October 29, 2024, presidential campaign news

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Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are campaigning in several key battleground states on Wednesday, in their final push before Election Day next week.

Harris will speak at campaign events in Raleigh, North Carolina; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin.

Walz will participate in interviews with ABC News and CBS News on Wednesday morning, before attending campaign events in three locations across North Carolina – Charlotte, Greensboro and Asheville.

Remember: A swing state is one that has recently supported presidents from different parties. Think of the “blue wall” states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. They swung from Democratic President Barack Obama in 2012 to Republican President Donald Trump in 2016 and then back to Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020.

Now they’re battleground states, or places where candidates show up and campaign.

Then there are some Sun Belt states, such as Georgia and North Carolina, which have seen population growth among young people and people of color — and are relatively evenly split as well.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally on the Ellipse in Washington, DC, on October 29, 2024.

Kamala Harris on Tuesday night warned Americans that Donald Trump would open up a floodgate of vengeance against his political rivals, including ordinary Americans, while promising that she’d work for the American people.

Standing where Trump told his supporters on January 6, 2021, to “fight like hell,” shortly before they ransacked the US Capitol, Harris described the election as an existential choice between the liberties she promised to protect and the “chaos and division” that would follow Trump back into the White House.

In discussing her policy plans, she cast herself as the former president’s foil — a president who would expand Medicare to cover home health care, where Trump would try to cut the program; a president who would back women’s reproductive rights, where Trump would further restrict them; a president who would prize compromise, where Trump feasts on conflict.

Read the full story here.

The Trump campaign on Tuesday continued to seize on comments by President Joe Biden, which sparked immediate backlash from many who interpreted them as referring to supporters of former President Donald Trump as “garbage.”

What Biden said: Speaking during a Voto Latino get out-the-vote call, Biden — in reaction to Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday — said, “And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico ‘a floating island of garbage.’ Well, let me tell you something … I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know… or Puerto Rico where I’m — in my home state of Delaware — they’re good, decent, honorable people.”

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “His, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

Biden later tried to clean up the comments, writing on X that his use of the word “garbage” had referred to “the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally.”

A damaged ballot drop box is displayed during a news conference at the Multnomah County Elections Division office in Portland, Oregon, on October 28, 2024.

Hundreds of ballots were destroyed by fires this week at two ballot drop boxes in the Pacific Northwest, and investigators are searching for a culprit they say is responsible for both.

Here’s what we know:

Read more about the investigation.

Tony Hinchcliffe arrives to speak before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, on October 27, 2024.

Former President Donald Trump said Tony Hinchcliffe probably shouldn’t have attended his Madison Square Garden rally amid backlash over the comedian’s comments disparaging Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”

Trump insisted that “they love me in Puerto Rico and I love them,” arguing that he helped the island rebuild and its residents recover from Hurricane Maria.

He again wrongly claimed that Democrats are accusing him of being a Nazi. Harris had said during a town hall that she believes Trump is a “fascist.”

He also argued that the Harris-Walz campaign is not a “campaign of joy,” but a “campaign of hatred.”

Once more, he insulted Harris’ intelligence and attacked the vice president over her CBS News’ “60 Minutes” interview.

He also said he’s an “environmentalist” when arguing that nuclear weapons are the greatest danger to the US and the world, and not global warming.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro looked to assure Pennsylvania voters that “we will have a free and fair, safe and secure election” after Donald Trump during a rally Tuesday night drew attention to election and law enforcement officials investigating alleged voter fraud in a Pennsylvania county.

“This is more of the same from Donald Trump,” Shapiro told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, adding that as Pennsylvania’s attorney general he defeated 43 challenges to the 2020 vote count from the former president “and his allies.”

Shapiro was responding to Trump, who at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Tuesday, told his supporters “they’ve already started cheating in Lancaster. They’ve cheated.”

“No, we caught ‘em cold,” Trump said.

