close
close

Election Highlights: Democrats attack Trump after rally speaker’s racist comments on Puerto Rico

Today’s live coverage has paused and will resume Tuesday morning. In the meantime, see what you missed below and stay apprised of the latest election news by signing up for the Ground Game newsletter.

Democrats stepped up their attacks on Donald Trump after several speakers at his Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden made racist and crude remarks as uncertainty reigns entering the final full week of the 2024 election campaign.

Trump is campaigning in Atlanta and Harris in Michigan.

Catch up on the latest election news:

Biden looks to maintain relevance in political conversation

As President Joe Biden’s 50 years in elected office near an end, he doesn’t appear content to quietly exit the political stage.

With a week to go before Election Day, Biden is intent on promoting his administration’s record and making the case for Americans to support Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats on the ballot — whether they want him or not.

He’s determined to keep up a busy schedule during the final sprint to Nov. 5 even as many in his party appear to be keeping their distance from him.

Biden, in an exchange with reporters Monday, played down the fact that he hasn’t campaigned side-by-side with Harris since their joint Labor Day campaign appearance in Pittsburgh and that he’s held few public campaign appearances with Democrats in competitive races.

“I’ve done a lot of surrogate stuff, and the fact of the matter is that I’ve also had to continue to be president at the same time,” Biden told reporters after casting his early vote on Monday in his home state of Delaware.

Read more about Biden’s final days as president

Michelle Obama will campaign for Harris, Walz and other Democrats in Pennsylvania on Saturday

The former first lady will encourage voters to turn out for Democrats up and down the ballot, according to her office.

She made her first campaign appearance of the 2024 election season with Harris in Kalamazoo, Michigan, this past Saturday. Obama is expected to headline an Atlanta rally hosted by When We All Vote, a nonpartisan civic engagement group she founded in 2018 to encourage voting.


Democrats go after Jill Stein and Cornel West in digital ads aimed at young voters


Progressive activist Cornel West speaks during a demonstration prior to a march to the Democratic National Convention Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Image

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein speaks during a rally at Union Park during the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Democrats are spending about $500,000 for a last-minute push to persuade voters in battleground states to reject third-party candidates Jill Stein and Cornel West, warning a vote for them will help Republican Donald Trump.

The Democratic National Committee said Monday that the digital ads will run on Instagram and YouTube, targeting younger voters and college campuses. They use video of Trump from a June rally in Philadelphia, when he said: “Cornel West. He’s one of my favorite candidates, Cornel West. And I like her also, Jill Stein, I like her very much. You know why? She takes 100% from them. He takes 100%.”

Stung by narrow losses in 2000 and 2016 that they blame in part on support for Green Party nominees, Democrats have put a major emphasis this year on discouraging left-leaning voters from backing third-party candidates. They pushed back aggressively against No Labels, a nascent third-party movement, and the independent candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. before turning attention to Stein and West.

Read more about the Democrat effort to stop third-party spoilers

Trump wraps his Atlanta rally with a call to vote

Trump concluded his rally at Georgia Tech in midtown Atlanta by urging his supporters to turn out to the polls however possible. He promised to defend the “hardworking patriots who built this country,” who he said could “save” the nation if they turned out for him at the ballot box.

“We will never give up, we will never back down, we will never surrender,” Trump said to the crowd. “November 5 will be the most important day in the history of our country.”

Trump spoke for just over an hour. The raucous crowd had begun thinning out just before the former president finished his remarks.

Harris to young voters: ‘You are rightly impatient for change’

Image

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event in Burns Park Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Harris urged young voters Monday in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to take the baton from “generations of Americans” who preserved freedom and back her over Trump.

The pitch urged young voters, many of whom were in the audience from the nearby University of Michigan, to seize the power they want and protect a series of rights. Harris specifically called out abortion rights, a key issue for younger voters.

“Generations of Americans before us fought for freedom and now the baton is in our hands,” Harris said. “The baton is in our hands.”

“I love your generation,” Harris told the young audience. “You are rightly impatient for change.”


Trump: US towns are being ‘invaded and conquered’ by ‘blood-thirsty criminals’

Image

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at McCamish Pavilion Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Trump described the U.S. as an occupied nation due to illegal immigration, claiming undocumented migrants were more invasive and dangerous than a hostile occupying military.

“I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered,” Trump said. “You know, they have been invaded,” Trump said of towns across the country, “just as though a foreign enemy was invading, a military was invading, and probably just as vicious or more vicious,” the former president said.

