general FEC filing showed.

SLF is playing a pivotal role in the fight for control of the Senate, and according to its new report, the super PAC had spent a total of $210 million from the start of the year through October 16, including nearly $140 million on independent expenditures supporting Republican candidates in key Senate races.

More than half of the group’s total on independent expenditures, $77 million, came in just the first 16 days of October, a massive infusion of cash boosting Senate Republicans. During that stretch, the super PAC spent $25.6 million in Ohio, $16.1 million in Michigan, $15.4 million in Pennsylvania, $11.8 million in Wisconsin, and $8.1 million in Montana.

Musk’s donation to SLF follows his giving about $75 million in the third quarter of the year to a pro-Trump super PAC that he helped form, and which has spent tens of millions giving the Trump campaign a major lift on canvassing and field operations. New reports tonight could shed light on additional giving by Musk. And his super PAC, America PAC, has disclosed a total of nearly $120 million in spending on the presidential race so far, according to its latest filings.

In addition, Musk has drawn scrutiny from the Department of Justice for further efforts to boost the Republican presidential campaign, after he started offering $1 million giveaways to registered voters in key battleground states.

Bruce Springsteen performs during a rally for Democratic presidential nominee US Vice President Kamala Harris in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 24.

Bruce Springsteen performed this evening at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia on Thursday.

Springsteen also slammed Trump and said that the former president is running “to be an American tyrant and he does not understand this country, its history or what it means to be deeply American.”

The Grammy-winning singer, performing solo, played his song “The Promised Land” from the album “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” along with “Land of Hope and Dreams” from the “Wrecking Ball” album and “Dancing in the Dark” from the “Born in the USA” album.

Springsteen endorsed Harris earlier this month, calling it “one of the most consequential elections in our nation’s history” in a video posted to his Instagram.

Former President Barack Obama and Harris are also expected to speak at the event.

The New Jersey singer is also set to appear with Obama for a campaign event in Philadelphia on Monday.

This post has been updated with more details from Springsteen’s appearance.

Colorado officials say they are investigating how at least 12 mail-in ballots were filled out and returned, before voters even got them.

The Colorado Secretary of State’s office said in a statement that on October 23, 12 ballots “appear to have been intercepted before reaching voters,” in Mesa County.  Whoever intercepted the ballots then filled them out and sent them back through the mail, they said.

The system set up by Colorado to catch election fraud appears to have worked as designed.

When the ballots made it back to the Mesa County Board of Elections, the state’s signature verification caught the inconsistencies and flagged them for review.

“Several of the affected voters contacted the Mesa County Clerk’s office after receiving communication that their ballot required curing due to a discrepant signature,” the statement went on to say.

One voter also noticed that the BallotTrax system Colorado uses, which allows voters to track their ballot, showed their ballot had been received for processing.

District attorney Dan Rubinstein and the US Postal Service Office of Inspector General declined to comment to CNN on the matter.

Donald Trump’s legal team is asking a federal court to dismiss the January 6 election subversion case, saying in a court filing 12 days before the presidential election that the office of special counsel Jack Smith is unconstitutional.

The defense peppered the filing on Thursday with political jabs at President Joe Biden, with a handful of mentions of the election as well as Biden’s comment this week to “lock him up … politically.”

Trump’s team says Garland was “following improper urging from President Biden to target President Trump, as reported at the time in 2022, and repeated recently by President Biden through his inappropriate instruction to “lock him up” while Smith presses forward with the case unlawfully as the Presidential election rapidly approaches.”

“I know this sounds bizarre – it sounds like if I said this five years ago, you’d lock me up. We gotta lock him up,” Biden said in New Hampshire on Tuesday, adding, “Politically lock him up. Lock him out. That’s what we have to do.”

Trump’s court filing, however, does not mention the “politically” caveat or other context.

Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case against Trump in Washington, DC, has repeatedly said politics is playing no part in the decisions she makes, and Justice Department regulations that govern the special counsel’s office provide several mechanisms for Smith to make decisions independently from the attorney general.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and Biden have also maintained they do not coordinate on appointing special counsels, and a federal grand jury sitting in the DC District Court approved the indictment against Trump.

Read more:

Former US President Barack Obama speaks at a rally for Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in Madison, Wisconsin, on October 22.

Former President Barack Obama will join a “Win With Black Men” roundtable during the group’s weekly virtual meeting Sunday.

“Win With Black Men seeks to dismantle the stigmas and misinformation surrounding Black men, our vote, fatherhood, family and our futures,” a statement reads.

The voting patterns of Black men have been among the most discussed this election with some Democrats fearing even a slight erosion in their support could be consequential in battleground states.

Obama’s recent comments in Pittsburgh aimed at Black men received mixed reviews, with some put off by what they thought amounted to scolding.

