Supporters get ready before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak to a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The presidential campaign comes down to a final push across a handful of states on the eve of Election Day.

Kamala Harris will spend all of Monday in Pennsylvania, whose 19 electoral votes offer the largest prize among the states expected to determine the Electoral College outcome. Donald Trump plans four rallies in three states, beginning in Raleigh, North Carolina and stopping twice in Pennsylvania with events in Reading and Pittsburgh, then ending in Michigan

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Several of Trump’s children join him on stage in Pittsburgh

Trump invited several of his children on stage as he spoke nostalgically about the end of his campaign.

He told a story about his youngest son, Barron Trump, teaching him about technology.

“Do I have good kids?” Trump said to loud cheers. “Are my kids here? Where are my kids?”

He was joined on stage by Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and his wife Lara, along with Tiffany Trump and her husband. He said Barron was watching from home and Ivanka Trump “loves the whole thing.”

Several of Trump’s children joined him on stage at another rally earlier Monday in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Michigan GOP chair says he is ‘very confident’ Trump will win

Ahead of Donald Trump’s final rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan — the same place he closed out his 2016 and 2020 campaigns — state party chair Pete Hoekstra said he feels “very confident” that Trump will carry the state and win another four years in the White House.

“I’m optimistic. Very bullish on Michigan,” Hoekstra told The Associated Press.

Republicans have also focused on election security in Michigan, but on Monday night, Hoekstra said that “so far” he felt good about the security of the election, but “you never know what you don’t know.”

“Overall, we’re feeling good. We’ve got a great effort in place,” said Hoekstra, adding that a “war room” was in place to take calls if there were any issues with voting tomorrow.

Trump in his speech paints migrants as killers, as he often does

Trump says he wants to see the successful Penn State wrestling team compete against migrants, painting a picture of people crossing the border illegally as strong and nasty.

“I want the migrants to go against the champion, and I think the migrant might actually win,” Trump said, describing migrants — as he often does — as killers who’ve spent time in jail.

He said he met the wrestlers recently and told them “they might be the only guys in the country who can beat the hell out of the migrants.”

He had a similar riff at a rally earlier Monday.

Immigration has been Trump’s signature issue since the day he announced his first campaign for president. He often uses dehumanizing language to describe migrants and massively inflates the danger posed by immigrants, who commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans.

Andra Day belts Billie Holiday for Kamala Harris

The election may be a nail-biter, but Andra Day said at a rally for Harris in Pittsburgh that she has “complete faith” when it comes to the voting power of the people of Pennsylvania.

“I love women in positions of power,” she said in her introduction.

Then she launched into a cover of Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child,” a nod to her role as Holiday in 2021’s “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.” It earned Day an Oscar nomination. Day also performed an original song, “Empty,” from her latest album “Cassandra.”

In 2020, Andra Day performed her hit “Rise Up,” what became an unofficial anthem for the Black Lives Matter movement, during President Joe Biden’s virtual inaugural parade.

Trump speaks dismissively of Beyoncé’s appearance at Harris rally

Trump’s comments drew boos from his supporters for the megastar, who spoke at a Harris rally in Houston but did not perform.

“Beyoncé would come in. Everyone’s expecting a couple of songs. There were no songs. There was no happiness,” Trump said. Harris supporters who were there might dispute his characterization of the raucous rally.

Then Trump offered some advice to fellow politicians who want to appear with celebrities: “Always put the stars on after you. That way they stay.”

Trump promises to solve all of America’s ills if he wins the election

“A vote for Trump means your groceries will be cheaper,” Trump says. “Your paychecks will be higher, your streets will be safer, your communities will be richer, and your future will be brighter than ever before.”

Trump has claimed his plans to increase energy production will help him lower prices, even as he plans to dramatically raise tariffs.

He’s repeating his campaign’s closing message that: “Kamala broke it. I will fix it.”

Trump: ‘We do not have to settle for weakness, incompetence, decline and decay’

Trump is beginning his Pittsburgh speech by painting a bleak picture of America under Democratic leadership and promising to fix it. He says Americans have suffered “catastrophic failure, betrayal and humiliation.”

“We do not have to settle for weakness, incompetence, decline and decay,” Trump said. “With your vote tomorrow, we can fix every single problem our country faces and lead America, and indeed the whole world, to new heights of glory.”

Trump on stage at his penultimate rally in Pittsburgh

The rally is a redo of sorts after Trump’s first try at a closing message speech went off the rails.

