Election 2024 Live Updates: Trump ‘Considers a U.S. With No Taxes’

Bruce Springsteen takes the stage at Harris rally

The Boss showed his support for Kamala Harris as he joined her star-studded Georgia rally Thursday.

“I’m here today to support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for President and Vice President of the United States,’ Bruce Springsteen told the crowd after performing an acoustic set of ‘The Promised Land’.

“Donald Trump is running to be an American tyrant,” he added, before saying that Harris had his vote.

Twelve mail-in ballots ‘stolen and sent in with fraudulent votes in Colorado’

A dozen mailed ballots were stolen and sent in with fake votes in Colorado, state officials said Thursday.

Three of those fraudulent ballots were counted in the presidential election, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold revealed during a press conference on Thursday.

Griswold explained that it was impossible to remove those three votes from the tally under state law, but said that the voters who had their ballots stolen would receive new ones.

“There is a right under the state constitution to have a confidential ballot. Once signatures are checked, the ballot is pulled independently from the envelope and it’s put into the process,” said Griswold.

A fourth stolen ballot had passed signature verification but was caught because the real owner, who had not yet voted, received an electronic notification their ballot had been accepted, and contacted the county election officials.

The signatures on the back of ballots are verified by election judges and if there are any concerns, they are taken for review by another bipartisan judge.

Griswold confirmed “at least 12 ballots are suspected” but said the others had been “intercepted in time.”

She declined to comment on the possibility more fraudulent ballots could have been submitted but said an investigation was underway.

Trump assassination attempt suspect forced government to comment on Judge Cannon’s impartiality

Ryan Routh, the man accused of the second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Florida, has forced the federal government to comment on Judge Aileen Cannon’s impartiality when overseeing his classified documents case.

The suspect, accused of planning to shoot the Republican presidential candidate at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach on September 15, filed a 10-page motion last week asking for the judge to recuse herself.

Trump was facing 40 federal charges in Cannon’s court over his alleged handling of sensitive materials seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving the White House in January 2021. He was also accused of obstructing efforts by federal authorities to retrieve them.

Cannon dismissed all charges after ruling that special counsel Jack Smith, the chief prosecutor, was illegally appointed.

Routh said because Cannon was appointed by Trump she could not be impartial, citing her dismissal of the case, which was filed in her district.

Routh’s filing appears to have forced the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to address the issue of who appointed Cannon.

Read More: How Trump’s Would-Be Assassin Forced Government’s Hand on Aileen Cannon

Trump calls US the ‘garbage can for the world’

Donald Trump told supporters that America had become a “dumping ground” as he criticized illegal immigration at his Arizona rally Thursday.

“We’re like a garbage can for the world,” he said at the campaign event in Tempe in the battleground state. “That’s what’s happened. That’s what’s happened to our — We’re like a garbage can.

“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 continued.

Obama says he’s ‘fired up’ up to be campaigning with Harris for the first time

Former President Barack Obama said he is “fired up” to be campaigning with Kamala Harris in Georgia tonight.

Obama is joining the vice president for her star-studded rally near Atlanta which will also feature a performance from Bruce Springsteen.

It also marks the first time the former president had campaigned with Harris.

“Fired up to be in Georgia with my friend @KamalaHarris to make sure everybody votes in this election,” Obama wrote in a post on X.

Harris told reporters in Philadelphia earlier today that she was “honored” to have Obama on her campaign.

More than 29 million early votes have been cast in election

Nearly 30 million early votes have already been cast with just 12 days until the presidential election, according to AP data.

The record-breaking turnout comes after Donald Trump urged Republicans to vote early in this election, despite his previous disdain for the practice.

The GOP have now narrowed the advantage Democrats have previously had in early voting, with registered Republicans making up 32% of the vote in the 26 states that has comparable data, according to research from Catalist and CNN, up from 27% in 2020.

Registered Democrats make up 42% down from 47% at the last election.

The data only shows what parties the voters are registered with and not who they voted for.

Walz appeals to college students on climate change

Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz accused Trump of “ignoring” climate change during a college visit as he urged students to “take charge” and vote.

“The reason you’re here is, you’re not going to let some old people who are going to be dead long before climate change does the destruction that it’s going to be; you need to take charge of it,” Walz told the crowd at Duke University, in North Carolina.

The Minnesota governor added that the students have a unique opportunity to be a part of history.

“They are going to write about Americans who stood up in this moment and said ‘hell no’ to this, the tendencies of totalitarianism and the division and the racism, the hatred, the misogyny, everything else that goes with that,” he said.

“You’re going to get asked when you’re my age, ‘What did you do?’, and your answer is, ‘I did every damn thing possible to win that election.'”

Trump holds onto slim lead over Harris

Former President Donald Trump is holding a slim national lead over Vice President Kamala Harris less than two weeks before Election Day, according to a new poll.