“You’re thinking about sitting out or supporting somebody (in former President Donald Trump) who has a history of denigrating you, because you think that’s a sign of strength, because that’s what being a man is? Putting women down?” Obama said earlier this month. “That’s not acceptable.”

Former President Donald Trump said the US is “like a garbage can for the world” as he railed against illegal immigration at a campaign rally in Arizona on Thursday.

“You know, it’s the first time I’ve ever said that. And every time I come up and talk about what they’ve done to our country I get angry and angrier. First time I’ve ever said garbage can. But you know what? It’s a very accurate description,” Trump said.

Remember: Trump has sought to blame Vice President Kamala Harris for illegal immigration in the US and tries to paint undocumented immigrants in broad strokes as murderers, people from “insane asylums,” and dangerous people. He regularly says there is an “invasion” taking place and uses dehumanizing language to describe undocumented immigrants.

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance swung by a campaign office in Michigan ahead of a rally to thank voters working to get out the vote for the Trump-Vance ticket.

He told supporters and volunteers in Bloomfield that the focus is on turning out voters who are pro-Trump but might not get to the polls to give themselves a “nice cushion going into Election Day.”

Vance, a Marine Corp veteran, equated the campaign operation to an army with Trump as the “general.”

“I kind of think of this as like an army right? Donald Trump’s the general. You guys are the ones that are actually in the trenches making this work, and I hope you feel just some sense of purpose here, because if we don’t get this right, and we don’t make Donald Trump the next president, then we’re going to have an open border, and the prices are going to stay high and the world’s going to get more chaotic,” he said.

Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump speaks at a Turning Point Action campaign rally in Duluth, Georgia, on October 23.

Former President Donald Trump said Thursday he was open to pardoning Hunter Biden if reelected.

“I wouldn’t take it off the books,” Trump said when asked by Hugh Hewitt, a conservative radio show host, whether he would pardon President Joe Biden’s son, who was convicted earlier this year on felony gun charges.

A federal jury convicted Biden on all three federal felony gun charges he faced, concluding that he violated laws meant to prevent drug addicts from owning firearms.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are holding campaign events across key Sun Belt battlegrounds today — Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada – so here’s a look at how the candidates and their allies have targeted each state with campaign advertising.

Georgia:

Arizona:

Nevada:

Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a CNN Presidential Town Hall in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ message this week, comparing what she described as former President Donald Trump’s “enemies list” compared to her “to do list,” is expected to feature prominently in the campaign’s closing argument, according to a senior campaign official.

Harris’ remarks at CNN’s town hall Wednesday night provided a glimpse of that message — one she repeated Thursday.

That line is expected be used often in the closing days, while the vice president also underscores issues, like reproductive freedom, that officials maintain will galvanize voters, according to a senior campaign official. “Expect to see more of it,” the senior campaign official told CNN.

On Thursday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz used the argument for the first time on the campaign trail during a visit to Greenville, North Carolina, warning Pitt County Democrats of the potential dangers of Trump’s presidency in contrast with Harris’ agenda.

“With a lot of hard work over 12 days… we get to make Kamala Harris president of the United States. And with that comes a president for everyone. With that comes decency. With that comes vision. And with that comes solutions. She’s got a to-do list, he’s got an enemies list,” he said.

More on the campaign strategy: Harris’ star-studded rally in battleground Georgia Thursday marks the beginning of what the senior campaign official described as the homing in of the campaign’s closing argument. Campaign officials are planning to focus their attention in the final stretch on illustrating what a potential Harris administration might look like compared to the threat, they say, Trump poses—and capitalize on early voting. And to do it, the Harris campaign plans to trot out celebrities in hopes of capturing voters’ attention.

CNN’s Aaron Pellish contributed reporting to this post.

Then-President Donald Trump and then-Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly listen in during a meeting at the White House on January 31, 2017.

Fascism is a dirty word in US politics, so when former President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, says Trump fits the definition of “fascist,” it’s news.

It places Trump’s name in the same ideological space as the most infamous fascists, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Trump has rejected the idea and called Kelly a “degenerate.”

Asked at a CNN town hall in the battleground state of Pennsylvania if she agrees with Kelly that Trump is a fascist, the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, did not hesitate.

“Yes, I do. Yes, I do,” she said.

Using the military to quiet dissent:

There are topical arguments to back Kelly up. Trump’s suggestion he could use the military against an “enemy from within,” which he said includes Democrats like Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff from California, certainly sounds fascist. His Republican defenders argue it’s just hyperbole.

Trump wanted to use the military to disrupt domestic protests when he was in office, something that his top general at the time, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley, rejected, according to reporting in 2021. Milley also privately compared Trump’s election denialism to Hitler’s “big lie.”

Even if he doesn’t intend to use the military on Democrats, he has a history of trying to use the military to put down protests in the US, making the threat to quiet dissent.

Sidelining dissent:

Trump recently said he would fire special counsel Jack Smith “within two seconds” if he wins the election, which seems obvious since Smith has indicted Trump in cases involving election interference and mishandling classified documents.

