What's happening on the campaign trail today
- Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, made appearances at different churches today. Harris visited New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, while Walz attended services at Victorious Believers Ministries in Saginaw, Michigan.
- Former President Donald Trump stopped by a McDonald’s in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he used the fry cooker. Trump has frequently hit Harris for saying she worked at a McDonald’s in the past.
- Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, and second gentleman Doug Emhoff also hit the campaign trail today with stops in Wisconsin and Michigan, respectively.
Vance dismisses Jill Stein as a spoiler, says the 'second best' candidate after Trump is 'anybody not named Kamala Harris'
Reporting from Waukesha, Wis.
In his sole campaign event of the day, Vance made his first direct remarks about Green Party candidate Jill Stein and lambasted Harris for what he described as an “anti-Christian approach to public policy.”
“I think that Democrats, if they’re worried about spoilers, they ought to look in the mirror because Bobby Kennedy had a hell of a lot more support than Jill Stein ever did, and they’re trying to prevent him from getting off the ballot,” Vance said, a reference to Kennedy’s failed bid to remove himself from Michigan’s general election ballot.
“I don’t know much about Jill Stein. I obviously don’t think she’s going to get a whole lot of votes, but my attitude is the best person to vote for is Donald J. Trump, and the second best person to vote for is anybody not named Kamala Harris,” the senator continued, met with applause from the crowd gathered inside a local aircraft hangar.
During tonight’s event, billed with a focus on Catholic voters in Milwaukee’s crucially important suburbs, Vance used broad strokes to accuse Harris of “anti-Christian” prejudice and directly weaponized faith against the Democratic ticket, despite both the vice president and her running mate, Tim Walz, having attended church services this morning in Georgia and Michigan, respectively.
“Harris is the candidate of anti-Christian and anti-Catholic bigotry. She brags about it. That’s her policy record. Donald Trump is the candidate of defending your First Amendment right to practice your faith however you want to, because this is the United States of America and we believe in religious liberty in this country,” Vance said, without offering specific examples to support his assertion other than two vague references to abortion.
Arnold Palmer's daughter reacts to Trump's references about golfer's anatomy
Arnold Palmer's daughter reacted to Trump's mention of the golfing legend's genitalia during a bizarre rally yesterday, saying she Trump's remarks had not upset her while calling it a "poor choice of approaches."
"There’s nothing much to say. I'm not really upset," Peg Palmer Wears told The Associated Press today. "I think it was a poor choice of approaches to remembering my father, but what are you going to do?"
Trump began a rally yesterday at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, by telling an anecdote about the golfer, suggesting he had unusually large genitalia.
"He was strong and tough, and I refuse to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there they said, 'Oh, my God. That’s unbelievable,'" Trump said.
Republican former Ohio governor endorses Democrat Sherrod Brown
Former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican, announced today that he will vote for Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, in the competitive Senate race.
"Although still a Republican, I will be making an exception this year in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race by supporting Sherrod Brown," Taft wrote in an editorial in the Dayton Daily News. "In doing so, I will be joining most voters who make judgments about candidates based not just on party affiliation but, often more importantly, on the candidate and his or her character, experience and expertise."
Taft did not mention the name of Brown's Republican rival, Bernie Moreno. Instead, he focused on Brown's credentials, highlighting his history in office and seniority in the Senate as "advantageous to Ohioans."
"He knows all of Ohio well and understands the concerns and challenges of people across our state, whether in Dayton, Springfield or East Palestine, the site of a tragic train derailment," Taft said. "In my experience he and his staff at locations across Ohio provide excellent constituent service to individual Ohioans no matter who they are or how they have been affected by government decisions."
Taft was Ohio's governor from 1999 to 2007. In 1990, he beat Brown in a race to be Ohio's secretary of state.
"Bob Taft is the only guy to beat me in an election," Brown said in a post to X alongside a link to Taft's editorial. "Despite our political differences, I’m grateful to have his support in this race."
Harris says Trump ‘demeans the office’ of the president after he calls her a ‘s---’ vice president
Harris reacted today to Trump’s calling her a “s---” vice president, telling the Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC that “the American people deserve so much better.”
She went on to talk about the importance of the president’s setting a standard not only nationally, but also internationally — saying Trump’s behavior “demeans the office.”
Mark Cuban speaks out against piece of Harris’ tax plan while campaigning for her
Reporting from Phoenix, Arizona
Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban said yesterday while campaigning for Harris that he would campaign against her if he thought she would tax wealthy people’s “unrealized gains,” which is part of the tax plan she has endorsed.
Cuban headlined a town hall event attended by Arizona entrepreneurs as a surrogate for the Harris-Walz campaign. Toward the end of the event, a man asked him, “Quick question: What about unrealized gains?”
Trump tries to troll Harris by serving french fries at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s
Trump served up french fries today at a Philadelphia-area McDonald’s, oversalting spuds and peppering in some jabs at Harris.
The campaign visit in the critical battleground state just over two weeks from Election Day was designed to troll Harris, who has talked about having worked at one of the fast-food chain’s restaurants when she was younger. Without evidence, Trump has accused he of lying about the experience as a way to improve her working-class credibility.
