Election 2024 live updates: Harris rallies in Wisconsin; Trump attends Al Smith dinner

James Whitaker Jr., a Vietnam veteran, spent a sunny October afternoon handing out flyers at the franklin County Board of Elections in Ohio.

“I’m out here supporting the Republican ticket,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker, 79, is no stranger to political discussions. He was raised in a Democratic household, and his wife, Bernadine Kennedy Kent, is a former state representative for Ohio’s 25th District. She ran as a Democrat but endorsed Trump in 2020. Shortly after, Whitaker and Kent were invited to meet him.

Billionaire Elon Musk promoted debunked conspiracy theories about election fraud today at the first of a series of planned campaign events across Pennsylvania meant to rally support for Trump’s campaign. 

At a town hall hosted at a high school outside Philadelphia, Musk referred to the false conspiracy theory that Dominion Voting Systems was part of a plot to rig U.S. elections in recent years.

“When you have mail-in ballots and no proof of citizenship, it’s almost impossible to prove cheating,” he said, responding to an audience member’s question about election fraud. “Statistically there are some very strange things that happen that are statistically incredibly unlikely. There’s always this question of, say, the Dominion voting machines. It is weird that, I think, they were used in Philadelphia and in Maricopa County [in Arizona] but not in a lot of other places. Doesn’t that seem like a heck of a coincidence?”

Read the full story here.

Latter-day Saints Church members, commonly known as Mormons, are often politically aligned with the Republican Party. Some have become divided over Trump, especially women, which could affect key battleground states like Arizona and Nevada.

NBC News’ Garrett Haake reports on how Trump’s presidency caused fractures in the church’s political foundations and speaks with members who backed Joe Biden in 2020.

Kayla Smalls, 19, a student at the Ohio State University, said that she's not excited about long lines at the polls but that she is eager to cast her ballot for Harris.

Smalls, a first-time voter, says her top issues are reproductive care and immigration. “I don’t think we should repress rights, and I think immigrants are free to be here,” she said.

While Smalls supports Harris, she hopes to see a different approach from her if she is elected. “I would like to see very strong initiative and strong stances without always having to be so appealing to Republicans with some of her ideologies. I think she should be stronger and stricter on her thoughts on Palestine,” she said.

Leo Amalaman, 18, says he is voting for Harris in his first election.

“I feel like it’s the better outcome of where I want my country to go at this time in my life,” said Amalaman, a student at St. francis DeSales High School in Columbus.

He cast his ballot at the franklin County Board of Elections with his mom.

“I’m hoping for a better change, kind of get back to where we were. Hopefully a decrease in inflation, hopefully keep history in the books so younger people can learn and see what we can avoid,” he said.

As Elon Musk steps up his work on behalf of Trump, Harris is calling in her own billionaire, Mark Cuban, to reprise the role he played for Hillary Clinton in 2016 by holding a series of high-profile appearances alongside the vice president and her husband this week.

Cuban appeared with Harris in Wisconsin today and is set to hold a town hall for her in Phoenix on Saturday before he heads to Michigan on Sunday to campaign alongside second gentleman Doug Emhoff.

“This election is a battle for entrepreneurs,” Cuban said in La Crosse, Wisconsin, today before he warned that Trump’s trade and tariff policies would drive up prices, ruin Christmas by making gifts more expensive and “crush the dreams” of entrepreneurs by making their costs unsustainable.

Read the full story here.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s super PAC is unleashing a six-figure radio ad in her state that slams Trump for his recent criticism of Detroit and urges a vote for Harris this fall.

“Gov. Whitmer here,” she says in the ad, paid for by her fight Like Hell PAC. “Donald Trump recently came to Detroit and talked trash about our city. He called Detroit a failure and a mess. We know he’s wrong. Detroiters don’t give up on each other or their city, something Donald Trump will never understand.”

Whitmer adds: “When Trump was president, he lost thousands of jobs in Michigan. Now, he’ll raise our costs if he’s elected. He’s the wrong choice for Michigan. So we need everyone to get out and vote on Nov. 5. Vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.”

Campaigning last week in Detroit, Trump compared the city to a developing nation while arguing that the “whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Harris is elected.

Anti-abortion protesters briefly interrupted Harris’ rally today, prompting her to hit back, saying, "You guys are at the wrong rally."

"I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street," she added as her supporters cheered.

Harris' campaign posted a video of the moment, which has garnered 26,000 likes in under an hour, to X.

