Harris and Trump campaign in key swing states
With the election just days away, here’s a look at today’s schedules of the Harris-Walz and Trump-Vance campaigns, as reported by Politico:
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Kamala Harris will speak at a union hall in Janesville, Wisconsin, at 3.40pm ET. She will then attend a GOTV event in Little Chute at 7.05pm before heading to West Allis for a rally and concert at 10.20pm ET.
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Tim Walz will participate in campaign events in Detroit, Michigan, this afternoon. He will then hold rallies in Flint, Michigan, at 3.25pm ET and then Traverse City at 6.45pm ET.
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Donald Trump will rally in Warren, Michigan, at 4.30pm ET and then Milwaukee at 9pm ET. He may also be the first major 2024 presidential candidate to visit the Arab-majority city of Dearborn, the Associated Press reports.
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JD Vance will hold rallies in Portage, Michigan, at 1pm ET and then Selma, North Carolina, at 5pm ET.
Key events
A top Georgia official says a fake video that appears to show Haitians voting illegally for Kamala Harris is fake.
Marina Dunbar reports for the Guardian:
A video circulating on social media purporting to show Haitians voting illegally for Kamala Harris is fake, according to the secretary of state in Georgia.
Brad Raffensperger said in a statement that the video had likely been created and spread by Russian government actors trying to interfere in the US election.
“This is obviously fake, and likely it is a production of Russian troll farms,” he wrote. “As Americans we can’t let our enemies use lies to divide us and undermine faith in our institutions – or each other.”
For the full story, click here:
NAACP condemns Halloween parade with chained ‘Kamala Harris’
The NAACP is condemning participants of a Halloween costume in Mt Pleasant, Pennsylvania, that showed a person acting as “Kamala Harris” chained up and walking behind a vehicle that appeared to have someone dressed up as Donald Trump.
In a statement reported by CBS, Daylon A Davis, the president of the NAACP Pittsburgh branch, said:
“This appalling portrayal goes beyond the realm of Halloween satire or free expression; it is a harmful symbol that evokes a painful history of violence, oppression, and racism that Black and Brown communities have long endured here in America.”
Mt Pleasant mayor, Diane Bailey, also condemned the Halloween costume which showed “Donald Trump” flanked by people dressed as Secret Service agents as “Harri” walked behind the vehicle with her hands bound.
“I was appalled, angered, upset,” she said on Thursday. “This does not belong in this parade or in this town,” Bailey said.
Kamala Harris has taken another jab at Donald Trump over his promises to improve the lives of working class communities across the US, saying:
“Donald Trump pretends to understand workers and the battles they face every day.
Let’s not fall for the okey-doke: He was handed $400 million on a silver platter.”
Donald Trump pretends to understand workers and the battles they face every day.
Let’s not fall for the okey-doke: He was handed $400 million on a silver platter.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 1, 2024
Donald Trump has sued CBS News for $10bn, claiming its interview with Kamala Harris was edited.
Robert Tait reports for the Guardian:
Donald Trump has sued CBS News for $10bn, alleging an interview with Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes was doctored to cast her in a positive light and amounted to “election interference”.
The lawsuit seeking damages was filed in a US district court in Amarillo, northern Texas, which is presided over by a judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has a track record of friendly rulings to rightwing legal filings.
It came after Trump said that CBS should lose its license to broadcast news over the interview.
Several House representatives demand Biden to give ‘detailed account of US involvement with Israeli forces’ in Middle East
Several House representatives have penned a letter to Joe Biden, requiring a “detailed account of US involvement with Israeli forces in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen and Syria”, as stated by the Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib.
The letter, signed by Tlaib, along with Ilhan Omar, André Carson, Cori Bush and Summer L Lee asks Biden, among other questions:
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“Is the United States providing military services of any nature to ‘command, coordinate, participate in the movement of, or accompany’ Israeli forces which themselves are imminently engaged in hostilities in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, the West Bank, Syria or elsewhere?
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In the months of September and October, have US forces been deployed ‘into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities are clearly indicated by the circumstances’ in the region, how many times, and when will members of Congress receive reports pursuant to Section 4 of the War Powers Resolution? What is the legal basis for any such deployments?”
Congress has not authorized the US military to engage in the Israeli government’s expanding regional war, as required by the Constitution. We’re sending a letter to @POTUS requiring a detailed account of US involvement with Israeli forces in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, and Syria. pic.twitter.com/7EgBWPJ4XR
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) November 1, 2024
Trump remarks about Liz Cheney facing ‘nine barrels shooting at her’ spark outrage from gun safety campaigners
Joan E Greve
Donald Trump’s comments suggesting that Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman and one of his most outspoken critics, should be shot at sparked outrage among gun safety advocates.