“And we will put these blood-thirsty criminals in jail or kick them out of our country,” Trump said.

He once again promised to seek the death penalty for any unlawful migrant who has killed an American, drawing cheers from the crowd.

Pro-Palestinian protestors interrupt Harris rally

Harris was confronted by roughly 30 pro-Palestian protestors at her event in Ann Arbor. The Democratic nominee, hearing the chants, told the protestors, “Hey, guys, I hear you.”

The group was chanting, “Israel bombs, Kamala pays, how many kids have you killed today?”

Image

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event in Burns Park Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

After Harris acknowledged the group, the vice president said, “On the subject of Gaza, we all want this war to end as soon as possible and to get the hostages out and I will do everything in my power to make it so.”

The group was escorted out of the event shortly after their chants were drowned out by chants of “Kamala.”

Michigan, because of its sizable Arab American population and progressive cities like Ann Arbor, has become the epicenter of activism against Harris and Democrats because of U.S. weapons sales to Israel.

Walz: ‘Our team is running like everything’s on the line’

Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, sought to comfort Democrats on Monday in Michigan by highlighting how hard the party’s presidential campaign is working a few days before Election Day.

The event is a rare rally featuring both Harris and Walz, who often headline separate events.

“Eight days til the election and our team is running like everything’s on the line,” Walz said.

Image

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign rally at Burns Park in Ann Arbor, Mich., Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Walz directed part of his speech directly at men. “All of you who have that woman in your life that you love … Their lives are at stake in this election,” the Democratic governor said. “Be very clear about that.”

Walz, a former high school football coach, quoted famed University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler, telling the crowd, “The team, the team, the team.” The quote comes from a speech Schembechler gave in 1983 about his approach to coaching.

“Boy,” said Walz, “do we have the right team.”


Arab American official rallies for Harris in Ann Arbor

Image

Assad Turfe, of Dearborn, Mich., speaks at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at Burns Park in Ann Arbor, Mich., Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Wayne County’s highest-ranking Arab American official, Assad Turfe, spoke at a rally for Kamala Harris in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Turfe endorsed Harris in August and has been working since to ease tensions in Michigan’s large metro Detroit community.

“The past year has been unimaginable for so many people in my community. We are mourning loved ones who have died in Gaza and Lebanon,” said Turfe, who is from Dearborn, where nearly half of the city’s 110,000 residents are Muslim.

“We are desperate for a president who sees us, who understands us and who will give voice to our pain,” Turfe said. “And Ann Arbor, I’m here tonight because I know without a doubt that Kamala Harris is that leader.”

Turfe’s appearance comes days after Trump had Michigan Muslim leaders onstage at a campaign rally in Novi, Michigan.

Trump rebukes Nazi comparisons and calls Harris ‘a fascist’

Trump dismissed claims that he or his supporters were comparable to Nazis and fascists.

“I’m not a Nazi. I’m the opposite of a Nazi,” Trump told the crowd assembled at Georgia Tech. “Now the way they talk is so disgusting and just horrible.”

After his Sunday evening rally at Madison Square Garden drew widespread criticism from opponents for crude and racist remarks from several speakers, the event drew comparisons to a 1939 Nazi rally in the same venue.

Image

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at McCamish Pavilion Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

“My father — I had a great father, tough guy. He used to always say, never use the word Nazi. Never use that word.”

He then criticized Harris for “using the f-word.” Following comments from Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly saying the former president met the definition of a fascist, Harris said she agreed with the assessment.

Trump said of Harris: “She’s a fascist, okay? She’s a fascist.”

Maggie Rogers: ‘In these next 8 days, you can fight back against the fear of Donald Trump’

Image

Maggie Rogers performs at a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in Burns Park Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Rogers performed five songs, including “Love You For A Long Time,” “Back In My Body” and “Don’t Forget Me” at Harris’ rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

“As I’m standing here with you today, I can’t ignore the headlines I have been seeing on my phone any longer,” Rogers said. “It is terrifying. … I don’t always know what to do with that feeling but there is something to me that is greater than fear, and that is action. … Voting is the key to the future.”

“In these next eight days, you can fight back against the fear of Donald Trump and everything he creates. You can take action against his darkness, you can choose the light,” she added.

Rogers is an ardent abortion rights supporter. After the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, she wrote online that “abortion is healthcare.” She also invited a series of nonprofits, including Planned Parenthood, to organize outside her most recent tour.