The White House and Harris’ team have been in frequent contact about how she plans to distance herself from President Joe Biden while maintaining her overall loyalty to him, according to three people familiar with the dynamic.

That’s why Biden’s comments Tuesday night that Harris would “cut her own path” set the stage for her to declare that, if she is elected, her presidency would not be a “continuation” of his in an interview with fox News yesterday, these people said.

The comments surprised no one in the White House, one of the sources said, since conversations had happened privately before the interview.

Read the full story here.

Harris went after Trump for referring to Democrats as "enemies from within," as well as his comments about wanting the military to potentially handle any unrest around the election.

She pointed to the remarks and their implications as a reason retired Gen. Mark Milley called Trump "fascist to the core," as reported in Bob Woodward's new book. NBC News has not independently confirmed that Milley made the comments.

"It is clear: Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged and will stop at nothing to claim unchecked power for himself," Harris said at a rally in Wisconsin.

During her campaign rally in Wisconsin, Harris made a pitch for Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is in a tight race for re-election against Republican nominee Eric Hovde.

"Let's re-elect someone who has spent her career fighting for the families of Wisconsin, your senator, Tammy Baldwin," Harris said. "We need her in Washington."

Hovde's spokesperson earlier accused Baldwin of "ducking" Harris by not campaigning alongside her today.

While campaigning for the Harris-Walz ticket in North Carolina, former President Bill Clinton targeted Trump for referring to Democrats as the "enemies from within."

"He keeps talking about how he wants to get even and may have to call out the military on our own people, the danger within. I suppose that includes me," he said. "He's asserted the right to go after anybody that he thinks in his wisdom is a threat."

At a rally in North Carolina, Walz brought up criticisms Vance made about Trump in 2016, when he said in an interview with "PBS NewsHour" that racism played a part in the election.

"JD Vance is the one who said this. He said, well, the voters don't really like the racist part of Trump. I didn't say it. He said it. He knows him best," he said.

In 2016, Vance said, “There is definitely an element of Donald Trump’s support that has its basis in racism, xenophobia, but a lot of these folks are just really hard-working people who are struggling in really important ways."

Vance has since backtracked on his comments, saying he was "wrong" about his past criticisms of Trump.

At a campaign rally in Wisconsin, billionaire businessman Mark Cuban compared Trump to the Grinch "that wants to steal your Christmas," arguing that Trump's tariff policy would raise prices for consumers.

"Hear me when I say that Donald Trump wants you to have a lousy Christmas," Cuban said.

He said that if Trump implements his proposed tariff policies, the cost of items like Christmas presents could go up "50% or 60% or more."

Onstage in Durham, North Carolina, Walz commented on Vance's saying no when he was asked whether Trump lost the 2020 election.

"Yesterday was like an epiphany day. If you remember back a couple weeks ago, we had a little debate in New York City, and I asked the simplest question that you could ever be asked as an American: Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?" Walz said. "Pretty simple. Every court in the land, every person knows this, and on that night, I got kind of a smug nonresponse to it."

He previously criticized Vance’s nonresponse during the debate on Oct. 1, when Vance said he was focused on the future, not on the 2020 election.

Harris' interview with fox News host Bret Baier drew 7.1 million viewers, the network announced this afternoon.

The conservative news network billed yesterday's interview as the "highest-rated interview of the 2024 political season."

Melania Trump will accompany former President Donald Trump to Thursday’s Al Smith dinner in New York City, two sources familiar with her plans told NBC News.

The former first lady has been noticeably absent on the campaign trail for much of the 2024 race. The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July was the last time she appeared alongside her husband at a political event.

One source familiar with the plans said that Melania Trump decided to attend the dinner because “it’s tradition,” adding that “this could be a precursor to more activity.”

The annual dinner, which benefits Catholic charities, is a $5,000-per-plate event that has traditionally been attended by presidential nominees on both sides of the aisle dating back to the 1960s.

Read the full story here.

Several Arizonans told NBC News why they’re voting for Harris, bringing up concerns about Trump's mental acuity, abortion rights and his age.

Charles Dixon, 53, said, "Harris has a plan for those of us that aren't billionaires," when asked why he is voting for her. “Shortly after Trump went in office, he had the tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. So he wasn’t thinking about the little guy,” Dixon added.

Dixon also said when asked if he had any concerns about Trump's age or cognitive health that the former president does not have "the mental acuity to even tie his own shoe, let alone be president."