During an appearance with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in the battleground state of Arizona yesterday, Trump said: “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
John Feinblatt, president of the group Everytown for Gun Safety, pointed to Trump’s remarks as further evidence of why he cannot be trusted to lead the country.
“Time and time again, Donald Trump has used violent rhetoric and threats against his fellow Americans,” Feinblatt said in a statement. “Political violence does not represent the values of our country and has no place in our democracy, and this will be front of mind for voters at the ballot box.”
Cheney herself also responded to Trump’s comments, saying on X: “This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant.”
Joe Biden has released the following statement on the latest job report:
In October, unemployment was unchanged at 4.1%, but the devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and new strike activity, lowered job growth. Job growth is expected to rebound in November as our hurricane recovery and rebuilding efforts continue. In addition, I want to congratulate the leadership of the Machinists and Boeing for negotiating a new contract proposal that will be voted on by union members. Machinists at Boeing have sacrificed over the years and deserve a strong contract.
America’s economy remains strong, with 16m jobs created since I took office, including an average 180,000 jobs created each month over the last year – more than the year before the pandemic. We have the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in 50 years, our economy has grown more than any presidential term this century, incomes are up $4,000 over prices, and inflation has fallen nearly to its 2% target.
He added that the national sales tax being proposed by congressional Republicans “would cost families nearly $4,000 a year, hurt American manufacturing and cut hundreds of thousands of jobs”.
Republicans are preparing to reject US election result if Trump loses, warn strategists.
Robert Tait reports for the Guardian:
Republicans are already laying the ground for rejecting the result of next week’s US presidential election in the event Donald Trump loses, with early lawsuits baselessly alleging fraud and partisan polls exaggerating his popularity to make it harder for his supporters to accept that he did not win, veteran strategists say.
The warnings – from Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans – come as Americans prepare to vote on Tuesday in the most consequential presidential contest in generations. Most polls show Trump running neck and neck with Kamala Harris, the vice-president and Democratic nominee, with the two candidates seemingly evenly matched in seven key swing states.
But suspicions have been voiced over a spate of recent polls, mostly commissioned in battleground states from groups with Republican links, that mainly show Trump leading. The projection of surging Trump support as election day nears has drawn confident predictions from him and his supporters.
For the full story, click here:
Greta Thunberg, the 21-year old Swedish climate activist who has frequently criticized the US’s fossil fuels policies, has released her latest statement on Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
In a post on X, Thunberg, who has also been a vocal critic of the US’s military support towards Israel amid its deadly war in Gaza, said:
It is probably impossible to overestimate the consequences this specific election will have for the world and for the future of humanity.
There is no doubt that one of the candidates – Trump – is way more dangerous than the other. But no matter if Trump or Harris wins, the USA – a country built on stolen land and genocide on indigenous people – will still be an imperialist, hyper-capitalist world power that will ultimately continue to lead the world further into a racist, unequal world with an ever increasingly escalating climate – and environmental emergency.
With this in mind, my main message to Americans is to remember that you cannot only settle for the least worst option. Democracy is not only every four years on election day, but also every hour of every day in between. You cannot think you have done ‘enough’ only by voting, especially when both those candidates have blood on their hands.
The US unemployment rate remained steady, despite the disappointing jobs pressed downwards by hurricanes and strikes.
Here’s reaction from Steven Rattner, who previously led Barack Obama’s auto industry task force. He’s also a Wall Streeter, economics analyst and columnist.
The US dollar has weakened after the shock drop in non-farm payrolls, with data released as part of the monthly jobs report half an hour ago.
The dollar is down by 0.3% against a trade-weighted basket of currencies after initially climbing earlier in the day. The British pound, for example, is now up 0.5% today against the greenback, while the European Union’s euro currency is up 0.1%.
There is a lot of incoming reaction from economics experts to the latest US jobs figures. We are covering reaction and analysis and you can follow a lot of the responses in our business live blog that’s being run out of our London headquarters. You can follow that here.
A Washington Post columnist noted: “The US economy has gained 16.1 million jobs since President Biden took office in January 2021.”
The US economy has gained 16.1 million jobs since President Biden took office in January 2021.
That’s 6.7 million more jobs than pre-pandemic.
Unemployment rate in Jan 2021: 6.4%
Unemployment rate now: 4.1%Presidents don’t control the economy. But Biden’s stimulus and… pic.twitter.com/GcF4Z0tCOi
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) November 1, 2024
The US has added only 12,000 jobs in October in the final report before the presidential election.