In a rally at Madison Square Garden in Trump’s native New York City, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe spoke first and made a joke calling Puerto Rico a pile of garbage, offending many Puerto Ricans and disrupting Trump’s efforts to build support among Hispanic voters.

Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, though they can only vote if they live in one of the 50 states.

Trump has distanced himself from the comedian but has not denounced the joke.

Georgia poll worker arrested for mailing bomb threat, Justice Department says

Federal authorities have arrested a Georgia election worker accused of sending a letter threatening poll workers he wrote to make it seem like it had come from a voter he had gotten into a fight with earlier.

Nicholas Wimbish, 25, of Milledgeville, Georgia, got into a verbal altercation with a voter while serving a poll worker at the Jones County Election Office in Gray, Georgia, last month, the Justice Department said.

The next day, prosecutors say he sent a letter from a “Jones County Voter” to the the elections superintendent. The letter said Wimbish was “conspiring votes” and “distracting voters from concentrating.” It said Wimbish and others should “should look over their shoulder” and that “I know where they all live because I found home voting addresses for all them.”

Prosecutors say Wimbish wrote at the bottom of the typed letter: “PS boom toy in early vote place, cigar burning, be safe.”

When authorities interviewed Wimbish about the letter, he blamed it on the voter, according to court records.

He’s charged with mailing a bomb threat, conveying false information about a bomb threat, mailing a threatening letter and making false statements to FBI agents.

There was no lawyer listed for Wimbish in court records. A message was left at a number listed for him in public records.

Trump to take the stage soon in Pittsburgh

The event at PPG Paints Arena will serve as Trump’s campaign’s closing message of the race, aides say.

While the arena’s upper level seating has been blocked off — and some seats remain empty in the lower sections — Trump has drawn a crowd of thousands to the venue, which has a capacity of 14,000 to 19,000, depending on how the seating is arranged.

Trump has been drawing smaller crowds in the closing stretch of the campaign than he did in previous races.

That could be, in part, because he has been returning again and again to the same battleground states, sometimes speaking in the same places — and even the same venues — where he spoke just days earlier.

More than 20 states are willing to send National Guard troops to Washington if needed, officials say

National Guard officials say more than two dozen states have indicated they would be willing to send Guard troops to Washington if needed and requested in the coming weeks following the presidential election and in the runup to the inauguration.

The District of Columbia has not yet made any formal request for Guard troops. But officials across the government have been meeting and preparing for the possibility that the U.S. Capitol could once again be rocked by violence around the certification of the election by Congress on Jan. 6 and the inauguration two weeks after that.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Col. Jean Paul Laurenceau, chief of future operations for the National Guard Bureau, said it is not yet clear how many Guard troops will be needed or requested this year.

He said it will depend on what the District of Columbia wants but noted that the National Guard Bureau and the states are leaning forward in anticipation of a request for assistance.

A new American citizen on the Texas border votes for the first time

After living in the U.S. for nearly 40 years and never attempting to seek citizenship, Carlos Salas said he was compelled to “wake up” to his civic duties.

He resides in Alamo, Texas, just 8 miles (13 kilometers) from the border. This year, at age 78, he voted for the first time in his life.

Born in Veracruz, Mexico, Salas arrived in the U.S. at age 14. He has spent the past 30 years as a photographer traveling around the Rio Grande Valley, the southernmost part of Texas. He photographs families at special events like quinceañeras. Occasionally he walks to Nuevo Progreso, Tamaulipas in Mexico to pick up a souvenir for his wife.

Salas said the fear of being returned to Mexico kept him from seeking citizenship and the right to vote. But this year he said he’s driven to the polls out of concern for those who, like him, are hardworking immigrants seeking safety and shelter in the U.S.

Washington state reaches 5 million registered voters

Washington state officially reached the milestone of having 5 million registered voters on Monday, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

Additionally, 10,059 voters registered on Oct. 28, the deadline for registering or updating voter registration online and via mail, setting a state record for online voter registrations in a single day. Eligible voters can still register to vote or update registration in person at voting centers until 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Nearly 2 million Washington voters had already returned their ballots as of Oct. 31.

Harris gets out her own vote in Pennsylvania

Harris went canvassing in Pennsylvania on the eve of Election Day, visiting two homes in Reading as she campaigned throughout the state.

Harris, and the considerable motorcade she travels in, pulled up to a home where three people waited for the Democratic nominee.

“Hi guys,” Harris said.

“Oh my God,” said the family, seeing the vice president on their porch.

“Sorry for the intrusion,” Harris added. The family said they planned to vote on Tuesday morning and that they had made up their minds, but they did not say who they were backing.