A poll released on Thursday by CNBC showed Trump, the Republican nominee, ahead of Harris, the Democratic nominee, by just 2 percentage points among registered U.S. voters, with the former president preferred by 48 percent of respondents while the vice president was preferred by 46 percent. Another 5 percent of voters said that they were still undecided, while 1 percent intended to vote for a different candidate.

Trump’s lead shrunk to 1 point in a crucial subset of those surveyed for the CNBC poll—voters in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump was backed by 48 percent of battleground voters, while 47 percent preferred Harris.

Read More: New National Poll Shows Donald Trump Hold Slim Lead

Harris sits down for interview with Shannon Sharpe ahead of Georgia rally

Vice President Kamala Harris has joined Shannon Sharpe for his popular ‘Club Shay Shay’ podcast.

The Democratic presidential nominee is taping the interview with the ex-NFL star in Atlanta before her star-studded rally with Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama in key battleground state Georgia.

Harris’ Club Shay Shay interview will air Monday, October 28.

RFK warns vote Trump if ‘you want to avoid nuclear war’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr has claimed that a “vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for nuclear war.”

“If you want to avoid nuclear war, I strongly urge you to vote for Donald Trump,” the former independent presidential candidate said in video clip posted on X.

“In fact, I would go so far as to say that a vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for nuclear war.”

Donald Trump set to take stage at Arizona rally

Donald Trump is preparing to take to the stage for his rally in the battleground state of Arizona.

The former president will focus on the “housing affordability crisis” and how he plans to “defeat inflation,” during the rally in Tempe, according to his campaign website.

The rally is due to begin at 5 p.m. EDT.

Republican judges deny Trump co-defendants’ request in election interference case

Two Republican judges denied a request from former President Donald Trump‘s co-defendants in the Fulton County, Georgia election interference case.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday rejected an effort from former Georgia GOP Chair David Shafer, state Senator Shawn Still and former Coffee County GOP Chair Cathleen Latham to move their cases to federal court.

The 3-0 decision came from a three-judge panel on the appeal court, including Chief Judge William Pryor, Circuit Judge Robin Rosenbaum and Circuit Judge Britt Grant. Pryor and Grant were both appointed by Republican presidents—George W. Bush and Trump, respectively—while Rosenbaum was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama. Grant’s name was also floated as a potential Supreme Court pick for Trump.

“Shafer, Still, and Latham argue that as nominated presidential electors for the 2020 election, they were federal officers acting pursuant to constitutional and federal authority and are entitled to remove,” the panel said. “We disagree.”

Read More: Republican Judges Deny Trump Co-Defendants’ Request

Mike Lee says GOP leadership candidates must commit to never ‘sabotage’ Republicans

Sen. Mike Lee is demanding that candidates running for Senate GOP leadership must “commit to never sabotage Republicans” after Mitch McConnell’s scathing criticism of Trump in his new book.

McConnell branded the former president “stupid,” “despicable,” and a “sleazeball” in his biography, out later this month.

In a series of posts on X, Lee called McConnell’s comments “indefensible” and complained that “the Senate Republican leader is supposed to help Republicans, not undermine them.”

“Those running for Senate GOP leadership posts need to weigh in on this & commit never to sabotage Republican candidates & colleagues — particularly those who are less than two weeks away from a close election,” Lee wrote.

Wisconsin senator becomes latest Republican to back Harris

State Sen. Rob Cowles said he is endorsing Kamala Harris for president to “protect the Constitution and democracy.”

Cowles, the longest currently serving state senator in Wisconsin, says it will be the first time he’s voted Democrat in a presidential election.

“I plan on voting for Harris,” he said on the Rational Revolution podcast.

“Trump has to be defeated, and we have to protect the Constitution,” he continued. “And the country will go on, even with some liberal things that Harris might do, or might not do.

“You have to have the foundation of the Constitution, to protect democracy. If you don’t have that, we will disappear.”

Kamala Harris still not connecting with persuadable voters: GOP pollster

Vice President Kamala Harris continues to face challenges in connecting with the few remaining undecided — but persuadable — voters, according to GOP pollster Frank Luntz.

In an appearance on CNBC Thursday morning in the aftermath of Harris’ CNN town hall, Luntz said that Harris’s communication strategy is not resonating with those critical voters.

“That clip illustrates exactly why Harris is in trouble,” Luntz said, referring to a town hall exchange where Harris shifted focus to former President Donald Trump instead of directly addressing a question about immigration and the border wall.

“They asked her specifically, ‘Where do you stand on the wall?’ And what does she do? She shifts it right to Donald Trump,” Luntz said.

According to the Republican pollster, Harris’ best stretch came when she was making the case for herself about why she should be elected. That progress, in his view, has stalled with her increased focus on attacking former President Trump in recent weeks.

Read more from Jesus Mesa on Newsweek.