The election interference case is delayed until after the election, and a different judge dismissed the classified documents case, although Smith has appealed.

Trump has a history of firing officials who question him.

Read more of the analysis about fascism.

The fire that was set to a mailbox early Thursday morning outside of a Phoenix post office that led to electoral ballots being damaged was not politically motivated, police said.

The 35-year-old man who was arrested told authorities he committed the crime because “he wanted to be arrested” and “his actions were not politically motivated and not related to anything involving the upcoming election,” the Phoenix Police Department said in a news release.

The suspect was arrested on an outstanding but unrelated arrest warrant. He is currently being held in jail on one felony count of Arson of Property, police said.

The fire prompted concern from Arizona state and local officials that the arson was targeting electoral ballots found inside the blue drive-up collection mailbox in a closely contested battleground state.

The headline and post have been updated to reflect additional information provided by the Phoenix Police Department.

Parker Short, president of the Young Democrats of Georgia, said that Republicans are generally favored in that state. “We’re the underdog in this fight,” he told CNN.

“I’ve been organizing since I was 14 and in Georgia we’ve always been the underdogs as Democrats, but we know how to win,” he said. Short pointed to the state electing two Democratic senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, and Joe Biden winning the state in 2020.

Short also said that key issues for young people this election cycle include abortion rights and also an opportunity economy.

“I think young people know what’s at stake and, you know, a woman born today in Georgia has less rights than a woman born before Donald Trump and (Gov.) Brian Kemp’s repressive abortion bans,” he said, adding that he really appreciates Vice President Kamala Harris’ messaging on an opportunity economy. “Allowing, you know, young people to buy a home, investing in small businesses and startups,” he said.

More background: Georgia took center stage in 2020, flipping blue for the first time in nearly 30 years when Joe Biden won by just 11,779 votes. That margin became its own story just a few months later, when President Donald Trump called Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to “find 11,780 votes” in order to turn the election in his favor. Four years later, Georgia is still in the spotlight, after it looked to be lost to Democrats with President Joe Biden leading the ticket. Now, polling shows a tight race.

Republicans have appealed a ruling by a Georgia judge that said local officials are subject to a “mandatory fixed obligation” to certify election results in the critical battleground state.

What the ruling says: Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said in a major decision last week that officials cannot “refuse to certify or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstance,” dealing a blow to an effort by conservatives to gain the legal right to reject results based on a suspicion of fraud or abuse.

The appeal: Attorneys for Julie Adams, a GOP member of the Fulton County Board of Elections and Registration who is at the center of the case, said in a short notice of appeal filed Wednesday that they were asking the state Court of Appeals to consider whether she “is required to vote in favor of certifying the election results by the deadline” set under Georgia law.

The lawyers also wrote that they took issue with part of the ruling from McBurney that said concerns over potential election issues can be raised by superintendents or others through post-certification court challenges known as “election contests.” That remedy, they wrote, “is improper and insufficient for (Adams) if she finds fraud and abuse.”

Why it matters: The issue of certification in Georgia has become of critical importance for Democrats and others who fear that if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the state’s 16 electoral votes, allies of former President Donald Trump will try to avoid certifying the results, creating post-election chaos in the state.

County election officials face a statutory deadline to certify the election results by November 12 this year.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sought to rally college Democrats during a visit to Duke University on Thursday, stressing the urgency of November’s election by highlighting former President Donald Trump’s “tendencies of totalitarianism” and arguing that Vice President Kamala Harris is the better candidate to combat climate change.

Walz told students in Durham, North Carolina, that Wednesday’s CNN town hall represents a strong contrast between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump, who he again suggested is unstable and unfit for the presidency.

Walz also referred to Trump reportedly praising Nazi generals at multiple points in his remarks and told students at the event they have the “privilege” of being able to push back on Trump’s rhetoric and dictatorial leanings by voting for Harris in November.

Walz made a direct case to students on climate change, telling the students they “need to take charge” of the issue, while arguing Harris has a stronger set of proposals to combat climate change than Trump, who he said is “ignoring and doing nothing about” the issue.

Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a town hall moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, October 23.

CNN’s town hall with Vice President Kamala Harris averaged 3.3 million viewers on Wednesday night, according to Nielsen data.

The television ratings do not include various forms of streaming, including on CNN’s website and the Max service.

Among 25- to 54-year-olds, the CNN telecast averaged at least 744,000 viewers. The roughly 75-minute town hall with the Democratic candidate outrated Fox News and MSNBC in all categories, showing widespread interest in hearing from Harris in the closing days of the presidential campaign.

According to CNN research, Wednesday night’s event drew a larger audience than all of Harris’ and former President Donald Trump’s previous televised town halls of the general election season.

