Kamala Harris town hall recap: Critics slam VP's 'concerning' CNN performance

Thank you for following our live coverage of the 2024 election with 13 days to go.

The race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is still a coin-flip, with a new national poll from the Wall Street Journal late Wednesday showing the Republican edging ahead.

His Democratic rival meanwhile took the stage for a pivotal CNN town hall with Anderson Cooper where she called Trump a ‘fascist’ and dodged questions on whether she would back building a border wall.

Here’s the top stories from today you may have missed.

• Kamala Harris calls Donald Trump a ‘fascist’ at CNN town hall
• Trump responds to Biden’s ‘lock him up’ comments
• Model claims Trump groped her after meeting him through Jeffrey Epstein
• Warren Buffett reveals he won’t back a candidate in the 2024 election
• McDonald’s manager hires armed guards after Trump’s visit
• Three polling experts reveal if their 2024 predictions have changed

by Nikki Schwab, Chief Campaign Correspondent

Vice President Kamala Harris called former President Donald Trump a 'fascist' and dodged questions on the effectiveness of a border wall during a high stakes CNN town hall Wednesday.

Her performance was almost immediately panned by Democratic strategist David Axelrod who said on CNN afterward that she went 'word salad city' on several answers.

Harris stood before undecided voters in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a swing area outside of Philadelphia, as new polling from The Wall Street Journal showed Trump taking a lead over the Democrat nationally with less than two weeks to go.

CNN's Anderson Cooper had Harris address the news of the day - that Trump's former Chief of Staff John Kelly said the GOP nominee fit the bill of a fascist, asking the Democratic nominee if she agreed with that too.

'Yes, I do,' she answered. 'Yes, I do. And I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted.'

She was less direct when Cooper asked Harris if she wanted to 'build some wall,' as she spoke in support of a bipartisan immigration bill that included wall funding.

In the CNN studio after the town hall Van Jones, the former Obama White House official, admitted:

The word salad stuff gets on my nerves, I think some of the evasions are not necessary. But when she's talking about trying to get you a house I believe her.

Jones said there were 'flashes of the Kamala that I know who is really a true public servant' in the Vice President's performance.

He said 'even in person she’ll sometimes skip the human part and get to the problem-solving part.'

Her job was not to 'do town halls' but 'fight for people,' he said.

Jones added:

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are not taking the same exam. He get's to be lawless, she has to be flawless.

Liberals raged at CNN anchor Anderson Cooper over her questioning of Kamala Harris at a Pennsylvania town hall Wednesday.

Harris initially hit Trump on not showing up - this was originally supposed to be a second Harris-Trump debate - before facing questions on immigration, abortion and her performance as vice president.

One wrote that Cooper's questions to Harris reeked of the Vanderbilt scion's entitlement.

'It is infuriating how a white male feels entitled to interrupt the Vice President while she tries to answer a freaking question. Looking at you @andersoncooper.'

Some of the questions made liberals furious with Cooper, typically seen as friendly to progressives.

Vice President Kamala Harris remains unable to prove her claim she worked at McDonald's while she was a college student, despite repeated taunting from former President Donald Trump.

'I've now worked for 15 minutes more than Kamala at McDonald's,' Trump told reporters and customers after he made French fries and served food out of the drive-thru service window on Sunday.

The Harris campaign maintains that Harris worked at a McDonald's location on Central Avenue in Alameda, California during the summer after her freshman year at Howard University in 1983.

But staff at the restaurant have reportedly been sworn to secrecy and when DailyMail.com contacted them to ask, an employee said 'no, sorry'.

Donald Trump reacted to Kamala Harris’ town hall on CNN by explaining why he thinks she is calling him a fascist.

In a Truth Social post he said the vice president is ‘losing badly’ so is ‘raising her rhetoric’.

Comrade Kamala Harris sees that she is losing, and losing badly, especially after stealing the Race from Crooked Joe Biden, so now she is increasingly raising her rhetoric, going so far as to call me Adolf Hitler, and anything else that comes to her warped mind. She is a Threat to Democracy, and not fit to be President of the United States — And her Polling so indicates!

CNN’s Dana Bash said Kamala Harris didn’t ‘close the deal’ with her town hall appearance.

She spoke in a panel of experts following the town hall, where Harris pounded away at former White House chief of staff John Kelly’s stunning accusations about Trump, but evaded direct answers on what was her top legislative priority and what her biggest weakness is.

‘Well, I’ll just tell you what I’m hearing from people who I have been talking to,’ said Bash, a well-sourced reporter who co-moderated the Biden-Trump debate. ‘And that is that if her goal was to close the deal, they’re not sure she did that.’

Veteran political strategist David Axelrod criticized Kamala Harris' performance and said some of her answers veered into 'word salad city'.

He said on CNN:

The anecdote about helping her mother put on her sweater and her the things that would concern me.

And then she did one thing at the end that I thought was really important, the things that would concern me is when she doesn't want to answer a question.

Her habit is to kind of go to a word salad city, and she did that on a couple of answers.

One was on Israel. Anderson asked a direct question on would you be stronger on Israel than trump?

And there was a seven minute answer, but none of it related to the question.

He was asking. And so, you know, on certain questions like that missed an opportunity because she would acknowledge no concerns about any of the administration's policies. Uh and that's a mistake.

Sometimes you have to concede things and she didn't concede much. But I'll tell you something, John king mentioned Bill Clinton.

No one is going to be bill Clinton, but people in front of you. She didn't do a lot of that.

She didn't ask them questions. She didn't address them particularly so she was giving set pieces too much

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Duluth, Georgia

Donald Trump tore into President Joe Biden over his recent remarks that he should be behind bars with less than two weeks to the election.