Harris, accompanied by two campaign volunteers, then walked a few doors down, where a woman told the vice president, “You already got my vote,” and gave her a hug as dogs barked in the background. She told the vice president that her husband, who shook Harris’ hand as he emerged from the house, planned to vote Tuesday.

“It’s the day before the election and I just wanted to come by and say I hope to earn your vote,” Harris told the woman.

The Democratic nominee could also be heard telling the women about needing to “find common ground,” a familiar line from her stump speech.

Trump arrives in Pittsburgh

Trump has arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for his third of four rallies today.

Supporters have gathered on the streets near the venue to watch his motorcade pass.

Voter Voice: ‘We cannot truly be free until every person has the same human rights’

“I’m anxious. I think we all are,” said Nancy Julian of Pittsburgh.

But she said it was important to turn out to support Harris, whom she said she has admired since Harris was on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Bradyn Yahner of Altoona, wearing a camo-style Harris-Walz hat, said he shares the vice presidential nominee‘s affinity for hunting and camping.

“You can be a supporter of those things as far as guns go and still understand that the U.S. does need better gun restrictions,” he said.

He was attending with Katrina Shedd of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania. They were feeling hopeful about the election, saying the energy here is even stronger than at an earlier Harris rally they attended in Erie.

“I’m here fighting for women’s rights, gay people’s rights, trans people’s rights,” Shedd said. “We cannot truly be free until every person has the same human rights.”

Sarah Kesner of Pulaski, Pennsylvania, said she was backing Harris because she supports democracy, “and I don’t support bullies, and he (Trump) always has been one.”

Her son, Joshua Kesner of Hubbard, Ohio, wearing a “Veterans for Harris “ T-shirt, said the vote was important to him as an Army veteran.

“We all, when we join the military, take an oath to defend the Constitution,” he said. “That means voting for the candidate who will defend the Constitution, rather than trample on it.”

Harris went to Reading to make a point about Trump. She left with a bag of plantains, cassava and rice

Harris, flanked by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, mingled with diners at Old San Juan Cafe, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Reading, a Northeast Pennsylvania city with a large concentration of Puerto Ricans. She asked about school, the restaurant and what kind of food she should take to-go.

Harris did not mention a comedian telling a recent crowd at a Trump rally that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage,” but she didn’t need to — the scene of Harris ordering Puerto Rican food with imagery from the island everywhere was enough to prove the point.

The Democratic presidential nominee eagerly looked on as the owner walked her through what they had to offer. At first, she said she was interested in a “spicy taquito,” but after going through the rice, plantains, pork and cassava, Harris added, “I want that too. I’m very hungry. I don’t get to eat as often as I like.” She paid for her order with a credit card.

“I’m very happy to be here,” Harris said. “I’ve been reading about your restaurant.”

After she and Ocasio Cortez touted the Latino owner of the cafe and the work that went into the restaurant, Harris said: “I have a saying, I eat no for breakfast. Which means I don’t hear no.”

Pennsylvania has become a key part of the final day of the campaign between Harris and Trump. Both were in Reading on Monday.

In some states, millions more people are voting early compared with 2020

Millions more Americans in some states chose to vote early compared to the last presidential election, despite the unusually high advance voting due the COVID-19 pandemic at the time.

In New York, nearly 3 million advance ballots have been counted compared to just over 1.5 million advance voters in 2020. This year, advance votes amongst registered Republicans in Louisiana, as well as the battleground states of Florida and North Carolina, outpaced 2020’s numbers.

In those same states, and in the additionally closely-watched Arizona, advance votes totals amongst registered Republicans is greater than Democrats right now.

Voter Voice: ‘I’m really excited to vote’

Alondra Cortes, who attended Harris’ Allentown rally, said it made her cry with happiness just hours before Cortes — a first-time voter born and raised in Puerto Rico — becomes the first in her family to vote in a mainland U.S. election.

“This is my first rally ever. I am a first time voter, so it’s really, really nice. Some tears were shed. I’m really excited to vote,” Cortes, 21, said.

“She’s really inspirational, especially for a minority like me, so I’m really excited to vote for her,” she added, speaking about Harris.

Cortes, a senior at Moravian University, said she has class in the morning and then work, but she’ll go vote with her friends and hopes to celebrate after that, since they’re all first-time voters.

Harris drives over an hour to put focus on disparaging joke told at Trump rally

Harris’ supporters were chanting “Si se puede” and “Kamala” as the vice president’s motorcade pulled up to Old San Juan Cafe, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Harris’ stop, her third of the day in Pennsylvania, has a clear focus: Call out Trump for allowing a comedian at his recent rally at Madison Square Garden to label Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Trump has not apologized for the comedian’s comment, but his campaign attempted to distance itself from the remark.

