Closing Summary

This blog is closing now, thanks for following along. You can read our US elections coverage here. Here are the major developments from today:

• In Houston, Kamala Harris was joined onstage by superstar singer Beyoncé, congressman Colin Allred, musician Willie Nelson, actress Jessica Alba, several Texas-based OB-GYNs and families impacted by the state’s abortion ban in what her campaign is calling their largest rally to date. Harris focused her remarks on the state’s abortion ban, which sparked a slew of abortion restrictions nationwide, and was joined on stage by Amanda and Josh Zurawski, a Texas couple who sued the state after Amanda was unable to access treatment for a life-threatening pregnancy complication.

• Donald Trump’s rally in Traverse City, Michigan was delayed several hours after the ex-president’s interview with podcast host Joe Rogan lasted three hours. Trump

• Harris and Trump are tied at 48% each for the popular vote for the US presidential election, according to the final New York Times/Siena College national poll published on today.

• Chinese hackers have targeted phones used by Donald Trump and JD Vance, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. According to the sources, investigators are trying to determine what communication data may have been taken or observed.

• On Friday, Joe Biden formally apologized for the United States government’s role in running at least 523 Indian boarding schools. His remarks were given at the Gila Crossing community school outside Phoenix, Arizona, and marked his first visit to Indian Country as president.

• The Washington Post declined to endorse a presidential candidate for the first time since the 1980s. Senior Democratic figure Susan Rice, who was US ambassador to the United Nations and national security adviser under Barack Obama and then director of the US domestic policy council under Joe Biden, made a blistering post on X about the Washington Post. “So much for ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’,” she said, referring to the newspaper’s slogan.

• Two Senate Democrats have written a letter urging the justice department to investigate, and if necessary prosecute, Elon Musk over his potentially illegal $1m giveaway for registered voters. And another top Democrat is calling for an investigation into Musk for the tech billionaire’s ties to Russia.

• During his rally in Scranton tonight, Tim Walz took a moment to express his appreciation for Joe Biden, who was born in the Pennsylvania city and remains a popular figure there. “This country owes a huge debt to you and a huge debt to Joe Biden,” Walz said.

• Harris raised $97m in the first half of October, compared with Trump’s $16m, according to reports filed with the Federal Election commission.

• In an appearance on the Cats & Cosby podcast, a conservative talk radio show, Donald Trump said special counsel Jack Smith should be deported. Trump made news yesterday when he said he would fire Smith, the justice department official who is prosecuting him for allegedly plotting to overturn the 2020 election and hide classified documents, “within two seconds” of becoming president.

Harris has concluded her rally in Houston, calling on voters to cast their ballots in the next 11 days.

“Do we trust women? Do we believe in reproductive freedom? Do we believe in the promise of America, and are we ready to fight for it?” Harris said, before concluding, “And when we fight, we win.”

“We know weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning,” Harris says, quoting Psalm 30:5 and encouraging voters to get out to the polls before 5 November.

Speaking to Gen Z voters in the audience, Harris says that she “sees your power”.

“It ain’t right that you may have fewer rights than your mother or your grandmother,” Harris said, before asking the crowd: “Can we applaud our leaders who are voting for the first time?”

Harris is continuing, speaking about the stakes of the supreme court if Trump is re-elected.

“And now the attorney general of Texas is suing the United States government so that Texas prosecutors can get their hands on private medical records of women who leave the state to get care,” Harris said. “On the one hand, Donald Trump won’t let anyone see his medical records. I gave up mine. And on the other hand, they want to get their hands on your medical records.

“Let us be clear, if Donald Trump wins again, he will ban abortion nationwide,” Harris said. “No one is protected if there is a Trump national abortion ban.

“If Donald Trump is president again, he will likely get to appoint at least one justice” to the Supreme court, Harris said. “At which point Donald Trump will have packed the court with five out of nine justices.”

Kamala Harris is continuing to excoriate Donald Trump, sharing the stories of women who’ve been denied healthcare since Roe was overturned.

“Texas, what is happening across this state, in our country, is a health care crisis. And Donald Trump is the architect of it,” Harris said.

She went on to share the story of Ryan Hamilton, who found his wife alone and bleeding after being denied care for a miscarriage. “Let’s be clear, men across America, this needs to be said, men across America do not want to see their sisters and mothers put at risk because their rights have been taken.”