'We gotta lock him up', the 81-year-old president said at event in New Hampshire on Tuesday before correcting himself to say 'we need to politically lock him up.'

The remark sparked outrage from Republicans who say the many criminal cases against Trump are politically motivated by the far-left and Biden's Justice Department.

Trump tore into Biden before thousands of his supporters at a rally in Duluth, Georgia, calling it 'illegal' and 'election interference.'

'He can't say that,' Trump said to his adoring fan base.

'But I've been telling you that for – it's election interference, this is all it is,' he continued. 'He said, 'We've got to lock him up.' This is illegal and should cause cases.'

Trump was also greeted early in his remarks with a new MAGA-flavored chant coined by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson: 'Daddy's home.'

Harris describes herself as a Baptist, as she recalls growing up and attending the 23rd Avenue Church of God in Oakland, California, with Regina Shelton.

She describes Shelton as a family friend and her 'second mother,' with strong connections to the black South.

Harris brought up her faith during CNN's town hall on Wednesday evening, saying she prays twice a day.

CNN host Anderson Cooper asked Kamala Harris to point out the 'mistake' in life she has learned the most from.

I mean, you know if you‘ve ever parented a child you know, you make lots of mistakes to, um, in my role as vice president, I mean, I‘ve probably worked very hard at making sure that I am well versed on issues.

Harris gave new details about her religious practices, revealing how often she prays.

Host Anderson Cooper noted that she called her pastor, Amos Brown, before announcing her run for president.

‘I do pray every day, sometimes twice a day,’ she told Cooper.

‘I was raised to believe in a loving god. To believe that your faith is a verb. You know, you live your faith,’ she said. Harris visited a pair of churches in Georgia Sunday.

Participants at a Donald Trump roundtable with Latino leaders laid hands on him and prayed during an event at his Doral golf club this week.

The owner of a suburban Philadelphia McDonald's has hired a team of security guards to handle any threats at his establishment following Donald Trump's visit there Sunday.

The security has been present since throngs of Trump supporters lined the streets outside the Feasterville restaurant to cheer on Trump, who tried the fry station and served food through the drive-thru window to a group of supporters.

That event featured a massive security presence including members of the Secret Service and local law enforcement.

The online review site Yelp has imposed an 'unusual activity alert' after online began posting a string of statements for and against Trump on the site.

'This business recently received increased public attention, which often means people come to this page to post their views on the news,' according to the notice.

Vice President Kamala Harris dodged a question on the effectiveness of a border wall during Wednesday night's CNN town hall with Anderson Cooper.

'But you do want to build some wall?' asked Cooper, after pointing out that funds for wall construction were included in the bipartisan bill that Harris backed.

The Democratic nominee replied: 'I want to strengthen our border.'

Harris had been asked a question from a male college student about government benefits migrants receive.

She started answering the question by giving her usual spiel on immigration, knocking former President Donald Trump for derailing that bipartisan bill that would have provided, in her words, a 'long-term' immigration fix.

Cooper then interjected and asked why she and President Joe Biden didn't sooner implement the executive action that has drastically cut down illegal border crossings.

She answered that they were hoping to get the long-term deal struck with Congress.

Cooper then pointed out that border wall funds were included in the bill - and noted how Harris had previously called it 'stupid' and a 'medieval vanity project.'

'Well let's talk about Donald Trump and that border wall. So remember Donald Trump said Mexico would pay for it. Come on, they didn't,' she said. 'How much of that wall did he build? I think the last number I saw was about 2 percent. And then when it came time for him to do a photo-op. Do you know where he did it? In the part of the wall that President Obama built.'

Cooper then tried to get Harris to admit that a wall was effective for some border protection, but the Democrat refused to bite.

By Geoff Earle, deputy u.s. political editor

Kamala Harris invoked changing the Senate's filibuster rules during her response to an abortion question at the CNN town hall – in an answer that conveyed an all-out push despite the language of procedure.

She was asked by Anderson Cooper about legislation to codify Roe v. Wade, which established abortion protections that were overturned by the Supreme Court.

Cooper told her it would take a ‘big leap’ to get it through the Senate, where it would require 60 votes to overcome a certain Republican filibuster.

‘I think we need to take a look at the filibuster to be honest with you,’ Harris said.

At best Democrats can hope to hang onto a narrow Senate majority. If they did, eliminating the filibuster, which has been in place for decades, would allow them to push through the change with a simple majority. It would also infuriate Senate Republicans, who themselves ended the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees in 2019.

Another possible outcome is that Republicans flip the Senate and take the White House, in which case Senate Democrats would rely on the filibuster to try to stall the Trump agenda.

According to a new Wall Street Journal survey, Donald Trump is up over Kamala Harris by two points nationwide.

Trump came in at 47% compared to Harris' 45%, well within the poll's margin of error.

The results come with just 13 days to the election, putting the race in a near dead-heat.

As the results were released, Trump was making the case to his supporters in Duluth, Georgia.

Meanwhile, Harris is speaking with CNN's Anderson Cooper during a town hall in Pennsylvania.

Kamala Harris agreed with a voter that grocery prices are still too high and touted her plan to combat price gauging as a way to tackle it.

The vice president said her experience as attorney general proves she is up to the job and added that housing and rent also need to be more affordable.

Beyond calling for accountability for corporations, she didn’t go into details about a plan to bring down prices.

You know it. I know it. I think most Americans know it.

Price of groceries is still too high. And we need to address it in a number of ways.