Trump has ‘good choices’ in mind for Secretary of Defense were he to be elected

Donald Trump said that Sen. Tom Cotton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Rep. Mike Waltz are “good choices” for a Secretary of Defense pick during his appearance on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show today.

Study reveals that Harris’s focus on dangers of second Trump presidency will likely resonate with voters

Harris‘ recent focus on the potential dangers a second Trump presidency could pose to American democracy is likely to resonate with undecided voters, according to a study from a social media monitoring firm.

An analysis of posts made between October 10 and 20 by Impact Social indicated that “democracy” was the top concern among posters, surpassing issues like the economy, crime, and abortion. It also found that 53 percent of social media posts mentioning Harris and democracy depicted the current vice president negatively, while 47 percent presented her in a positive light.

In contrast, 88 percent of posts mentioning Trump and democracy were critical of the Republican candidate.

Recently, Harris has increasingly highlighted what she perceives as Trump’s authoritarian tendencies. On Tuesday, she stated to radio host Charlamagne tha God that his political agenda could be characterized as fascism.

Newsweek reached out to both the Trump and Harris campaigns for comments on Wednesday via email, outside of standard office hours.

On Monday, Harris’ campaign released a video montage of Trump telling his supporters that America has a major problem with “the enemy from within” and that the military may have to be deployed to deal with this. This week also saw the publication of an article by The Atlantic that said during his presidency Trump once said, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” though this was dismissed as “absolutely false” by his team.

Impact Social says it uses algorithms to keep track of swing voter sentiment on social media, based on a database of 40,000 social media users it identified as swing voters that was first created in 2016.

The analysis found “democracy” was the biggest swing voter concern according to social media on nine of the 11 days studied, with the subject being beaten only by the economy on October 11 and very narrowly by crime on October 16. Among the sample, democracy received more than 1,000 social media mentions by swing voters on all 11 days, except for October 13 to 15 inclusive, when it was just under.

Read more of James Bickerton’s article.

Elon Musk did not announce super PAC lottery winner after DOJ warning

Elon Musk’s super PAC did not declare a winner for its $1 million giveaway aimed at registered voters in swing states on Wednesday, coinciding with news that the Justice Department cautioned Musk’s organization that its sweepstakes could be illegal.

The America PAC announced a winner every day since Saturday when Musk revealed his plan to gift $1 million daily to individuals who sign his petition.

Spike Lee on Harris

Spike Lee will join Kamala Harris at a rally in Atlanta tonight, but he sat down with Newsweek ahead of this appearance. The acclaimed director encouraged voters to support Harris, saying:

“I’m not trying to be funny. [Donald Trump] has never done nothing for Black folks, but him and his father were building buildings in New York City. Black folks couldn’t get in them. Don’t go for the okie doke. And definitely don’t go for the three S’s. Shenanigans, subterfuge. And the last one is a killer—skulduggery.

“Don’t go for the okie doke. I mean, I don’t know how in your right mind you could think that. Let me finish to. Can I finish, please? All right. I don’t know. I don’t know how these young brothers in their right minds could think that this guy has, in his heart, what’s best for you.

“Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Support our sister. Let’s make her the first woman to be president of the United States, the first woman of color. And also don’t get tripped up that her mother’s Indian. A lot of us. Come on now. And we, you know, we go by the one-drop rule. She’s Black. Peace and love. We good to wrap it up, my brother?”

Read more of Devin Robertson’s article.

Walz: ‘People need to be reminded what’s at stake here’

Tim Walz spoke with college students at Duke University during a campaign visit today. He told students that Harris was the candidate to back.

“This is a time when a lot of people need to be reminded what’s at stake here, and it’s not about putting fear in. It couldn’t be clearer the difference in this. You’ve witnessed it on the stage. As Donald Trump descends into madness, Kamala Harris is out last night at a town hall, taking up questions, answering the question,” he said.

Everything Kamala Harris has said about Beyoncé ahead of Houston rally

Beyoncé is expected to rally with Vice President Kamala Harris in Houston on Friday, and the Democratic presidential nominee has long expressed her praise for the musical superstar.

Beyoncé’s planned appearance was reported by the Associated Press, citing three people familiar with the matter. Harris is set to appear in Houston, Beyoncé hometown, on Friday to campaign alongside U.S. Senate candidate Colin Allred, who is challenging Republican Senator Ted Cruz in one of the most closely contested Senate races across the country.

Newsweek has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment via email.

While Beyoncé, whose full name is Beyoncé Knowles, hasn’t officially made public comments on this year’s election, she has allowed Harris to use her music on the campaign trail. Her song “Freedom” has become an anthem for the Harris campaign. She will be the latest high-profile celebrity to back Harris in the neck-and-neck race against former President Donald Trump, the GOP’s presidential nominee.