This post has been updated with additional data from Nielsen.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters in Philadelphia on October 24.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday touted the endorsements of two former Republican elected officials for her candidacy — Waukesha, Wisconsin Mayor Shawn Reilly and former Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan.

Harris has been highlighting current and former GOP elected officials who have endorsed her presidency despite their party affiliation. One of her strongest surrogates on the trail has been former Rep. Liz Cheney, who previously held Republican leadership positions in Congress and endorsed Harris because of what she has described as the threat to American democracy from former President Donald Trump.

Harris also warned that Trump “will sit in the Oval Office stewing, plotting revenge, retribution, writing out his enemies list” if elected to be the next president, continuing to hone in on messaging painting the former president as dangerous and unhinged.

“The American people are being presented with a very serious decision,” she said.

The vice president did not directly answer when asked if construction would continue on a southern border wall if she is elected, which she was also asked about during CNN’s town hall last night.

This post has been updated with more of Harris’ remarks.

A shipping container is offloaded from a vessel at the Port of Los Angeles on September 20.

When the United States hiked tariffs on most goods entering the country almost a century ago, the consequences were severe: global trade plummeted and US exports collapsed, as other countries retaliated in kind, deepening one of the world’s worst ever economic downturns — the Great Depression.

The tariffs in question, levied under the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, would be dwarfed by the duties that Donald Trump has pledged to impose if he wins a second term in the White House.

Alongside other radical ideas — including mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and interfering with the independence of the Federal Reserve — Trump has said he wants to slap 10-20% tariffs on all goods imported into the United States. That would be sharply up from the current average of 2% on non-agricultural, or so-called industrial, goods, half of which enter the US duty-free, according to the government.

For Chinese imports, Trump has proposed an even steeper 60% tariff.

“To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is ‘tariff.’ It’s my favorite word,” he said during an interview with Bloomberg last week at the Economic Club of Chicago.

Most economists do not share Trump’s fondness for tariffs because they act as a tax on imports, hurting consumers in the country imposing them, as well as businesses that rely on imported raw materials and intermediate goods to make finished products.

Many economists have warned that tariffs planned by Trump will hurt global economic growth and drive up inflation in the US, as well as abroad if other countries introduce higher levies on US imports in response.

Read the full analysis of Trump’s economic proposals and its potential global impact if he wins a second term.

James Taylor performs on March 9 in New York.

Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter James Taylor will perform at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s rally in Wilmington, North Carolina today, a Harris campaign official told CNN.

Taylor, who has previously endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, will perform alongside his wife Kim and his son Henry, the campaign official said. Taylor previously appeared at a Massachusetts fundraiser attended by Harris in July shortly after she ascended to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket.

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance will deliver remarks at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden on Sunday, according to a Vance spokesperson.

As CNN previously reported, Trump and Vance will attend a fundraiser in New York City on the same day.

Trump has long wanted to hold an event at the famous arena. The rally is part of an arena tour that will continue throughout the final push ahead of the election with major arena rallies being planned in states including Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada.

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly speaks during a press conference in Washington, DC in 2017.

The Harris campaign is seizing on John Kelly’s comments made to the New York Times and The Atlantic in which he called former President Donald Trump a fascist in a new digital ad set to run in battleground states.

The ad, obtained by CNN, uses Vice President Kamala Harris’ remarks at CNN’s Town Hall Wednesday over images of Kelly with Trump, as well as images of Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It’s the latest example of the campaign using the final days of the presidential election to warn of a potential second Trump term by, in part, invoking his former officials who have expressed alarm over the former president.

The ad is part of a $370 million ad buy, according to a campaign official.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin on September 28.

On Wednesday, MAGA Inc., the leading pro-Trump super PAC, bought about $11.5 million worth of ad time in Wisconsin for the closing weeks of the election, providing a late infusion of cash to the Republican effort in a top battleground state.

The new ad buys from MAGA Inc. close an ad spending gap that Democrats had previously established in Wisconsin, one of the key Midwestern “Blue Wall” states, having outspent Republicans there by about $27 million in the three months since President Biden withdrew from the race.

More on dueling ad spending: Over the final two weeks, however, including advertising that has already run this week, Republicans are now set to outspend Democrats in Wisconsin by about $5.3 million, $23.6 million to $18.4 million. MAGA inc., with $11.52 million now booked, is the largest advertiser over the home stretch, just ahead of the top pro-Harris super PAC, FF PAC, with about $11.45 million reserved.

For the candidates, the Trump campaign has about $7.6 million booked in Wisconsin for the final two weeks, while the Harris campaign has about $6.1 million reserved. Adding to the Republican advantage, another top pro-Trump outside group, Preserve America, is set to spend about $3.9 million.

MAGA Inc.’s ad reservations for the final two weeks show the super PAC spreading its resources around the state, booking about $2.8 million in the large media market around Milwaukee, but also $2.8 million in Green Bay-Appleton, $2.4 million in Madison, just under $2 million in Wausau-Rhinelander, and $1.4 million in La Crosse-Eau Claire.