One of my aspects of doing what we need to do to bring down the cost of living for working people and the middle class in America, is to address the issue of grocery prices part of my background and how I come to it is probably a new approach grounded in a lot of my experiences as a former attorney general, where I took on price gouging and part of my plan is to create a new approach.

That is the first time that we will have a national ban on price gouging, which is companies taking advantage of the desperation and need of the American consumer and jacking up prices without any consequence or accountability so that is one way.

But to your point, Eric (voter) there, you know, there are a number of issues that we need to address in terms of bringing down the cost of living. It includes what we need is really a new approach that I bring to the issue of affordable housing, including for example, rent.

And again, I bring to it my experience knowing what has been happening in terms of how corporations have been buying up blocks of property to diminish competition, and then rents get jacked up and addressing that, both in terms of making sure that there is a consequence and accountability for that, but also investing in people's dreams of home ownership.

Kamala Harris jabbed Trump for skipping the CNN town hall tonight, which was originally supposed to be a second debate matchup between the two candidates.

Donald Trump should be here tonight to talk with you and answer your questions. He's not, he refused to come.

Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday night that she believed former President Donald Trump was a fascist.

Yes I do.

Harris was asked the question point-blank by CNN's Anderson Cooper in the opening moments of her suburban Philadelphia town hall.

Her reply comes hours after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden believed Trump to be a fascist after Trump's former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said he believed the Republican nominee fit the definition.

In an interview with The New York Times, Kelly also said that Trump spoke positively about Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, one of the 20th century's most dangerous fascists.

Trump brought out Tucker Carlson onstage, who compared the ex-president to a 'pissed dad.'

The crowd then subsequently broke out in a 'Daddy's home' chant when the president took the stage.

Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off her CNN town hall Wednesday night with Anderson Cooper.

The town hall's audience is being filled with undecided voters and is taking place in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, one of the swing counties surrounding Philadelphia.

Ahead of Harris walking out onstage, Cooper said that the voters came up with the questions themselves, but still would be reading them from pieces of paper.

The questions, Cooper pledged, have 'not been edited in any way by CNN.'

Tucker Carlson told a wild crowd in Georgia on Wednesday night that Donald Trump's return to the White House would be like a dad returning home to dish out a 'vigorous spanking'.

'There has to be a point at which Dad comes home. Yeah, that’s right. Dad comes home. And he’s pissed. Dad is pissed,' Carlson, the former Fox News host, said at a Turning Point USA event that Trump also addressed.

Nationally, more than 23 million people have voted early in the 2024 election.

That´s busting records in states across the country and is partly driven by Republicans embracing early voting at the directive of their nominee, former President Donald Trump, who told them to avoid it the past two elections.

Political types scour early voting data but it doesn´t tell you who will win, only who´s voting.

You won´t find out who those early voters cast their ballots for until polls close on Election Day.

(with Associated Press)

Two Democratic senators facing reelection in battleground states are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into adverts that play up their support for Donald Trump and his policies, according to an exclusive analysis of broadcast data.

It suggests they are trying to win over Trump supporters to hold their seats, even if it undermines Kamala Harris' campaign.

In key counties in Pennsylvania, Sen. Bob Casey has shifted the bulk of his TV advertising to a 30-second spot entitled 'Independent' that features a married couple comprising a Republican and Democrat explaining how he 'bucked Biden to protect fracking and he sided with Trump to end NAFTA and put tariffs on China.'

And in Wisconsin, Sen. Tammy Baldwin has made a similar move with an ad that emphasizes how she worked with Trump on ensuring U.S. iron and steel is used in infrastructure projects.

Between them, they spent $650,000 on those two ads in the four days up to Monday, according to an analysis of data collected by AdImpact which monitors election advertising.

Kamala Harris is facing one of the most pivotal live TV appearances of her campaign in her CNN town hall tonight.

Three months after President Joe Biden dropped out, she is still trying to sculpt her image in voters’ minds and answer the crucial question: What does she stand for?

Her media strategy was virtually non-existent when she entered the race earlier this summer, and a blitz of appearances in recent weeks has produced mixed results.

In some, she has struggled to answer basic questions or dodged certain issues.

With 13 days until Election Day, the polls could not be closer and the gap with Donald Trump is razor-thin.

When she takes the stage in Pennsylvania with moderator Anderson Cooper and an audience of Republicans, Democrats and Independents, she will be under pressure to try and flip some crucial voters.

RFK Jr. is asking the Supreme Court to intervene to remove his name from the critical battleground state of Wisconsin.

He wants his name off the ballot since he dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.

His attorneys wrote in the long-shot bid:

He wants everyone who will listen to him to vote for Trump,That is core political speech and it’s protected under the First Amendment.

Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver her 'closing argument' to voters one week before Election Day at a symbolic spot - The Ellipse - where former President Donald Trump addressed supporters before they attacked the Capitol on January 6.

This move comes as Harris has pivoted from her 'joy'-filled campaign, to one with darker themes - warning Americans about the danger a second Trump term poses.

On Wednesday, Harris stood in front of her Naval Observatory residence and delivered remarks on revelations made by Trump's former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

Kelly said in interviews with The New York Times published Tuesday that the GOP nominee fits the definition of a 'fascist' and had said positive things about Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Harris has also touted the support of anti-Trump Republicans, including former Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who were the only two GOP lawmakers to serve on the House January 6 committee.

Former President Donald Trump is being accused of groping a former model that he met through serial sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein.

With less than two weeks before the presidential election, former model Stacey Williams shared her story on a call Monday organized by a group called Survivors for Kamala, The Guardian first reported.

Williams said she met Trump at a Christmas Party in 1992 after being introduced to him through Epstein, who she casually dated.