Harris has over the years voiced support for Knowles. Earlier this year, the vice president complimented her after the release of Cowboy Carter, Knowles’ latest album that takes inspiration from country music.

“Beyoncé: Thank you for reminding us to never feel confined to other people’s perspective of what our lane is. You have redefined a genre and reclaimed country music’s Black roots. Your music continues to inspire us all,” Harris wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter, in March.

In July, Harris told People magazine that her favorite Beyoncé song is “Break My Soul,” from her 2022 album Renaissance.

“I just love that song,” Harris said. “I play it all the time. I think it’s one of the anthems for women…when [Beyoncé says] ‘you,’ you could be life, you could be a person, you could be a situation. You will not break my soul. I can endure.”

Read full story by Andrew Stanton.

James Taylor to perform at Walz rally

Singer James Taylor will be performing at a Wilmington, North Carolina rally, supporting Tim Walz. It will be held at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.

This is Taylor’s second political appearance in Wilmington as he previously performed at the GLA stage in 2008 when Barack Obama was running and secured a victory in North Carolina.

Harris says Republicans who endorsed her ‘understand what’s at stake’

Kamala Harris said two Republican politicians who publicly endorsed this week her understand what’s at stake in the election.

Mayor of Waukesha, Wisconsin, Shawn Reilly and Michigan Republican Fred Upton have both officially endorsed Harris for president.

On Thursday, the Democratic presidential nominee said the endorsements were evidence that political leaders, regardless of affiliation, “understand what’s at stake.”

“They are weighing in, courageously in many cases, in support of what we need to have which is a President of the United States who understands the obligation to uphold the Constitution of the United States and our democracy,” she added.

Ballots damaged after mailbox lit on fire

A United States Postal Service (USPS) mailbox was lit on fire in the early hours of the morning, damaging 20 ballots in Arizona, local outlet Fox10 reported.

“The Postal Inspector took possession of the damaged ballots and mail,” Phoenix Fire Capt. Rob McDade said. “The Phoenix Fire Investigations Task Force, which includes Phoenix Police detectives and Phoenix Fire investigators, are working with US Postal Inspectors.”

The mailbox was lit at 1:30 this morning around 7th Avenue and Indian School Road, per the outlet.

“We are waiting for details from law enforcement,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer said in a statement, according to the outlet. “We encourage all voters who used that mail box in the last 36 hours to check the status of their ballots at https://BeBallotReady.Vote. Successful delivery is usually reflected on that website within 72 hours. Voters should be aware that tomorrow, October 25 is the last day to request a replacement ballot. If a voter believes they were impacted by this incident they can learn more about how to make that request at https://Request.Maricopa.Vote.”

Watch Fed Upton endorse Harris: ‘I’ve never voted for a Democrat for president, and I never thought I would’

Former Republican Congressman Fred Upton endorsed Kamala Harris this morning. Watch the moment.

Harris doubles down on pledge to bring back bipartisan border bill

Kamala Harris today repeated her pledge to bring back the bipartisan border security bill when challenged on whether construction of the border wall would continue under her administration.

“My highest priority is to put the resources into ensuring that our border is secure,” she told reporters in Philadelphia, ahead of her campaign trip to Georgia. “Which is why I’ve been very clear that I will bring back up that bipartisan border security bill and make sure it’s brought to my desk so I can sign it into law

“The biggest issue is that Donald Trump has stood in the way of what would have been a proven part of the solution.”

That bill includes a measure that would continue construction of the border wall.

However, the Harris campaign has said it would only build the wall using the funds previously appropriated by the Trump administration, Axios reported.

Harris and Trump ‘virtually tied’ among likely voters

Trump and Harris are “virtually tied” at 50% to 49% in a new poll from Franklin & Marshall among likely Pennsylvania voters. The margin of error for this result is 5 percentage points in either direction.

“It’s really a toss-up and that means we don’t know who is going to win,” said director of the Franklin & Marshall College Poll, Berwood Yost.

Trump considers a U.S. with no taxes

The New York Times reported that Trump is “flirting” with the idea of no taxes. In the past, the ex-president has frequently expressed admiration for a time in U.S. history when there was no income tax, and the government was funded through tariffs.

“It had all tariffs — it didn’t have an income tax,” Trump said while at a barbershop in the Bronx, New York. “Now we have income taxes, and we have people that are dying. They’re paying tax, and they don’t have the money to pay the tax.”

The Times also reported that, in any case, Trump’s vision of swapping income tax for tariff money has been rejected by liberal and conservative experts as being “mathematically impossible and economically destructive.”

Pollster Frank Lunt says Harris struggling to connect with undecided but persuadable voters

Vice President Kamala Harris continues to face challenges in connecting with the few remaining undecided — but persuadable — voters, according to GOP pollster Frank Luntz.

In an appearance on CNBC Thursday morning in the aftermath of Harris’ CNN town hall, Luntz said that Harris’s communication strategy is not resonating with those critical voters.