Kamala Harris has just shared the story of Kate Cox, a Texas woman who was denied emergency abortion care by the Texas Supreme Court, and is introducing Shanette Williams, the mother of Amber Nicole Thurman.

“Amber Nicole Thurman, I promised her mother, I would speak her name, a vibrant 28 year old mother of a six year old son who died of preventive death because of Georgia’s abortion ban,” Harris said.

Harris has continued, denouncing Republican leaders who have neglected maternal and infant healthcare while denying abortion care across the US.

“For decades, these extremist leaders, who have neglected prenatal care, maternity care and postpartum care, and who now continuously failing support women and children, claim to care of women and children. I have a question for them, where you been?” Harris said. “Where have you been when it comes to helping pregnant women and new mothers? Where have you been when it comes to affordable child care?”

“The hypocrisy abounds,” she said, before showing a video combining testimony of families who’ve suffered under abortion bans alongside Donald Trump saying he did “a great thing” by appointing the Supreme court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.

Speaking onstage at her rally in Houston, Kamala Harris is making a powerful call for reproductive rights.

“You are ground zero in the fight for reproductive freedom,” she said. “We know what’s happening here in Texas, doctors and nurses could go to prison for life simply for providing reproductive care.”

“Texas has a law now that offers a cash bounty for turning in someone who merely helps a friend or a family member get the care they need,” Harris added. “In some counties in Texas, they have passed travel bans to prevent women from going to other states to receive care.”

“When Donald Trump was president, he hand selected the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v Wade, and as he intended, they did. And now more than 20 states have a Trump abortion ban.”

“Now, one in three American women live in a state with a Trump abortion ban,” she said. “And let us agree, one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply help to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body.”

Beyoncé has welcomed Kamala Harris on stage, with her song Freedom playing in the background.

“It’s time to sing a new song,” Beyoncé said. “Our generations of loved ones before us are whispering a prophecy, a quest, a calling, an anthem, our moment right now. It’s time for America to sing a new song.”

Tina Knowles, an American businesswoman, fashion designer and mother of Beyoncé, is speaking now at Harris’ rally in Houston.

“I’ve been so blessed to have many careers, many Black jobs,” Knowles opened, referencing Donald Trump’s statement that immigrants are going to take so-called “Black jobs” from Black Americans. “The best job that I’ve ever had is being a mother.”

“I’m so proud to be here with two of my daughters,” Knowles said, before welcoming her daughter Beyoncé and good friend Kelly Rowland.

After a long intermission, Ondrea Cummings has begun speaking at the Harris rally in Houston. Cummings, a resident of San Antonio, is featured in a new ad that the Harris campaign released earlier this week, telling her story of nearly dying after a pregnancy complication.

“In the fall of 2022, after many prayers, my husband and I found out that we were expecting. Everything changed when my one evening far too early into my pregnancy, after going to the ER and my OB GYN, and learning that my pregnancy was not viable, I was given no options. Despite being at high risk for infection because of Texas extreme laws, I was told I had to wait, which I did in the hospital for days,” Cummings said.

“My baby girl, Emery J, was born five days after my water broke. She lived only for a few minutes, but I hold my baby close to my heart,” she said, describing how she developed a severe infection that left her hospitalized for three weeks afterward.

“Today is the first time I’m sharing my story. It’s taken many months of physical and emotional healing to get where I am today,” Cummins said. “Texas abortion bans unleashed by Donald Trump almost cost me my life,” she added before noting that Black and brown womens’ pain is often ignored.

The Harris campaign reports that 30,000 people are at her Houston rally tonight, the largest crowd to date for her campaign.

Follow along here:

Colin Allred, the Democratic congressman running to unseat Texas senator Ted Cruz, is speaking at Kamala Harris’ rally in Texas, denouncing his opponent and recalling his experience in Congress on January 6.

“I believe in a very different Texas than Ted Cruz does,” Allred said. “My time in Congress, I’ve been the exact opposite of Ted Cruz, because I never forgot where I came from, never forgot the folks who gave me a chance. I’ve been the most bipartisan Texan in Congress, because that’s how you get things done.”

“Ted Cruz is too small for Texas,” Allred said, recalling how Cruz took refuge in a supply closet during the January 6 attack on the Capitol while Allred prepared to defend his colleagues, using the strength he says he built as an NFL linebacker, and how Cruz fled the state during a deadly winter storm.

He went on to lead the crowd in a chant of “You gotta lose your job.”