'It became very clear then that he and Donald were really, really good friends and spent a lot of time together,' Williams said.

Several months later, she said she was groped and inappropriately touched by Trump in what she believed was a 'twisted game' between the two men.

Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied the allegations and cast doubt on them especially because they originated from a call tied to the Harris campaign.

'These accusations, made by a former activist for Barack Obama and announced on a Harris campaign call two weeks before the election, are unequivocally false,' Leavitt told The Guardian. 'It's obvious this fake story was contrived by the Harris campaign.'

Donald Trump has responded to allegations from his former chief of staff John Kelly that he praised Adolf Hitler.

The New York Times released audio from the retired general on Tuesday night saying the former president had ‘fascist tendencies’ and said Adolf Hitler ‘did some good things’.

Kelly also claimed that the Republican nominee said he had a military top brass who was as loyal as ‘Hitler generals’.

On Wednesday Trump released a blistering statement on Truth Social saying Kelly had ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ and accusing him of making the stories up.

Thank you for your support against a total degenerate named John Kelly, who made up a story out of pure Trump Derangement Syndrome Hatred! This guy had two qualities, which don’t work well together. He was tough and dumb. The problem is his toughness morphed into weakness, because he became JELLO with time! The story about the Soldiers was A LIE, as are numerous other stories he told. Even though I shouldn’t be wasting my time with him, I always feel it’s necessary to hit back in pursuit of THE TRUTH. John Kelly is a LOWLIFE, and a bad General, whose advice in the White House I no longer sought, and told him to MOVE ON! His wife once told me, at Camp David, John admires you tremendously, and when he leaves the Military, he will only speak well of you. I said, Thank you!

Vice President Kamala Harris will address supporters Tuesday from the Ellipse - the location where former President Donald Trump spoke to a crowd on January 6, 2021 before they ransacked the Capitol Building.

With just a week to go before the election, Harris will deliver a 'closing argument,' as she pushes that Trump is a danger to the country after what happened on January 6.

That comes after Harris delivered remarks from in front of her Naval Observatory home Wednesday on revelations made by Trump's former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, including that the GOP nominee fit the definition of a 'fascist' and said positive things about Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Harris has also touted the support of anti-Trump Republicans, including former Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who were the only two GOP lawmakers to serve on the House January 6 committee.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Duluth, Georgia

Sen. J.D. Vance, 40, says that his 78-year-old running mate is healthier than him as he shot down concerns over him making it through a second term.

'Donald Trump is healthier than I am,' the 2024 Republican vice presidential nominee insisted.

The junior Ohio Senator added:

I feel extremely confident that Donald Trump is going to serve and serve well for 4 years for the American people, and I am going to help him, and we are going to make America great again. We are going to do it together.

Democrats have raised concerns over former President Trump’s fitness for office and claim he is becoming increasingly ‘unhinged.’

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Duluth, Georgia

Peter Navarro, who served a four-month jail sentence for defying a congressional subpoena, is at Donald Trump’s rally in Duluth, Georgia on Wednesday.

“Freedom — I know a little bit about freedom,” the political martyr told a crowd ahead of the former president’s arrival.

He concluded his remarks a few minutes later with: “I went to prison, so you won’t have to.”

Navarro, 75, was a trade advisor to Trump when he was in the White House who had to report to federal prison when he refused to comply with a congressional subpoena.

He served from March until July of this year at the federal correctional institute in Miami. Navarro was assigned to an 80-person dormitory for older inmates.

After his release, Navarro went directly to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for remarks at the event nominating Trump as the GOP presidential nominee for the third time in a row.

Donald Trump campaigned in the Bible Belt and got asked about his faith at a town hall in Georgia.

‘How do you lean into your faith and your family to deal with this? Because I don't think anybody else could, could handle it the way you have for the past decade,’ Georgia Lieutenant Gov. Burt Jones asked Trump, after saying he has been ‘vilified’ in the media.

‘When you have faith, when you believe in God, it's it's a big advantage over people that don't have that,’ said Trump, who has been speaking more about religion since surviving an assassination attempt.

Then he quickly pivoted to his favorite targets.

‘These scoundrels came after me at a level that it's called election interference. It's called the weaponization of the FBI, the DOJ, they were all coming, and we're going to get things turned around in this country, because it's so bad, they don't do that, except in third world countries,’ Trump said.

‘And think of the scoundrels that are in office right now. It didn't happen to them.’

A suspect has been arrested in connection with three shootings at the Democratic National Commitee office in Tempe, Arizona.

Jefferey Michael Kelly, 60, is also accused of lining political signs with razor blades and bags of suspicious white powder.

Kelly has been charged with committing an act of terrorism, unlawful discharge of a firearm and shooting at a non-residential structure.

The first two instances occured in September when gunshots were fired through office windows.

The third took place in October.

By Jon Michael Raasch, U.S. Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

The second part of a documentary exposing Donald Trump's 'politicized' prosecution by New York Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg will be released Thursday.

It comes out two days after President Joe Biden let it slip that he believes Trump has 'gotta be locked up' with just two weeks to go to the election.

'Chasing Trump II' is a sequel to the April release 'Chasing Trump’ - a film highlighting the myriad figures involved in prosecuting the 45th president.

A trailer of the project exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com shows several pro-Trump legal experts offering analysis of the Manhattan-based legal trial and its key figures.

The newest installment will dive into the backgrounds and motivations of Bragg, who Trump has ridiculed as 'fat Alvin' and called 'Soros-backed,' Judge Juan Merchan and other Department of Justice officials.