“That clip illustrates exactly why Harris is in trouble,” Luntz said, referring to a town hall exchange where Harris shifted focus to former President Donald Trump instead of directly addressing a question about immigration and the border wall.

“They asked her specifically, ‘Where do you stand on the wall?’ And what does she do? She shifts it right to Donald Trump,” Luntz said.

According to the Republican pollster, Harris’ best stretch came when she was making the case for herself about why she should be elected. That progress, in his view, has stalled with her increased focus on attacking former President Trump in recent weeks.

Read More: Kamala Harris Still Not Connecting With Persuadable Voters: GOP Pollster

Alyssa Farah Griffin ‘wants to shake people’ who ignore warnings from Trump’s former allies

Ex-Trump staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin says she “wants to shake people” who refuse to listen to warnings from his former allies.

The View host said she was shocked to see how Trump supporters turned on former White House chief-of-staff and retired general John Kelly, after he accused the GOP presidential nominee of admiring Hitler and being a fascist.

“I mean, I just can’t believe that for four years people have been warning about this. This is, General John Kelly is somebody who was so highly regarded by everyone in Trump’s West Wing,” she said.

Griffin, who has become a vocal critic of Trump since working for him between 2017 and 2019, added: “I want to shake people and be like ‘Why are you not believing us? How many more four-star generals need to tell you the truth about who this man is?'”

Georgia officials prevent attempt to crash state’s election website for absentee ballots

Georgia officials say they acted quickly to prevent an attempt to crash the state’s election website.

The cyber attack, earlier this month, saw hundreds of thousands of IP addresses flood the website portal that voters use to request an absentee ballot, AP reported.

Gabriel Sterling, a top official at the agency, said that officials added a verification took to check if users were human and the traffic “just sort of fell through the floor.”

Within 30 minutes of the initial alert, normal service had resumed. Sterling said that while users may have experienced a brief slowdown during that time, the site did not crash and information was not compromised.

Federal authorities were immediately alerted about the attack.

Trump pulls ahead in key swing state in new poll

Former President Donald Trump took a narrow lead on Thursday in one of the key swing states Vice President Kamala Harris needs for victory—Pennsylvania.

The Emerson College Polling/RCPA Pennsylvania survey, which was conducted between October 21-22 among 860 likely voters in the swing state, showed Trump with 49 percent of voter support versus Harris’ 48 percent, while 3 percent remained undecided. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

Pennsylvania is one of seven battleground states that will greatly impact who will be the next president, and both candidates have made multiple appearances there in recent weeks, seeking to gain the state’s 19 Electoral College votes.

This latest poll showed most voters made up their mind weeks ago, with just 4 percent having made up their mind in the past week.

Read More: Donald Trump Takes Narrow Lead in Kamala Harris’ Must-Win State: Poll

Trump won’t rule out pardon for Hunter Biden

Donald Trump has said he won’t rule out a pardon for Hunter Biden if he wins the 2024 election.

“I wouldn’t take it off the books,” he told radio host Hugh Hewitt during a Thursday interview.

“See, unlike Joe Biden, despite what they’ve done to me, where they’ve gone after me so viciously, despite what — and Hunter’s a bad boy. There’s no question about it. He’s been a bad boy.”

Joe Biden’s son was convicted of three felonies in June for lying about his drug use when buying a revolver in 2018. His sentencing will be held after election in December. Hunter also pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges.

President Biden has said he does not plan to pardon his son.

MAGA preacher says there will be ‘manifestations of demons’ if Trump wins election

MAGA supporter Lance Wallnau cautions that “There will be instantaneous manifestations of demons all over the country” if Trump wins the election.

Donald Trump’s chances take dent in top election forecast

Donald Trump’s chances of winning the 2024 presidential election have taken a hit, according to a top election forecast.

While Trump’s prospects had been improving steadily in recent days, with a shift in his favor as he briefly overtook Kamala Harris in the polls, his momentum appears to be slowing.

The former president was previously trailing behind Harris on October 18, when FiveThirtyEight’s forecast gave him a 47 percent chance of winning the election, compared to Harris’ 53 percent chance. Three days later, on October 21, the forecast had flipped, giving Trump a 53 percent chance of winning the election, compared to Harris’ 47 percent chance.

However, the forecast now shows that Trump’s chances are starting to slide, with the pollster giving the former president a 51 percent chance of winning the election, compared to Harris’ 49 percent chance.

Newsweek has contacted the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment via email.

Read More: Donald Trump’s Chances Take Dent in Top Election Forecast

Trump pledges to immediately fire Special Counsel Jack Smith if he wins election

Donald Trump said he would immediately fire Special Counsel Jack Smith if he wins the election next month.

“I would fire him within two seconds,” the former president told radio show host Hugh Hewitt.

