What's happening on the campaign trail today
- Former President Donald Trump is campaigning in North Carolina today, making stops in Gastonia and Greensboro. He also delivered remarks in Salem, Virginia, a state that hasn't voted for a Republican presidential nominee in decades.
- Vice President Kamala Harris will make an appearance on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, according to three people familiar with the planning. Earlier, she held a campaign rally in Atlanta before traveling to North Carolina to address a crowd in Charlotte.
- The Harris campaign continued to rely on star power today, with Michelle Obama speaking in Pennsylvania alongside singer Alicia Keys and Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, appearing in Las Vegas this afternoon at a lunch alongside actor Eva Longoria.
Michelle Obama swipes at Trump — without mentioning his name
Reporting from Norristown, Pa.
Former first lady Michelle Obama never mentioned Trump by name but depicted him tonight as a petty “con man” who has been peddling nonsense and disinformation since he emerged as a presidential candidate nearly a decade ago.
Speaking in Montgomery County, a key suburban battleground in Pennsylvania, Obama said that part of the reason Trump is unfit to serve is the example he sets for impressionable children. Young people need role models who espouse good values, she said in her half-hour speech. None should be emulating Trump, she suggested.
“We have to choose leaders who embody the values that we seek to pass on to our children,” she said before an audience of about 3,800 in a high school gym. Thousands more were turned away because of limited space, but before taking the stage, Obama addressed some of them in an overflow room.
“There’s no way we can tell our kids that anything is possible — that we should be open and accepting of every voice and perspective — and then give them a leader who contradicts all the lessons we’ve taught them,” she said. “Our children deserve better role models.”
A hugely popular figure among Democrats, the former first lady received a raucous reception as she sought to pump up Harris supporters three days before the polls close.
“The words our leaders utter have real impact on [children],” said Obama, who raised two young daughters in the White House. “Those words can build them up and they can tear them down. And if we keep exposing our children to hatred and ugliness, we risk eroding their sense of humanity. We risk breaking their spirits. We risk extinguishing their hopes for the future.”
Trump appears to be following Obama’s campaign appearances — and doesn’t like what he’s seen. At a rally in Atlanta earlier this week, he called her “nasty.”
“That was a big mistake that she made,” he said.
She’s not backing off.
At one point in her speech, she described the former president as “a small man trying to make himself feel big.”
Harris to appear on ‘Saturday Night Live’
Harris will make an appearance on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, according to three people familiar with the planning.
It will be the last episode before the election. Actor and comedian John Mulaney is hosting, and Chappell Roan is the musical guest.
Thousands attend Michelle Obama and Alicia Keys' rally for Harris-Walz in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Reporting from Montgomery County, Pa.
It’s a full house for the Harris-Walz rally that Michelle Obama and Alicia Keys are headlining in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, with 3,800 people packed inside the rally to hear Obama.
The former first lady recently came under attack from Trump, who called her “nasty.” She has yet to refer to Trump by name in her remarks this evening, instead calling him “Kamala’s opponent.”
Seventeen thousand people RSVP’d to the event — far more than the high school gymnasium where it is being held can fit — and thousands more who did not get in are in an overflow room.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro joined Obama and Keys in the overflow room before the event, speaking to the crowd who could not get near the main stage. Their message to attendees: VOTE.
Pro-Harris couple attending Michelle Obama event details experience attending a Trump rally
Reporting from Norristown, Pennsylvania
Voters traveled from near and far to see former first lady Michelle Obama stump for Harris in the Philadelphia suburbs tonight, and some are regulars at campaign events in the battleground states.
The event in Montgomery County is Stacey Hanley and John Kupetz’ third in the last two weeks alone, the couple told NBC News.
The two already voted for Harris by mail in the swing state, he said — but not before they attended a Trump rally.
“Last week, we were at a Kamala Harris event in Philadelphia and at the [Donald] Trump rally up in State College,” Kupetz told NBC News.
“We wanted to go see what it was going to be like for ourselves,” said Hanley. “We watch a lot of news, and we wanted to see if what they’re saying is true. You know, Kamala did say, 'Go see a Trump rally.' We did.”
During the only presidential debate in September, Harris said, “I invite you to attend one of Donald Trump’s rallies. … The one thing you will not hear him talk about is you. You will not hear him talk about your needs, your dreams and your desires.”