In a 24 hours that have seen Jamie Dimon and Bill Gates show their hand in the 2024 election, Warren Buffet has indicated he won’t join them.

The billionaire Berkshire Hathaway CEO backed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Barack Obama in 2012 and 2008.

But a memo released by the company on Wednesday confirmed he won’t be publicly endorsing a candidate.

‘In light of the increased usage of social media, there have been numerous fraudulent claims regarding Mr. Buffett’s endorsement of investment products as well as his endorsement and support of political candidates,’ the note said.

‘Mr. Buffett does not currently and will not prospectively endorse investment products or endorse and support political candidates,’ it added.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Duluth, Georgia

The venue hosting Donald Trump in Georgia on Wednesday displayed messages on screen welcoming him to the wrong state.

‘North Carolina Welcomes President Trump,’ the jumbotrons read ahead of the former president's arrival to Zebulon, Georgia.

A picture was shared by the press pool traveling with Trump in the days ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

The crowd, according to the reporter, began to whisper about the mistake.

Trump's Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said on CNN that Trump 'certainly' has fascist 'inclinations.'

His comments come after Mark Kelly, the ex-president's former chief of staff, came out against Trump, saying he's 'certainly an authoritarian.'

Esper said Wednesday:

John Kelly...looked it up in a dictionary…It's hard to say that he doesn't when you kind of look at those terms. He certainly has those inclinations, and I think it's something we should be wary about.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Duluth, Georgia

The venue hosting Donald Trump in Georgia on Wednesday displayed messages on screen welcoming him to the wrong state.

‘North Carolina Welcomes President Trump,’ the jumbotrons read ahead of the former president's arrival to Zebulon, Georgia.

A picture was shared by the press pool traveling with Trump in the days ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

The crowd, according to the reporter, began to whisper about the mistake.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

Tim Walz cast his ballot on Wednesday, getting a jump on the election with Minnesota’s early voting.

He brought his 18-year-old son Gus, who was voting for the first time, and wife Gwen.

‘It’s Gus’ first time, he’s pretty excited about it,’ Walz told the poll workers.

Gus, wearing Minnesota fall regalia of a Bemidji State hoodie, sweatpants, and Birkenstock sandals with socks; told his parents he didn’t need any help casting his ballot.

The trio voted in individual booths and then Tim stood with Gus as they fed their ballots into the machine.

An election worker called out ‘first-time voter’ and the room cheered. Tim and Gus high fived.

Walz told reporters he voted for Kamala Harris.

Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Duluth, Georgia

Donald Trump is on stage for a faith-focused town hall in Zebulon, Georgia on Wednesday afternoon.

He is joined by Georgia's Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones at the Believers and Ballots event.

Afterwards, the former president will head to Duluth, Georgia for a rally co-hosted by the conservative group Turning Point, which aims to get younger people involved in politics.

Trump's visit comes as early voting is well underway in the battleground southern swing state.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

Kamala Harris stopped at the Famous 4th Street Deli, one of Philadelphia’s oldest delis, for a Harris-Walz campaign volunteer appreciation event.

Harris was in the city ahead of her town hall with CNN at 9 pm ET.

She shook hands with volunteers and took selfies.

‘I want to just stop by to say I am so grateful for all of you, what you are doing. Everyone has a busy life,’ she told the room. ‘Knock wood, god willing, we are going to win.’

She ordered a pastrami on rye bread and a slice of German chocolate cake to go.

By Geoff Earle, deputy u.s. political editor

Relentless attacks by Donald Trump and his allies are taking a toll on Kamala Harris’s favorability ratings in two critical states.

Harris’s favorability rating is now dead-even in Michigan, 48-48, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. In neighboring Wisconsin, she is slightly underwater, with 46 percent viewing her favorably compared to a 48 percent unfavorable rating.

Trump, who has long been underwater nationally, has a respectable 47 to 48 favorability rating in Wisconsin, essentially the same as Harris. In Michigan, where Harris is performing slightly better, 46 percent view Trump favorably compared to a 52 percent majority who view him unfavorably.

The Rust Belt numbers follow a Gallup poll showing Harris hitting a near record low on favorability nationwide. She began her campaign with positive favorables after stepping in for Joe Biden. She has a 48 percent favorability, below Joe Biden’s 54 percent four years ago. Trump has a 50 percent favorability rating in the poll.

Kamala Harris is getting support on the prediction site Kalshi.

The site said there has been a 'massive' influx of backing for the Vice President today.

But Donald Trump is still the clear favorite on the site.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are separated by just a few points in two of the pivotal swing states that will decide the election.

The Quinnipiac University poll of likely voters also shows a glaring gap between genders with less than two weeks left of the campaign.

In Michigan, Harris leads Trump with 49 percent compared to his 46 percent. But two percent are backing other candidates.

Women back Harris 57 to 37 percent while men Trump is leading among men 56 to 40 percent.

In Wisconsin, the candidates are tied in a dead heat at 48 percent.

In the battle of the sexes, Harris leads Trump among women 57 to 39 percent while men back Trump 59 to 38 percent.

Morning Joe's Joe Scarborough launched into a furious rant Wednesday at Republicans and The Wall Street Journal for turning a blind eye to what he called former President Donald Trump's 'fascist' threats.

Scarborough, a former GOP member of Congress, pointed to The New York Times' interviews with Trump's former Chief of Staff John Kelly, who said in a story published Tuesday that Trump met the definition of a 'fascist,' would govern like a dictator and had no concept of the Constitution or the rule of law.

The MSNBC host was exceptionally hostile toward The Wall Street Journal, whose editorial board wrote in an op-ed Sunday that the American people weren't buying the so-called 'fascist meme,' which the Journal said was merely a Democratic attack.

