What to know about the campaigns today
- Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania, where she held a rally in bellwether Erie County.
- Former President Donald Trump also hit the trail in the state, with a town hall outside Philadelphia.
- Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, kicked off a bus tour with Democratic governors in Green Bay, Wisconsin, after a stop in Eau Claire.
- Former President Bill Clinton also campaigned for Harris in Georgia, criticizing Trump's attempts to distance himself from Project 2025.
Back-to-back medical incidents in audience interrupt Trump town hall
Two attendees had incidents requiring medical attention during Trump's town hall tonight in Oaks, Pennsylvania.
Roughly 30 minutes into the event, the town hall was paused and Trump asked for "Ave Maria" to be played while the first person was attended to. A man was taken out of the room during the first incident and pumped his fist in the air as he was leaving.
The music was played again during the second medical incident as Trump and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who was moderating the town hall, waited silently onstage.
Such incidents occur frequently at Trump's campaign events, often because of heat and how long supporters spend standing. Trump's town hall tonight got underway about 50 minutes after its scheduled start time.
Noem at one point referred to the temperature's being "really warm" at the indoor campaign event while encouraging people to take their seats after the second incident.
Trump also commented on the campaign location's being warm and asked about air conditioning before the town hall continued minutes later.
Walz blasts Trump over comments about using military against political opponents
Walz hit Trump over his remarks from over the weekend calling Democrats the “enemy from within” and seeming to call for the military to go after them.
Walz suggested at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that Trump’s comments were treasonous and said they were a “call for violence.”
“I’ll tell you what, we’ll let the lawyers decide if what he said was treason. But what I know is it’s a call for violence, plain and simple, and it’s pretty damn un-American if you ask me,” he said.
He told rallygoers to “really think about” Trump’s comments, saying his apparent threat included them.
“Americans who don’t support him, just to be clear, if any of your neighbors or friends or anybody thinks about that, you know he’s talking about — he’s talking about you,” Walz said.
Walz cited his own military record, saying he wore the uniform “proudly,” and he said the idea of sending the military against American citizens made him “sick to my stomach.”
Walz says 'nearly 80-year-old' Trump looks 'confused' at rallies
At a campaign rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Walz slammed Trump over his age and his refusal to release his medical records.
Walz said Trump has been “forgetting things” lately, facetiously citing that as the reason he has not released his medical records yet.
“Watch his rallies. He’s confused. He’s a nearly 80-year-old man. He’s ranting and rambling until people get bored and leave his rallies,” Walz said. “It would be funny if it wasn’t so dangerous.”
Walz noted that Harris released her medical records over the weekend, calling it proof that she has a “clean bill of health” and the physical and mental stamina for the job.
Trump is the oldest presidential nominee in U.S. history.
Harris to ramp up warnings that Trump 'poses risk' to the U.S.
At her Pennsylvania rally tonight in bellwether Erie County, Harris plans to ramp up warnings that a second Trump term would be dangerous and put people’s freedom at risk, a senior Harris campaign official said.
Harris will focus on comments Trump made on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” in which he called Democrats “the enemy from within.”
“We have some sick people, radical left lunatics, and I think they’re — and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or if really necessary by the military,” Trump said on Fox.
Harris plans to focus on Trump’s comments in interview appearances and at his rallies to paint him as increasingly erratic.
She also will cite his decision to skip a "60 Minutes" interview and his failure to release his medical records, the campaign official said. At a rally yesterday in North Carolina, Harris suggested that Trump's campaign was trying to “hide him away.”
“It makes you wonder, why does his staff want him to hide away? One must question, are they afraid that people will see that he is too weak and unstable to lead America? Is that what’s going on?” Harris said.
The Harris campaign launched an ad called “Enemy Within” this afternoon portraying Trump as “dangerous,” using former Trump-Pence administration officials who now back Harris.
NBC News congressional correspondent Julie Tsirkin talks to Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin and Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers ahead of their second debate in the closely contested Michigan Senate race.