Smith is overseeing the criminal cases against Trump but the GOP presidential nominee said he was not worried about being impeached for dismissing him.

“I don’t think they’ll impeach me if I fire Jack Smith,” he told the conservative host.

“He’s a crooked person.”

‘Pretty bad run of national polls for Harris,’ according to statistician Nate Silver

Nate Silver published new polling data where he says, “It’s been a pretty bad run of national polls for Harris.”

Harris’s average, according to Silver, is down to 1.3 points.

1600 Newsletter: Harris will take risky strategy during ‘closing argument’ speech

The Harris campaign says it’s planning a major “closing argument” speech next week at the Ellipse, the little park between the White House and National Mall that was the site of Donald Trump’s infamous remarks on Jan. 6, 2021 before his supporters marched to the Capitol.

Combined with what she said during a CNN town hall last night (calling Trump a fascist, straight up, for the first time), we can safely say Harris’ plans for a closing pitch to voters revolve around highlighting Trump as a threat to democracy who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the White House again.

I suspect this strategy will go down as either the most brilliant campaign messaging since “hope and change,” or the worst decision by a candidate since Hillary Clinton decided not to visit Wisconsin in 2016. (Brilliant political analysis, I know–hey, it’s a free newsletter!)

Successful political campaigns tend to be about the future. The Dems are making a big bet here that they can win by reminding voters of the past: Jan. 6 primarily, but also what those closest to Trump during his first term, like his chief-of-staff John Kelly, are saying about his authoritarian tendencies and how he’d be unimpeded in a second term.

They want swing voters to be thinking about personality and temperament in the final stretch. If the election is a referendum on personality, Harris wins easy.

The GOP, by contrast, wants those undecideds thinking about the dual issues of the economy and immigration, where polls show Trump still holds an advantage. This is it, this is the whole ballgame now, and it’s winner take all.

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Doug Emhoff to campaign in Georgia this weekend

First Gentleman Doug Emhoff is set to campaign in Georgia on Sunday. This will come after a campaign event in Pennsylvania, according to NBC News.

Walz says Harris respects the Constitution, while Trump does not

Tim Walz claimed that only one presidential candidate would respect the Constitution if elected, and that it was not Donald Trump.

The Minnesota governor tweeted Thursday: “Kamala Harris respects the Constitution and the rule of law.

“Donald Trump does not.

Walz was speaking out after Harris warned at her CNN town hall on Wednesday that Trump would end the Constitution.

“He himself has said he would terminate the Constitution of the United States and wants to earn your vote to stand again behind the seal of the President of the United States,” Harris said.

Doug Burgum: If Kelly had concerns, ‘he could’ve said it when he was working for him 5 years ago’

In an interview with CNN, politician Doug Burgum spoke about the comments former Trump chief of staff shared about the former president. Burgumsaid, “If [Kelly] had concerns, he could’ve said it when he was working for him five years ago.”

Fact check: Does Trump want to end $2,000 prescription cap?

Vice President Kamala Harris attacked Donald Trump‘s plans for the future of American health care during an interview on NBC this Wednesday, claiming the former president wants to repeal drug cost protections.

In an interview with NBC News‘ Hallie Jackson, Harris said that Trump wanted to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and remove a cap on prescription drug costs implemented as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

However, as Newsweek found, the evidence behind the claim appears to be based on inferences from Project 2025 and the Trump campaign.

Newsweek has contacted a media representative for Kamala Harris for comment.

Read More: Fact Check: Does Trump Want To End $2,000 Prescription Cap?

Harris as popular with Democrats today as Obama in 2008, new poll finds

A poll has found that Kamala Harris is as popular today as Barack Obama was in 2008 among Democrat voters.

Harris received a 72 percent favorability rating among the party’s supporters in a recently released Gallup poll. This figure is likely the highest for a Democratic candidate going back almost 70 years, and ties Harris with Obama just before he was elected president for the first time.

The survey compared own-party favorability for both presidential candidates in 2024 to candidates in almost every election from 1956 onwards, with the exception of three election years when the question was not asked. Missing from the data are responses from 1988 (Republican candidate and winner George H. W. Bush vs. Democrat Michael Dukakis), 1996 (Democratic candidate and winner Bill Clinton vs. Republican Bob Dole), and 2000 (Republican candidate and winner George W. Bush vs. Democrat Al Gore).

The results found that the highest party favorability rating was registered in 1984, when 76 percent of Republicans backed Ronald Reagan. This was followed by Donald Trump’s favorability rating of 73 percent among Republicans in 2020. Harris and Obama were tied for third place overall, and first place among Democratic nominees.

Read More: Kamala Harris As Popular Among Democrats As Obama In 2008: Poll

Most Americans still believe Kamala Harris will win election

The majority of Americans still believe that Vice President Kamala Harris will win the 2024 election, according to a new poll.