Last week, law enforcement and election officials in Lancaster County announced they had identified “incidents of suspected voter registration fraud.” The suspected fraud, according to the bipartisan board of elections and the county’s district attorney, likely stemmed from “a large-scale canvassing operation” that submitted registration applications with duplicate handwriting and inaccurate or unverifiable addresses.

The officials said “approximately 2,500 voter registration forms have been contained and segregated” to be reviewed and investigated but did not say how many of those have been found to be fraudulent.

CNN’s Kate Sullivan, Danny Freeman, Jeremy Herb, Zachary Cohen and Majlie de Puy Kamp contributed to this report.

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said Tuesday that former President Donald Trump “never attacks the citizens of the country,” even those that don’t choose to vote for him.

“President Trump is famously the biggest and best counter-puncher in American politics. If you go after Donald Trump, he’s gonna go after you twice as hard. But for all the criticisms the corporate media levies against Donald J Trump, he never attacks the citizens of the country, even the people who are not going to vote for him,” Vance said during a town hall taped with NewsMax.

The comments were in response comparisons of his Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden to a 1939 pro-Nazi gathering at the same venue. and calling Trump a fascist.

Trump’s past comments: The former president has referred to certain top Democratic leaders as the “enemy from within,” as well as “radical left lunatics” who may riot if he wins the 2024 election.

Trump has also slammed his political opponents as “vermin.”

Trump has also said that Jewish Americans, Catholics, African Americans and Hispanic Americans who don’t vote for him should have their “heads examined.”

The Trump campaign is seizing on President Joe Biden’s “garbage” comment about Donald Trump supporters denigrating Latinos in a fundraising email Tuesday evening.

“Moments ago, Kamala’s boss crooked Joe Biden just called ALL my supporters GARBAGE - HE WAS TALKING TO YOU!,” the email read.

“My patriotic supporters are the BEST PEOPLE in the country - I LOVE YOU!” the email read.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, an ally of Vice President Kamala Harris, responded to the fallout around comments made by President Joe Biden that many interpreted as referring to supporters of former President Donald Trump as “garbage.”

Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” to respond to the comments, Shapiro said he hadn’t heard them until that moment but that “I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn’t support.”

Biden — in reaction to Trump’s offensive rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday — said: “And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico ‘a floating island of garbage.’ Well, let me tell you something … I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know… or Puerto Rico where I’m – in my home state of Delaware – they’re good, decent, honorable people.”

A White House spokesperson said that Biden had meant “supporter’s” rather than “supporters,” arguing that he had actually said this: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

“The President referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as garbage,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.

Shapiro, responding to the White House’s attempt to correct the president’s comments and asked whether Biden needs to clarify them, said:

Biden has addressed his comments, saying on X:

Former first lady Michelle Obama hosts a rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia, on October 29, 2024.

Former first lady Michelle Obama rallied attendees at a voter turnout event in Georgia tonight, assiduously avoiding explicit mention of Republican candidates due to legal restrictions on nonprofits, while still delivering sharp-edged remarks.

Criticizing “lies” and “distractions” to “keep us uncertain and afraid,” and rebuking non-voters, Obama urged Georgians to “tell folks in power what you want.”

Obama was attending an event hosted by her “When We All Vote” organization, which she noted was a “nonpartisan nonprofit effort” and noted that “tonight, I’m not going to get into any specific races or candidates because that’s not what we do.”

The former first lady still delivered a forceful address, saying that she was “astounded by how much coaxing and pleading it takes to get people to recognize how their vote is fundamentally connected to their own self-interest.”

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed two Pennsylvania counties were experiencing voter fraud despite officials there maintaining they’re still investigating potential issues related to voter registration applications.

A week from Election Day, the former president and the Republican National Committee appear to be laying the groundwork to challenge voting results if Trump loses. Trump did not wait for the results of the York and Lancaster county investigations before stoking fears on social media about allegedly fraudulent voter registration applications, even as Pennsylvania’s secretary of state asked the public for patience.

And, in a separate instance, the RNC joined the Trump campaign in pushing claims of “voter suppression,” as election officials in the critical battleground pushed back.