California firefighters union endorses Harris, breaking with national IAFF
California Professional Firefighters endorsed Harris for president today, breaking with the national International Association of Fire Fighters after it announced this month it would not endorse a presidential candidate.
“California’s firefighters and residents alike can’t afford a President who threatens to withhold federal firefighter aid because of political preferences," the California union’s president, Brian Rice, said in a statement. "National state of emergency declarations should be about assisting the public whose lives and homes are endangered by wildfires, floods, and earthquakes, not partisan politics. CPF knows Kamala Harris understands the seriousness of that responsibility.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened during the campaign to withhold disaster funding for wildfires in the state if he wins in November.
Trump previously threatened to withdraw federal aid for wildfires in California when he was in office. In 2020, he initially denied a request from the state for wildfire aid before he ultimately approved it.
With Obama, ‘All the Smoke’ and ‘huddle-ups,’ Harris ramps up outreach to Black men
Harris’ campaign this week is launching its clearest effort yet to target Black men, announcing a new set of policy proposals, ramped-up programming and a media blitz — all designed to engage Black male voters as Republicans make a play for the typically Democratic constituency.
“As we approach the final stretch here, she wants to make sure that we are speaking directly to a constituency that has always been important for her, and that’s Black men,” said Michael Tyler, the Harris-Walz campaign’s communications director.
Harris outlined her “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men” today. The policies include a plan to provide as many as 1 million fully forgivable loans of up to $20,000 for Black entrepreneurs; further investment in training, mentorship and apprenticeship programs designed to help Black men land jobs in high-demand industries; and the legalization of recreational marijuana, paired with a concerted effort to make sure Black men are able to access wealth and jobs in that market.
Speaker Mike Johnson predicts a new coalition will elect Republicans in 2024
Reporting from Hellertown, Pennsylvania
A country club audience of roughly 150 Republican supporters and donors gathered here at the Steel Club, noshing on barbecue ribs and sipping glasses of chardonnay and lemonade.
Just a floor above, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sat in a quiet conference room detailing how Republicans would grow the House majority and win back the White House and Senate: by capturing a larger percentage of Hispanic, Black and Jewish voters, as well as union workers, than in past elections, he says.
“When we do the math on the other side of this election, this will bear out that we will have had a demographic shift,” Johnson said in an interview before the campaign event in Hellertown.
Michigan-based Arab American PAC declines to endorse a presidential candidate
The Arab American Political Action Committee announced today it is declining to make an endorsement in the presidential race.
“This year, we face a choice of two candidates who are harming our communities here and our families and friends in our homelands,” Osama Siblani, publisher of the Dearborn, Michigan-based Arab American News, said in the announcement.
“We simply cannot give our votes to either Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump, who blindly support the criminal Israeli government led by far right extremists, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” Siblani said.
The PAC endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
The PAC did not advise voters to back Green Party nominee Jill Stein, breaking with endorsements from groups like “Abandon Harris.”
The PAC also asked voters not to back Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin or GOP candidate Mike Rogers in the competitive Senate race.
Arab and Muslim leaders have reported fearing blowback for endorsing Harris.
Young men’s economic prospects are shifting, along with their politics
For David Tasker, an 18-year-old construction worker in Pennsylvania, his top financial priorities are having enough money for gas, dining out and spending on his girlfriend while living at home with his parents.
But he worries about the rising prices he has seen during his teen years as he has emerged into an economy experiencing decades-high inflation. For his first election, he said, he will be voting for Trump with those higher costs and concerns about the wider economy in mind.
“Trump can run America like a business, and Kamala would run it as a classroom,” Tasker said. “Trump would care about how Americans can get the most money, how we can care for the most people and keep America first.”
Gwen Walz kicks off two-day Pennsylvania tour
Tim Walz's wife, Gwen, today kicked off a two-day tour of Pennsylvania, where she'll appear with Lori Shapiro, the first lady of the battleground state, a Harris-Walz campaign official told NBC News.
During the first event of the tour in Wayne, Gwen Walz blasted Trump, who is also campaigning in Pennsylvania today.