The most recent survey by Verasight, conducted at the end of September asked voters who they expect to win the election, rather than who they will vote for – a method known as “citizen forecasting” that some studies have shown is more accurate at predicting the victor.

Fifty-five percent of respondents said Harris would win, down one percentage point since the August poll, and 13 points ahead of former President Donald Trump. Currently, the two candidates are neck and neck in polls that ask people who they are voting for, in what could be one of the closest presidential elections in modern history.

Read More: Most Americans Still Believe Kamala Harris Will Win Election

George Santos claims ‘it’s over for Harris tomorrow’

Former U.S. Congressman George Santos claimed that “it’s all over” for Kamala Harris tomorrow in a new tweet from him.

“It’s so crazy. I just got off the phone with a source, and they’re telling me that tomorrow, the Kamala Harris ship sinks,” Santos said in a video attached to the post. “You’re going to see all the rats jumping off. The story that’s going to break tomorrow is so damning and so, so bad that Democrats are going to distance themselves from her like nothing you’ve seen before.”

Beyoncé to attend Harris’s Houston rally

Beyoncé is reported to appear with Kamala Harris at the vice president’s Houston rally on Friday, according to a CNN source. This will be the first time the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer will be on the trail with Harris.

Trump claims he’s ‘stopped wars’ the U.S. wasn’t involved in

Donald Trump claimed at a rally in Pennsylvania that he has “stopped wars, even those [the U.S. was] not involved in.”

Narrow 2% poll lead for Trump within margin of error

In a CNBC quarterly “All-America Economic Survey” among registered voters, Trump leads Harris by 2% (48%-46%). The former president is ahead on economic issues while Harris leads on character issues and “fitness to be president.”

The results of the poll are within its margin of error by “plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.”

Harris calls Trump a ‘fascist’ during CNN town hall

Anderson Cooper questioned Harris about whether she thinks Trump is a fascist and she immediately replied, “Yes, I do.”

Lauren Ingraham labels Harris as ‘bad for women

Fox News host Laura Ingraham said Vice President Kamala Harris is “bad for women” during an episode of The Ingraham Angle.

“She’s turning the page on joy and love to a new chapter, on fear and loathing,” Ingraham said on Wednesday’s show. “From now until Election Day, Kamala’s crew will spend their time and a lot of money scaring and lying to women in order to increase turnout.”

The 2024 presidential election is now less than two weeks away, and Harris, who was the first-ever female vice president, has made women’s rights a focal point of her campaign against former President Donald Trump, who has faced multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, which he denies.

On the campaign trail, Harris has addressed reproductive rights and sexual violence, and has strong support from women voters, while Trump struggles with this demographic.

Read More: Kamala Harris is ‘Bad for Women’ Says Laura Ingraham

Michigan Republican endorses Harris, calls Trump ‘totally unhinged’

Former U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, a West Michigan Republican, has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for her 2024 presidential in an interview with The Detroit News.

In the report, Upton criticized his party’s nominee, former President Donald Trump, calling him “divisive” and “unhinged,” and stating that Trump “has not changed his colors.”

Upton expressed frustration with Trump’s focus on past election grievances and his controversial comments, saying, “We don’t need this chaos. We need to move forward.”

Read More: Michigan Republican Endorses Harris, Calls Trump ‘Totally Unhinged’

Tune in tonight to watch Bruce Springsteen at a Harris rally

Harris is scheduled to host a rally in Atlanta today alongside former President Barack Obama and the musician Bruce Springsteen.

The rally is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET and is being held at the Hallford Stadium in Clarkston, a suburb of Atlanta.

Bill Clinton says Harris is ‘vulnerable’ to attacks from Republicans

Former President Bill Clinton remarked at a campaign gathering for Black voters in Phoenix yesterday that Harris is “vulnerable” to “crazy attacks” from Republicans, and then he teased Trump for his unwillingness to participate in another debate with her.

“There is a sliver there that has to make up their mind, and to them, Kamala Harris just showed up,” Clinton said. “What they think of her largely depends on what they think of President Biden.”

“She is extremely vulnerable, more vulnerable than she deserves to be to crazy attacks,” Clinton said. Then, he added, “For all their macho talk, those boys didn’t want to get anywhere near another debate, did they?” the former president said.

Harris asks Anderson Cooper to ‘let her finish’ an answer about shifting positions

A concerned voter questioned Kamala Harris about her shifting positions during a CNN town hall and she asked moderator Anderson Cooper “if you don’t mind, just let me finish” as she tried answering.

“I think the spirit of your question is very important and I’m glad you raised it,” Harris told the voter. “Our country deserves to have a president who’s not afraid of good ideas and does not stand on pride. If a perspective needs to be informed by different points of view to build consensus and to have a common sense approach, I’m never going to shy away from good ideas. I’m not going to feel the need to let pride associate with a position that I’ve taken when the important thing is to build consensus to fix problems.”