Trump lashes out at Michelle Obama

Taking the stage at his Atlanta rally, the former president quickly took aim at the former first lady.

“You know who’s nasty? Michelle Obama,” Trump says at his Atlanta rally. “That was a big mistake that she made.”

“I always tried to be so nice and respectful,” Trump said, claiming that she had “opened a little bit of something,” without further explanation.

Obama spoke at a political rally with Harris over the weekend. She will headline an Atlanta rally for her nonpartisan voter engagement group on Tuesday.


Maggie Rogers takes the stage at Harris rally in Ann Arbor

Image

Maggie Rogers performs at a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in Burns Park Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

The singer opened with her song “Love You for a Long Time.”

Between songs, Rogers said that she took a break from her tour to perform at the rally “because nothing is more important than this election right now.”

Rogers is the latest musical guest to appear with Harris, who welcomed Beyoncé to a rally in Houston on Friday.


The theme of Trump’s Atlanta rally: protecting women

Image

Alina Habba arrives to speak before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at McCamish Pavilion Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The Trump campaign zeroes in on supporting and protecting women with its own spin, focusing on the threats potentially facing American women — and how Trump would defend them. The message stands in contrast to how Democrats discuss women’s issues, which often first highlight topics like abortion.

Two close aides to the former president, attorney Alina Habba and the campaign’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, spoke at the start of the rally. Stephen Miller, a longtime Trump confidante, rallied the crowd by promising how Trump would protect American women from violent criminals and illegal immigration.

The Trump campaign also released an ad featuring an endorsement from the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl who was killed by two suspected gang members who were in the country illegally.

Voter Voice: Musical appearances at Harris rally are ‘cherry on top’

University of Michigan graduate student Haley Boylan said that while she is attending Kamala Harris’ rally in Ann Arbor to support the vice president, musical guest Maggie Rogers’ appearance is a “cherry on top.”

“How cool is it to see hopefully the future president of the United States and a great music guest at once?” said Boylan.

Boylan said that having special guests like Rogers is “a great way to get young people to come out, especially in these college towns.”

“It’s more drive for people to come out and hopefully just for politics in general, but it’s exciting to have that additional bonus as well,” said Boylan.

Stephen Miller stirs crowd with nativist rhetoric

Trump adviser Stephen Miller, one of the architects of the former president’s immigration policies, is stirring a Trump rally crowd in Atlanta by blasting Harris as solely responsible for an “open border” that he says led directly to murders of U.S. citizens.

Under Harris, he says, “It is a certainty that American wives, American daughters … that American blood will be spilled … that American children will have their whole future ripped away from them.”


Vance calls Madison Square Garden rally ‘a celebration of America’

Sen. JD Vance defended the Trump campaign’s Madison Square Garden rally on Monday after critics condemned the racist remarks of some speakers and equated the event to the 1939 neo-Nazi rally that took place in the same venue.

“It was a celebration of America,” Vance said during a political rally in Wausau, WI. He dismissed claims that the event was racist or featured discriminatory language.

Image

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

“They decided to compare us to literal Nazis for gathering in Madison Square Garden and celebrating the United States of America. These are the same people, of course, who call us racists for wanting to secure the southern border,” Vance told a crowd.

“They’re the same people who have no plans, no ideas and no solutions,” Vance said, urging the crowd to vote for Trump and himself and “reject … ridiculous name-calling over actual governance.”

The White House could have a mezuzah on its doorpost

When Harris was sworn into office as vice president, she and Emhoff placed a mezuzah on the VP’s residence in Washington. Emhoff says if Harris is elected, he would look to see if one could be placed in the White House.

“Three months from now, the White House residence could – I have to check first — could have a mezuzah on its doorpost,” Emhoff said.


Emhoff says he and Harris are committed to battling antisemitism

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff says voters have a choice of whether to empower the voices fighting antisemitism or those fomenting it — declaring that he and Kamala are committed to “extinguishing this epidemic of hate.”

Delivering remarks on antisemitism in America Monday in Pittsburgh, a day after the anniversary of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre, Emhoff says, “There is a fire in this country, and we either pour water on it or we pour gasoline on it.”

“One thing we know about antisemitism is that whenever chaos and cruelty are given a green light, Jew-hatred has historically not far behind,” Emhoff says. “And that matters so much today because Donald Trump is nothing if not an agent of chaos and cruelty.”