Hanley, a life-long registered independent, took her seriously.
“Most of my family is very Republican, all for Trump, and I want to be able to tell them that I actually saw both sides, and I’ve made my decision based on all of the information I could take in, not just a one-sided point of view. And I still stand with Kamala,” she said.
The couple said despite “dressing the part” to fit in, the rally felt “quiet” with little interaction among attendees. Hanley said she wore “a red t-shirt” and some “red white and blue stuff because she was going "into enemy territories.”
“There was a lot of people when we first walked in, and it actually made us nervous, going, ‘Oh my gosh, all these people here for him,’” Hanley observed, noting that Trump was late to the rally and many supporters had left by the time he began his speech.
"But seeing the exodus that happened, that we’ve been seeing on TV, and now we know as factual, gave me a little bit of hope that a lot of people were there for the same reason we were to see it for themselves,” she said.
In Wisconsin’s key Senate race, Eric Hovde’s closing message focuses on Tammy Baldwin’s sexuality
In Wisconsin’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race, Republican Eric Hovde has focused much of his closing messaging on attacking the finance career of Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s girlfriend, highlighting their same-sex relationship.
In a slew of television ads in the final stretch of the election, Hovde’s campaign has repeatedly mentioned Maria Brisbane, referring to her as Baldwin’s “life partner” or her “girlfriend.” Baldwin publicly refers to Brisbane as her girlfriend.
Harris during brief protest: 'We are fighting for a democracy and the right of people to speak their mind'
Harris spoke for more than 20 minutes during her rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, sticking to her usual messaging arguing she would work on a "to-do list" for all Americans, while casting Trump as someone focused on personal grievances.
She was briefly interrupted at times by protesters, but her supporters chanted over them.
"One of the reasons we are here is because we are fighting for a democracy and the right of people to speak their mind. But right now, I am speaking," Harris said as her supporters cheered.
At least one protester was critical of the war in Gaza. It was unclear whether all were protesting on behalf of the same cause.
"It's all good," she said later as supporters chanted her name over the sounds of protests. "And look, we all want that war in the Middle East to end. We want the hostages home, and when I am president, I will do everything in my power to make it so."
At rally, Trump leans into Virginia's culture war over transgender students' participation in sports teams
Trump invited a team of female athletes on stage at his rally in Salem, Virgnia, promising to “keep men out of women’s sports.”
The former president invited Lily Mullens, a Virginia college swim captain, to speak. Mullens said, “I would like to thank you, President Trump, for standing with women and promising to protect the rights of all of us.”
“Keeping men out of women’s sports” has been a popular tagline in Trump’s rallies on the campaign trail, as he leans into the cultural battle seeking to place restrictions on transgender students’ participation in sports.
That issue was one Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin leaned on to propel himself to the governorship in 2021. Youngkin’s administration then passed policies rolling back accommodations for transgender students enacted by the state’s previous Democratic administration.
Vance's mention of mail-in voting draws jeers from Maricopa County crowd
Reporting from Scottsdale, Arizona
During his second campaign event of the day, Vance implored a crowd in Arizona's Maricopa County to vote early for the Republican ticket ahead of Tuesday’s election. But at the senator’s mention of voting by mail, the Scottsdale crowd heckled and jeered, prompting the vice presidential candidate to correct himself.
“If you know somebody who’s got a ballot, tell them to drop it off or get it in the mail,” Vance began, drawing boos from the crowd. “We’ve got to bank as many — sorry, not the mail, not the mail,” the senator continued. “Okay, drop them off. That’s right. Do not send them in the mail. Drop them off.”
On the campaign trail, Vance often encourages his rally crowds to cast their ballots ahead of Election Day — a request in line with the RNC’s efforts to bank votes for Republicans as early in the voting process as possible to counter Democrats’ advantages in early and mail-in voting in recent elections.
Bill Clinton offers a closing message on behalf of Harris-Walz
Former President Bill Clinton encouraged undecided voters in Pennsylvania to vote for the Harris-Walz ticket in remarks to NBC News following a rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania.
Clinton said Walz is the governor in a state “not very much different from Pennsylvania” and has done "amazing things," arguing that Harris has a better economic, health care and energy plan than Trump.
“Her plan costs less than half as much as Trump’s does,” Clinton said. “And if you can do twice as much good for half the money, you ought to take the chance. She will be a good president.”