Immigration lawyer Jillian Kong-Sivert agreed. "I don’t think he ever was of the right mental acuity to do the job, and it has less to do with his age than to do with the fact that it’s very clear nobody’s ever said no to him," she said.

While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has endorsed Trump in his presidential re-election bid, the Kentucky Republican had some choice words for him in 2020.

“This despicable human being,” McConnell said to his oral historian in December 2020, “is sitting on this package of relief that the American people desperately need.”

The quotes appear in an upcoming book, "The Price of Power" by Michael Tackett, which was obtained by NBC News and is described as the first definitive biography of McConnell. The quotes were first reported by The Associated Press.

Experienced poll workers in Green Bay were preparing for the voting anomalies that occur on Election Day in a training with Clerk Celestine Jeffreys this week.

The group of 11 poll workers discussed irregular cases, such as provisional ballots and “presidential only” ballots, which are provided to voters who cannot vote in others races because they do not meet the requirement of being a Wisconsin resident for at least 28 days prior to the election, which is on Nov. 5.

Jeffreys explained standard procedure for curbside voting. Twenty-six states and Washington, D.C., allow curbside voting, according to the Movement Advancement Project. Curbside voting will be made available to anyone who “feels like they cannot go into the polling site,” Jeffreys said. “We don’t turn voters away,” she said.

The group also prepped for potential threats of electioneering in their wards. Jeffreys explained that polling places should be “politically participatory” but still “neutral.” The group ran exercises on potential scenarios, judging intentions that could be classified as attempts to persuade other voters.

During a stop in Milwaukee, Harris said "justice has been served" to the victims of Hamas after Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Thursday.

“I can only hope that the families of the victims of Hamas feel a sense and a measure of relief," Harris told reporters.

She also said that with Sinwar's death comes a moment "to finally end the war in Gaza."

"And it must end such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the and Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination," the vice president added.

A spokesman for Eric Hovde, the Wisconsin Republican vying for Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin's Senate seat, accused the senator of "ducking" Harris by not campaigning with her in the state today.

“Sen. Baldwin voted with the Biden-Harris administration 95.5% of the time," Hovde spokesman Zach Bannon said. "No desperate ducking from Sen. Baldwin can hide the fact that she and Kamala Harris are radical, extreme and wrong for Wisconsin.”

Baldwin has previously campaigned with Harris in the state and appeared with her running mate, Tim Walz, at an event earlier this week. Baldwin is also scheduled to appear at a rally next week with Walz and former President Barack Obama in Madison.

Baldwin's campaign said she was busy today preparing for her debate with Hovde. “Tammy Baldwin is focused on her debate tomorrow night where she will show why Wisconsin voters trust her to represent them in the US Senate: she shows up, listens, and delivers for them and their families," campaign spokesman Andrew Mamo said.

The National Rifle Association has canceled its "Defend the 2nd" event in Savannah, Georgia, on Tuesday, where Trump was supposed to speak.

In a post on X, the gun rights group said it was canceling the event because of "campaign scheduling changes" and it is "committed to ensuring Donald Trump wins in November and returns to the White House."

In response to the news, the Trump campaign told NBC News it had "nothing to add."

Vance was asked at his Pittsburgh campaign event today whether a Trump administration would go after the "enemy from within" as the former president has suggested.

"Oh, of course not, of course not," said Vance, who called the question "preposterous."

The GOP vice presidential nominee then said that Trump made the comment in the first place because "we've also got to have law and order in our own country too."

GREEN BAY, Wis. — In the weeks following the vice presidential debate, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz has been sounding more like the aggressive campaigner who got the role than the buttoned-up figure he’s cut since joining the ticket.

Dressed in khakis and a navy Harris-Walz sweatshirt Monday, Walz delivered some of his sharpest attacks yet against Trump. Walz appeared more natural in his latest appearances on the trail, including in his signature flannel in rural Pennsylvania, after shedding the blue sport coat and white collared shirt he’s favored for the last few months.

He’s also getting back on the TV circuit, with appearances coming up on “The View” and “The Daily Show,” according to a campaign official, after Walz went viral pre-running mate selection with his labeling of the GOP ticket as “weird” in a cable news interview.

Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., slammed a Trump delegate for accusing him of wearing the North Korean flag on his tie during a debate in New Jersey’s U.S. Senate race this week.

“Why is US Senate candidate Andy Kim wearing a North Korea flag on his tie tonight?” the delegate, Mike Crispi, wrote on X about Kim’s matchup Tuesday against Republican opponent Curtis Bashaw. “What is he trying to tell us — Where do his allegiances lie?”