'Two days after saying that, a general who served as Donald Trump's longest-serving chief of staff said yes, he's a fascist,' Scarborough pointed out. 'The Wall Street opinion page might want to revisit this sneer.'

Mark Halperin says there is a major story circulating that, if true, has the potential to destroy Donald Trump's campaign.

I know of one story... I don't believe it is true. But if it's true, it would end Donald Trump's campaign.

He made the remarks on his YouTube show called Morning Meeting.

Halperin suggested that the story is being pitched by 'actors' who want to influence the outcome of the election and get Kamala Harris elected.

What we're seeing in the final days are actors who want a certain outcome.

Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a statement on camera to the press Wednesday afternoon, reacting to remarks from former White House chief of staff for President Donald Trump John Kelly.

Kelly revealed in newly published interviews that Trump 'fit into the general definition of fascist' and recalled Trump speaking about his desire for loyal generals, the 'kind of generals Hitler had.'

Harris said it was one more sign that Trump would flaunt the Constitution and use military power to attack his political enemies

'It is deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler, the man who is responsible for the death of six million Jews,' she said.

Harris warned that Trump was 'increasingly unhinged and unstable.'

In a second term, people like John Kelly will not be there to be the guardrails against his propensities and his actionss. Those who once tried to stop him from pursuing his worst impulses would no longer be there. And no longer be there to rein him in.

Harris warned that Trump wanted 'unchecked power' if elected president again.

'The question in 13 days will be what do the American people want?' she concluded.

Harris did not take questions from the press.

Longtime Sen. Ted Cruz is in an extremely tight race for his Texas seat.

A new Emerson poll released today shows him within a point of his Democratic challenger Colin Allred.

Cruz needs to keep his seat if Republicans have a shot at flipping the Senate red.

Veteran political strategist James Carville is standing by his prediction that Kamala Harris will win the election, despite Donald Trump’s momentum in the polls

The architect of Bill Clinton’s victorious 1992 campaign listed three reasons in The New York Times why he thinks the vice president will edge out what could be one of the closest elections in history.

• The GOP has a record of losing since 2018 - including Trump’s loss in 2020 and the two midterm cycles. He argues that Trump has not learned from his election losses and hasn't done enough to establish a broad enough coaltion to win in 2024.
• Harris has a huge fundraising advantage over Trump. The VP’s campaign has raised more than $1billion since she entered the race, including $360million in September alone.
• He has an emotional feeling, and claims America is not as divided as many perceive.

A vast majority of Americans are rational, reasonable people of good will.

I refuse to believe that the same country that has time and again overcome its mistakes to bend its future toward justice will make the same mistake twice

When the Founding Fathers argued about how the newly-formed United States would elect a president, they compromised on a unique system that became known as the Electoral College.

It requires a candidate to reach 270 out of 538 total electoral votes. How that math plays out has changed election by election, candidate by candidate.

For the 2024 contest polling shows that most of the 538 votes are already sewn up by Donald Trump or Kamala Harris - but 93 are still up for grabs in seven battleground states.

Each state gets as many electors as it has members of Congress - those in the House and the Senate. There are currently 538 electors in all, including three for Washington D.C., which is represented despite not being a state.

Voters head to the polls on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November – that is November 5th in this year's election.

The historian who’s successfully predicted every presidential election since 1984 reveals his family has been threatened since naming Kamala Harris as his 2024 pick.

Allan Lichtman used his ‘Keys to the White House’ theory in September to forecast that the vice president will take victory over Donald Trump.

The 77-year-old has made the same announcement every election cycle, but the reaction this year has been unprecedented.

Litchman told NewsNation that his family’s safety has been compromised and he’s had to contact the police several times.

‘I’ve been getting feedback that is scurrilous, vulgar, violent, threatening,’ he told Chris Cuomo.

‘I’ve been doing this for 42 years and have been constantly getting criticism,’ he said.

‘But I have never experienced anything like the hate that is being reaped upon me this time.’

Despite the hate, he insisted he still stands by his pick that Harris will prevail in November.

Kamala Harris running mate Tim Walz blasted Donald Trump over new on-the-record comments by his former chief John Kelly about Nazi generals.

Kelly told the New York Times Trump met the ‘definition of fascism’ and wanted the ‘kind of generals Hitler had.’

‘It’s just been reported that Donald Trump said ‘I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,’ Walz said at a campaign rally in remarks blasted out by the Harris campaign.

‘As a 24-year veteran of our military, that makes me sick as hell, and it should make you sick. The guardrails are gone. Trump is descending into this madness.’

The Secret Service was facing renewed scrutiny after a suspected drunk driver came dangerously close to Vice President Kamala Harris' motorcade on Interstate 94 in Milwaukee on Monday night.

A 55-year-old Milwaukee man was driving the wrong way and heading westbound in the eastbound lanes of I-94 - and heading straight toward the vice president's convoy.

Despite the motorcade's high level of protection, the driver was able to approach the convoy moments before Milwaukee County sheriff's deputies intervened and stopped him just in time.

Police say the man had an open bottle of alcohol

in the car he was driving and believed him to be impaired.

Vice President Kamala Harris tried to dodge her position on transgender surgeries on Tuesday evening, saying the decision ultimately rested with doctors, not the government.

'I believe we should follow the law,' Harris began during an interview with NBC's Hallie Jackson who asked her to define her position on the issue.

Jackson interrupted Harris to note that Trump was 'trying to define' her with the issue, spending millions of dollars of ads against her on the issue.

'I'm asking you to define yourself,' Jackson continued.