"I hear Trump is also here ... peddling his same old gripes and grievances. He may even try to rewrite history on his record of attacking our reproductive freedom," Walz said at a campaign office.
"Well, I’m a longtime teacher, and in my classroom we believe in facts. So here are a few: Donald Trump overturned Roe — that’s a fact. If he wins, he will ban abortion nationwide, including in Pennsylvania — that’s a fact. He won’t stop there: He’ll go after birth control, emergency care, even IVF. That’s a fact.”
It is Walz's second visit to Pennsylvania since her husband joined Harris on the Democratic ticket.
Vance says Trump's 'enemy from within' remark about Democrats extends to foreign nationals, as well
At an event in Minneapolis, Vance appeared to expand Trump's comment about Democrats’ being “the enemy from within” by saying the enemy also includes foreign nationals living in the U.S.
“The enemy within are people that Kamala Harris let into this country, unvetted, unchecked and undocumented,” Vance said. He pointed in particular to an Afghan national in Oklahoma who was arrested last week on charges of planning a terrorist attack on Election Day.
Trump said in an interview yesterday that Democrats and others who have opposed or investigated him are “the enemy from within,” calling them more dangerous than U.S. adversaries such as Russia and China.
2 men wounded who were when a gunman opened fire on Trump at rally say Secret Service failed them
Two men who were shot when a gunman tried to assassinate Trump at a Pennsylvania rally said the Secret Service failed them and Trump that day in July and was negligent in its security response.
Jim Copenhaver, 74, and David Dutch, 57, said in an exclusive interview today that they were elated to be at the rally and sitting up in the bleachers behind Trump before the gunshots erupted and they were hit.
Both men said they believed the Secret Service and law enforcement officials were negligent in undertaking their duty to protect a former president and innocent civilians.
Former Trump aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman endorses Harris
Omarosa Manigault-Newman, who competed on "The Apprentice" and "Celebrity Apprentice" in the 2000s and worked in Trump's White House, has endorsed Harris for president.
In an interview with Variety, Manigault-Newman said: "[Trump] opted to go to the dark side. That’s why I have no reservation in — I guess I’m saying this for the first time — completely, 100 percent endorsing Kamala Harris for President."
Manigault-Newman served in the first Trump administration but left the White House on bad terms with Trump and his loyalists.
Trump rails against 'The Apprentice' film: 'Hatchet job'
In a late-night post on Truth Social, Trump blasted "The Apprentice," a new film that chronicles his early years and tutelage under ruthless fixer Roy Cohn.
"It’s a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job, put out right before the 2024 Presidential Election, to try and hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country," he wrote.
"The Apprentice" charts Trump (played by Sebastian Stan) as he rises to the top of Manhattan real estate business with help from McCarthy-era lawyer Cohn (Jeremy Strong), who schools his pupil in the dark arts of power politics.
The film drew controversy when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May partly because, in one graphic scene, the dramatized Trump character sexually assaults his first wife, Ivana Trump (Maria Bakalova).
Ivana Trump, in her 1990 divorce deposition, alleged her husband raped her. He denied the allegation. She later said she was not speaking literally but felt her ex-husband violated her. She died in 2022.
"My former wife, Ivana, was a kind and wonderful person, and I had a great relationship with her until the day she died," Trump wrote in the Truth Social post, which was published at 12:48 a.m. ET.
Trump said he hoped "The Apprentice" would bomb at the box office. (The movie opened to a tepid $1.58 million domestically.) His campaign previously threatened legal action against the producers.
In an interview last week with NBC News, "The Apprentice" director Ali Abbasi said he did not set out to make a political "hit job." He said he believes his film presents Trump "not as a caricature or a crooked politician or a hero or whatever you might think, but as a human being."
In Wisconsin, Walz blasts Trump and addresses young men
At a campaign stop at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, Walz addressed Trump's comments over the weekend suggesting his political opponents are "the enemy from within."
"He called it the enemy within, and to Donald Trump, anybody who doesn’t agree with him is the enemy. I tell you that not to make you fearful or anything. I tell you that because we need to whip his butt and put this guy behind us," Walz told students.