Kim, an Asian American, told NBC News in an email through a spokesperson that he wore the tie, which had red, white and blue stripes on it, simply because it matched his blue suit. 

“Not everything in life is a conspiracy,” Kim said about the comments from Crispi, a Republican.  

The Al Smith charity dinner in New York City will play a recorded message from Harris tonight in lieu of the vice president's attendance at the event for Catholic charities, according to Joseph Zwilling, director of communications for the archdiocese of New York.

Harris' campaign said she declined the invitation to attend the dinner — the first time a presidential candidate has done so in decades — because of conflicting events in the final weeks of the campaign. Trump, who will give remarks, criticized Harris' decision, writing in a Truth Social post last month that "it's sad but not surprising" that she chose not to attend.

The event, which typically features humorous remarks from the candidates, will be hosted by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, with comedian Jim Gaffigan is serving as the night's emcee.

Trump is hosting a series of town halls in an effort to win over Hispanic and women voters — during one of which he elaborated on his policies on abortion and in vitro fertilization, calling himself “the father of IVf.” NBC’s Garrett Haake reports for "TODAY."

Trump will head to the battleground state of North Carolina on Monday for a rally in Greenville. The event will be held on the campus of East Carolina University, just a short drive from where Harris held a rally at a church Sunday.

In the release, the campaign said the rally will focus on the economy and inflation, saying "Kamala Harris has abandoned North Carolina families, leaving them to struggle under the crushing weight of inflation and skyrocketing costs."

Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Ruben Gallego, of Arizona, released a new campaign ad today that will air on TV that spotlights a Republican city councilwoman who has decided to support him over Republican Kari Lake for Senate.

“I grew up as conservative as it gets. Lifelong Republican, still am, but I cannot vote for Kari Lake. She doesn’t want to solve problems. She wants power. I’m supporting Ruben Gallego,” Mesa City Councilwoman Julie Spilsbury says in the ad. 

She continues, “We should look for candidates who demonstrate integrity, passion, and service to others, regardless of party affiliation. I don’t need to be a Democrat to know that he has the character to lead Arizona forward.” 

Democratic candidates, including Harris herself, have been platforming Republicans who are supporting them over Republicans.

A Democratic super PAC has put out an ad making fun of Derrick Anderson, a Republican running for Congress in Virginia, for a campaign photo that made it look like he was married with kids.

"Derrick Anderson was caught using a fake wife and kids for his campaign," the ad by the House Majority PAC begins, as an actor playing Anderson returns home to cardboard cutouts of a family. It then shows him throwing a frisbee to one of the cardboard kids and sitting down to dinner with the cutouts, and accuses him of trying to hide that he's "an extreme MAGA politician."

The New York Times first reported on the campaign pictures — one of which shows him standing in front of a house with a woman and her three daughters and another of which shows them eating at a dining table — last month.

Anderson, whose biography on his campaign website says, "He lives in Spotsylvania County with his dog, Ranger, a Dalmatian," has said he was simply photographed with constituents who are longtime friends.  His campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ad.

Walz will appear on ABC's "The View" and Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" on Monday while in New York City, a campaign official said.

The appearances continue the Minnesota governor's media blitz in the final weeks of the campaign. Walz recently made appearances on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "Good Morning America," and CBS News' "60 minutes."

Harris also appeared on "60 Minutes" in an interview that aired last week, and on "The View" two weeks ago, where she announced her plan to expand Medicare to at-home care.

Walz's appearances Monday were first reported by Variety.

On the campaign trail today in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Walz will be joined by artist and activist Common who has endorsed Harris.

"Together, Governor Walz and Common will speak directly to North Carolinians about the power of their voice and their vote and encourage voters across the state to get to the polls and cast their vote ahead of the November 5th election," the campaign said in a release.

Common has been a voice for the importance of voting and performed at the Democratic National Convention in August.

Harris is starting her day in Milwaukee, where she will stop at a business class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

While on campus, the vice president will also meet with students and "talk about her plan to build an Opportunity Economy that supports entrepreneurship and small business growth," the campaign said, noting her plan to expand the small-business tax deduction from $5,000 to $50,000.

After her stop at the Milwaukee campus, she will hold a rally at University of Wisconsin-La-Crosse followed by another in Green Bay near Lambeau field with Wisconsin leaders.

It's Harris' sixth visit to the state since becoming the presidential nominee, the campaign said.