Harris campaign staff throws her a birthday surprise
Harris' staff had a birthday surprise waiting for her when she boarded the plane in Atlanta.
Staff members had a cake and a card for Harris, who turns 60 today. According to a pool photographer, Harris thanked the staffers for her surprise and invited them to enjoy the cake.
Michigan secretary of state blasts Elon Musk for spreading election disinformation
In a post on X, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson accused tech mogul Elon Musk of "spreading dangerous disinformation" after Musk posted an allegation that "Michigan has more registered voters than eligible citizens."
"Here are the facts," Benson wrote. "There aren’t more voters than citizens in Michigan. There are 7.2 million active registered voters and 7.9 citizens of voting age in our state."
"Don’t feed the trolls," she added.
A representative for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump works the fryer at McDonald's in Pennsylvania
Trump stopped at a McDonald's in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, to help work the fryer and serve families at the drive-thru counter, at one point saying, "I like this job. I might come back and do it again."
One of the employees showed him how she makes fries and packages them to hand them over to customers.
Later, Trump doled out food to customers through the drive-thru window, telling one family, "This is not a normal situation, is it?"
He told them, "There will be no charge. Trump is paying for it."
Multiple customers at the window praised Trump and shouted, "Make America Great Again."
In a statement, the franchise’s owner-operator, Derek Giacomantonio, said: "As a small, independent business owner, it is a fundamental value of my organization that we proudly open our doors to everyone who visits the Feasterville community. That’s why I accepted former President Trump’s request to observe the transformative working experience that 1 in 8 Americans have had: a job at McDonald’s."
Trump has repeatedly accused Harris of lying about her history of working at McDonald's in college. Asked about it at the drive-thru window, Trump blasted Harris and said: "Let's not talk about that. It's an amazing business. It's an amazing country."
Trump details phone call with Netanyahu
Reporting from PHILADELPHIA, Pa.
After he touched down here for a day of campaigning, Trump took a couple of questions on the tarmac before he headed to a McDonald's for a campaign stop.
Asked about his phone call yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said they spoke about a drone strike that Israeli authorities say was launched toward Netanyahu’s home.
“He told me that he was attacked at his village where he lives, a vacation area, and that he was attacked, but he was fine,” Trump said.
Asked whether he believes Israel should attack Iran for the strike, Trump said he told Netanyahu, “You do what you have to do.”
Trump was also asked whether he wants former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who ran against him in the GOP primaries, to join him on the campaign trail.
“I think she is going to be, she’s supported me,” Trump said. “She wanted to join me, and I said absolutely I’d love to have.”
Vance pitches Trump to tailgaters in battleground Wisconsin
Reporting from Green Bay, Wis.
Meeting the people where they are on game day, Vance spent his morning glad-handing with Green Bay Packers fans around the team's Lambeau Field before he headed south to the Milwaukee suburbs for a campaign event later this evening.
Making his first stop at a bar across the street from the stadium, Vance stood behind the bar and pulled pints of beer for a crowd clad in the team’s green and yellow gear. At a second stop — an outdoor tailgate on an unseasonably warm late-October morning — briefly spoke to urge supporters to get out the vote over the next two weeks while acknowledging nearby Lambeau Field’s lore in professional football history.
Vance, a noted Cincinnati Bengals fan, jokingly described the trip to the stadium as "like making a religious pilgrimage for a football fan."
"Lambeau Field is great. It’s something to be proud of,” he said, leaning on an oft-used stump speech line as he encouraged supporters to cast their votes early.
“I don’t love election season. I like Election Day. But as Donald Trump has said, it is what it is, and so we’ve got to use every tool at our disposal to get out there and vote,” he said.
Rounding out his pitch to the beer-soaked crowd, Vance played off cheese heads' favorite chant: “You guys all have ‘Go, Pack, go,’ right? That’s what we say is ‘Go, Pack, go.’ Well, today I want us all to say, ‘Go Pack, go Trump,’ because that’s how we’re going to win the state of Wisconsin.”
In church speech, Walz hits Trump for selling branded Bibles
Speaking at a church in Saginaw, Michigan, Walz slammed Trump for selling branded Bibles, telling congregants he feels "pretty uncomfortable with this idea."
"We understand in our faith the Bible is to be read and followed and absorbed. It’s not to be branded and sold for $59," he said.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Walz also spoke about how religion came up during his vice presidential debate with Vance.
"A couple weeks ago, I was in a little discussion with somebody who disagreed with where we were at, and I mentioned at that time when they were continuously denigrating newcomers to this country," he said, adding: "I mentioned the one thing of my faith that was very central. ... And that was Matthew, Chapter 25, Verse 40: 'What you do to the least amongst these brothers and sisters, you do unto me.'"
Trump, Harris campaigns launch digital ads
In a new digital ad running online today, the Trump campaign circulated a video of Harris calling 18- to 24-year-olds "stupid" that is widely reported as lacking context.