'I believe that people, as the law states, even on this issue, about federal law that that is a decision that doctors will make in terms of what is medically necessary,' Harris said. 'I'm not going to put myself in the position of a doctor.'

Kamala Harris is not planning to appear on Joe Rogan's podcast during a campaign swing in Texas at the end of this week, according to Reuters.

The vice president will be in Houston to discuss abortion rights on Friday but is scheduled to fly straight to Michigan.

It means a stop at Rogan's studio in Austin is not on the schedule.

Donald Trump is set for an interview with the podcast behemoth this week, but it is now unclear whether Harris will follow suit.

The 2024 presidential election is turning out to be such a nail-biter that a top CNN polling analyst can barely contain his pre-race jitters.

'Holy cow!' exclaimed CNN's Harry Enten as he crunched the numbers on the close contest that gives Donald Trump and Kamala Harris essentially an equal shot at winning, in a race that both call the most important of their lifetimes.

Just how close is the race this time? Nationwide polls as well as state-by-state polling make it the closest in the Electoral College since 1972.

That is the only metric that really matters. Both Hillary Clinton and Al Gore won the popular vote without winning the electoral college, which determines the winner.

A Muslim Democrat says he was removed from a Kamala Harris rally in Michigan without explanation.

Former congressional candidate Ahmed Ghanim was invited to attend the event in Royal Oaks on Monday.

He then says a staff member from the Harris campaign approached him and told him to follow them.

Secret Service agents, he says, then greeted him with local police and told him he had to leave, and didn’t give him a reason.

Harris, during an interview with NBC's Hallie Jackson Tuesday evening, said that she wouldn't entertain any 'concessions' regarding abortion legislation, including religious exemptions.

I don't believe we should be making concessions when we're talking about a fundamental freedom to make decision about your own body.

Her comments quickly garnered backlash from religious conservatives.

CatholicVote wrote on X:

Kamala Harris admits she would deny religious exemptions for abortions—forcing Christians to kill unborn children and seemingly doubling down on weaponizing the government to jail pro-lifers who pray outside abortion facilities. Why would any Christian vote for her?

SBA Pro-Life America said that Harris promises 'freedom' but then will 'federally steamroll Americans into taking part in abortions against their will.'

Chairman Ralph Reed of the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition added:

So she’s not only pro-abortion, she is anti-religious freedom. Duly noted.

Vice President Kamala Harris will answer questions at a town hall campaign event Wednesday night hosted by CNN and moderated by anchor Anderson Cooper.

CNN says they will select the audience members in the room, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.

The event will take place in Pennsylvania, the swing state that could ultimately decide who gets into the White House.

She will speak to voters in Delaware County, a suburb of Pennsylavania President Joe Biden won in 2020.

A network spokesperson has said that CNN has not edited or offered any help in drafting the questions from the audience.

Cooper is expected to moderate and ask follow up questions to the vice president.

The event will be broadcast on CNN and begins at 9:00 p.m. EST.

Immediately before, Trump takes the stage in Duluth, Georgia, as he tries to win over voters in the crucial battleground.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have set their sights on Pennsylvania as key to victory in the presidential election. But it is not their only path to the White House.

Last week, Harris visited the state twice with campaign events in Erie and Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania. Trump campaigned in Oaks, Pennsylvania, and Latrobe outside Pittsburgh.

Pennsylvania with its nineteen electoral votes is the biggest of the seven battleground states that could swing either way and decide the election.

And the latest polling is showing the race in a dead heat in the crucial swing state, with Trump up just half a point in the Real Clear Politics average.

While the path forward to the necessary 270 electoral votes becomes much more complicated without Pennsylvania, it does not mean the race is over for either Trump or Harris.

Republicans have taken the lead in early voting in Nevada, the latest numbers show.

GOP voters lead Democrats by 12,000 votes cast.

Overall, 333,000 people – or 16.6% - have voted. If turnout reaches 1.4 million, that means just under a quarter of the vote is in, noted Nevada political expert Jon Ralston.

Nevada mails a ballot to every registered voter a few weeks before the election and it needs to be postmarked by Election Day in order to be counted. People can also vote in person if they wish.

Polls show Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are tied in the state.

The high voting numbers could be good news for Trump assuming the Republican voters voted for him.

Speaking Wednesday evening in Las Vegas, Nevada, former President Bill Clinton avoided talking about Donald Trump.

I want you to tell people why Harris is better.

Clinton said the election is about voting for the future and he is casting his ballot for Harris with his grandchildren in mind.

He touted Harris' economic plan including putting money into homebuilding.

Harris has proposed giving first-time homebuyers a $25,000 financial incentive to purchase a home.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent

Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ‘capitalize on’ the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and end the war in Gaza.

Blinken met with Netanyahu for two and a half hours during his trip to Tel Aviv. President Joe Biden dispatched his secretary of state to the Middle East to revive talks of a ceasefire and get a deal to bring the remaining hostages home.

‘Now is the time to turn those successes into an enduring strategic success, and there are really two things left to do: get the hostages home and bring the war to an end with an understanding of what will follow. And that’s what we’ve been working on this past day and will continue to work on throughout this trip,’ Blinken told reporters.

The secretary of state’s next stop was Saudi Arabia. He arrived in Riyadh on Wednesday morning where he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Blinken, before he departed Israel, was staying at the David Kempinski in Tel Aviv where he had to take shelter with other guests when a Hezbollah missile launch set off warning sirens.

Polling guru Nate Silver maintains that all his models and forecasts have the presidential election as a 50/50 dead heat - but says his 'gut' tells him Donald Trump will come out victorious.