That didn’t work, and the comment has dominated the closing days of the campaign.

Harris, who has four scheduled events in the commonwealth, drove over an hour from Allentown to visit the cafe in Reading, a Northeast Pennsylvania city with a large concentration of Puerto Ricans and other Latinos. Supporters lined the streets as Harris arrived at the restaurant.

Voter Voice: ‘She’s the only one who can do something for this country’

A crowd gathered outside Old San Juan Cafe, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Reading, Pennsylvania, to catch a glimpse of Harris.

“I’m so proud that she’s in our neighborhood,” said Juan Rivas, 66, a Dominican American who lives just a block from the restaurant. “She’s the only who can do something for this country. I don’t think Trump with his hypocrisy, and his hate of Hispanics can do anything. He only thinks about himself and the rich, and even when he tries to benefit himself, he leaves a trail of debts behind him.”

Trump had also been in Reading earlier Monday, hosting a rally at Santander Arena.

Rivas said that he has several Puerto Rican friends and they were all equally disgusted by comments made against the island during Trump’s rally.

“Whatever they say about a Hispanic, they say about me,” said the retiree, who had already mailed his vote for Harris.

His wife walked out of their home to take photos of Harris supporters that waited for Harris behind a police line.

“I’m so excited,” Claudia Guzman, 52 said. “I never thought the vice president would come here. Tomorrow I vote for Kamala. Women are coming to power.”

Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes can proceed, Pennsylvania judge says

The $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes that Elon Musk ’s political action committee is hosting in swing states can continue through Tuesday’s presidential election, a Pennsylvania judge ruled Monday.

Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta — ruling after Musk’s lawyers said the winners are paid spokespeople and not chosen by chance — did not immediately explain his reasoning.

Musk’s lawyers, defending the effort, called it “core political speech” given that participants sign a petition endorsing the U.S. Constitution. They also said that Krasner’s bid to shut it down under Pennsylvania law was moot because there would be no more Pennsylvania winners before the program ends Tuesday.

District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, believes the giveaways violate state election law and contradict what Musk promised when he announced them during an appearance with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump ’s campaign in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 19: “We’re going to be awarding a million dollars randomly to people who have signed the petition every day from now until the election,” Musk vowed.

? Read more about the decision on Musk’s sweepstakes

Hundreds line up to vote early in Omaha

Between 400 and 500 people snaked out the door and around the corner of the Douglas County Election Commission office — the only place in the state’s most populous county where people can vote early in person. The crowds have been present every day for at least two weeks to cast their ballots, but the crush was particularly heavy Monday.

Nearly 370,000 people are registered to vote in Douglas County, and County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse has predicted voter turnout to be 73%. About half of Douglas County voters are expected to vote early, the commission office said.

Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill says he’ll vote for Harris in new track

Philadelphia rapper and prison reform activist Meek Mill surprise released a new track, “Who You Voting For” on Monday afternoon, sharing a snippet of the song with the caption, “I made this last night … who you voting for???” on TikTok.

“My homie say vote for Trump / You want that stimulus / I wanted two from him but the way he movin’ venomous,” he starts the song. “I’m going probably vote Kamala.”

“It ain’t fair when your lawyer look like Trump / D.A. lookin’ like Kamala,” he continues, critiquing Harris’ past as a prosecutor. “We Thanksgiving to the system / They’ve been eating us for lunch / And it’s the last supper / Hope you be with us for once, Mrs. Harris.”

In 2017, Meek Mill was sentenced for probation violations involving a decade-old gun and drug possession case. The Pennsylvania trial judge sentenced him to two to four years in prison, but a court ordered his release in April 2018.

On July 24, 2019, an appeals court tossed his conviction over doubts about the arresting officer’s credibility. The next month, Meek Mill pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge in a deal that resolved the 2007 arrest, ending his legal limbo with the criminal justice system. He is now an activist for justice reform.

After threats against election workers, Nevada county puts panic buttons in all polling places

Threats against election workers have gotten so bad that all polling places in Washoe County, Nevada, have a “panic button” that workers can hit to automatically call 911.

But Andrew McDonald, the deputy registrar of voters in the swing county of half a million people, says there’s only been one incident in nearly two weeks of in-person early voting that required someone to hit the panic button.