He also addressed young men, who polling suggests are leaning toward voting for Trump, telling them that Trump's rhetoric is "not cool."
"We need to get, especially, young men out there to vote. This is not damn WWE-type stuff. It’s not about, it’s not about, ‘Well, it’s cool when [Trump] talks like this, or whatever.’ It’s not cool. It hurts people, and it leads to violence, and it undermines our system. That is not cool," Walz said.
Clinton knocks Trump for denying knowledge of Project 2025
Campaigning for Harris in Georgia, Bill Clinton took aim at Trump for denying knowing about Project 2025, even though some of the architects of the plan were members of his administration.
Michigan Senate foes brace for a ‘really close’ race amid Harris-Trump brawl
DETROIT — The Michigan Senate race is one of several that could help determine control of the chamber and decide the presidential contest this fall. And unlike in some other swing states, both candidates in the open Senate race are sticking close to the tops of their tickets.
GOP former Rep. Mike Rogers praised Trump in an interview as being “ready to go in on the very first day to help get America and Michigan specifically back on track.”
Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, meanwhile, hailed Harris’ positive impact on her race as a “sea change” from President Joe Biden’s campaign, which was struggling before he dramatically dropped out of the race in July after a brutal debate performance against Trump.
Harris to interview with Fox News on Wednesday
The vice president will sit down with Fox News' Bret Baier for an interview Wednesday, the network said in a press release today.
The interview will be conducted in battleground Pennsylvania and will air during the network's 6 p.m. hour on "Special Report with Bret Baier."
Harris on Trump blasting cities with high Black populations: 'Come on'
Speaking to Roland Martin during a taping of his digital show, "Roland Martin Unfiltered," Harris addressed Trump's comments disparaging Detroit that he made in the city last week.
"Come on," Harris said.
In an appearance at the Detroit Economic Club last week, Trump said living in Detroit was "like living in hell."
Then, Martin and Harris named a handful of other cities with high populations of Black Americans that Trump has disparaged since 2016, including Oakland, Chicago, Milwaukee and Washington, D.C.
"If you just look at where the stars are in the sky, don’t look at them as just random things. If you just look at them as points, look at the constellation," Harris said, adding, "What does it show you? So you just outlined it, Roland. What does it show you that the cities that he picks on — in terms of Black population or Black mayor or both? Come on."
On the show, Harris also blasted Trump for not sitting down for an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes."
"This man is dangerous. ... His staff won’t let him do a '60 Minutes' interview," the vice president said, adding, "And it may be because they think he’s just not ready and unfit and unstable and should not have that level of transparency for the American people. There’s a real choice in this election."
‘Totally illegal’: Trump escalates rhetoric on outlawing political dissent and criticism
Trump is ramping up his rhetoric depicting his political rivals and critics as criminals while dropping a long trail of suggestions that he favors outlawing political speech that he deems misleading or challenges his claims to power.
In a speech Friday in Aurora, Colorado, Trump blasted the immigration system and lobbed a rhetorical grenade at his Harris.
“She’s a criminal. She’s a criminal,” said Trump, who was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in his New York hush money trial. “She really is, if you think about it.”
Trump supporters repeat his false claims about FEMA hurricane relief
PHOENIX — NBC News asked six Trump supporters what they thought of FEMA’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. All six were upset with FEMA’s response, and five of them of repeated false claims made by Trump and his allies about the agency.
“There’s videos all over the place of people trying to help. Set up little camps, set up all the stuff to bring them. And they’re [FEMA] coming in with helicopters. They’re coming in, shutting people down,” said Tyler Hammond, falsely claiming that FEMA is actively preventing hurricane assistance.
“They’re not even letting people help,” he added.
His wife, Taylor Hammond, claimed she’s seen the same thing. “They’re literally actively stopping American citizens from helping other American citizens, and that’s just not OK,” she said.
Asked where they had seen these videos, the couple said TikTok.