Vice President Kamala Harris talks to reporters aboard Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on October 23.

With 12 days until Election Day and more than 28 million ballots already cast, the candidates are hitting the campaign trail today as they deliver their final pitches to voters.

Battleground Blitz: Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are both focused Thursday on Sun Belt battlegrounds where polls show the race remains remarkably tight – leaving both campaigns still eyeing multiple pathways to 270 electoral votes in November.

The vice president is teaming up with former President Barack Obama and rock legend Bruce Springsteen for an evening rally in Georgia as Harris attempts to hold repeat Joe Biden’s victory in the state after he became the first Democrat to carry it in nearly 30 years.

The former president, meanwhile, is heading to Arizona and Nevada for a pair of events.

The visits come as a trio of new surveys from Marist College show close races in Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina – and a separate survey out of Pennsylvania from Franklin and Marshall College also showing no clear leader between Trump and Harris.

Harris frames her closing argument: For Harris, the contrast is the closing argument. During a CNN town hall Wednesday evening in Pennsylvania, the vice president time and again turned the conversation back to Trump – sharpening her attacks on his policy agenda and fitness for office – as she sounded the alarm about the danger her Republican rival would pose if returned to the White House.

The strategy was clear almost from the outset. When moderator Anderson Cooper asked Harris if she thinks Trump is a fascist, she quickly responded, “Yes, I do,” adding she believes “the people that know him best on this subject should be trusted.” Those comments came on the heels of new comments by Trump’s former White House chief of staff John Kelly, who told reporters the former president met the definition of a “fascist” and spoke positively about the loyalty of Adolf Hitler’s generals. Trump’s campaign has denied the claim.

Asked about her agenda on the economy and taxes, Harris slammed Trump for giving tax cuts to “billionaires and big corporations.” Pressed on her immigration stance, the vice president blasted her Republican rival for derailing a bipartisan border deal. Harris also pointed to Trump’s recent comments about “enemies within” to frame her argument for voters.

Expect to hear the vice president emphasize that message in the closing 12 days of the race, including next Tuesday, when Harris will deliver what her campaign is billing as a closing argument address in Washington at the Ellipse, the site of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, ahead of the violent attack on the US Capitol. It’s the latest example of Harris leaning into a symbolic backdrop – from Ripon, Wisconsin to Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania – to make the case against her GOP rival.

Fred Upton stands outside the Capitol Building in Washington, DC in 2017.

Former Republican Rep. Fred Upton said Thursday he’s already cast his ballot in Michigan for Vice President Kamala Harris, joining more than 30 former GOP members of Congress who have publicly rebuked former President Donald Trump ahead of Election Day.

“We certainly don’t agree on every policy, that’s for sure, but I know that Harris has the best interests of the American people at heart,” he continued.

Upton said he voted for former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley in Michigan’s 2024 GOP primary and cast his ballot for Republican John Kasich in 2016.

Until 2022, he represented a district in western Michigan, including Kalamazoo, where Harris will campaign with former First Lady Michelle Obama on Saturday. He said he doesn’t have plans to appear at that event, since he has other commitments, but would appear at a campaign event in the future “if something works.”

Upton said he noticed that as soon as Trump started to run for president in 2015, “something in our politics” began to “change.”

“There have always been fierce disagreements between lawmakers, let’s face it….but there have always been impassioned fights about policy,” he said, adding, “with Trump in charge, politics was more personal, more angry and more divided than ever before.”

Beyoncé performs in Warsaw, Poland in 2023.

Beyoncé will appear alongside Vice President Kamala Harris for the first time on the campaign trail in Houston on Friday, a person familiar with the planning tells CNN.

Since the moment Harris ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket and received Beyonce’s permission to use “Freedom” as the campaign’s official anthem, the vice president’s team has been working behind the scenes to negotiate a joint appearance before Election Day.

Rumors of a Beyoncé appearance at the Democratic convention threatened to overtake Harris’ acceptance speech. Campaign officials insist it was never the plan to have Beyoncé join Harris in Chicago, even as they sent conflicting signals in the moment.

The Friday appearance in Houston, where Beyoncé will appear with Willie Nelson, is designed to be one of the biggest closing acts of the campaign. It remains an open question whether Taylor Swift will join Harris, given she is back in the United States for the final swing of her Eras Tour.

Though this is Beyoncé’s first time officially rallying with Harris, the superstar has a history of endorsing Democratic candidates.

In 2013, she sang the National Anthem at the inauguration of President Barack Obama. In 2016, Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z headlined a pre-election concert for Clinton in Cleveland, Ohio, with her backup dancers dressed in blue pantsuits to honor the woman who could have been the first female president. In 2020, Beyoncé endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket, posting on her Instagram to encourage her followers to vote.