Amanda and Josh Zurawski, a Texas couple who sued the state after Amanda was unable to access treatment for a life-threatening pregnancy complication, are speaking now at Kamala Harris’ rally in Houston.

“After 18 months of grueling fertility treatments in the spring of 2022 we were thrilled to find out that she was pregnant with our first baby, a girl. We were over the moon,” Josh said.

“My first trimester was smooth sailing, but suddenly at 18 weeks, I suffered complications we were, with 100% certainty going to lose our baby girl. We were devastated. What I needed at that point was an abortion so that I could safely and with dignity, deliver our daughter and begin the healing process,” Amanda added.

“But this was Post Roe Texas, the near total abortion ban had gone into effect just two days after Amanda’s water broke, ending the pregnancy would have been illegal abortion under the Texas ban, our doctor risked losing her license and even face jail time,” Josh continued. “Eventually, Amanda’s temperature spiked. She was shaking and disoriented. We rushed to the emergency room, and by this time, Amanda had developed an infection, which had become septic.”

“I was finally close enough to death to deserve health care in Texas,” Amanda said.

“It is unthinkable to me that anyone could cheer on the cruel abortion bans that nearly took Amanda’s life, but that’s exactly what Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have done,” Josh said. “The decision about if and when to start a family should be ours to make. Not Donald Trump’s, not Ted Cruz’s. That’s why we need to elect vice president Harris, representative Colin Allred and Democrats up and down the ballot to restore our reproductive freedom.”

Lifelong Texan and beloved musician Willie Nelson is on stage at the rally performing Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys and On the Road Again.

The 91-year-old Texan wore his signature braids and red bandana as he performed on stage with a band.

Yesenia Gamez Gamboa, a Tucson-area immigration lawyer, is sharing her experience healing from an ectopic pregnancy and pursuing IVF in order to conceive a family with her husband.

“Access to a safe and quick abortion was what saved my life and preserved my fertility and now those very same protections are gone,” she said, on stage at Kamala Harris’ Houston rally.

“I trust women to make decisions over their own bodies, and I trust Texas Women to tell men like Ted Cruz. JD Vance and Donald Trump that they are done, their turn is over.”

Kamala Harris’s campaign is playing another ad between speakers at its Houston rally. This one features a woman who recalls being impregnated by her abusive stepfather at the age of 12.

“I didn’t know what to do. I was a child. I didn’t know what it meant to be pregnant at all. But I had options,” she says. “Because Donald Trump overturned Roe v Wade, girls and women all over the country have lost the right to choose, even for rape or incest. Donald Trump did this. He took away our freedom.”

Todd Ivey, a Houston-based OB-GYN, is speaking now at Kamala Harris’ rally in Texas, and is joined on stage with several colleagues in their white coats.

“Today in Texas, because of Donald Trump, I could be thrown in prison for life for providing reproductive health care,” Ivey said. “As a result, many of my patients with tragic pregnancy complications have been forced to flee up to get the health care that they need and that they deserve.”

“Nearly 7 in 10 OB-GYNs say that abortion bans have worsened their ability to manage pregnancy related emergencies, and here in Texas, three and four OBGYNs have said they simply can no longer practice evidence based medicine,” he added. “Tens of thousands of Texas women traveled out of state for abortion care last year, leaving their jobs, leaving their homes and leaving their families just to get medical care.”

“I was shocked when Roe was overturned, but I’ve never been more shocked to hear Donald Trump continue to brag about them,” Ivey said. “So let me be clear about one thing, there is no place for Donald Trump in my exam room.”

Between speakers at Kamala Harris’ rally in Houston, the campaign briefly displayed an ad featuring the family of Amber Nicole Thurman, a Georgia woman who died because of the state’s abortion ban.

“This is the result of what happens when you try to control a woman’s body. My daughter is gone because of what Donald Trump did. She would be here had they helped her,” Thurman’s mother, Shanette Williams, said in the video.

Leonard Sanchez is attending the Harris rally with other members of his Local UFCW455, which represents grocery and retail workers in southern Texas and Louisiana. Being a long-time Democrat in a perennially red state can be “rough,” he conceded. But he hopes Harris’s star-studded event in the final stretch of the campaign jolt apathetic voters in the state, who feel their vote matters. But he said so much is on the line, especially in Texas, which has a near-total ban on abortion.