Emhoff credits his wife for urging him to “use my voice” on the issue and says she has an “unwavering” commitment to support Israel. “Kamala feels it in her kishkes.” He contrasted her commitment with Trump, who according to former aides has praised Nazis.

Harris says Trump ‘doesn’t understand the importance of unions, at all’

Image

Workers clap as Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, tours the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 1M facilities, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Warren, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Harris made the comment while standing before a few union members at a training facility in the key Michigan county. “He gives a lot of talk about what he cares about, but on the issues, specifically for what is good for unions and union labor, he has been awful.”

Harris specifically called out the way Trump filled the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that enforced labor laws in the United States, with anti-union figures, a frequent attack levied against Trump by union members. She also hit Trump for lauding ally Elon Musk, the businessman and owner of the social media platform X, for discussing firing striking workers.

“You’re here, he’s not,” a worker said to Harris after her critiques of Trump.

Union workers are important in a series of key swing states. While Democrats have long enjoyed the support of union leadership, Trump has improved Republican’s standing with rank-and-file union workers in both 2016 and 2020.

Trump returns to a defining location on the 2024 campaign trail

Trump’s Atlanta rally this evening is being held at McCamish Pavilion, across the street from the CNN studios where Trump and President Biden had their campaign-defining debate just four months ago.

Image

Ben Starett, lighting programmer for CNN, sets up lights in the spin room for the presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump in Atlanta, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

McCamish housed thousands of credentialed media that night, along with the “spin room” floor where surrogates come to insist their candidate won. The spin room turned out to be no contest that night, though, after Biden’s whispering, disjointed performance highlighted the 81-year-old president’s age and led ultimately to him dropping out of the race.

Trump’s top aides were on McCamish floor that night crowing about what happened on the debate stage and predicting a romp over Biden, only to have Democrats opt instead for nominating Vice President Harris.


Trump praises Christians but negs them as not ‘very solid voters’

Image

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks with Pastor Paula White during the National Faith Summit at Worship With Wonders Church, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Powder Springs, Ga. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Trump talked about his experience with faith and fatherhood at the National Faith Advisory Board summit. Trump recounted his upbringing in New York, saying that he at times enjoyed religious ceremonies but broadly sidestepped questions of his own faith.

Trump praised conservative Christians as a key part of his administration and said that a revamped office of faith would have a direct line into the Oval Office. He also promised to repeal the Johnson Amendment, which bars 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations from supporting or opposing political candidates.

“I shouldn’t scold anyone, but Christians aren’t known for being very solid voters,” Trump said to the crowd.

“We have to save religion in this country. No, honestly religion is under threat,” he warned.

Greene mangles New York City history to brag on Trump

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman and Trump loyalist, employed quite the exaggeration to brag on Trump at the Georgia Tech rally.

Having returned from Trump’s rally in New York City, she described Trump as “the man who built that city.”

Trump’s first real estate development projects, with his father’s company, came in the 1970s. He opened Trump Tower in 1983. Many of NewYork City’s signature skyscrapers predate this era, including the Woolworth Building (1913), the Empire State Building (1931) and the World Trade Center (dedicated in 1973).


Marjorie Taylor Greene pushes back on ‘fascist’ and ‘Nazi’ labels

Image

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., arrives before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at McCamish Pavilion Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Conspiracy theorist and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is pushing back at Donald Trump’s harshest critics.

“We are fed up being called Nazis and fascists,” Greene, R-Ga., said at Trump’s rally on the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta. “Those are absolute lies, and we’re not going to take it any more.” Greene suggested Trump supporters file a class-action lawsuit against media and others that have circulated those labels about the former president and his supporters in the 2024 election.

She did not mention that Trump has many times referred to Harris as a “communist” and “fascist.”

She blasted Harris and all Democrats as incompetent, arguing their policies don’t work “and neither did their stupid vaccine” to combat COVID-19. Greene is among the loudest anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists.

WATCH: Harris tours computer chip factory in Michigan

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Kamala Harris on Monday emphasized how government funding for computer chip manufacturers could create factory jobs in the electoral battleground of Michigan, days after Donald Trump criticized the bipartisan 2022 law that provides the money and said he would rather just charge tariffs.


Democrats hope to dissuade Puerto Ricans from backing Trump

Democrats are sharing and condemning the racist comment made by a comedian at Trump’s New York rally. They’re hoping to dissuade Puerto Ricans nationwide from voting for the former president, but the impact could be particularly potent in Pennsylvania.