That incident, McDonald said at a press conference, involved a voter at one of the county’s 24 early voting sites who would not remove his hat when asked by a worker, who was following state law prohibiting campaign signs or paraphernalia within 100 feet (30 meters) of a polling station.

“A few other voters in line sort of ganged up on the site manager,” McDonald said. But when police arrived, he added, “they calmed down and were able to vote.”

Washoe has become a hotbed for election conspiracy theorists who believe Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Still, McDonald noted that the panic button incident is the only significant one that’s happened during the early vote period, when 90,000 people cast their ballots.

“I get an incident report daily,” McDonald said, “and there haven’t been that many incidents.”

Thousands await Harris’ arrival at Pittsburgh-area rally

Thousand gathered Monday afternoon at the Carrie Blast Furnaces in the Pittsburgh area in anticipation of Harris’ arrival.

They listened to upbeat music as a DJ led in singing “Don’t Stop Believing “ and dancing to “Cupid Shuffle” in the shadow of historic steelworks in Rankin.

“Pittsburgh is the center of America right now,” said attendee Susan Wadsworth-Booth of Pittsburgh. “It’s one of those pivotal places, and we live here. It almost feels like a responsibility to be here and show we care. “

Ahmad Rudd of Pittsburgh, attending his third Harris rally in western Pennsylvania, said he’s “cautiously optimistic” of undecided voters winning her the presidency.

“I feel it’s going to be enough,” he said.

Randie Pearson, director of Women of Steel, joined other members of the women’s group within the United Steelworkers in handing out stickers proclaiming “We’re Not Going Back.”

”She supports women’s rights, she supports women on the job,” Pearson said, citing an array of legislation and policies she said boosted laborers.

Georgia Supreme Court rules ballots voters received late must be returned by Election Day

Georgia’s highest court on Monday ruled ballots in the state’s third-largest county must be returned by Election Day.

A previous lower court ruling would have allowed certain voters in Cobb County who received their absentee ballots late to return them after the deadline as long as they were postmarked by Tuesday.

The county, just north of Atlanta, didn’t mail out absentee ballots to some voters who had requested them until late last week. Georgia law says absentee ballots must be received by the close of polls on Election Day.

The Georgia Supreme Court ruling means the affected residents must vote in person on Election Day, or get their absentee ballots to the county elections office by 7 p.m. that day.

The high court ruling instructs county election officials to notify the affected voters by email, text message and in a public message on the county election board’s website. And it orders officials to keep separate and sealed any ballots received after the Election Day deadline but before 5 p.m. Friday.

Harris subtly tags Trump as backward-looking because of health care repeal

Harris subtly accused Trump of being backward-looking because of his attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

“To those certain individuals who still want to get rid of the Affordable Care Act,” Harris said on Monday in Allentown, Pennsylvania, referring to the 2010 health care law, “To them, we say we are not going back.”

The comment led to loud cheers of “We’re not going back” from the crowd in Allentown.

Trump tried multiple times as president to overturn the ACA, only failing because of one vote from the late Sen. John McCain.

Those attempts were rekindled last week when House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked at an event, “No Obamacare?” Republican leaders answered: “No Obamacare.”

Trump responded to the comment by saying he doesn’t want to end Obamacare, despite repeatedly trying to do so in office.

Federal officials monitoring threats at election command post

Federal law enforcement officials are working around the clock at a command post at FBI headquarters to monitor and respond to any threats surrounding the election.

The FBI runs a command post around every federal election, but this year’s is more “robust” with more federal agencies involved, according to James Barnacle, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.

The command post brings officials from the FBI, Justice Department, Secret Service, Capitol Police, Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies together under one roof to allow law enforcement to quickly respond to any threats to election security.

“Those threats include criminal threats — such as threats to election workers — foreign malign influence, cyber threats and acts of domestic violence,” Barnacle said.

Barnacle said federal officials have seen “some foreign malign influence operations,” as well as attempted cyber attacks “where adversaries are trying to hit the secretaries of state or state governments or local governments and cause issues with their infrastructure.”

The command post will operate 24/7 through at least Saturday, Nov. 9, with about 80 people working per shift, he said.

Harris calls Pennsylvania voters election difference makers

Harris dropped the pretense at an event in Allentown on Monday: Pennsylvania voters, she said, would make the difference in the 2024 presidential election.

“We need everyone in Pennsylvania to vote,” Harris said. “You are going to make the difference in this election.”

Both Harris and Trump have put considerable focus on Pennsylvania in the closing hours of the 2024 campaign, with Harris spending all of Monday campaigning across the state. Both Trump and Harris aides see the commonwealth as central to their respective paths to victory.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024