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What's happening on the campaign trail
- Former President Donald Trump spoke in Warren, Michigan, and is slated to hold a rally in Milwaukee later on.
- Vice President Kamala Harris also traveled through the Midwest today, making stops across Wisconsin in Janesville, Little Chute and Milwaukee.
- Their running mates, Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, also spent the day mostly in the same state as each other, making stops in Michigan. Vance later rallied in Selma, North Carolina.
- The Arizona attorney general's office said it was investigating whether Trump's violent comments about former Rep. Liz Cheney at an event in Arizona broke the law.
The final undecided voters could sway the election. They’re not wild about the choice.
Procrastination is usually frowned upon, but in a narrowly divided presidential election, voters who have put off making a decision until the last minute could find themselves with the power to decide the future of the country.
Both campaigns and their outside allies have spent millions of dollars trying to find and reach the relative handful of dawdlers, late deciders and genuinely torn voters who are still undecided about how (and whether) to cast their ballots — precious needles in the gargantuan haystack of the American electorate who often have little interest in being found by political campaigns and have major problems with one or both major parties.
Birth control on the ballot as abortion bans increase barriers to family planning
Millions of Americans will be able to vote on November ballots whether to protect access to contraception.
In states where tensions have long boiled over reproductive rights, family planning experts say women face mounting barriers to getting birth control. The fear, confusion and anxiety over abortion has extended to their ability to prevent a pregnancy.
With just four days until Election Day, both presidential candidates are expected to traverse the country in a last-ditch attempt to reel in undecided voters in battleground states. NBC News’ Dasha Burns and Monica Alba report on Trump's and Harris' latest push for votes.
Harris posts video of her congratulating Dodgers manager Dave Roberts on winning the World Series
Harris posted a video on X today of a call she made to Los Angeles Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts to congratulate him on the team's World Series win.
The vice president called Roberts alongside second gentleman Doug Emhoff, a longtime Dodgers fan.
"I wasn't able to watch the game live, but of course your biggest fan Doug Emhoff did," Harris, a former senator from California, said on the call.
Democrats' Wisconsin ground game pushes for higher youth turnout
With the latest polling emphasizing the tight, competitive race in battleground Wisconsin, both the Harris and Trump campaigns are aware the race will come down to turnout and their respective ground game.
According to data from the Wisconsin Election Commission, 92% of requested absentee ballots have already been returned in the state, with the pace breaking records from the previous two presidential elections.
Dane County, home to Madison and the fastest-growing county in the state, is overperforming with turnout about 3% higher than the state average. The county has been credited for recent Democratic wins in recent elections, with young voters appearing to lead the charge, casting their early vote around University of Wisconsin-Madison’s campus.
And young voters are starting to turn out more: A Democratic strategist granted anonymity to discuss internal campaign data analyzed by the Harris campaign shared with NBC News that voters under 30 have made up 22% of the early vote late this week, after Harris’ Wednesday rally in Madison, nearly doubling the share from the week prior.
“This could be a squeaker, but I give us the edge for ground game energy,” Ben Wikler, Democratic Party of Wisconsin chair, said this week on MSNBC. “What we’re seeing on the Republican side is a 100% negative, massive, scorched earth, flood of ads.”
When it comes to students, the Harris campaign employs a team of seven campus organizers and a focused youth organizing director. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign, in their focus on engaging young men, have hosted Charlie Kirk with Turning Point USA and the Nelk Boys on campus.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee activates National Guard for election week
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced today that he activated National Guard members to be on standby to support local law enforcement during next week's election.
Inslee, a Democrat, said the activation will protect "Washington State agencies and the people they serve."
The order is set to go into effect Monday and last until midnight on Thursday.
"This is a purely precautionary measure taken in response to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s nationwide warnings regarding threats to election infrastructure and other recent activities that have occurred in southwestern Washington," Inslee's office said in a statement.
Inslee granted Maj. Gen. Gent Welsh the authority to activate "as many members of the Washington National Guard as may be necessary and deemed appropriate for the circumstances."
In a letter addressed to Welsh, Inslee referenced the drop boxes that were set on fire on Oct. 28 as an example of the southwest region of Washington already experiencing instances of election-related unrest.
"Based upon general and specific information and concerns regarding the potential for violence or other unlawful activity related to the 2024 general election, I want to ensure we are fully prepared to respond to any potential additional civil unrest," he wrote.
Activated National Guard members will be directed to provide "critical public safety support," including protecting election infrastructure, Inslee said.
In its 50 years, “SNL” has spanned nine presidencies — poking fun at all of them through hilarious political sketches. Take a look at the franchise’s most iconic political impressions and sketches.
Alicia Keys to join Michelle Obama at Harris campaign event
Grammy Award-winner Alicia Keys will join former first lady Michelle Obama tomorrow on the campaign trail, the Harris-Walz campaign announced this evening.
Keys will lend her star power to the campaign in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, delivering remarks at a rally to encourage Pennsylvanians to vote for Harris and other Democratic candidates on the ballot.
In the final lead up to the 2024 presidential election, the issue of health care is taking the spotlight with Harris and Trump offering very different plans when it comes to the Affordable Care Act. It comes as Trump says he plans to tap Robert Kennedy Jr. to lead the nation’s public health agencies. NBC’s Garrett Haake reports for TODAY.
Who are the people winning Elon Musk’s $1 million daily giveaways?
The handful of Americans who have won $1 million checks from tech billionaire Elon Musk’s super PAC have a few things in common.
Per the giveaway’s stated rules, they are all registered voters, according to public records. They all live in presidential battleground states, according to the same records. And presumably they have all signed Musk’s petition “in Favor of Free Speech and the Right to Bear Arms” — a requirement to win the lottery-style contest, although their signatures on the petition aren’t public.
And an analysis of the winners shows at least one other similarity: Almost all of them are registered Republicans or appear to be Republican-leaning.