The Census Bureau has found Puerto Ricans are the largest detailed Hispanic group in the commonwealth. A study by the University of California-Los Angeles put the figure above 470,000 as of 2018.

Harris’ new ad centers on racist Trump rally remark

Harris’ campaign will begin running a new ad condemning the racist joke calling Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage” told yesterday at Trump’s rally by a comedian.

The Harris ad opens with audio of the joke, before Harris says, “I will never forget what Donald Trump did. He abandoned the island and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults,” referring to the then-president’s response to Hurricane Maria in 2017. When Trump visited the island after the deadly hurricane, he threw rolls of paper towels into a crowd of people.

“Puerto Ricans deserve better,” Harris says on camera. “As president, I will always fight for you and your families and together we can chart a new way forward,” she adds.

The Harris campaign says the ad will run on digital platforms in all battleground states, but will specifically target zip codes with high concentrations of Latino voters.


Trump takes the stage at the National Faith Advisory Board

“That is a lot of religion out there. That’s pretty. That’s pretty good. We like that,” the former president said after applause. The National Faith Advisory Board summit is being held in Powder Springs, Georgia.


Republicans ask US Supreme Court to block some provisional ballots in Pennsylvania

By The Associated Press


Republicans on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency order in Pennsylvania that could result in thousands of votes not being counted in this year’s election in the battleground state.

Just over a week before the election, the court is being asked to step into a dispute over provisional ballots cast by Pennsylvania voters whose mail ballots are rejected for not following technical procedures in state law.

Image

The Supreme Court building is seen on June 28, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

The state’s high court ruled 4-3 that elections officials must count provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots were voided because they arrived without mandatory secrecy envelopes.

The election fight arrived at the Supreme Court the same day Virginia sought the justices’ intervention in a dispute over purging voter registrations.

In their high-court filing, state and national Republicans asked for an order putting the state court ruling on hold or, barring that, requiring the provisional ballots be segregated and not included in the official vote count while the legal fight plays out.

JUST IN: Republicans ask US Supreme Court to block counting of some provisional ballots in battleground Pennsylvania

By The Associated Press



Walz slams rhetoric used at Trump rally: ‘It’s about hate, it’s about division’

Image

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a campaign stop, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Manitowoc, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told a Wisconsin audience Tuesday that the rhetoric used during former President Donald Trump’s rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday highlighted the antagonistic tone of the Republican campaign’s closing message.

“Their closing argument last night was clear to the rest of the world: It’s about hate, it’s about division,” said the Democratic nominee for vice president, speaking at Copilot Coffee Co. in downtown Waukesha, Wisconsin.

The rally, which saw thousands of Trump supporters at one of the most iconic arenas in the country, was filled with crude and racist insults.

Democrats have lambasted the remarks, particularly one comment where a speaker called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

Walz said he and Harris offer “a new way forward” and lamented that Trump’s version of the Republican Party is “fundamentally different” from former Republican presidents like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

Surveillance images captured a vehicle stopping at a Portland ballot drop box


Police say they have identified a “suspect vehicle” connected to incendiary devices that set fires in ballot drop boxes in Oregon and Washington state early Monday.

Surveillance images captured a Volvo stopping at a drop box in Portland, Oregon, just before security personnel nearby discovered a fire inside the box.

That fire damaged three ballots inside, while officials say a fire at a drop box in nearby Vancouver, Washington, early Monday destroyed hundreds of ballots.

Image

In this image made from a video provided by KGW8, authorities investigate smoke pouring out of a ballot box on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Vancouver, Wash. (KGW8 via AP)

Authorities said at a news conference in Portland that enough material from the incendiary devices was recovered to show that the two fires Monday were connected — and that they were also connected to an Oct. 8 incident, when an incendiary device was placed at a different ballot drop box in Vancouver.

JUST IN: Police say fires set at ballot boxes in Oregon and Washington are connected and they have identified a ‘suspect vehicle’

By The Associated Press



Harris sits down with ‘The Breakfast Club’ hosts in new interview

Vice President Kamala Harris taped an interview Monday with hosts from the morning radio program “The Breakfast Club.”

The interview, which will air Tuesday at 7 a.m. ET., is her latest involvement with the show and hosts Charlamagne tha God, DJ Envy, and Loren LoRosa. The popular program, which has a large Black audience, has become a staple of Harris’ media strategy.