While Sanchez is supportive of Harris, he also fears a return of “the other guy” to the White House. “He’s too anti-immigrant,” he said, adding that Trump was not a real ally of labor.

Sanchez said he is baffled by union members who are abandoning Democrats for Republicans, especially in a right-to-work state like Texas. He is hopeful Harris will take on big corporations and fight for better wages, but progress will also depend on changing the state’s politics.

“Every year we get a little bit closer and closer,” Sanchez said.

Among the crowd at the Harris rally in Houston, many said they waited for hours to get in, as temperatures climbed to 90F, just shy of a record for late October.

Sara Gonzales, 32, of Splendora, Texas, rearranged her work schedule and drove to the stadium as soon as she finished her early-morning shift at Starbucks. Gonzales said she was an independent and and wrote-in a candidate for president in 2020. But the political stakes changed when the Supreme Court overturned Roe, and Texas enacted a near-total ban on abortion.

“Being a woman in Texas right now, it’s not ok. I should have freedom over my own body,” she said. She views Harris as a protector of hard-fought “freedoms” from abortion access to LGBTQ+ rights.

Seated in the front row behind the stage, Tiffany Hiza, 48, and her mother Joyce Hiza, 80, wore green shirts touting their Jamaican ancestry, which they’re proud to share with Harris.

Being a Democrat in Texas can feel like “swimming against the tide,” Tiffany Hiza said. She and her mother voted on the first day of early voting this week for Harris, a poignant moment for her mother, who had come to fear she might never see a woman president after Hillary Clinton lost in 2016.

In the final stretch, they’ve tuned out the polls and the analysis. Both said they feel sanguine about Harris’s chances.

Donald Trump’s rally in Traverse City, Michigan – originally scheduled for 7:30pm ET – has been postponed several hours following the ex-president’s interview with podcast host Joe Rogan.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung posted on X that the former president’s interview lasted three hours, delaying his departure from Austin.

“We’re coming now, Michigan!” Cheung wrote. He posted the message at 7:19 pm ET.

The Upper Michigan Source reported that Trump is now expected to arrive in the state around 10:30pm ET.

During his rally in Scranton tonight, Tim Walz took a moment to express his appreciation for Joe Biden, who was born in the Pennsylvania city and remains a popular figure there.

“This country owes a huge debt to you and a huge debt to Joe Biden,” Walz said. “[Presidents] have always put this country above themselves, no matter the cost to their personal ambitions or what happened to them. Joe Biden has secured his place in history by upholding that tradition.”

The Scranton crowd erupted into cheers of “Joe!” as Walz spoke. Michael McNulty, a 47-year-old voter from Scranton, lives down the street from Biden’s childhood home and expressed gratitude for the president but said he felt invigorated by the Harris-Walz ticket.

“I think there’s a real sense of optimism and hope here. It’s not just against Trump,” McNulty, wearing a Harris-Walz camo hat, said after the Scranton rally. “They’re sharing a vision for the future of the country that is one I want to live in. It’s one that I want to raise my children in and that I’m really proud to go out and contribute to make happen.”

Biden won Pennsylvania by 1.2 points in 2020, four years after Trump carried the state by 0.7 points. Although polls show a tied race, McNulty is confident that Harris will win the Keystone State this time around.

“We’re going to push this over the finish line here for the Harris-Walz ticket,” he said. “PA is going to deliver, and we’re going to have Madame President.”

The fifth circuit court of appeals ruled today that Mississippi violated federal law by counting mail ballots that are postmarked by election day, but arrive after that. The ruling, which was issued by a panel of three judges, does not require the state to make any changes before the election.

The court’s decision is a victory for the Republican National Committee, which brought the lawsuit, and a loss for Democrats and voting rights advocates, who worry the case will impact other states. Although the court’s ruling is only binding in three states under the fifth circuit’s jurisdiction (and not in effect for the current election), Democrats fear the decision could impact the outcome of elections in other states that allow ballots to be counted after election day – such as Nevada, Ohio, Virginia and Maryland – especially if the election is contested.

Eight Washington Post columnists have issued a response to their paper’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate.

“An independent newspaper might someday choose to back away from making presidential endorsements. But this isn’t the right moment, when one candidate is advocating positions that directly threaten freedom of the press and the values of the Constitution,” they write.

The letter’s signatories include Perry Bacon Jr, EJ Dionne Jr, David Ignatius, Ruth Marcus, Dana Milbank, Eugene Robinson, Jennifer Rubin and Karen Tumulty.

