Trump warns, if elected, he’ll impose tariffs on Mexico, China over fentanyl
At a campaign rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Trump said he would move quickly to crack down on drug trafficking along the southern U.S. border with Mexico and that he would use tariffs.
“We will immediately stop the drugs pouring across our border,” he said.
It’s Election Day in America
What you need to know
• Americans are heading to the polls to vote for their next president. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump each need at least 270 electoral votes to win. The battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are expected to be pivotal to their path to victory.
• Harris and Trump tied with three votes each in the tiny New Hampshire community of Dixville Notch, which opened and closed its poll just after midnight ET in a decades-old tradition. Here’s an hour-by-hour guide of what to expect when state polls begin closing at 7 p.m. ET.
• The candidates held their final campaign events in battleground states last night. Harris ended her 107-day campaign in Pennsylvania, while Trump spoke in Michigan — where he has ended three of his presidential campaigns.
TikTok helped put old political scandals on young voters’ radar, activist says
Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump targeted Gen-Z voters as they campaigned ahead of the election, many of whom will be voting for the first time today.
Columbia University’s Columbia Magazine found that Gen Z make up more than 40 million voters, including eight million new voters.
And social media’s influence on these voters cannot be underestimated, according to Aidan Kohn-Murphy, founder of advocacy group Gen-Z for Change. He told CNN that TikTok has helped inform many young people about the presidential candidates and their campaigns.
Key issues for younger voters are “climate, reproductive justice, gun violence and Biden’s incredibly unpopular support for the Israeli government,” Kohn-Murphy said.
He said that young people shared information on TikTok in a “peer-to-peer model, that really leads people to support candidates more.”
He also noted that many first-time voters did not have previous political scandals — such as former President Donald Trump’s “Access Hollywood” tape — on their radar, but social media had enabled them to learn more about the candidates.
Trump argues he’s really running against “an evil Democrat system,” not Harris, during his final rally
Former President Donald Trump argued during the final rally of his campaign that his real opponent this election was not Vice President Kamala Harris but instead “an evil Democrat system.”
“The silent majority is back and tomorrow you need to get out and vote,” Trump said.
It’s decision day in America. Here’s what to watch for
It’s decision day for voters in America’s battle for the White House and control of Congress — even if the results could take days or weeks to sort through.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are hoping to win over seven swing states: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the three Great Lakes states that make up the “blue wall” that Trump cracked in 2016 but President Joe Biden carried in 2020, and Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, the four Sun Belt battlegrounds.
While the election of either candidate would be historic, there’s much more being decided Tuesday, including five states — Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota — voting on whether to turn back abortion bans with constitutional amendments.
Republicans hope to take advantage of a favorable Senate map, with Democrats defending seats in the red-leaning states of Montana, Ohio and West Virginia. The party’s hopes of holding onto its narrow House majority winds from the coast of Maine through New York’s Hudson Valley, the rolling hills of Virginia’s Piedmont, a “blue dot” in Nebraska and into California’s Orange County, where the political ebbs and flows of the Trump era have been on vivid display.
The initial results in the hours after polls close might not be determinative. States decide their own election procedures, and the order in which states count early, mail-in and Election Day votes varies across the map — as does how quickly certain cities, counties and regions report their results.
Trump finishes final campaign rally after speaking for nearly 2 hours
Former President Donald Trump has ended his final campaign rally after speaking for nearly two hours in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
He repeated many of his campaign promises, such as vowing to impose hefty tariffs and to crack down on illegal immigration.
At one point he also brought several of his children and their spouses to the stage, who delivered brief remarks, including Tiffany, Eric and Donald Jr.
His marathon address ends a long campaign trail — with Trump saying he had attended more than 900 rallies this year.
Walz says he’s disappointed but not surprised the race is so closely contested
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he’s disappointed the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is so closely contested.
In an interview on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” taped in Bucks County, Pennsylvania last Thursday, Walz laid out the contrast between the two candidates to show that the difference is “stark.”
He said of the election being so closely contested: “It disappoints me, I think, because I think that the choice is so stark, but it’s not surprising.”
“The country’s really divided. There’s been a group of people out there who figured that out, and I think they’ve done a wonderful job of making people think it doesn’t matter, everybody’s the same,” Walz said.
Walz then laid out how he saw the differences between Harris and Trump, particularly noting insults directed toward Puerto Rico made by a speaker at a Trump rally in October.
In the past, Walz has expressed some disbelief at the competitiveness of the presidential election. He has regularly mused at private fundraisers and campaign stops that “I’ll go to my grave not understanding” how the election is so close.
Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake says “silent majority” will back her and Trump
Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake has held her final campaign rally, telling supporters that on Tuesday they have “a chance to change the trajectory of this country and save this Republic.”
Campaigning on the steps of the Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, Arizona on Monday — where US Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona launched his presidential campaign — Lake, a former TV newscaster up against Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego in a key Senate race, argued that the “Make America Great Again” movement “is not dead,” and claimed that a “silent majority” will back her and former President Donald Trump tomorrow.
