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What to know about the campaigns today
- Former President Donald Trump is holding a rally in Atlanta tonight after taping a Fox News town hall in Cumming, Georgia. Earlier in the day, Trump sat for an interview with Bloomberg News' editor-in-chief at the Economic Club of Chicago, where he pushed back against questions about his age.
- Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, is in Pennsylvania for a town hall with Moms for America, in Lafayette Hill.
- Vice President Kamala Harris did an interview with radio host Charlamagne Tha God in Detroit, answering questions about issues ranging from Jan. 6 to reparations.
- Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is holding events in Pennsylvania, including Butler, the site of the first assassination attempt on Trump.
Georgia judge blocks rule requiring counties to hand-count Election Day ballots
A Georgia judge today blocked a new rule from the state’s election board that would have required counties to count ballots cast on Election Day by hand, a provision critics had said would cause delays in reporting results in the battleground state.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his decision that the rule was implemented too close to Election Day and would cause “administrative chaos.”
“Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public,” he wrote.
Trump says Black and Latino voters who back Harris 'got to go have your head examined'
Trump said at tonight's rally in Atlanta that Biden administration policies had "devastated" Black and Latino communities, destroying what he has previously described as "Black jobs."
"Any African American or Hispanic, and you know how well I'm doing there, that votes for Kamala, you got to have your head examined, because they, they are really screwing you. They are really screwing you, right?" said Trump, who has made similar remarks about Jewish voters who support Democrats.
Trump claimed tonight that Blacks and Latinos were "all of a sudden" losing their jobs, which he blamed on illegal immigration.
"Kamala's open border policy is a complete and total betrayal of American communities and Hispanic American communities," he said.
Despite her call to ‘do something’ for Harris, Michelle Obama has yet to hit the campaign trail
Barack Obama has begun stumping for Harris. Bill Clinton is holding a series of campaign events for her in battleground states. Yet the Democratic superstar many members of the party would like to see helping Harris has been absent from the campaign trail so far.
With just 21 days until the election, Michelle Obama has worked behind the scenes to boost turnout in key swing states, but she has yet to schedule an official appearance for Harris since the Democratic National Convention. Two people familiar with the matter said she has expressed fresh concerns about security following two assassination attempts against Trump.
Vance makes pitch to women at town hall in suburban Philadelphia
Addressing the potentially historic gender gap in support between Trump and Harris for the first time, Vance pitched the Republican ticket to an audience primarily of women as a vote for “common sense” and urged women already supporting the GOP ticket to help amplify that message before Election Day.
“I think moms are the best ambassadors to say, look, don’t believe the lies that you’ve heard about these guys. Vote for what’s in your best interest,” Vance said before a town hall gathering hosted by the conservative group Moms for America in suburban Philadelphia.
Vance urged the crowd to engage with their friends “person to person” to help bring fence-sitting voters under the Republican tent in the final stretch before Election Day.
“I guarantee every single person in this room has somebody in their friendship circle who’s maybe a little skeptical of me or maybe been a little skeptical of the president. Just talk to them and say: 'I think these guys have got good heads on their shoulders. They care about the country, and most importantly, they’re going to make our lives better,'” Vance said, framing a vote for Trump as a vote for public safety and a lower cost of living.
A recent NBC News national poll found Harris leading among women by a 14-point margin (55%-41%), while Trump maintains a 16-point advantage among men (56%-40%).
‘So evil’ and ‘dangerous’: Trump doubles down on calling Democrats ‘enemies from within’
Trump doubled down today on his remarks over the weekend referring to Democrats as the “enemy from within.”
During a taped town hall of all-women voters in Cumming, Georgia, with Fox News, host Harris Faulkner asked Trump about his “enemy from within” comment, which he made on the network’s “Sunday Morning Futures” over the weekend.
In the interview, Trump told host Maria Bartiromo that Rep. Adam Schiff of California and other Democrats were “lunatics” and a bigger threat to the U.S. than foreign adversaries like Russia or China.
Ted Cruz and Colin Allred clash over abortion, trans athletes and Jan. 6 in feisty Texas Senate debate
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Rep. Colin Allred traded quippy one-liners and clashed over policy tonight at their first and only debate in a Texas Senate race debate that both candidates agree is up for grabs.
Cruz presented himself as a conservative who “will fight to keep Texas Texas,” while Allred cast Cruz as a do-nothing extremist who has not delivered for the state in his 12 years in the Senate.
“When the lights went out in the energy capital of the world, he went to Cancún. On Jan. 6, when a mob was storming the Capitol, he was hiding a supply closet. And when the toughest border security bill in a generation came up in the United States Senate, he took it down,” Allred said, repeatedly mentioning Cruz’s trip to Mexico during a 2021 winter storm in Texas. “We don’t have to have a senator like this.”
Harris sat with host Charlamagne Tha God in a Detroit radio town hall. NBC News’ Aaron Gilchrist reports on the Harris campaign’s focus on reaching Black voters.
Trump refers to historic first day of voting in Georgia, encourages supporters to vote early
At a rally in Atlanta tonight, Trump mentioned the start of early voting in Georgia, which broke a record today.
"Despite the storm, early mail-in voting in your state is now underway, and early in-person is underway, but I’ll tell you what, I’m hearing very good things now. Hasn’t been going on too long, but we’re seeing numbers," Trump said.
An election official at the Georgia secretary of state’s office said that the new record included more than 300,000 ballots. The state also broke a record for the first day of early voting ahead of the presidential election in 2020.
Trump also encouraged supporters to return their early ballots "immediately," a reversal from his often disparaging comments about early and mail-in voting, which he has suggested are vulnerable to fraud.
"We don’t want to take a chance. We can’t lose this country," he said.
Trump also acknowledged Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, praising his hurricane response.
Harris is raising concerns about Trump’s fitness for office as he launches personal attacks on her intelligence. The Harris campaign says Trump appeared “lost, confused and frozen” during a Pennsylvania rally. NBC’s Hallie Jackson reports for “TODAY.”
Biden on Trump's music-focused town hall: 'What's wrong with this guy?'
Biden made a dig tonight at Trump as he was talking about Trump's unusual town hall that turned into a music-listening event.
“Look at his rallies,” Biden told an audience in Philadelphia. “Last night, his rally stopped taking questions because someone got hurt. And guess what? He stood on the stage for 30 minutes and danced.
“I’m serious. What’s wrong with this guy?” Biden added.