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What to know about the campaigns today
- Vice President Kamala Harris is joining several popular shows in New York, appearing on "The View," "The Howard Stern Show" and "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" as her campaign launches a media blitz in the final weeks before Election Day.
- Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, made a late-night appearance yesterday on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" He spoke this evening at a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada, after campaign events in Sacramento, California, and Seattle.
- Donald Trump was expected to join a virtual town hall focused on health care with former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. The event was postponed because of Hurricane Milton.
- The GOP vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, defended Trump after journalist Bob Woodward reported in a new book that Trump has had several conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin since he left office.
Democrats’ attacks on GOP candidate’s Colombian family and heritage draw charges of racism in Ohio Senate race
Some Democrats working to re-elect Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio this fall are trying to raise fears about his opponent’s Colombian family and heritage, drawing charges of racism from Republicans.
Bernie Moreno, a businessman who immigrated to the U.S. as a child, came here to “take advantage of America’s wealth and greatness,” Peg Watkins, the Democratic Party chair in Delaware County, a key area of the state that encompasses the affluent suburbs of Columbus, asserted at an event last week while warming up the crowd for Brown.
“So we are doing everything we can to stop him from invading our Senate,” Watkins added.
Attempted border crossings dropped to the lowest level of the Biden presidency in September
The Border Patrol made under 54,000 apprehensions of immigrants attempting to cross into the U.S. illegally in September, according to preliminary data obtained by NBC News, the lowest monthly total of illegal border crossings attempts since Biden took office.
The figure, which has not been officially released by Customs and Border Protection, is also the lowest total since August 2020, during the Trump administration, and it is in line with the September totals under Trump in 2018, 2019 and 2020. In September 2018, 50,568 migrants tried to cross the southern border between legal ports of entry. A year later, 52,546 immigrants tried to cross, and in September 2020, the number was 54,771.
This September’s preliminary total of under 54,000 attempted illegal crossings also includes an unspecified number of apprehensions at the northern U.S. border. Northern crossings have long been a tiny fraction of southern border crossings, though they have risen in 2024.
Walz accuses airlines of price gouging in Florida as Milton nears landfall
At a campaign rally in Nevada tonight, Walz accused airlines of price gouging by raising ticket prices for Floridians seeking to escape Hurricane Milton.
"Airlines' charging people exorbitant amounts to fly out of Florida to get out of the hurricane — that's price gouging," Walz said.
Walz said he was glad to see Biden make a statement at a hurricane briefing earlier today, when he called on airlines not to engage in price gouging.
Aurora mayor cites Trump in statement calling concerns about Venezuelan gang activity 'grossly exaggerated'
The Republican mayor of Aurora, Colorado, called concerns about Venezuelan gang activity in the city "grossly exaggerated," citing Trump in a statement released today ahead of his visit Friday.
“Former President Trump’s visit to Aurora is an opportunity to show him and the nation that Aurora is a considerably safe city — not a city overrun by Venezuelan gangs," Mayor Mike Coffman said.
Trump often talks about Aurora at his rallies, claiming gang activity in the city is rampant.
Coffman, who said Trump's depictions of migrants in the city were "not accurate," reiterated his invitation to show him the community and meet with the police chief for a briefing.
"The reality is that the concerns about Venezuelan gang activity have been grossly exaggerated," Coffman said. "The incidents were limited to several apartment complexes in this city of more than 400,000 residents."
Trump describes cities with migrants as being 'infected' by violence
While discussing the Venezuelan migrant community in Aurora, Colorado, in a radio interview today, Trump suggested that the city has been "infected" by violence.
"Cities that haven't been infected, and I use that word very openly, that haven't been infected by this violence yet, they’re petrified because it's coming to them also," he said on "The John Kobylt Show."
It not the first time Trump has used the term to describe migrants. During remarks on Sept. 26 in New York City, Trump said, "They're infecting our country. They're destroying our country."
On an episode of "The Hugh Hewitt Show" that aired yesterday, Trump suggested that migrants have “bad genes.” In 2023, during a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Trump said immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country."
Ohio Democrats say they're learning more about Vance now that he's a VP nominee
Democratic voters who are already showing up to cast ballots in Canton, Ohio, said Vance’s emergence as Trump’s vice presidential nominee has taught them more about his backgrounds and beliefs — even though Vance won Stark County by 15.6 percentage points in Ohio’s 2022 Senate election.
Chris Kienzle, 69, of Minerva, said Vance had “been in the background” of politics before Trump added him to the ticket.
“The very fact that he became the running mate for Trump makes me leery of him,” Kienzle said. “I don’t trust him at all, especially with women’s issues.”
Peter Boyd, 52, who lives in Massillon, said he learned of Vance’s connections with Peter Thiel and the Heritage Foundation only after he was named Trump’s running mate, even though Thiel and Vance’s relationship dates to 2011.
“He kind of came out of nowhere,” Boyd said. “And so I watched ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ and stuff like that, just kind of wanting to know more about him. I’ve learned who backs him, like Peter Thiel.”
Mike Rogers and Elissa Slotkin tangle over national security and tout bipartisan credentials in Michigan Senate debate
Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin and GOP former Rep. Mike Rogers clashed repeatedly here tonight over who would best represent their purple state in the first debate of their hotly contested Senate race.
The tone during the hourlong debate, hosted by NBC affiliate WOOD, was mostly civil. But there were several hostile moments, with both candidates accusing the other of lying about and misrepresenting their records.
Rogers, noting Slotkin’s background as a CIA analyst, said he was “not even sure she could pass the polygraph test [for] the CIA anymore.”
Trump announces Latter-day Saints coalition in push for battleground voters
Trump today announced a “Latter-Day Saints for Trump” coalition less than a month before Election Day as the campaign looks to shore up support among a key voting bloc in which defections could be particularly damaging in key western battlegrounds.
Among the leaders of the coalition are four prominent Utah Republicans: Sen. Mike Lee, Rep. Celeste Maloy, Rep. Burgess Owens and state Attorney General Sean Reyes.
Lee said Trump ensured that “Latter-day Saints and people of all faiths can worship freely and live according to our beliefs. His dedication to life and protecting the unborn has fortified our families’ foundations, and his leadership is exactly what America needs to preserve the God-given rights that make us strong and free.”
Jovial scene at Ohio voting center on first day of early in-person voting
At the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections office, poll workers cheered each time it was announced that there was a first-time voter in the crowd, including a man who jogged back into the building just to get an “I Voted” sticker.
"Everyone's in a good mood," Adrian Slovenec, 24, an engineer, said after having waited 20 minutes to vote. "You'd think like waiting in line people would be kind of grumpy, and you know, it's like a chore, but they make it pretty fun."
At one point, those in line made way for a 101-year-old woman to cast her ballot.
Across the street from the Board of Elections, a DJ was blasting Motown classics in anticipation that Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, would give remarks.
Amid the joyful scene, voters signaled that they came to the polls for meaningful change. Scotty Ogletree, 26, said he hopes his vote for Harris will ensure that Trump doesn't return to the Oval Office.
Arthur Lavin, 69, called it the most important election "since the 1860s."
"Democracy is actually under assault," he said.
Walz bashes Electoral College at campaign reception
At a fundraiser at the home of California Gov. Gavin Newsom today, Walz criticized the Electoral College in favor of a popular vote for picking the president.
“I think all of us know the Electoral College needs to go,” Walz said. “We need national popular vote.”
“But that’s not the world we live in,” he added.
Democratic presidential candidates won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College in 2000 and 2016.