The Biden administration announced a milestone today in its effort to cancel Americans’ student debt: It has provided relief to more than 1 million borrowers who work in public service.

Through the Education Department’s Public Service Loan forgiveness Program, the administration approved about $4.5 million in additional student loan relief for more than 60,000 borrowers, bringing the total relief through that program to $74 million for more than 1 million people.

That brings the total amount of student debt relief under the administration to $175 billion for more than 4.8 million borrowers over the nearly four years Biden has been in office, the department said.

The Education Department said that before Biden's presidency, only 7,000 public servants had ever received student debt relief through the Public Service Loan forgiveness Program. The program was previously “riddled by dysfunction,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement, adding that “countless public servants were trapped making payments on debts that should have been forgiven.”

Read the full story here.

An independent, bipartisan review identified “numerous mistakes” by the U.S. Secret Service and “specific failures and breakdowns” that enabled the assassination attempt that injured Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.

The panel, made up of four former senior law enforcement and government officials, also warned of another catastrophic security lapse if the Secret Service does not immediately undertake “fundamental reform.”

“The Secret Service has become bureaucratic, complacent, and static,” the panel wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees the organization.

“The Secret Service as an agency requires fundamental reform to carry out its mission,” the members added. “Without that reform, the Independent Review Panel believes another Butler can and will happen again.”

Read the full story here.

Trump asked Judge Tanya Chutkan in a motion today to again postpone the unsealing of special counsel Jack Smith’s immunity appendix, a collection of evidence filed in conjunction with Smith’s brief on presidential immunity.

The appendix is expected to be heavily redacted and probably won’t contain much new information. 

In his motion, Trump asked Chutkan — who ordered the unsealing of the appendix last week but stayed the order for seven days at Trump’s request — to extend her stay until Trump files his own immunity brief and appendix.

florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and allies in his administration have undertaken a robust effort to build opposition to an amendment on the November ballot that would enshrine abortion rights in the state’s Constitution and undo a pinnacle piece of legislation he signed into law.

In recent weeks, one state agency launched a website attacking the ballot measure, another state agency threatened local television stations that had run an ad supporting it, and an election police unit created by DeSantis started investigating claims of fraud in the signature-gathering process for it months after it was approved for the ballot.

After a challenging year in which his presidential campaign flamed out and several school board candidates he backed lost primaries, Democrats and Republicans in the state see the heavy-handed moves as part of an effort by DeSantis, once a rising star in the GOP, to re-exert his political authority in the state and nationally. 

“There is little doubt the governor has political skin in the game here. He got a boost politically after his hurricane response, but his standing politically is not what it once was after his loss on the national level and a less-than-ideal primary for candidates he backed,” said a veteran florida Republican who previously worked for DeSantis, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “If he loses on the amendments, it will be another big blow. I don’t think it, like, ends his political career or anything, but it’s a continuation of a string of political losses for someone who for years did not have many.”

Read the full story here.

Harris still has a wide lead over Trump among Black voters in battleground states, according to a new poll, which shows a key slice of undecided Black voters still poised to make a decision about the presidential election.

The findings, from a Howard University Initiative on Public Opinion poll of 981 likely Black voters in battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — show that 84% of likely Black voters will support Harris in November and 8% say they’ll support Trump. Another 8% are undecided.

The results are largely within the margin of error of the previous edition of the survey from September, though they show a small slip for Trump. The September poll showed Harris at 82% (2 points lower than now), Trump’s support at 12% (4 points higher), and 6% undecided or in favor of another candidate.

As many as 66% of Black voters report being very excited to vote for president in November, including 35% who are still undecided about whom they’ll vote for. While an overwhelming majority of Black voters overall plan to support Harris, the data shows a small shift among independents from a month ago.

Read the full story here.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Democrats have long tried to oust Rep. Scott Perry, the former head of the far-right freedom Caucus and a staunch Trump ally, in this Pennsylvania swing district. But this time, they think they have a real shot with their candidate, Janelle Stelson.

At first glance, Stelson appears to be taking a throw-everything-at-the-wall approach. She has ripped Perry for backing restrictions on abortion. She blamed him for Washington’s failure to solve the border crisis. She has hammered Perry, a six-term MAGA congressman, for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election results, labeling him one of the “primary fomenters” of the Jan. 6 attack. And she has called out Perry for voting against bipartisan bills, including those to award medals to police officers who defended the Capitol that day, to help homeless veterans find housing and to expand health benefits for war veterans exposed to toxic burn pits. 