Taylor Hammond also falsely claimed that FEMA is only providing hurricane victims with $750 of relief. Three other Trump supporters that NBC News interviewed repeated his false claims that hurricane relief is being spent on immigrants.
"They’ve given all of our money to illegal criminals just for them to have votes for the future, and they’re destroying this country," said Patricia Kipp-Funaro, 55.
On a website set up to counter false rumors about hurricane relief, FEMA disputed that it is confiscating donations or blocking volunteers. Though the agency does not accept donations or volunteers, "FEMA encourages people who want to help to volunteer with or donate cash to reputable voluntary or charitable organizations."
On the $750 claim, which Trump has also repeated, FEMA said that $750 is just the starter payment "while FEMA assesses your eligibility for additional funds. As your application continues to be reviewed, you may still receive additional forms of assistance for other needs such as temporary housing, personal property and home repair costs."
As NBC News reported, the claim about disaster relief being diverted to undocumented immigrants is false and appears to be the result of people conflating two separate funds.
Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., also disputed claims that FEMA is stifling assistance, writing in a press release, "FEMA is NOT stopping trucks or vehicles with donations, confiscating or seizing supplies, or otherwise turning away donations."
"This is a flat out lie. We’re working with all partners around the clock to get help to people," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a tweet, responding to Trump's claims Friday that Democrats are preventing aid from entering areas ravaged by the hurricanes.
Trump or Harris? Here are the 2024 stakes for airlines, banks, EVs, health care and more
With the election less than a month away, the country and its corporations are staring down two drastically different options.
For airlines, banks, electric vehicle makers, health care companies, media firms, restaurants and tech giants, the outcome of the presidential contest could result in stark differences in the rules they’ll face, the mergers they’ll be allowed to pursue and the taxes they’ll pay.
During his last time in power, Trump slashed the corporate tax rate, imposed tariffs on Chinese goods and sought to cut regulation and red tape and discourage immigration, ideas he’s expected to push again if he wins a second term.
Harris questions Trump’s transparency with voters after she releases her medical report
Reporting from Greenville, North Carolina
Harris suggested yesterday that Trump was trying to return to the White House without revealing vital details about his health and policy plans that voters need to make an informed choice in the election.
At a raucous rally in the battleground state of North Carolina, Harris said Trump isn’t being “transparent with voters.” She cited his refusal to take part in a second debate with her, along with his decision to bow out of an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” as part of the show’s traditional presidential election special. She also questioned why Trump hasn’t made public a comprehensive report on his health.
Trump, Harris and the end of Roe all collide in closely divided battle for white women
Reporting from Erie, Pennsylvania
Dr. Theresa Wheeling had always been a registered Republican. She voted third party in 2016 and then for Trump in 2020, in large part because she felt it would be “hypocritical” to vote against her kids’ chosen jobs, which were related to various Trump administration policies and promises.
But one day after the Supreme Court upended federal abortion protections previously enshrined by Roe v. Wade, Wheeling changed her party affiliation. And this time around, she is voting for Harris.
“I felt embarrassed to call myself a Republican,” Wheeling said. “Four years ago, I might have said no [to Harris], but now I do think she is more moderate. And I absolutely cannot vote for Trump.”
Walz kicks off Wisconsin bus tour
Walz will be in Wisconsin, where he kicks off a bus tour with Democratic governors in support of the Harris campaign.
He will campaign in Eau Claire before he heads to Green Bay for events with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers.
Casey targets McCormick’s residency ahead of final debate
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., is focusing on questions about GOP challenger Dave McCormick’s residency, launching a new digital ad on the issue ahead of their final debate tomorrow.
The 15-second ad, shared exclusively with NBC News, features a McCormick impersonator running through a cornfield as a narrator says, “Dave McCormick seems lost. He said he grew up on a farm. Turns out, he grew up in a mansion. He told voters he lived in Pennsylvania when he was really living in Connecticut. Hope he can find his way back.”
The ad points to news coverage about McCormick’s background and his Connecticut residence, highlighting one of Democrats’ main attacks against McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO. The ad will air on digital platforms including YouTube.