A San Antonio election clerk was assaulted at a polling site yesterday – in what is believed to be the first instance of violence against an election worker this fall, The Texas Tribune reports. The suspect has been arrested on suspicion of injury to an elderly person, a felony.

According to a Bexar County sheriff’s report, the suspect, 63-year-old Jesse Lutzenberger, entered the polling location wearing a Make America Great Again hat. Displaying political slogans in polling sites is considered electioneering. The poll worker asked Lutzenberger to remove his hat and Lutzenberger proceeded to vote, but put the hat back on after. As the poll worker escorted Lutzenberger out of the building (after he cast his ballot), Sheriff Javier Salazar said a surveillance video showed Lutzenberger throw “several punches right at the face of the victim.”

The poll worker received emergency medical treatment and Lutzenberger was booked into jail before being released on a $30,000 bond today.

“This has been an especially contentious elections cycle,” Salazar said at a Friday briefing. “We’ve had several incidents where people show up wearing inappropriate clothing,” that qualifies as electioneering.

Tim Walz is currently campaigning in Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The vice presidential nominee has praised Biden, saying “This country owes a huge debt to you and a huge debt to Joe Biden.” Current Guardian polling shows Harris leading Trump by less than a point in the crucial swing state.

Meanwhile, former president Barack Obama is in North Carolina campaigning for Kamala Harris. The Democratic Party has not won the swing state since 2008, when Obama was elected president. Our polling shows Harris trailing Trump by two points in the Tar Heel state.

Another top Democrat is calling for an investigation into Elon Musk – this time for the tech billionaire’s ties to Russia. Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, has called for the defense department to investigate a report that Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Politico reports.

“We should investigate what Elon Musk is up to to make sure that it is not to the detriment of the national security of the United States,” Smith said.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Armed Services Committee, echoed Smith. “Elon Musk—who has billions in contracts that support some of our most sensitive military operations—reportedly has an open line to Putin,” Shaheen said.

Musk’s spacecraft company SpaceX has multiple contracts with the defense department and NASA. According to a Wall Street Journal report published yesterday, the billionaire has had previously unreported discussions with Putin since 2022. Musk has been one of Donald Trump’s greatest supporters this election cycle, donating $118m to his pro-Trump super Pac. Trumphas long been a vocal admirer of Putin’s.

After concluding his remarks in Austin this afternoon, Donald Trump spoke with executives from Blue Origin, the aerospace company owned by Jeff Bezos. Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, also owns the Washington Post, which announced today that it wouldn’t endorse a candidate for president.

The Washington Post Guild, the union that represents many of the paper’s staffers, said that according to the paper’s reporters and Guild members, the endorsement for Harris was already drafted and the decision not to publish was made by Bezos himself.

According to the Associated Press, Trump spoke briefly with Blue Origin’s CEO, David Limp, and vice-president of government relations, Megan Mitchell, as he left a hangar where he spoke to supporters and journalists at the Austin airport.

Here’s more from the Guardian’s Anna Betts:

Although Donald Trump refused to appear in a CNN townhall alongside Kamala Harrris this week, his running mate JD Vance will appear on the network this weekend. The vice presidential nominee will appear on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, alongside former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney, a longtime Republican who has endorsed Harris.

Two Senate Democrats have written a letter urging the justice department to investigate, and if necessary prosecute, Elon Musk over his potentially illegal $1m giveaway for registered voters. On Wednesday, the justice department sent a letter to Musk’s America Super Pac warning that a $1m-a-day sweepstake the billionaire and Tesla CEO began last week may violate federal elections law. Despite the warning, Musk has continued the giveaway, naming two winners yesterday.

In their letter to the attorney general, Merrick Garland, Vermont senator Peter Welch and Connecticut senator Richard Blumenthal urge that the justice department to hold Musk accountable:

“Permitting this scheme to proceed without consequences makes a mockery of democracy and the law,” the senators wrote in a letter first obtained by CNN. “We urge you to investigate whether Elon Musk’s cash prizes are prohibited payments for voter registration and take appropriate enforcement action, including prosecution, if his actions prove to be illegal.”

Musk, who has endorsed Trump, has donated more than $118m to his pro-Trump political action committee and has recently begun campaigning for the ex-president in person.

Kamala Harris’s rally this evening with superstar singer Beyoncé will be far from her last appearance alongside a celebrity musician.