Some context: Trump and RNC officials have increasingly floated claims about potential issues with mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania in the lead-up to November 5, as the former president’s allies also target mail-in ballots in court.

State and county officials, meanwhile, have sought to reassure voters that they are investigating any alleged issues with the mail-in ballot process and that they are seeking to protect the integrity of the election process at this early stage.

Read the full story.

Larry Savage, a former Republican congressional candidate in Indiana, was arrested and charged on Tuesday after authorities say he stole election ballots during a voting machine test earlier this month.

Savage, a Madison County precinct committeeman who lost in the Republican primary for the fifth district earlier this year, was charged with destroying or misplacing a ballot — a felony —and misdemeanor theft, the Indiana State Police said in a news release.

Savage turned himself in at the Madison County Jail on Tuesday around 9:30 a.m. after an arrest warrant was issued, state police said.

The incident took place at the Madison County Government Center on October 3 during state testing of election equipment, the news release said.

The test involved four voting machines and 136 candidate ballots marked for testing, state police said. After an initial count, officials noticed two ballots were missing, the release said. “A subsequent investigation revealed videos of Savage folding and placing both ballots in his pocket after receiving instructions about the validity of the test ballots,” it said.

A judge approved a search warrant and law enforcement discovered the missing ballots in Savage’s car, police said.

Supporters hold "Make America great again" placards as they attend a campaign event for Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 29, 2024.

Donald Trump during his Tuesday rally in Pennsylvania swiftly seized on Joe Biden’s “garbage” comment that had sparked immediate backlash and led to a clean-up effort from the president and White House.

Republicans immediately connected it to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 remark that half of Trump’s supporters were “deplorables.”

Trump was informed of Biden’s remark during his rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, when Florida Sen. Marco Rubio ran on stage, saying, “You might not have heard this. Just moments ago. Joe Biden stated that our supporters are garbage.”

Trump said, “Wow. That’s terrible. That’s what it says. That’s what it says. So you have, remember Hillary, she said ‘deplorable’ and then she said irredeemable, right? But she said deplorable, that didn’t work out. Garbage I think is worse, right?”

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance called the remark “disgusting” in a post on X, adding: There’s no excuse for this. I hope Americans reject it.”

Some background: When CNN asked for an explanation on the president’s comment that “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters” – in reference to Trump supporters recently denigrating Latinos, a White House spokesperson insisted that Biden had meant “supporter’s” rather than “supporters,” arguing that he had actually said this: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s – his – his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

And in post on X, Biden wrote: “Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage — which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House in Washington, DC, on October 28.

President Joe Biden tried to clean up comments he made earlier Tuesday that sparked immediate backlash from many who interpreted them as referring to supporters of former President Donald Trump as “garbage.”

“And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico ‘a floating island of garbage.’ Well, let me tell you something … I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know… or Puerto Rico where I’m – in my home state of Delaware – they’re good, decent, honorable people,” Biden during a Voto Latino get out-the-vote call, making reference to Trump’s offensive Sunday rally at Madison Square Garden.

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “His, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

Biden’s comments, which drew swift backlash online, came just as Vice President Kamala Harris was set to take the stage for a major rally in Washington, DC.

“Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage — which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation,” Biden said in a social media post.

When CNN asked for an explanation on the president’s comments, a White House spokesperson insisted that Biden had meant “supporter’s” rather than “supporters,” arguing that he had actually said this: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

“The President referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as garbage,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.

Read more on Biden’s remarks.

This post has been updated with additional comments from President Joe Biden and the White House.

A CBS News/YouGov poll released Tuesday evening finds a tied race for the presidency in Pennsylvania, with Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump each taking 49% support among likely voters in the state. That’s little changed from their last poll of the race in September.

In the CBS poll, nearly half of registered voters (46%) in the Keystone State say they think Trump’s policies would make them financially better off, while just 26% say the same of Harris’ policies. But 55% of registered voters call Trump’s positions extreme, compared with 48% who say the same of Harris’ positions, and 65% say they dislike how Trump handles himself personally, compared with 50% who say that about Harris.