Casey and McCormick clashed over McCormick’s residency in their first debate earlier this month, with Casey saying McCormick’s claim that he lived in the Keystone State is “probably the biggest lie told in the whole election.” While McCormick acknowledged he lived in Connecticut while managing the hedge fund, he stressed that he has been living in Pennsylvania.
Harris unveils economic agenda targeting Black men voters
The Harris campaign rolled out a policy plan dubbed the "Opportunity Agenda for Black Men" today that includes giving loans to Black entrepreneurs, investing in training more Black male teachers, protecting crypto assets and legalizing marijuana to expand Black Americans' success in the industry.
The announcement comes as Harris' support among Black men has been slipping in polls. Just last week, former President Barack Obama addressed the men who have been leaning toward Trump at an event in Pittsburgh.
"I’m sorry, gentlemen, I’ve noticed this especially with some men who seem to think some of Trump’s behavior — the bullying and the putting people down — is a sign of strength. And I am here to tell you: That is not what real strength is. It never has been,” Obama said.
How different turnout models change the NBC News poll results
Close elections always come down to turnout. And while a lot of unknowns remain ahead of November’s presidential election, one thing seems almost certain: It’s going to be close, at least in many of the key states that will decide the election.
So the bipartisan polling team behind the NBC News poll, Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research Associates, devised an experiment.
What happens to the ballot test in NBC News’ brand-new national poll when you assume a turnout model that benefits the Democratic Party versus one that favors the GOP?
Bill Clinton stumps for Harris in Georgia
Former President Bill Clinton will campaign for Harris today, speaking in Columbus, Georgia.
Clinton is making the case for Harris in rural areas of Southern battleground states, joining Barack Obama as former presidents trying to win over voters in a final push for Harris before Election Day.
Arab and Muslim leaders risk blowback for endorsing Harris
Last month, Mohammed Hassan, a longtime city councilor in Hamtramck, Michigan, the only Muslim-majority city in the country, got a call from someone with Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign asking him what they needed to do to win back disaffected Michigan Muslims.
“I shouted at them. I shouted, really, I said, ‘You guys are not doing anything! You’re doing nothing! You need to do much much more,’” Hassan said. “I made a big noise.”
That message, which Hassan was hardly the only one delivering, appears to have finally gotten through to the Harris campaign, which has in the past two weeks dramatically ramped up efforts to win back a group of voters that could be critical in Michigan and other battleground states.
But Harris faces ongoing challenges in finding Muslim and Arab community leaders willing to publicly embrace her and risk blowback from their own constituents angered by the continued U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza and southern Lebanon.
Trump supporters rip Kari Lake for denying she lost her own race
NBC News asked four Trump supporters whether they were more confident that Trump would win Arizona or Kari Lake would win her Senate race against Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego.
Three said they’re more confident in Trump, and the fourth said she’s equally confident in both of the candidates.
All four Trump supporters buy into Trump’s 2020 stolen election claims. But those same people aren’t convinced that the 2022 gubernatorial election, which Lake lost but she has yet to concede, was stolen from her.
“I feel like she should have just shut her mouth on honestly, and I think it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way,” Tyler Hammond, 31, said as to why he’s not as confident that Lake will win her race.
Lake "spent too much time at Mar-a-Lago and not focusing on Arizona,” said his wife, Taylor Hammond, 30.
“I am horrified about how poorly Kari is doing,” John Giza, 66, said. “I knock on doors for a nonpartisan group that advances America First, and she’s running about 40% not being supported or undecided in Republicans. And that’s, that’s failure,” he added.
Asked why he believes the 2020 election was rigged but Lake's 2022 loss wasn’t, Giza said, “They had already started working on the issues with people voting who weren’t supposed to vote” by 2022.
Harris' Erie trip marks her 7th visit to western Pennsylvania
The vice president's trip to Erie today marks her seventh visit to the western part of the state this election cycle. Harris will start her trip to Erie by stopping by a local Black-owned small business for a conversation with Black men from the Erie area.