On Monday, Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, will campaign in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers. Then, on Wednesday, Harris will rally voters at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, alongside performances by Mumford & Sons, two members of the band the National, Gracie Abrams and Remi Wolf.

The performances come in the final days of a high-stakes election season, as both Democrats and Republicans urge voters to get out to the polls.

Thirteen “lifelong Republican” former Trump administration staffers released a letter today echoing former Trump chief of staff John Kelly’s warnings about the ex-president’s authoritarian tendencies.

Here’s Joanna Walters with more:

A fresh group of “lifelong Republican” former aides to Donald Trump added their voices on Friday to the chorus of criticism of the Republican nominee’s character and fitness for the White House, speaking out in support of John Kelly, who earlier this week called his old boss a fascist.

“The revelations General Kelly brought forward are disturbing and shocking. But because we know Trump and have worked for and alongside him, we were sadly not surprised by what General Kelly had to say,” a letter from more than a dozen staffers who worked in Trump’s administration says, as first reported by Politico.

Joe Biden has formally apologized for the US government’s role in running more than 500 Indian boarding schools.

The Guardian’s Adria R Walker reports:

On Friday, Joe Biden formally apologized for the United States government’s role in running at least 523 Indian boarding schools. His remarks were given at the Gila Crossing community school outside Phoenix, Arizona, and marked his first visit to Indian Country as president.

“After 150 years, the United States government eventually stopped the program,” Biden said. “But the federal government has never, never formally apologized for what happened – until today. I formally apologize, as president of the United States of America, for what we did. I formally apologize. That’s long overdue.”

“Federal Indian boarding school policy, the pain it has caused, will always be a significant mark of shame, a blot on American history,” he said. “For too long, this all happened with virtually no public attention.”

For the full story, click here:

Joining Donald Trump on stage was Alexis Nungaray, the mother of 12-year old Jocelyn, who was murdered earlier this summer.

The people accused of killing Jocelyn are Franklin Pena and Johan Jose Martinez Rangel, two undocumented men from Venezuela.

Addressing the crowd, Nungaray said:

She was just being a child and due to the Biden-Harris policies we have here are why she’s not here any more. She was taken from her vulnerability and they made her a target, and ran with that and now I will for ever be a grieving mother and my son will for ever be a grieving brother who will no longer get to grow up with his sister.

Kamala Harris has never reached out to me, just even as a human to give her condolences as a humane person running this country. I think it’s very sad that she can’t even just give me an open apology, sincere apology.

She’s attempted to apologize to me just days before this election. I find it very inconvenient and convenient for her. I appreciate everything Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz have done for me. They’ve been a tremendous amount of help for me and my family during this incredibly hard, hard journey.

Donald Trump has taken the stage at a campaign rally in Austin, Texas.

Addressing the latest decision from a federal judge that Virginia must restore voter eligibility to more than 1,600 people after their eligibility was illegally removed, Trump said:

The outrageous decision goes against the very bedrock of our democracy.

Trump, who has also falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from him, called the decision “blatantly non-American, it’s election interference”, and went on to baselessly accuse Kamala Harris of being “behind it”.

There is welling disquiet over the Washington Post’s announcement that it will decline to endorse either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in this election.

A former long-serving senior editor from the paper called it “appalling”, especially “given the choice this year”. Robert McCartney has previously speculated that the Post would endorse Harris and also had heard on the grapevine that they would dodge. Here’s his reaction on X now:

McCartney had posted yesterday: “There’s speculation in newsroom that owner Jeff Bezos may want to avoid risk of endangering Amazon’s government contracts if Trump wins.”

Publisher Will Lewis was a controversial choice by Bezos at the Post, which the Amazon mogul owns. A British police special enquiry team is examining allegations that Lewis presided over the deliberate destruction of emails at Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper business when he worked for the company 13 years ago. Sally Buzbee, the editor who took over from Marty Baron, was forced out last year in a move instigated by Lewis, who wanted to replace her with fellow Brit Robert Winnett, but he shortly after backed out amid uproar at the Post.

Kamala Harris has released the following statement to mark one year since the Lewiston shootings in Maine when 18 people were killed and another 13 were injured by a gunman who stormed a bowling alley and a restaurant:

One year ago, an act of senseless violence carried out with a weapon of war took the lives of 18 loved ones and injured 13 others in Lewiston, Maine. Doug and I join all Mainers in remembering those who lost their lives on that fall night, standing with their families, and thinking of the survivors of this horrific mass shooting.