Biden says Republicans who want tax cuts for the wealthy are 'the kind of guys you like to smack'
During a campaign event in Pennsylvania, Biden attacked Republicans for seeking to revive Trump's tax plan if the former president's elected again, calling Republicans "the kind of guys you like to smack in the ass."
"There’s one more thing Trump and his Republican friends want to do. They want another giant tax cut for the wealthy," Biden told union workers today.
"I’ll tell you what, man. When I was in Scranton, we used to have a little trouble going down to the plot every once in a while," Biden added, alluding to getting into skirmishes as a boy.
"But I’m serious," he continued. "These are the kind of guys you like to smack in the ass."
The White House and the Harris campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
West Wing cast teams up with anti-Trump PAC Lincoln Project in new ad endorsing Harris
The West Wing cast has reunited to endorse Harris in a new ad released today in partnership with anti-Trump PAC The Lincoln Project.
The ad says the White House “is more than just a building” as the camera pans to different places in the White House and shows different Republican and Democratic presidents.
“It’s the place where Americans look for leadership when the night is at its darkest and when the dawn breaks brightest,” the ad says.
The cast said in a statement that though their White House was in a “make-believe world,” they dealt with “real-life issues” from reproductive rights to national security.
“We came to our West Wing with different personal politics and backgrounds. But it was impossible to work on this show without sharing a deep pride in what it meant to be an American. We were lucky to work together for years but we knew our greatest good luck was waking up each day as part of the world’s oldest democracy,” the statement said.
“We support Kamala Harris for president because we love America,” the cast added.
The statement was signed by eight cast members including Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, Dulé Hill, Janel Moloney, Joshua Malina, Mary McCormack and Richard Schiff.
Eric Trump says his father will accept election results 'assuming it's fair'
NBC News asked Eric Trump whether his father would accept the results of the election if he loses.
"I mean, assuming it’s fair? Yes," he said, before casting doubt on election integrity. "I mean, we’re finding voter fraud all over the place."
There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
"As long as it’s fair, yes, he would accept the results. If it’s not fair, I think he would probably be pretty upset with the results, as would all of America. So we want free, fair and transparent elections," he added. "That’s all we can ask for free, fair and transparent. If they are, we’re gonna win."
Trump refrains from violent rhetoric against political foes in otherwise familiar N.C. remarks
Reporting from Gastonia, N.C.
Trump wrapped up his first of two stops in North Carolina, a state he won in 2020 and is trying to defend in a dead heat with Harris in critical swing states, without using violent rhetoric against his political foes.
As he often does, Trump spoke at length again about what he calls “the weave,” referring to his tendency to meander from subject to subject in a way that can be hard to follow.
That included the topic of illegal immigration, during which Trump worked in a reference to the fictional serial killer and cannibal Hannibal Lecter — one he hasn’t made in weeks.
“So I’ve done something for you that I haven’t done in 20 speeches. I brought up Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and we’re allowing him,” Trump said. He explained that while he has been criticized for making the reference, he was trying to draw an analogy to the kinds of criminal and insane migrants whom he has repeatedly claimed, without substantiation, are being released by their native countries and are crossing into the U.S.
But the former president refrained from the kind of imagery he invoked about Republican former Rep. Liz Cheney, who has endorsed Harris. Trump suggested earlier this week that Cheney would not be a war hawk if she had “nine barrels shooting at her,” which drew backlash from the Harris campaign and others.
Trump also brought up his level of support from women, which polling has show lags that of men. After Trump received criticism from the Harris campaign for saying earlier this week that he will protect women “whether the women like it or not," Trump told rallygoers that women love him because he will protect them in the suburbs.
“I got into so much trouble. You saw that. I said we will protect because I keep hearing, I think the women love me, I do, because they know," Trump said, adding, "They got millions of people pouring through and coming up to the suburbs.”
The former president briefly brought up his sole debate with Harris, criticizing her performance and saying, “What the hell was that?” Trump said, in comparison, that he had “an aptitude for this shit.”
Trump also sought to foreshadow a bad economy under a would-be Harris administration, telling the crowd that current jobs numbers are “depression numbers,” which is inaccurate. Jobs are still being added to the U.S. economy, though, as Trump notes, there has been a loss in manufacturing jobs and the October jobs report came in far lower than expected, in part because of the multi-state hurricane damage and labor strikes.