Following the conversation, Harris will deliver remarks at a campaign rally at the Erie Insurance Arena at approximately 7:30 p.m. ET. Sen. John Fetterman will also deliver remarks. At the rally, the vice president will highlight her vision for a New Way Forward, while encouraging Pennsylvanians to vote early or return their mail ballot.
‘Dead heat’: Trump pulls even with Harris in NBC News poll
Trump and Harris are deadlocked in the latest national NBC News poll, with Trump bolstered by Republicans coming back home to support him after last month’s rough debate and a subsequent polling deficit, as well as by a favorable voter assessment of his term as president.
Those are among the findings of a new survey released three weeks before Election Day, which also shows Harris’ popularity declining compared with a month ago, after she got a big summertime boost; a massive gender gap between support for Harris and Trump; and voters viewing abortion as a top motivating issue heading into the vote.
“As summer has turned to fall, any signs of momentum for Kamala Harris have stopped,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. “The race is a dead heat.”
Harris unveils ‘opportunity agenda’ for Black men that includes forgivable loans for startups
Harris announced today an "opportunity agenda" for Black men that she said would remove barriers to wealth creation, education, employment, earnings and health while improving the criminal justice system.
The agenda includes providing 1 million loans to Black entrepreneurs and others — fully forgivable up to $20,000 — "who have a good idea but don’t have the resources, connections, or access to capital to get their business off the ground." It also consists of education, mentorship and training programs; a cryptocurrency regulatory framework; a health initiative focusing on Black men; and legalizing recreational marijuana and creating new opportunities for Black men in that industry.
A campaign news release said that Harris knew Black men felt their voices have gone “unheard” and that her agenda was meant to equip them with tools to “achieve financial freedom, lower costs to better provide for themselves and their families, and protect their rights.”
“For Vice President Harris, getting by is not enough—it’s about making sure that Black men in America have the opportunity to get ahead, to thrive, and to be the change agents in communities across the nation,” her campaign said.
Harris and Trump are ramping up their pitches to Black men in the final stretch of the campaign. As Trump has gained ground with young Black men, Harris has enlisted former President Barack Obama to make an appeal to Black voters.
Though Black men in swing states are still overwhelmingly backing Harris, Trump has made gains among young Black men, a September Howard University poll found.
Harris campaign slams Trump for saying abortion issue has been 'defused'
The Harris-Walz campaign today blasted Trump for suggesting in an interview that abortion rights are not a top concern for voters this election.
“Because of extreme Trump abortion bans, women’s health, freedoms, and lives are on the line — yet Donald Trump says women ‘will no longer be thinking about’ it this November. Doctors are facing criminal penalties for providing care, but Trump claims the issue has ‘defused,’” Harris campaign senior adviser Morgan Mohr said in a statement first shared with NBC News.
Trump said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that the issue of abortion has been “largely defused” when he was asked whether women needed to be afraid of a national abortion ban, saying that was “off the table” and that the issue was in the hands of the states.
Trump called abortion a “small issue” at an August news conference, saying it was “not a big factor anymore.”
A new NBC News poll found that abortion was the issue respondents feel so strongly about they would vote for or against a candidate solely on that basis. Twenty-two percent of voters ranked it as a motivating issue.
The same poll asked who voters thought would handle key issues better. Harris’ best issue was abortion, with a 19-percentage-point lead over Trump.
“Survivors are facing the barbaric repercussions of Trump bans with no exceptions, but Trump shrugs it off and says abortion is ‘overplayed’ and is ‘going to be a very small issue,’” Mohr said. “Trump thinks he can get away with his unpopular Project 2025 plans to ban abortion nationwide because he doesn’t think women’s freedoms matter to the American people. He’s wrong — and he’ll learn the hard way this November.”
Trump to hold town hall near Philadelphia
Trump will hold a town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia.
He'll be in the battleground state the same day as Harris.
Harris to hold rally in bellwether Pennsylvania county
Harris heads to Pennsylvania, campaigning in bellwether Erie County.
Erie has voted for the winner of the state, and the presidency overall, in the last four elections.
Harris is holding a rally there today.