More about Harris’ Texas visit: CNN reported earlier that Harris is expected to address abortion rights as she seeks to draw a contrast with former President Donald Trump over the controversial issue ahead of Election Day, according to a senior campaign official.

During her remarks, the vice president is expected to warn of the threat a second Trump term poses to women’s reproductive freedom. Harris will also place blame on the former president for extreme abortion bans, including in Texas, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. She will be joined by women who have been impacted by the restrictive laws.

Democratic Senate nominee Rep. Colin Allred will join Harris in Houston as part of a get out the vote effort as he seeks to replace incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. While in Texas, Harris will also sit down for an interview with popular podcaster Brené Brown as she continues to participate in media engagements in an effort to reach voters where they are.

The campaign is hoping the political saliency of reproductive rights can help mobilize voters to head to the polls. This November, voters in at least 10 states will take to the polls to determine the future of abortion access in their state.

This post has been updated with more details on Beyoncé’s appearance and Harris’ trip to Texas.

Special Counsel Jack Smith and former President Donald Trump.

Former President Donald Trump said in a radio interview Thursday he would “fire” special counsel Jack Smith, who has brought charges against the former president, “within two seconds” if reelected.

“I would fire him within two seconds,” Trump said.

The comments are an explicit acknowledgement that Trump intends to use the office of the presidency to get charges against him dismissed if he’s reelected.

Harris-Walz campaign rapid response director Ammar Moussa criticized Trump’s comments and warned against a Trump second term.

Some context: Smith was appointed as special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee two investigations into Trump over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents. The classified documents case was ultimately dismissed by a federal judge, but Smith is appealing.

Trump still faces charges in Smith’s election subversion case. After the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity, Smith filed a superseding indictment in August that slimmed down the allegations but didn’t drop the four charges that were brought against Trump. Trump faces the following charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.

Trump, who was convicted earlier this year of 34 felony counts in a separate case against him, has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the justice system is being weaponized against him because he’s running for president. But Trump has suggested on multiple occasions he would weaponize the justice system against his political rivals if reelected.

Track the four criminal cases Trump is facing here.

This post has been updated with a response to Trump’s remarks from the Harris-Walz campaign.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

The 2024 candidates are making their final case to voters with less than two weeks until Election Day.

Here’s where the candidates will be on Thursday:

Vice President Kamala Harris will join former president Barack Obama in Clarkston, Georgia at 7 p.m. ET for a “Get out the Vote” campaign event.

Former President Donald Trump will deliver remarks at a rally in Tempe, Arizona on inflation and prices for home goods. He will deliver keynote remarks at the “United for Change” rally hosted by Turning Point PAC and Turning Point Action at 10 p.m. ET.

Ohio Sen. JD Vance will deliver remarks at a campaign event in Waterford, Michigan at 5:30 p.m. ET. Vance will also participate in a town hall in Detroit, Michigan. The pre-recorded event will be livestreamed on X.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will make a political stop in Durham, North Carolina and Greenville, North Carolina. He will later deliver remarks at a Harris-Walz campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina at 6:30 pm ET.

Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a town hall moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper in Delaware County, Pennsylvania on October 23.

Vice President Kamala Harris tried to engage undecided and persuadable voters at a CNN town hall in Delaware County in the key state of Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

While she did not offer many details of policy proposals, she did talk about reaching across the political aisle as a way of contrasting herself with former President Donald Trump, who declined to join the town hall. Below are key lines from the event.

The moderator, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, got right into the allegation by Trump’s former chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, that the former president admires fascists.

Message to Trump supporters: Cooper asked Harris about what she has to say to the tens of millions of Americans — who have heard about Trump’s actions and either don’t believe it or are still choosing to vote for the former president.

Harris went on to talk about the long list of former Trump aides who have raised the alarm about his foreign policy, including his generals, chief of staff and defense secretary. She encouraged people to go listen to audio of Kelly. His recent comments to The New York Times were something she consistently returned to during the town hall.

Is Trump a fascist? Cooper asked directly if Harris thinks Trump is a fascist.

Reaching out to undecided voters: An undecided voter asked Harris what she’d do for “anti-Trump Republicans like myself who feel left out of the polarized political landscape.” Harris responded by promising to be “a president for all Americans” and referenced her background as a prosecutor – another point she returned to repeatedly during the town hall:

Read more about the key lines from Harris’ town hall with CNN.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks in Phoenix on August 23.

A pro-Trump outside group called the “Make America Healthy Again Alliance” with ties to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running dramatic, conspiratorial TV ads in key swing states warning of government censorship, assassination plots and poisonous chemicals.

RFK Jr. appears in one of the groups’ ads, declaring that “Enough is enough. President Trump and I are gonna stop the mass poisoning of American Children. We’re gonna make America healthy again.”