The ad, which is running on Facebook and Instagram in Arizona and on Google in Georgia, Wisconsin and Maine, ends with text on the screen urging voters to "vote Kamala out."
On Facebook, meanwhile, Harris campaign launched an ad featuring basketball legend Magic Johnson urging voters to vote early and telling them, "I'm counting on you to vote, and so is America."
At church service, Harris encourages congregants to vote
In remarks at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, Harris spoke about the importance of maintaining faith in times of uncertainty and encouraged members of the congregation to vote.
“We face this question: What kind of country do we want to live in? A country of chaos, fear and hate, or a country of freedom, compassion and justice? And the great thing about living in a democracy is that we, the people, have the power to answer that question,” she said. “So let us answer not just through our words, but through our action and with our votes.”
At the start of her remarks, Harris also addressed a ferry dock collapse on Georgia’s Sapelo Island, a Gullah Geechee community, as crowds were gathered for a fall celebration. At least seven people were killed.
“While we are still gathering information, we know that lives were lost and many were injured. And so my heart, as I know for all of us, goes out to those who were impacted, and I thank all the first responders who acted so quickly,” she said.
Rep. Nikema Williams, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and Stonecrest Mayor Jazzmin Cobble attended the service alongside Harris.
Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro: Law enforcement should ‘take a look at’ Elon Musk voter payments
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said today that tech mogul Elon Musk’s plan to give money to registered voters in Pennsylvania is “deeply concerning” and that “it’s something that law enforcement could take a look at.”
Musk announced in Pennsylvania that every day until Election Day, he would give $1 million to a random registered voter who signs a petition circulated by his super PAC “in favor of free speech and the right to bear arms.”
The super PAC has made signing the petition a prerequisite for attending rallies headlined by Musk, and yesterday he surprised a rally attendee by giving away the first $1 million check onstage.
Shapiro, a Democrat, made it clear on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that his political differences with Musk, who has endorsed Trump and pledged to use millions of dollars to turn out Pennsylvania voters for him via his super PAC, are not driving his skepticism of the cash prizes.
“Musk obviously has a right to be able to express his views. He’s made it very, very clear that he supports Donald Trump. I don’t. Obviously we have a difference of opinion,” Shapiro said, adding: “I don’t deny him that, right, but when you start flowing this kind of money into politics, I think it raises serious questions.”
Black men in Atlanta explain why support might be surging for Trump in their communities
As concern that support for Harris among Black men is flailing mounts, NBC News spoke to three voters in Atlanta yesterday, one of whom has historically voted for Democrats and plans to vote for Trump.
Eric Johnson, 36, a barber, cited immigration as his biggest issue and brought up the assassination attempts against Trump as reasons for his support.
“I’d rather vote for the one that dodge bullets, not dodges questions,” he said of the candidates. He added later: “I just feel like President Trump is more like real people. He’s went through real situations. I mean, the man dodged the bullet on live, on live TV.”
He said that there is nothing Harris could do to earn his vote at this point and that all his friends feel the same way but that “they can’t speak to their wife about it.”
Two other men NBC News spoke with who plan to support Harris cited misinformation and the Covid stimulus checks as reasons they see other Black men supporting Trump.
But Shawn Dawson, 47, said he thinks the polls are underestimating Black support for Harris.
“Personally, I think that there are more Black votes out there for her than she thinks there are or that the polls are saying,” he said. “Because if I’m honest, most Black men don’t even answer the polls. I know I don’t.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham to Republicans supporting Harris: ‘What the hell are you doing?’
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., today slammed members of his own party who are supporting Harris, asking them, “What the hell are you doing?”
“You’re supporting the most radical nominee in the history of American politics,” Graham said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
Several high-profile Republicans have endorsed Harris in recent weeks, including former GOP Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and several former members of the Trump administration.
“The danger to this country is the policies of Biden and Harris,” Graham said. “Her fingerprints are all over this disaster. And I can’t take four more years of this crap.”
Harris goes to church, highlighting the absence of religion in the campaign
Religion is making a rare appearance on the campaign trail this week in a presidential election that has dwelled less on candidates’ personal faiths than any in recent memory.
Harris plans to attend services and speak at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church outside Atlanta today, while Walz will visit Victorious Believers Ministries in Saginaw, Michigan.
Harris turns 60 today
Harris is celebrating her birthday on the campaign trail today, with stops in Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Trump to make stop at McDonald's, attend football game today
Trump is set to make a stop at a McDonald's during his trip to Pennsylvania today. He said during a rally yesterday that he'd "work the french fries."
Harris has said she previously worked at McDonald's, but Trump has accused her of never having worked there.
Later, he will speak at a town hall in Lancaster before he heading to the Steelers-New York Jets game in Pittsburgh.
Vance campaigns in Wisconsin while Walz heads to Michigan
Vance will speak at a campaign event in Waukesha, Wisconsin, today as the Trump campaign tries to flip the state red again.
Walz is set to start his day at a church service in Saginaw, Michigan, before he heads to the Northeast. He'll then speak at campaign receptions in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Neither state is considered to be in play this cycle.