The Democratic nominee headlined a town hall-style event earlier this month moderated by Charlamagne tha God.

“We should never sit back and say, ‘OK, I’m not going to vote because everything hasn’t been solved,’” Harris said during the event. “This is a margin-of-error race. It’s tight. I’m going to win. I’m going to win, but it’s tight.”


Speaker Johnson appears to confirm Trump’s ‘secret’ plan

Image

Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

House Speaker Mike Johnson appears to be confirming Trump’s claim that Republicans have a “secret” plan to win the election.

“By definition, a secret is not to be shared — and I don’t intend to share this one,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.

The Republican speaker, who led a key legal challenge to the 2020 election, has worked to stay close to Trump and has been hesitant to contradict him. At his rally in New York on Sunday Trump said they have a “little secret” in the House that will have a “big impact.”

The statement was first reported by the New York Times.

WATCH: Biden casts his 2024 election ballot near his Delaware home

By The AssociatedPress


President Joe Biden has cast his ballot in the 2024 general election.


Harris says her administration will ‘reassess’ federal jobs requiring a college degree

Kamala Harris, campaigning in Michigan on Monday, told an audience at a semiconductor facility in Saginaw County that on “day one” of her possible presidency she will reassess which federal jobs require a college degree.

The comment is both a policy proposal and a political bridge.

One of the clearest political divides in the nation over the past few presidential cycles has been between college-educated and non-college-educated voters, with Democrats acknowledging they need to cut into Donald Trump’s support among the latter group.

“One of the things immediately is to reassess federal jobs, and I have already started looking at it, to look at which ones don’t require a college degree,” she said. “Because here is the thing: That’s not the only qualification for a qualified worker.”

Earlier in her speech, Harris said, “We need to get in front of this idea that only high-skilled jobs require college degrees.”

Fires set in drop boxes destroy hundreds of ballots in Washington and damage 3 in Oregon

Authorities are investigating after early morning fires were set in ballot drop boxes in Portland, Oregon, and in nearby Vancouver, Washington, where hundreds of ballots were destroyed.

Authorities — including the FBI — are investigating after early morning fires were set in ballot drop boxes in Portland, Oregon, and in nearby Vancouver, Washington.

Hundreds of ballots were destroyed in the Vancouver fire. In Portland, only three ballots were damaged after an incendiary device triggered a fire suppression system inside a drop box. The drop box that was targeted across the Columbia River in Vancouver also had a fire suppression system, but Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey says that for unknown reasons it failed work effectively.

Vancouver is in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, the site of what is expected to be one of the closest U.S. House races in the country, between first-term Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger Joe Kent.

Read more about the ballots that were destroyed

‘We cannot rest on tradition’

Vice President Kamala Harris told an audience at a semiconductor facility in Saginaw County, Michigan, on Monday that their work represents “the best of who we are as a country,” balancing the traditions of the nation and the desire to push technology forward.

Image

Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., from second right, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Corning Chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks tour the Hemlock Semiconductor Next-Generation Finishing facility in Hemlock, Mich., Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“When we understand who we are as a nation, we take great pride in being a leader on so many things. And we have a tradition of that,” she said at the Hemlock Semiconductor facility in central Michigan. “But I think that what we know as Americans is that we cannot rest on tradition.”

Harris added: “We have to constantly be on top of what is happening, what is current, and investing in the industries of the future, as well as honoring the traditions and the industries that have built up America’s economy.”

Hemlock Semiconductor recently received a $325 million federal grant for a new factory.


Trump will speak to reporters at Mar-A-Lago on Tuesday

The Republican nominee for president will deliver what his campaign is calling “remarks to the press” at 10 a.m. at his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. It is unclear whether the former president will take questions.


Americans in Puerto Rico can’t vote for US president. Their anger at Trump is shaping the race

A comic calling Puerto Rico garbage before a packed Donald Trump rally in New York was the latest humiliation for an island territory that has long suffered from mistreatment, residents said Monday in expressions of fury that could affect the presidential election.

Image

Tony Hinchcliffe speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Puerto Ricans cannot vote in general elections despite being U.S. citizens, but they can exert a powerful influence with relatives on the mainland. Phones across the island of 3.2 million people were ringing minutes after the speaker derided the U.S. territory Sunday night, and they still buzzed Monday.