Eric Trump gets sentimental at campaign rally, says 'it's hard to believe it is coming to an end'
During a campaign event in Pennsylvania, Eric Trump started his speech by getting sentimental, saying “today is not as much about me asking everybody to go out and vote because everybody knows what is at stake, it’s honestly me saying thank you for an amazing ten year period of time."
"It’s hard to believe it is coming to an end in a 3 day period of time," he added.
Eric Trump went on to say that when his father first embarked on his political journey, "we didn’t know a damn thing about politics."
"We were running against Hillary Clinton, one of the greatest political dynasties in the history of the world, right, we were totally underfunded, we didn’t know what a delegate was, we didn’t know what we were doing when we showed up in Iowa or any of these places, we didn’t understand the game, and we went out there and we fought every single day," Trump said.
Harris says former Rep. Liz Cheney has shown 'extraordinary courage' in supporting her campaign
Harris praised former Rep. Liz Cheney for crossing party lines to support her campaign and defended her campaign for embracing anti-Trump Republicans like the former representative during an interview with CNN before her rally in Atlanta.
“I think Liz Cheney has shown extraordinary courage to be so open about the stakes of this election and to put country and the Constitution of the United States before party,” Harris said. "I applaud at the highest level the courage that she has shown to stand on principle."
“The coalition that I’ve been building over the course of this campaign and in my career, is about bringing people together, knowing the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us, and I invite disagreement,” she added. "We need good debate. We need disagreement where we challenge the principles and the ideas. My table will include people who will disagree with me, so that we can arrive at the best decisions."
Erie County, Pennsylvania, to hand deliver some late ballots
Erie County, Pennsylvania, will hand deliver late ballots locally and overnight others after they were sued over thousands of missing and problematic mail ballots.
The state Democrats sued the Erie County Board of Elections on Wednesday, alleging that as many as 20,000 voters did not receive their mail ballots and that more than 300 voters had received incorrect or duplicate ballots.
On Friday afternoon, a judge ordered the missing ballots and list of affected voters to be delivered to election officials within hours. The county contracted to overnight the ballots to out-of-state voters, and planned to hand-deliver local ballots to residents.
County Clerk Karen Chillcott told NBC News on Thursday that the ballot printing vendor and U.S. Postal Service were conducting an audit to uncover who was at fault the missing ballots, noting that she and her office were incredibly disappointed that these failures had affected voters.
The suit, with both major parties as plaintiffs after the state GOP joined the suit on Friday, was an unusual moment of unity in election-related litigation, which has often pitted the parties against each other, and a sign of how seriously Republicans are courting mail ballots in this cycle after disparaging them in 2020.
Vance and Walz have near run-in at Las Vegas airport
Vance and Walz had a near-run in on the tarmac in Las Vegas today but did not interact as they, their staffs, the Secret Service and the traveling press boarded their respective campaign planes positioned side-by-side at the airport.
Walz arrived just moments before Vance, whose motorcade was held at the entrance to the tarmac as the Minnesota governor boarded his plane. Vance only offered a quick look over his shoulder at the Democrat's jet, parked just yards away, as he emerged from his own motorcade.
Donald Trump Jr., who has been traveling with Vance since yesterday afternoon, stopped at the top of the towable stairs as he boarded to take a picture and then a selfie-style video with the Harris-Walz plane in the background.
Vance and Walz recently had another close run-in at the airport in Phoenix as the two candidates rallied separately in Maricopa County last month. And back in early August, Vance and Harris had a near encounter at the airport in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Vance, followed by a gaggle of staff and reporters, crossed the tarmac and tried to greet Harris, who had just arrived ahead of an afternoon rally. Ultimately unsuccessful, he returned across the tarmac toward his plane with a shrug.
“I just wanted to check out my future plane,” he said.
5 keys to a Trump victory
Trump won more than 74 million votes in 2020 — more than any Republican presidential candidate in history, but not enough to win the popular vote or the Electoral College.
The loss remains an obsession for the former president and many of his supporters, whose refusal to accept defeat led to a riot at the Capitol and drove political discourse for four years.
Only recently has Trump acknowledged that he lost to President Joe Biden “by a whisker,” though he quickly returned to repeating claims of voter fraud that have been debunked at every turn.