Silver, the founder of polling predictor FiveThirtyEight, wrote in the New York Times that his fears over a second Trump term are also 'true for many anxious Democrats' amid a dip in Kamala Harris' momentum.

One of his main reasons was Trump's tendency to underperform in polls, and with Silver's own model showing the candidates just 1.6 percent apart, the pollster said his 'intuition' points to the Republican.

With exactly two weeks before Election Day, Usha Vance just gave Americans the most personal peak into her life since her husband, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, was tapped as Donald Trump's running mate.

And the rare insight has come to light through the books the aspiring second lady totes around on the campaign trail.

The Yale Law-grad mother of three has been a regular presence alongside her husband since the best-selling author of Hillbilly Elegy was asked to join the ticket by Trump in July.

Photos of Usha, in fact, always seem to capture her walking around with one or more books, be it Daniel Mason's 'North Woods,' Tana French's 'In the Woods' or a copy of 'The Iliad.'

Ahead of the 2024 Presidential election, see how Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are really faring among voters with DailyMail.com's brilliant poll tracker.

Readers can view who is winning the head-to-head race as well as the situation in the battleground states that will ultimately decide who gets into the White House.

All of the data used in our analysis comes from Harris versus Trump polls collated by DailyMail.com's pollsters J.L. Partners and FiveThirtyEight.

The hotel parking lot is deserted but for the red, white and blue bus, decorated with the giant features of Donald Trump.

It is still dark outside, but through the window a lone figure, impeccably dressed in red tie, white shirt and navy blazer, is hunched over a microphone at 7am.

'When you look at what is ahead for a Trump administration, cost cutting ... inflation is going to go down,' John Fredericks tells his listeners in battleground states around the country.

'We're going to rein in spending. He's already said that they're going to close the border, they're going to deport the illegals. They're going to get the criminals out.'

Democrats are now in desperation mode, he says. Everything they're doing is desperate because they know they're going to lose.'

READ MORE BELOW

The Democratic candidate for Missouri was brutally mocked after he struck a television reporter with shrapnel from an AR-15 round during a campaign event on Tuesday.

Wannabe Senator Lucas Kunce was firing the weapon during an appearance at a private range in Holt, Missouri when a bullet fragment struck television reporter Ryan Gamboa in the arm.

The Democrat was firing shots alongside former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger before he had to bandage the KSHB-TV journalist's bloody arm.

Keir Starmer today tried to shrug off a furious reaction from Donald Trump over Labour activists campaigning for his Democrat rival.

The PM insisted the pair could still work together despite the Republican candidate's campaign accusing the party of 'blatant foreign interference' in the US election.

A complaint to the Federal Election Commission says sending activists to the States amounts to 'illegal foreign campaign contributions' for Kamala Harris.

Trump's aides cited a now-deleted post on LinkedIn by Sofia Patel, Labour's head of operations, which said 100 current and former staffers were going to be volunteering in battleground states such as North Carolina and Nevada. Significantly it suggested that accommodation would be arranged.

Rules about foreigners working in US elections are strict and state that they must volunteer and cannot receive any payment.

Grilled by reporters en route to Samoa for the Commonwealth summit overnight, Sir Keir insisted activists had always been able to offer support in the US.

With former President Donald Trump's encouragement, Republicans are voting early again, flocking to the polls for in-person voting ahead of Election Day and helping push the national number to nearly 19 million.

The early turnout is breaking records in swing states such as Georgia and North Carolina.

The GOP hopes this surge of early votes will fix a mechanical problem that some in the party blame for costing it the 2020 presidential election and key races in 2022.

Campaigns usually want their voters to cast ballots ahead of Election Day so they can focus their resources on getting more marginal supporters to the polls at the last minute.

Republicans excelled at that before Trump turned against early in-person and mail voting in 2020, as he spun wild conspiracies about the process and convinced his supporters to wait until Election Day to cast their ballots. But the party is again pushing its voters to cast their ballots early, and the former president is largely encouraging the change.

'I am telling everyone to vote early,' Trump said on a podcast last week hosted by conservative Dan Bongino, who has widely spread false information about early voting and the 2020 election.

Republicans seem to be responding. In Nevada, where Democrats for decades relied on a robust early vote to counter the GOP on Election Day, about 6,000 more Republicans than Democrats had actually cast early ballots this year as of Tuesday, according to Associated Press research.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard announced she is joining the Republican party Tuesday night.

Taking the stage before thousands in Greensboro, North Carolina, Gabbard cemented her conversion from Democrat to Republican.

'It is because of my love for our country and specifically because of the leadership that President Trump has brought to transform the Republican Party that I'm proud to stand here with you today and announce that I'm joining the Republican Party,' she proudly declared.

She continued: 'I'm joining the party of the people, the party of equality, the party that was founded to fight against and end slavery in this country.'

Gabbard said that the GOP and Trump were 'the party of common sense and the party that is led by a president who has the courage and strength to fight for peace.'

The two then embraced on stage in front of a screaming audience.

Donald Trump called Barack Obama 'a jerk' on Tuesday night while Obama mercilessly mocked the GOP candidate - reigniting a bitter feud between the two former presidents.

Trump went after Obama at a campaign stop in North Carolina, claiming the Democrat looked 'exhausted' and 'couldn't care less' about the country.

'I think he's a real jerk because I've watched him campaign over the last couple of days,' Trump said.

'Over the last couple of days I've watched him campaign. What a divider he is. He divides this country. He couldn't care less, him and his little group of people.'

Meanwhile, Obama took some jabs at Trump for selling sneakers and watches during a rally in Detroit where he rapped onstage after being introduced by Eminem.