The Guardian’s Michael Sainato reports:
The US added just 12,000 jobs in October, the last snapshot of the employment market before election day, in a report heavily impacted by the strike at Boeing and two recent hurricanes.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1%.
Temporary impacts from Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton and the ongoing strike by 33,000 Boeing workers in the Pacific north-west had been expected to reduce job growth numbers in October. Economists estimated 120,000 jobs would be added for the month and the unemployment rate would remain steady at 4.1%.
Job creation accelerated unexpectedly in September as the US added a revised 223,000 jobs, in the strongest month of jobs growth since March 2024. Until October the average number of jobs gained per month in 2024 has been about 200,000.
For the full story, click here:
Harris and Trump campaign in key swing states
With the election just days away, here’s a look at today’s schedules of the Harris-Walz and Trump-Vance campaigns, as reported by Politico:
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Kamala Harris will speak at a union hall in Janesville, Wisconsin, at 3.40pm ET. She will then attend a GOTV event in Little Chute at 7.05pm before heading to West Allis for a rally and concert at 10.20pm ET.
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Tim Walz will participate in campaign events in Detroit, Michigan, this afternoon. He will then hold rallies in Flint, Michigan, at 3.25pm ET and then Traverse City at 6.45pm ET.
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Donald Trump will rally in Warren, Michigan, at 4.30pm ET and then Milwaukee at 9pm ET. He may also be the first major 2024 presidential candidate to visit the Arab-majority city of Dearborn, the Associated Press reports.
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JD Vance will hold rallies in Portage, Michigan, at 1pm ET and then Selma, North Carolina, at 5pm ET.
Liz Cheney responds to Trump: ‘This is how dictators destroy free nations’
On Thursday, Donald Trump called former representative Liz Cheney “a very dumb individual”, and added: “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with the rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK, let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
Cheney has vocally opposed Trump since the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol and has become a surrogate for his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.
Cheney responded to Trump’s threatening comments on Friday morning.
“This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death,” Cheney wrote on X.
“We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant. #Womenwillnotbesilenced #VoteKamala”
Harris and Trump to visit Milwaukee in final push for Wisconsin
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will host dueling rallies within seven miles of each other on Friday night in the Milwaukee area as part of a final push for votes in swing-state Wisconsin’s largest county.
Milwaukee is home to the most Democratic votes in Wisconsin, but its conservative suburbs are where most Republicans live and are a critical area for Trump as he tries to reclaim the state he narrowly won in 2016 and lost in 2020. It was absentee votes from Milwaukee, which typically are reported early in the morning after Election Day, that tipped Wisconsin for President Joe Biden in 2020.
“Both candidates recognise that the road to the White House runs directly through Milwaukee County,” said Hilario Deleon, chair of the county’s Republican Party.
The dueling rallies – Trump is in downtown Milwaukee and Harris is in a suburb – may be the candidates’ last appearances in battleground Wisconsin before Election Day. Both sides say the race is once again razor tight for the state’s 10 electoral votes. Four of the past six presidential elections in Wisconsin have been decided by less than a point, or fewer than 23,000 votes.
Harris at 47% and Trump at 46%, latest election polling shows
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the US election. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are locked in a nail-bitingly close US presidential election race. Harris maintains a single point advantage over her Republican rival. As of 30 October, the latest polls put Harris at 47%, and Trump at 46%.
Read more from the Guardian’s poll tracker:
There are four days left until the election. Here are the key recent developments:
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Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaigned in the western part of the US, namely the key swing states of Arizona and Nevada.
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In her speech, Harris told Nevada: “Make no mistake: we will win.” Adding, “It is time for a new generation of leadership in America … And I am ready to offer that leadership.”
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During her appearances, Harris repeatedly criticised Trump’s “very offensive” remarks about being the “protector” of women “whether they like it or not”.
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Harris’s speech was followed by a performance by Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas, as she seeks to connect with Latino voters in the final days of the race.
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Trump, meanwhile, appeared with far-right media personality Tucker Carlson in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Former president Donald Trump launched another attack on former Rep Liz Cheney late Thursday, calling the Republican former Wyoming congresswoman a “war hawk” and suggesting she might not be as willing to send troops to fight if she had guns pointed at her. Cheney has vocally opposed Trump since the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol and has become a surrogate for his Democratic opponent, vice-president Kamala Harris. After calling Cheney “a very dumb individual”, he said: “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with the rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK, let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
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More than 65 million people have cast their ballots in the race, as of 31 October at 11pm EST.