In the 12 months since this tragedy took place at a local restaurant and a bowling alley, the Lewiston community has shown incredible unity, resilience and strength. They have responded by reminding the nation of the unacceptable fact that far too many families have experienced the tremendous pain and trauma caused by the epidemic of gun violence. This is exactly why I have worked to take action to address this issue with the urgency it demands and keep our loved ones safe …

I continue to call on Congress to pass universal background checks, red flag and safe storage laws, a ban on bump stocks, and a renewal of the assault weapons ban.

In a new tweet on Friday, Kamala Harris warned of Donald Trump’s threats of using the justice department against his enemies, saying:

Donald Trump has been very clear that he would weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies. You know who does that?

Dictators do that.

More young Americans favor Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race, according to a new Harvard Youth Poll published today by the Institute of Politics (IOP) at Harvard Kennedy School.

The poll, which surveyed 2,001 voters under the age of 30 between 3 and 14 October, found that Harris leads Trump by 20 points among registered voters under 30 and by 28 points among likely voters.

In the seven key swing states, Harris’s lead narrows to 9 points among registered voters under 30.

Interestingly, the survey found that peer influence might play a crucial role in voter turnout for those under 30. When young Americans believe their friends will vote, 79% say they plan to vote as well, per the survey, compared with just 35% for those who think peers will not participate.

“The social dynamic of youth voting has never been more clear: when young Americans believe their friends will vote, they’re nearly two and a half times more likely to cast a ballot themselves,” John Della Volpe, the polling director of the Institute of Politics, said in a statement. “It’s peer influence, not just politics, that could determine youth turnout this year – and ultimately who becomes the next president.”

Here is the live stream of Tim Walz’s campaign event in Philadelphia:

Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates.

The ongoing elections in Ohio could decide control of the US Senate.

Stephen Starr reports for the Guardian:

When the Democrat Sherrod Brown was first elected to the US Senate in 2006, Ohio, with its large urban populations and manufacturing industries, was fairly reliable territory for Democrats.

Barack Obama claimed the state in 2008 and 2012 on his way to the White House. Democrats boasted strong representation in Ohio’s politics. Analysts zealously watched its voting patterns, such was its prominence as a bellwether state.

In the years since, the state has become older, whiter and more conservative. Manufacturing has shrunk and population has stagnated.

Brown is now the only Democrat holding a statewide seat in Ohio. And he is weeks out from a crucial Senate election against former luxury car dealer Bernie Moreno, a contest that could reshape US politics for years to come,

For one, keeping Brown’s seat is crucial if Democrats hope to maintain their control of the US Senate.

For the full story, click here:

Joe Biden has issued a statement ahead of his presidential apology for the federal Indian boarding school era, calling it “one of the darkest chapters of American history”.

In his statement, Biden said:

The Federal Indian Boarding School Era is one of the darkest chapters of American history. The trauma experienced in those institutions haunts our conscience to this very day.

Today, I’m in Arizona to issue a long overdue presidential apology for this era – and speak to how my Administration has worked to invest in Indian Country and our relationships with Tribal Nations, advance Tribal sovereignty and self-determination, respect Native cultures, and protect Indigenous sacred sites.

On my watch, we’ll remain committed to ushering in a new era between our government and nation-to-nation relationships – one that is grounded in dignity and respect. We must remember our full history, even when it’s painful. That’s what great nations do. And we are a great nation.

Jill Biden is set to campaign alongside Gwen Walz in Michigan and Wisconsin next week.

In a press release issued on Friday, the Harris-Walz campaign said that the two educators will campaign in Michigan and Wisconsin, marking the first time they campaign together.

In Bay City, Michigan, they will attend a Women for Harris-Walz event which will focus on reproductive freedoms. In Traverse City, Michigan, the two women will join Harris-Walz campaign supporters for a volunteer mobilization event.

In La Crosse, Wisconsin, they will attend an Educators for Harris-Walz event.

Former model Stacey Williams says Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein ‘coordinated’ the groping incident at Trump Towers in 1993.

The Guardian’s Jessica Glenza reports:

Former model Stacey Williams said she thought Donald Trump groped her to show off to her then boyfriend, the late financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein, when the couple dropped by to visit him in Trump Tower in New York in 1993.