Now, rather than the rematch he had sought with Biden, who dropped his bid for a second term in July after a disastrous debate performance raised concerns about his health, Trump has a battle with Harris.
If the race is as close as polls suggest, the country may not know the results on election night. Here are five keys to a Trump win.
Swifties for Kamala launches mail campaign to turn out PA voters
Swifties for Kamala has sent more than 250,000 targeted mailers encouraging young Pennsylvania women with a low propensity to vote to enter their voting era for Harris.
"Every vote in this election matters, especially in Pennsylvania, which could be the state that makes the planets and the fates and all the stars align for VP Harris," the mailer reads. "We think you belong in the voting booth because we are never going back, like ever."
The Taylor Swift fan-driven organization, which is not affiliated with the pop star or the Harris campaign, linked voter files to data based on concertgoer purchases among women aged 18-34. The mailer campaign has so far resulted in 4,600 pledges to vote.
Roughly one fifth of recipients received a custom Swifties for Kamala friendship bracelet — 20,000 in Philadelphia, 10,000 in Pittsburgh, and 20,000 across several key Pennsylvania counties.
“Mail programs are typically hyper-political when you look at them, and oftentimes go immediately into the trash, Annie Wu Henry, S4K campaign manager, said in a statement. "We are revamping this form of communication with a gentler touch, that calls the voter in with a community and message that we anticipate they will resonate with.”
The campaign, inspired by “VOTE” cards included in Swift’s own merchandise packages in 2020, was paid for by the Fund the Future PAC, the group said.
North Carolina and Michigan see big numbers as early voting nears end
Early in-person voting in North Carolina, has broken the previous record set four years ago, with nearly 3.8 million ballots cast as of Friday afternoon. More than 3.6 million voters cast ballots during early voting in 2020.
In addition, total turnout in the general election exceeds 4 million voters, with more than half of registered voters turning out so far.
In Michigan, nearly 2.8 million people have cast ballots, or almost 40% of the total expected turnout so far, with more than two-thirds of those submitting absentee ballots as opposed to voting early in person, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said. More than 13% of voters are casting ballots for the first time and 55% of those voting are women, it said.
Swing state officials prepare for potential disruptions around December electors meetings
The final votes of the presidential election have yet to be cast, but concern is already swirling among state election officials that a close outcome could fuel chaos during the routine events that follow a campaign.
In the weeks following Election Day, results will be certified by state officials, recounts may occur and electors will meet in each state to formally cast their Electoral College votes. Those votes later get sent to Washington, D.C., where lawmakers are scheduled to formally count those results during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2025.
These meetings in states, outlined by federal statute and specified by state laws, statutes or constitutions, will occur on Dec. 17. The violence of Jan. 6, 2021 — as well as the growing expectation that former President Donald Trump may not accept the election results if he loses to Vice President Kamala Harris — has prompted federal officials to beef up security in the nation’s capital for the same occasion this time around. Specifically, concerns abound that the possible submission of alternate slates of electors could manifest as unrest ahead of and during these meetings.
Officials in battleground states — whose Capitols will, in most cases, host the December meetings of electors — are beginning to plan for such contingencies as well, in preparation that these events could be disrupted.
Harris slams Speaker Mike Johnson for saying the GOP may repeal CHIPS Act
Harris tore into Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Saturday for his comment that Republicans might seek to repeal the CHIPS and Science Act if they take control of Congress in the upcoming election.
“I also want to speak to the comments that have been recently made by the speaker of the House,” Harris told reporters in Milwaukee. “It is just further evidence of everything that I’ve actually been talking about for months now, about [former President Donald] Trump’s intention to implement Project 2025.”
“We have talked repeatedly — and the American people know what’s in it — we’ve talked repeatedly about their intention to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. Now to get rid of the CHIPS Act,” Harris added.
Her remarks came a day after Johnson made the controversial comment at an event in New York with politically vulnerable Rep. Brandon Williams, R-N.Y. When asked whether Republicans will seek to repeal the CHIPS Act if they win the election, Johnson replied, “I expect that we probably will,” according to a video posted by a local journalist.
Johnson’s statement led to an awkward exchange in which Williams stood next to him and disagreed. “The CHIPS Act is hugely impactful here,” Williams said, vowing to “remind” Johnson “night and day” about the importance of the law.
Johnson replied by praising Williams: “If that’s an important thing for your district, you need this guy there to make that case.”