Lake and Gallego, a Marine veteran who represents Arizona’s 3rd congressional district, are vying for the pivotal Senate seat held by independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
Lake, who did not concede her 2022 election loss and promoted Trump’s false theories about the 2020 election, said she believes in “fair and honest elections” and argued “I really believe that our Founding Fathers never envisioned we’d have elections that are run so horribly.”
She also thanked GOP congressional candidate Abe Hamadeh and said: “When they did to us what they did to us in 2022, and everyone else ran and hid, guess who stood with me and said, damn it, we’re going to fight — Abe Hamadeh.”
She argued the election is not “Republican-Democrat anymore” but “Americanism versus communism.”
Trump teases using sexist language to refer to Nancy Pelosi
Former President Donald Trump slammed US Rep. Nancy Pelosi during his final rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, verging on using a profanity to describe the former House Speaker.
“She’s a crooked person, she’s a bad person. Evil, she’s an evil, sick, crazy bi— It starts with a ‘B’ but I won’t say it. I wanna say it,” Trump said to cheers from the crowd.
“I don’t use much (foul language), you know, every once in a while, and it’s never a real bad word, it’s never bad … But it is a little better when you use foul language. These are bad people,” he said.
Trump constantly rails against Pelosi and recently called the California Democrat “an enemy from within.”
Throughout the end of his campaign trail, Trump’s message has gotten increasingly dark and often offensive. At an event in North Carolina last week, Trump chuckled approvingly at an audience member’s suggestion that Vice President Kamala Harris worked as a sex worker.
Harris will spend Election Day doing radio interviews
Vice President Kamala Harris will spend Election Day in Washington, DC and participate in radio interviews, according to her office.
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Trump has held his final campaign rally in Grand Rapids in 3 presidential races
Former President Donald Trump has taken the stage in Grand Rapids, Michigan — giving the city a special shout-out for being the location of his final rallies in past presidential campaigns.
Trump previously also finished his campaign trail in the city in 2016 and 2020.
NOW: Trump is speaking at his final rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Former President Donald Trump is speaking at his final rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he ended both his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. His remarks were originally slated for 10:30 p.m. ET.
Grand Rapids is a Western Michigan city in Kent County, which swung from Trump in 2016 to Joe Biden in 2020.
Harris calls on Pennsylvania voters to turn out, saying “the race ain’t over yet”
Speaking at her final campaign rally in Philadelphia before Election Day on Monday night, Vice President Kamala Harris said her team was “optimistic and excited” — but urged voters to make their voices heard, saying Pennsylvania could “decide the outcome” of the election.
“With only a few hours left, we still have work to do, and as you’ve heard me say before, we like hard work,” she added.
At points, the crowd broke into cheers of “We will win” and “We’re not going back.”
Harris reiterated several campaign promises, such as lowering the cost of living, housing, childcare, elderly home care, and taxes for workers and small businesses. She also vowed to pass a bill to restore reproductive freedoms after the rolling back of Roe v. Wade.
She sought to contrast herself with Donald Trump by using several familiar refrains — such as promising a seat at the table to those who disagree with her, compared to the former president’s often vehement rhetoric against his political opponents.
NOW: Harris speaking in Philadelphia in final rally before Election Day
Vice President Kamala Harris is speaking at a rally in Philadelphia, her final stop in front of voters before Election Day.
Harris has made the key battleground of Pennsylvania her priority on Monday with several stops across the state culminating in her final one in the state’s largest city.
She was joined by Oprah Winfrey and Lady Gaga, among other celebrities, musicians and elected officials at the famous “Rocky Steps” at the Philadelphia Museum of the Arts.
Oprah takes the stage at Harris rally with 10 first-time young voters
Oprah Winfrey took the stage at Kamala Harris’ final rally in Philadelphia on Monday night alongside 10 young people – all first time voters.
Another first-time voter said it was especially significant for him as an African American to “exercise my right to vote, which my ancestors fought so hard for.”
“If we don’t show up tomorrow, it is entirely possible that we will not have the opportunity to ever cast a ballot again.”
“We are voting for healing over hate,” she said.
Lady Gaga performs “God Bless America” at Harris’ final rally in Philadelphia
Musical superstar Lady Gaga appeared at Vice President Kamala Harris’ final rally in Philadelphia, performing a rendition of “God Bless America.”
Oprah Winfrey is also expected to make an appearance tonight, before Harris delivers remarks.
Walz focuses on abortion during final campaign rally in Michigan
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz focused heavily on access to abortion and reproductive health care, driving home a core message of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign in Detroit, Michigan on Monday.
In his remarks at Hart Plaza overlooking the Detroit River, Walz reiterated his attacks on former president Donald Trump, who claimed to be the “protector” of women and said he would look after women “whether they like it or not” at a campaign rally in Wisconsin last week.
He also made a direct pitch to male voters on abortion, asking them to consider the implications of abortion restrictions on the women in their lives.