Trump criticizes Harris’s town hall: ‘This was her worst performance’

Trump commented on Vice President Kamala Harris’ CNN town hall, describing it as “her worst performance” on an appearance on the Hugh Hewitt radio show.

“I think it’s her worst performance,” he said. “She hasn’t had any good ones, but this was her worst performance.”

Tucker Carlson: ‘There has to be a point at which Dad comes home’

Tucker Carlson likened Trump to a “dad” at a Georgia rally yesterday, saying, “There has to be a point at which Dad comes home. And he’s pissed. Dad is pissed.

“He’s not vengeful. He loves his children. Disobedient as they may be, he loves them, because they’re his children. They live in his house. But he’s very disappointed in their behavior. And he’s going to have to let them know.”

He added: “When Dad gets home, you know what he says? ‘You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl, and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now. And no, it’s not going to hurt me more than it hurts you. No, it’s not. I’m not going to lie. It’s going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me. And you earned this.'”

Anderson Cooper gives Kamala Harris a bruising CNN town hall

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper challenged Vice President Kamala Harris over the Biden administration’s record on illegal immigration and her personal attitude toward a border wall during the network’s town hall on Wednesday.

Cooper asked Harris to explain her support for a bipartisan immigration deal that included $650 million in spending on a border wall—though she previously “criticized the wall more than 50 times” and labeled a wall “stupid,” “useless” and “a medieval vanity project.”

Harris responded: “So let’s talk about Donald Trump and that border wall. Remember Donald Trump said Mexico would pay for it? Come on, they didn’t. How much of that wall did he build? I think the last number I saw is about 2 percent. And then when it came time for him to do a photo op you know where he did it? In the part of the wall that President Obama built.”

Harris also used her CNN appearance to call former President Donald Trump a fascist, echoing comments from John Kelly, Trump’s former White House chief of staff who said Trump had praised Adolf Hitler’s generals. The former president’s team strongly denies the allegation. The Republican nominee hit back on Truth Social, writing that Harris is “a Threat to Democracy” and “not fit to be President of the United States.”

Read More: Anderson Cooper Gives Kamala Harris a Bruising CNN Town Hall

Harris is ‘a threat to democracy,’ Trump says

Donald Trump wrote an attack post against Kamala Harris on his Truth Social account last night, writing that she is a “threat to democracy.”

“Comrade Kamala Harris sees that she is losing,” he wrote, “and losing badly, especially after stealing the Race from Crooked Joe Biden, so now she is increasingly raising her rhetoric, going so far as to call me Adolf Hitler, and anything else that comes to her warped mind. She is a Threat to Democracy, and not fit to be President of the United States — And her Polling so indicates!”

Trump leads Harris in North Carolina and Wisconsin, new poll shows

According to new polling data from Emerson College Polling/RealClearWorld, Trump is leading Harris in two of the seven battleground states in the 2024 election. A poll among likely North Carolina voters shows that Trump is ahead of Harris by two percentage points, leaving her at 48%, him at 50%, and 3% of voters remaining undecided.

“There is a clear gender divide, with men favoring Trump more strongly than women for Harris,” said executive director of Emerson College Polling, Spencer Kimball. “In North Carolina, men back Trump by 13 points, while women support Harris by seven points. In Wisconsin, men support Trump by 12, while women favor Harris by nine points.”

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, the same poll among likely Wisconsin voters shows that Trump leads Harris by one percentage point, putting him at 49% and her at 48% while 2% are undecided.

Campaign tracker: Where are the candidates today?

With less than two weeks left for the election, the candidates are making their final pitches to voters. Trump is hosting a rally in Tempe, Arizona today, focusing on the economy and housing, as stated on his campaign website. Meanwhile, Vance will be addressing the auto industry in Michigan.

Trump’s trip to Arizona is significant because it is a critical battleground state. The 11 electoral votes from Arizona are essential, and its varied electorate, including suburban and Hispanic voters, can influence the election outcome. Additionally, with a high-stakes Senate race happening alongside the presidential election, Trump’s efforts aim to drive turnout and support for both his campaign and lower-ticket contests.

Meanwhile, Harris is leading a rally in Georgia today, featuring former President Barack Obama and musician Bruce Springsteen. This marks the first occasion that Obama has joined the vice president at a campaign event since she was named the Democratic nominee. Walz is traveling across North Carolina, with three planned events today in the Tar Heel State, one of which is a rally in Wilmington.

Harris’s campaign efforts in Georgia are vital as the state has emerged as a key battleground in national elections.

Georgia’s transition from a historically Republican stronghold to a competitive swing state was highlighted in the 2020 election, when it significantly contributed to Joe Biden’s victory. For Harris and the Democratic Party, sustaining and increasing support in Georgia may be crucial for winning the state’s 16 electoral votes in 2024.