Also, a new CNN Poll of Polls average in Pennsylvania, including the CBS/YouGov poll, finds no clear leader, with Harris taking an average 48% support among likely voters to Trump’s 47%.

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 29

Shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris finished her speech on the Ellipse, the Trump campaign issued a statement on her closing argument saying she has “zero policy solutions to offer.”

“The migrant crime crisis, sky-high inflation, and raging world wars are the result of her terrible policies. Kamala’s first day in office was over 1,300 days ago, and she has spent the past four years working hand-in-hand with Joe Biden to destroy our country,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign press secretary, said in a statement.

“As for President Trump, his closing argument to the American people is simple: Kamala broke it; he will fix it,” the statement concludes.

Former President Donald Trump attempted to appeal to Puerto Rican voters at a rally Tuesday in Pennsylvania after a comedian called the US territory “a floating island of garbage” at a Trump rally Sunday.

“We’re setting every record, Hispanics, Latinos, nobody loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rican community more than I do,” Trump said, adding for the second time Tuesday that “I’ve done more for Puerto Rico than any president by far.”

“I will deliver the best future for Puerto Ricans and for Hispanic Americans. Kamala [Harris] will deliver you poverty and crime,” Trump said at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

He was joined on the stage by Puerto Rico Shadow Sen. Zoraida Buxo in Allentown, where the city’s mayor told CNNE that approximately 55% of the population is Hispanic and between 35-40,000 of the residents are Puerto Rican.

Trump’s rally Sunday night at Madison Square Garden featured opening remarks from comedian and podcast host Tony Hinchcliffe, who assailed Puerto Rico, calling it “a floating island of garbage.”

Trump’s campaign distanced themselves from the comedian’s comments Sunday night, but not before they were seized upon by Kamala Harris’ campaign and the likes of Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, who has signaled his support for the vice president’s candidacy.

The former president himself told ABC News Tuesday that he didn’t know Hinchcliffe, saying, “someone put him up there. I don’t know who he is” and told a group gathered in Pennsylvania the same day that “we love” Puerto Rico and that “I think no president’s done more for Puerto Rico than I have.”

CNN’s María Santana, Eric Bradner and Michael Williams contributed to this report.

With only a week until Election Day, Kamala Harris delivered a speech Tuesday night that highlighted her stance on reproductive rights and immigration.

She also made it a point to offer her contrasting vision from that of former President Donald Trump at the Ellipse in Washington, DC.

Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, arrives on stage for a campaign rally on the Ellipse in Washington, DC, on October 29.

Kamala Harris arrives for her speech at the Ellipse, which was filled to capacity.

A crowd member takes a video of Kamala Harris during her speech.

Kamala Harris is hugged by her husband, Doug Emhoff after her speech.

Supporters cheer as Kamala Harris speaks.

Former first lady Michelle Obama urged disillusioned young people to vote at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday night, saying “it is possible to be outraged by the slow pace of progress and be committed to your own pursuit of that progress.”

Young people are a demographic that could be pivotal in battleground states like Georgia, where President Joe Biden won in 2020 by just over 12,000 votes.

Obama ripped into “the videos” young people “are fed on social media, the algorithms on their phones, some guy on a podcast” insisting that “those things are designed to make folks feel alienated.”

“They’re run by those same people in power who want to profit from your distraction. You can listen to them. You can fold your arms and stay home. Or you can listen to me,” she said. “There are only very wealthy people in the world who can actually afford to be indifferent about our politics, and they have so much money that for them, it doesn’t matter who’s in charge.”

The rally was organized by When We All Vote, a nonpartisan civic engagement group Obama founded in 2018. While Obama has campaigned for Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Tuesday’s rally was nonpartisan and not affiliated with the Democratic presidential campaign. She did not mention former President Donald Trump, who called her “nasty” on Monday, just days after she denounced his rhetoric over the weekend at a rally with Harris.

Read more about what young voters say are their top issues in the 2024 election.