Pam Bondi blasts Mark Cuban at Trump rally over remarks about women who support Trump
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi blasted Mark Cuban, who has been campaigning for Harris, about comments he made about the women who work for Trump.
"I think we have a message for Mark Cuban: underestimate us," Bondi told attendees at a Trump campaign rally in North Carolina, adding: "This will be fun."
Cuban has been attacked by Republicans in recent days for a comment he made, saying that strong women are "intimidating" to Trump.
"I was a prosecutor for 18 years. I worked for President Trump. He’s my friend, and I can tell you, he surrounds himself with a lot of strong, bright, brilliant women," Bondi said on Saturday.
On Friday, Cuban apologized for his remark, writing on X, "When I said this during the interview, I didn’t get it out exactly the way I thought I did. So I apologize to anyone who felt slighted or upset by my response. As I said, it wasn’t about trump voters, supporters or employees."
Trump wanted to label Biden the r-word but campaign pushed back, new report says
The Trump campaign is calling new reporting by The Atlantic that the former president wanted to call President Joe Biden "a retard” during campaign rallies "materially false," saying it "was never discussed."
"Joe Biden’s mental decline was clear for the world to see," Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement to NBC News. "All we had to do was play highlights of his cringe-worthy speeches and botched interviews."
The Atlantic reported this morning, citing three people who had heard his remarks, that in June, Trump wanted to start calling the president, who was then still a candidate, “Retarded Joe Biden.” Trump's campaign pushed back hard against the idea, however, out of fear it might alienate moderate voters and generate sympathy for the president, the magazine reported.
NBC News has not independently verified The Atlantic's reporting.
It’s the final weekend for Harris and Trump to make their case to voters with Election Day just three days away. NBC’s Aaron Gilchrist reports for TODAY.
FBI denies involvement in two false videos related to election security
In a statement, the FBI said that they're "aware of two videos falsely claiming to be from the FBI relating to election security."
One video is "stating the FBI has apprehended three linked groups committing ballot fraud" while the second video is one "relating to the Second Gentleman," the statement said.
A spokesperson for the Harris campaign did not immediately respond to questions about the video relating to second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Harris' husband.
"These videos are not authentic, are not from the FBI, and the content they depict is false," the statement added.
The FBI told NBC News they had no additional details to provide on the videos beyond their written statement.
Trump: 'Kamala is slumping to the finish line'
Ahead of a rally in North Carolina on Saturday, Trump slammed Harris on TruthSocial, writing that she "is slumping to the finish line, yawning, shrieking, and cackling, while I am working 24/7 to win this Election, so we can save our Country and, Make America Great Again!"
He also called the vice president "a Low IQ individual, not equipped to be President," an attack that he's launched against Harris several times on the campaign trail.
A Harris campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump has ratcheted up his personal attacks against Harris in recent weeks.
At a rally in Wisconsin yesterday, the former president told the crowd that Harris "can’t handle anything which, well she’s not equipped for [meeting with foreign leaders]. She’s not a president. She’ll get overwhelmed, meltdown, and millions of people will die are gonna die."
Georgia says more than 4M people cast ballots during early voting
More than 4 million Georgians voted during the state's early and mail-in voting period, which ended yesterday, the Georgia secretary of state's office said in a release Saturday morning.
That contrasts with 1.9 million ballots cast during the same period in 2018, nearly 2.7 million ballots cast in 2020, and almost 2.3 million cast in 2022, the office said. Further, turnout was high, with more than 90 of Georgia’s 159 counties exceeding 50% turnout in early voting, the office said, calling the numbers "unprecedented in Georgia history."
“This was the most successful Early Voting period in Georgia history because voters trust the process,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement, adding that elections officials have become "battle-tested and ready" over the last four years.
"And we’re going to hold those who interfere in our elections accountable,” he said.
Marianne Williamson says she voted for Harris
Author Marianne Williamson, who ran for the Democratic nomination earlier this cycle, said she voted for Harris in a post on Instagram.
"To me, this is not a happy election," she added. "I have seen too much for that. But it is a critically important election nonetheless. Each of us needs to do our best, particularly in light of what state we’re in and what difference our vote can realistically make there."
In her caption, Williamson addressed several reasons that she'd heard for why some people were choosing not to vote for Harris.
One reason, she wrote, was that Harris was not chosen in a Democratic primary.