But Stelson, a former TV reporter and anchor who has been telling stories here in the Harrisburg area for nearly four decades, is weaving those threads together into a scathing narrative about Perry in Pennsylvania’s 10th District.

“He, in no way, shape or form, represents Republicans anymore — he’s so extreme,” Stelson, a former Republican herself, said in an interview at Cornerstone Coffeehouse in Camp Hill, just across the Susquehanna River from the State Capitol.

Read the full story here.

Harris will make multiple campaign stops across Wisconsin today, speaking in Milwaukee, La Crosse and Green Bay.

Today is Harris' sixth visit to Wisconsin since she launched her presidential bid, her campaign said. She'll be joined by Mark Cuban while campaigning in the state, a campaign official said.

Also today, Walz will campaign in North Carolina with former President Bill Clinton. It's the first day of early voting in the swing state.

NEWLAND, N.C. — The violent water smashed into the fellowship hall, pushing a propane tank through a wall, encasing the structure in mud and devastating the church in this mountain community just over a month before the hotly contested presidential race draws to a close.

“This is a flood like we’ve never had,” said Larry Jones, a deacon at Minneapolis Baptist Church, one of the polling places in rural Avery County ravaged by the remnants of Hurricane Helene last month. The site is one of several in the county unable to open in time for the election.

Three days after the storm, Jones and his wife managed to hike up to his elderly mother-in-law’s house by wading through mud up to their knees. The roads and bridges were blocked. He made it to his church a few days later and has been organizing volunteer efforts ever since. “It’s been a full-time job,” he said.

Helene’s crushing aftermath is colliding with another political storm today as in-person early voting begins in North Carolina, one of several battlegrounds expected to play outsize roles in the election. In a swing state where turnout is critical, some roads are still barely passable. Door-knocking seems impractical, and political town halls are suddenly not a top priority in a region initially desperate for food and water.

Read the full story here.

Democrats are notoriously quick to worry and slow to appease.

President Joe Biden spent months trying to assuage the rising panic within his party until it eventually consumed him, and he dropped his re-election bid. The anxiety abated for a bit when Harris replaced him on the ticket and her poll numbers spiked.

With Harris’ numbers stagnant now for weeks, many Democrats are once again fretting that the election is slipping away and that Trump may yet regain power.

Harris appears to be OK with the collective jitters, recognizing that if Democrats fear they might lose, they’re more apt to show up at the polls and help her win. She likes to tell her supporters she’s running as if she’s behind.

But she faces a new round of internal criticism as party activists complain that she isn’t doing enough rallies after having objected for weeks that she wasn’t doing enough interviews.

Read the full story here.

Trump offered a financial incentive to adult film star Stormy Daniels this summer if she agreed to keep quiet about Trump — including about the relationship that became the center of the hush money payments that ended up the subject of a New York criminal trial — ahead of this November’s election, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow reported yesterday.

Daniels delivered blockbuster testimony earlier this year about hush money payments she received from Trump ahead of the 2016 election, in which she was paid to remain silent about an affair between the two, a relationship he has denied. The jury convicted Trump of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to the payments.  

In a case separate from the hush money trial, Daniels was ordered to pay for Trump’s legal fees after she lost a defamation suit she filed against him. About two months after the hush money trial, Trump’s lawyer told Daniels’ representative that the former president would agree to a lower payment if she agreed not to make any disparaging comments about Trump.

“We disagree that a payment of $620,000 would be in full satisfaction of the three judgments,” Trump’s lawyers said in a July letter obtained by Maddow from Daniels’ lawyer.  

Trump is set to attend the annual Al Smith dinner in New York tonight, a charity dinner often attended by major politicians. Harris is campaigning in Wisconsin and will not attend, becoming the first presidential nominee to skip the dinner in decades.

Vance will campaign in the swing state of Pennsylvania, speaking at an event in Pittsburgh.

Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban will campaign for Harris in the crucial swing states Wisconsin, Arizona and Michigan, a Harris campaign official said.

Cuban will campaign with Harris in Wisconsin later today, followed by a town hall in Arizona on Saturday and a campaign event with second gentleman Doug Emhoff in Michigan on Sunday, the official said.

Cuban "has underscored how Vice President Harris’ new way forward agenda is pro-business and would spur economic growth that helps build up the middle class," according to the campaign.

Cuban, who has been outspoken for Harris, said in an MSNBC interview yesterday that "there's really no good reason to vote for Donald Trump as the businesses candidate," pointing to stability's being vital for business leaders.