That ad opens with what appear to be AI-generated images of children consuming food emitting noxious green gasses, over audio of news sound bites that include, “She was selling baby food with high levels of toxic heavy metal,” “foods and cereals marketed to children contain a weed killing chemical that some health authorities link to cancer,” and “exposed to chemicals and additives that have been banned in other countries.”

The dark, conspiratorial tone is reflected in two other TV spots that the “MAHA Alliance” has produced.

Another ad opens with black-and-white footage of news coverage of the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy — RFK Jr.’s uncle — and proceeds to footage of the first assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump over the summer, including images of Trump pumping his fist with blood on his ear. A freeze-frame image turns negative, with on-screen text reading, “DON’T YOU WANT THE TRUTH?”

A third TV ad from the group, meanwhile, adopts a biting, sarcastic tone, mocking Democratic leaders speaking about misinformation and insinuating that they want to “end free speech.”

Former President Donald Trump speaks in Zebulon, Georgia on October 23.

Former President Donald Trump reacted to Vice President Kamala Harris’ CNN town hall, calling it “her worst performance.”

Trump later said his political opponents “are crude, rude and vicious. And by the way, [Kamala Harris]’s only a vessel and so is Joe Biden. He’s not the leader of the party, never was,” continuing that Harris “is no different. Watch her last night. She has no intelligence. She’s got nothing, she’s got nothing, and you can’t have a leader like that.” He later returned to this topic, calling Harris an “empty vessel” manipulated by Democratic Party elites.

Trump also addressed why he believes he provokes such strong feelings from his opponents, calling them “dirty people.”

“The Republican Party is a very big, powerful party. Before it was sort of an elitist party with real stiffs running it. You know what a stiff is?”

Remember: CNN invited both Trump and Harris to participate in town hall events with voters. Trump declined CNN’s invitation.

In this 2022 file photo, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama attend an event to mark the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

Vice President Kamala Harris will join the Obamas for “Get Out The Vote” events in the battleground states of Georgia and Michigan, marking the first time she’s hitting the trail with either former President Barack Obama or Michelle Obama, according to a senior campaign official.

As Election Day nears, campaign advisers are turning their focus to voter turnout, bringing in surrogates to mobilize voters in critical states.

Today, Harris will appear with former President Obama in Georgia, where early voting has begun.

On Saturday, she’ll head to Michigan to appear with Michelle Obama to mark the first day of voting in the state. It will also be the former first lady’s first time on the trail for the Harris-Walz campaign.

More on the the Harris-Obama relationship: Obama and Harris have been acquainted for 20 years. The energy fueling her candidacy and thunderous crowds chanting her name have drawn comparisons to Obama’s history-making 2008 run.

Earlier this month, Obama admonished Black men who are hesitating to back Harris, telling them it’s “not acceptable” to sit out this election and suggesting they might be reluctant to vote for the vice president because she’s a woman.

The former president campaigned alongside Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, in Michigan earlier this week.

Voters wait in line to cast their ballots during early voting in Marion, North Carolina on October 17.

The race for president in Georgia is tied at 49% each among likely voters, with no clear leader in Arizona (50% Trump to 49% Harris) or North Carolina (50% Trump to 48% Harris) according to a trio of new polls from Marist College, while a Franklin and Marshall College poll finds Trump at 50% to Harris’ 49% among Pennsylvania likely voters.

F&M’s poll suggests little change in the numbers among registered voters since their previous poll in September (currently 48% Harris to 44% Trump among that group, compared with a 49% Harris to 46% Trump finding in September), but shifting to likely voters in the new poll boosts support for Trump.

The Marist polls suggest little movement in any of those three states since Marist’s last polls in September, with identical results in Arizona, and neither candidate moving more than 1 point compared with the previous result in Georgia or North Carolina.

Across polls of likely voters, results in Arizona have tilted more in Trump’s direction than Harris’ this fall, while in Georgia and North Carolina they have been more mixed. In North Carolina, there hasn’t been a single poll that meets CNN’s standards for reporting that has found either candidate leading outside the margin of error since Harris entered the race in July.

Pennsylvania’s recent polling has included some suggesting a significant Harris lead, while others show a near-even divide. The CNN Poll of Polls average in Pennsylvania now stands at a one-point margin, with Harris at 48% to Trump’s 47%, a finding with no clear leader. Averages in the other three states are unchanged from previous results, and continue to show tight races.

The Harris campaign is touting endorsements by two more typically conservative figures in Blue wall battleground states.

Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly, who changed his party affiliation from Republican to independent, told a local station on Wednesday that he’s casting his ballot for Harris this year.

Former Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan will also announce his endorsement of Harris this morning, according to the vice president’s campaign.

Upton was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump in the aftermath of the Capitol riot. He announced in early 2022 he would not seek reelection.

The campaign highlights signs of Trump’s potential weaknesses with the Republican electorate in the midwestern states.

A customer shops at a grocery store on February 13 in Chicago.