"I’ve heard people say they don’t want to vote for Kamala because of how that campaign went down. Every cell in my body understands that. But we have to take on the biggest issue first, and that’s saving our country from a man for whom the basic rules and traditions of American democracy mean nothing," Williamson wrote.
She also addressed criticisms of the Biden administration and Harris over the war in Gaza.
"I’ve heard people say they’re not voting for Kamala because of Gaza. I understand that, but I think the people of Gaza are in a lot more danger under a Trump administration," Williamson wrote.
What’s a ‘red’ and ‘blue mirage,’ and how election night vote counts make it hard to tell who will win
Once the last voter casts their ballot in a state and the polls close, the process of revealing the winner begins. That’s when Election Day turns into election night, and each state starts reporting its vote totals.
Some states — like Florida, Georgia and North Carolina — report their vote quickly, while others like Arizona, Nevada and California typically take longer, upward of a week or two to tabulate most of their ballots. Within many states, the patterns of how votes are reported can make it difficult to tell in the middle of election night who the winner is going to be in the end.
For example, vote returns can skew toward one party early in a night because only a certain type of vote is reported first — like when mail ballots are counted before any in-person Election Day votes. These patterns can create what are sometimes referred to as “vote mirages.”
A vote mirage is when the current vote count shows a candidate getting a higher percentage of the vote than they will ultimately end up with in the final count. Mirages can be “red” or “blue” depending on which party appears to be benefiting — but “appears” is the really important thing here, because like any other mirage, a vote mirage is fleeting and doesn’t reflect the final reality.
Trump addresses his violent remarks about Liz Cheney and rally comedian's racist Puerto Rico comments
Trump called into Fox News' "Fox & Friends" this morning before his day of campaigning in North Carolina and again defended his violent comments about Republican former Rep. Liz Cheney earlier this week.
“All I said is, let’s see how she does," Trump said. "I said, put a gun in her hand and let her go out and let her face the enemy with a gun in her hand.” Trump also called Cheney a “female bully.”
The former president suggested in an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in Arizona on Thursday night that Cheney would not be such "a radical war hawk" if she were sent to fight "with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her."
"Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face," Trump continued. "You know, they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building.”
On "Fox & Friends" this morning, Trump also addressed the backlash over racist remarks a comedian made about Puerto Rico at the former president's rally in New York City last weekend. Trump restated his claim that nobody’s done more for the U.S. territory then him, saying that he had no idea who the comedian was and that the coverage of the offensive comments had “stained” the entire evening.
“They made this one comedian telling one little joke early in the show, when nobody had even started going into the arena practically, they made this comedian and they made the whole weekend, and they took out this gorgeous, unbelievable patriotic evening, and they sort of stained it a little bit by a comedian that I have no idea who he is,” Trump said.
How Trump’s challenges to the 2020 election unfolded in the courtroom
Reporting from Washington
After Trump claimed victory in the early-morning hours after election night in 2020, his campaign and supporters turned to the courts to make that claim a reality. The Trump campaign and surrogates began filing lawsuits the very same day, challenging the results on a variety of grounds well before the final votes were counted.
The legal process and tactics may provide insight into how Trump or his allies could launch similar efforts should he lose again this time.
Over the remainder of November and into December, Trump and his Republican allies filed dozens of lawsuits in key swing states that, if successful, would have given Trump the Electoral College votes needed to remain in the White House. Their efforts stretched from local county courts all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and were supported by solo practitioners and state attorneys general alike.
Of the more than 60 lawsuits filed in the post-election period, Trump obtained a favorable ruling in only one case — the remainder were eventually either dismissed, settled or voluntarily withdrawn.
Harris to campaign in Georgia and North Carolina
Harris will hit the trail today with campaign rallies in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina. The Biden-Harris ticket won Georgia narrowly in 2020, and Trump narrowly won North Carolina the same year.
Harris will also get help from high-profile surrogate Michelle Obama, who will campaign in Pennsylvania tonight.
Trump to campaign in North Carolina and Virginia
Trump will start off at a rally in Gastonia, North Carolina, a battleground state that he narrowly won in 2020.
Later, he will head to a rally in Virginia, even though the state is not considered a swing state. In 2020, Biden won the state with about 54.1% of the vote.
Trump will close with his final campaign rally of the day, in Greensboro, North Carolina.