▶ Read more about Puerto Ricans’ response to the remarks

Biden criticizes Musk’s $1M giveaway as ‘inappropriate’

President Joe Biden said it was “totally inappropriate” for Elon Musk to pledge to give away $1 million a day to voters for signing his political action committee’s petition. The billionaire and owner of the social platform X has gone all-in on Republican Donald Trump.

The giveaway has raised questions and alarms among some election experts who say it is a violation of the law to link a cash handout to signing a petition that also requires a person to be registered to vote.

“I think it’s totally inappropriate,” he said in Delaware where he just voted.


Since Labor Day, the campaigns have made more visits to Pennsylvania than to other states

The Democratic and Republican presidential tickets are heading into the final week of campaigning with a familiar strategy: Rally supporters in the handful of states that will decide the race.

Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin have received the most attention from Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and their running mates since the Labor Day weekend — the point when campaigning traditionally intensifies.

The Democratic ticket has been more active over the past two weeks, according to Associated Press tracking of the campaigns’ public events.

From Oct. 14 through this past weekend, Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, held 42 campaign events over the seven swing states while Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, held 25.

There has been a stark contrast in Wisconsin: Harris and Walz visited the state eight times between Oct. 14 and Sunday, compared to just one visit by Trump and Vance during that span. The Republicans are headed back to Wisconsin this week, including a rally in Milwaukee.

The AP tracker shows that from Labor Day through this past weekend both campaigns have made more visits to Pennsylvania (43) than to Georgia, Arizona and Nevada combined (40). See where the campaigns have been traveling with this AP interactive map.

Biden calls Trump’s New York rally ‘simply embarrassing’

In response to Donald Trump’s New York rally where speakers made crude and racist insults, President Joe Biden said: “It’s simply embarrassing. That’s why this election is so important.”

Biden was speaking after he voted Monday in Delaware.

“Most of the presidential scholars I’ve spoken to talk about the single most consequential thing about a president is character. Character,” Biden said. “And he puts that in question every time he opens his mouth.”

President Joe Biden has voted in the 2024 election

Biden waited in line for about 40 minutes before he cast his ballot.

He handed his identification to the election worker, who had him sign and then announced: “Joseph Biden now voting.”

Image

President Joe Biden is handed an “I Voted Early” sticker upon exiting the voting booth after casting his early-voting ballot for the 2024 general elections, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New Castle, Del. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

As Biden voted behind a black drape, some first-time voters were announced and the room erupted in cheers for them.


Alaska Sen. Murkowski says neither Trump nor Harris will get her vote

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican and outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump, says she won’t vote for him or Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, in the general election.

“I want to vote for somebody and not against someone,” she told the Anchorage Daily News. She added she was disappointed with the choices from both major parties.

Murkowski voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection and also called for him to resign. She said she didn’t vote for him in 2016 or 2020.

“I am going to be voting for someone and hopefully I will feel good about that, even knowing that that individual probably is not going to be in the winner column,” Murkowski said.

Murkowski declined to say who would get her vote.

There are six other candidates on the Alaska ballot for president, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. even though he dropped out of the race in August.

President Joe Biden is waiting in line to cast his ballot

Image

President Joe Biden helps a voter in a wheel chair in line at a polling station before casting his early-voting ballot for the 2024 general elections, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New Castle, Del. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

When Biden arrived at the polling place at the Delaware Department of Elections, there was a long line of people lined up waiting to vote.

He chatted with some and was pushing an older woman in a wheelchair who was ahead of him in line. They’re all casting ballots early for the Nov. 5 election.


Harris: Trump is ‘fixated on his grievances, on himself, and on dividing our country’

Kamala Harris said Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square helped prove her point about the stakes of the election.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Harris said the Sunday event “really highlighted the point that I’ve been making throughout this campaign,” which is that Trump is “fixated on his grievances, on himself, and on dividing our country, and it is not in any way something that will strengthen the American family, the American worker.”

Harris plans to deliver her closing argument on Tuesday in Washington.

“There’s a big difference between he and I,” she said.

President Joe Biden is heading to cast his ballot

“Let’s go vote,” he told reporters Monday after breakfast with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, who has served as Delaware’s lone House member since 2017 and is running for U.S. Senate.

Image

President Joe Biden, left, walks with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., after having breakfast at The Legend Restaurant & Bakery, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New Castle, Del. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)


Trump to hold his election night party at the Palm Beach Convention Center

The Florida venue, announced by Trump’s campaign on Monday, is not far from his Mar-a-Lago club and residence.