No presidential candidate in history has had to field questions on grocery prices and her opponent’s alleged fascism at the same event.

But the almost absurd linkage between these two issues that Kamala Harris must confront perfectly tells the story of the 2024 election and America’s fierce estrangement nine years into the Donald Trump era.

Just after 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday, the Democratic nominee emerged from the front door of her official residence in Washington to pose this question:

She got her answer eight hours later, at a CNN town hall in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, one of the Philadelphia suburbs where she needs a massive turnout to beat the former president in an election only 12 days away.

Thirty-two voters who were still undecided sought answers from Harris on the country’s polarized political tumult, on punishing prices at the grocery store and on an immigration crisis the Biden administration struggled to address. She was asked about the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. Someone else worried about the surge in antisemitism in the United States. Harris was asked to explain her policy reversals on fracking and her plans to hike taxes on the rich. One voter wanted to know whether she’d increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court to 12 – a step that would water down the conservative majority.

Each question that Harris received represented not just a chance to interact with one single voter but to reach millions more countrywide with the same concerns.

Read the full analysis.

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a campaign event sponsored by conservative group Turning Point USA, in Duluth, Georgia, on October 23.

Donald Trump will appear in two Sunbelt States today — Arizona and Nevada — where Republicans hope he’ll make inroads with Latino voters.

He will first speak at a campaign rally in Tempe, Arizona on inflation and prices for home goods.

He will then head to Las Vegas to deliver keynote remarks at the “United for Change” rally hosted by Turning Point PAC and Turning Point Action. The event is expected to focus on “celebrating the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community while driving civic engagement,” according to the event’s website.

Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a CNN Presidential Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on October 23.

Over and over, Vice President Kamala Harris argued at a CNN town hall Wednesday night that Republican rival Donald Trump is “unstable” and “unfit to serve.”

The Democratic nominee’s message in the closing weeks 2024 presidential race is squarely focused on warning Americans — particularly undecided independents and moderate Republicans — that Trump poses a threat to the nation’s core principles.

Here are some key takeaways:

Yes, Harris thinks Trump is a fascist: Harris was asked Wednesday night if she considers Trump a fascist.

Harris pointed to senior military leaders who served under Trump and have said the former president is a fascist — including the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, and Trump’s former White House chief of staff, retired Marine general John Kelly

Harris promises “a new generation of leadership”: Harris has faced repeated questions on the trail over how — and to what degree — she would break from President Joe Biden on policy. Mostly, she has brushed them off.

On Wednesday night, though, Harris seemed more comfortable with the proposition and argued that, if she was elected, change would follow.

After ticking off a few major policy plans, like having Medicare cover home health care for the elderly, Harris returned to what she described as “a new approach.”

Border security and migration a tricky area: By both CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and audience members, the vice president was pressed on border security.

She was asked on the record number of illegal border crossings that occurred during the Biden administration in spite of multiple executive orders. That flow had only begun to shrink after a major executive action earlier this year, Cooper noted, and asked why Biden and Harris hadn’t done something sooner.

Harris argued that the Biden administration, and she personally, believed that executive actions were just short-term solutions and that a long-term fix could only happen through a bipartisan agreement in Congress. She stressed the need for a large bipartisan bill on border security.

Read more key takeaways from the town hall.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with Pam Thistle after a CNN Presidential Town Hall in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, October 23.

Some voters who stayed to talk with CNN after the town hall with Kamala Harris on Wednesday in Pennsylvania said they have made up their mind. Two of five of the voters who spoke with CNN’s John King are leaving the town hall planning to vote for Harris — but others said they still have major policy concerns.

One of the voters, Joe Donahue, did not raise his hand when asked if he was going to vote for Harris and said there are still some “personal policy difference,” specifically on abortion.

“The right to life is so fundamental in this country that it becomes — without that right being respected, it’s incredibly difficult to talk about anything else,” Donahue said.

Still, Donahue said he is still “not sold” on former President Donald Trump either because “his personality” and his actions on January 6, 2021. Harris spoke with him after the town hall, which he said meant “quite a bit” to him and appreciated given the fact that they have opposing ideas.

Pam Thistle said she left the town hall with a “a feeling of adoration” for Harris personally, but as a widow raising children, the economy and paying her bills is her top concern: “I really do have to vote for my family.”

Taneisha Spall echoed that sentiment, saying she would respect Harris more if she stayed out of the “schoolyard bulling” and ran on her policy positions. She said she doesn’t feel like Harris needs to lodge attacks and that she thinks “it’s beneath her.”

Erik Svendsen said he has decided to vote for Harris. He said hearing Harris admit that she doesn’t know the answer to everything and she has people around her that she can trust resonated with him.

“I don’t need a president that knows everything or thinks they know everything, because that’s not what America needs,” Svendsen said. “They need to put the right people in the right place to lead the country efficiently. One person can’t lead this country, they need a team.”