In her first detailed, on-camera interview since discussing assault allegations with the Guardian, Williams late on Thursday told CNN that she recalled the former president and Epstein smiled at each other as the property mogul was feeling her up, which gave her the impression the entire incident was a “coordinated” game between the two men.

Her account comes just weeks before the presidential election, in which Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris are essentially tied, according to polls. Trump has denied Williams’s accounts.

“The second he was in front of me, he pulled me into him and his hands were just on me and didn’t come off,” Williams told CNN, echoing her account to the Guardian.

“Then the hands started moving on the side of my breasts, on my hips, back down to my butt, back up, sort of – they were just on me the whole time, and I froze,” she said.

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Speaking on CNN in response to what she thinks Kamala Harris needs to do to avoid repeating the 2016 loss to Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton said:

“I don’t think she has Jim Comey in the wings waiting to kneecap her so that’s good.”

Clinton made the comment in reference to then-FBI director who reopened the investigation into her private email server days before the 2016 election.

Clinton went on to add:

“I think she is doing what she needs to do, and…a number of the voters who were at [the CNN] town hall have said she convinced them, that she had shown the kind of empathy and concern about their problems, that she had come forward with her ideas, her suggested policies. So, I think she’s doing what she needs to do.”

More than 80 Nobel prize winners have endorsed Kamala Harris for the presidency, warning that Donald Trump would “jeopardize any advancements in our standards of living” given his earlier proposals for enormous cuts to science funding.

In an open letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, 82 Nobel prize winners from the US in the fields of physics, chemistry, economics and medicine, said “this is the most consequential presidential election in a long time, perhaps ever, for the future of science and the United States”.

The letter, which commends Harris for recognizing that “the enormous increases in living standards and life expectancies over the past two centuries are largely the result of advances in science and technology”, called Trump a potential threat to progress who could “jeopardize any advancements in our standards of living and impede our responses to climate change”.

The Nobel laureates range from a physicist involved in the discovery of remnant light from the Big Bang, to an immunologist instrumental in the development of a specific type of Covid-19 vaccine.

They include signatories who won Nobels this month such as molecular biologist Gary Ruvkun, chemist David Baker, physicist John Hopfield and economist Daron Acemoglu.

Donald Trump, campaigning in the border swing state of Arizona on Thursday, called the country a “garbage can” because of immigration policies under the Biden administration.

“We’re like a garbage can, you know, it’s the first time I’ve ever said that,” Trump said in Tempe, Arizona, the home of Arizona State University. “And every time I come up and talk about what they’ve done to our country, I get angry. First time I’ve ever said garbage can, but you know what, it’s a very accurate description.”

Candidates and their surrogates for both presidential campaigns are blitzing swing states like Arizona in the final two weeks before election day. The Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance held two campaign rallies in Arizona earlier this week. Joe Biden and the former president Barack Obama are set to visit this week, as is Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential pick.

A banner behind the stage said, “Vote early!” – a change in strategy for Republicans and Trump, who have cast doubt on early and mail-in voting by falsely claiming it is an avenue for widespread fraud. He said of Arizona voting: “They got a problem. Gotta make it too big to rig.” An image of Trump, raised fist and bloodied ear after his assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, showed before he came out. Early on, he displayed on screens behind him the chart of migration that he has attributed with saving his life.

Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump are tied at 48% each for the popular vote for the US presidential election, according to the final New York Times/Siena College national poll published on Friday.

Kamala Harris and Barack Obama shared the stage at her Georgia rally on Thursday night. Our video editors have put together this clip from the event:

Bruce Springsteen urged voters to back Kamala Harris in the presidential election, warning that Donald Trump is a would-be “tyrant”.

“I want a president who reveres the constitution, who does not threaten but wants to protect and guide our great democracy, who believes in the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power, who will fight for a woman’s right to choose, and who wants to create a middle-class economy that will serve all our citizens,” Springsteen said at the Thursday evening rally.

The rally at James R Hallford Stadium in Clarkston, Georgia, drew about 20,000 people, according to the Democratic nominee’s campaign, which would make it her largest political rally yet, besting the 17,000 Harris drew in Greensboro, North Carolina, in early September.

“There is only one candidate in this election who holds those principles dear: Kamala Harris. She’s running to be the 47th president of the United States.”

The Born in the USA singer is among the many celebrities stumping for Harris; directors Spike Lee and Tyler Perry, as well as actor Samuel L Jackson, were also in attendance.