US Presidential Election 2024 LIVE: Harris and Trump in last campaign blitz ahead of final showdown
by Katy Ronkin · LBCLive
By Katy Ronkin
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are on the campaign trail making their last pitch to voters before the presidential election.
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Ms Harris spent the entire day in Pennsylvania, the swing state with the most electoral votes up for grabs, to boost turnout in urban centres, which is key if she wants to take the Keystone State.
She is finishing off the night with a star-studded rally in Pennsylvania featuring Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey in support of the Vice President.
Mr Trump embarked on a whistlestop tour of swing states he needs to win over if he hopes to return to the White House.
His day began with a rally in North Carolina before heading to Pennsylvania to address supporters in Reading and Pittsburgh. He is capping off the night with a final event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at 10.30pm EST.
Follow our live blog for the latest updates and analysis as we head into election day.
You can also join Shelagh Fogarty, Jon Sopel, and our teams across the US for comprehensive election updates and analysis through the night on America Decides. Watch live on Global Player from 10pm on Tuesday.
Early voting passes 81 million mark
Early voting in America has now surpassed 81 million, reports the University of Florida Election Lab.
So far, voters have cast 81,379,684 early ballots, including:
44,402,375 in-person votes
36,977,311 returned mail ballots
This year’s early voting total falls short of the 101.5 million early ballots cast in 2020, when COVID concerns kept many away from polling places.
However, it’s still well above the early voting numbers from 2016 (47.2 million) and 2012 (46.2 million).
Kit Heren
Trump wraps up lengthy penultimate rally in Pittsburgh
Donald Trump spoke for nearly two hours at his penultimate rally in Pittsburgh in a bid to sway voters in the key battleground state.
He spoke at length about numerous topics.
The former president began with one of his favourite talking points: crowd sizes. He compared the size of his rally to his opponent's, who was also campaigning in Pittsburgh, and promised to "launch the most extraordinary economic boom the world has ever seen" if he is elected.
"If you vote for Kamala, you will have four more years of misery, failure and disaster. Our country may never recover," he warned.
"My message to Americans tonight is simple: we do not have to live this way. We don't, and we won't," he added, calling Harris "a disaster".
"We do not have to settle for weakness, incompetence, decline and decay,"
"With your vote tomorrow we can fix every single problem our country faces and lead America, and indeed the whole world, to new heights of glory."
Trump has one final rally scheduled tonight in Philadelphia with hours to go until the election.
Kit Heren
Kamala Harris finishes penultimate rally as Katy Perry takes the stage
“Momentum is on our side” Kamala Harris said at her penultimate rally in Pittsburgh.
She has not named Donald Trump in her last few rallies, but does contrast herself with him.
“Instead of stewing on an enemies list I will spend everyday working on my to-do list” she said, adding “ours if not a fight against something - it is a fight for something.”
“I will listen to people who disagree with me” and “I will give them a seat at the table” she added.
Harris has now wrapped up her penultimate rally in Pittsburgh, where Katy Perry took the stage after Harris stopped speaking.
Perry sang a mashup of songs starting with her 2013 hit, “Dark Horse.” Before singing a piece of her 2010 song “Part of Me,” she shouted, “It’s my body, and my choice,” and “We’re almost there!”
Harris will be joined by Lady Gaga and Oprah at her last rally before the election, with only hours to go.
Kit Heren
Podcaster Joe Rogan endorses Donald Trump
Famous podcaster Joe Rogan has endorsed former President Trump on the eve of the election.
Rogan made the endorsement in a post on X to promote his new podcast episode with Trump supporter Elon Musk.
Rogan claims that Musk makes the "most compelling case for Trump you'll hear"
"For the record, yes, that's an endorsement of Trump," Rogan says.
Joe Rogan's podcast, which Trump appeared on recently, is the most listened to in the United States.
Kit Heren
Poll worker accused of making bomb threat against himself and other election staff from made-up voter
In a bizarre development, a poll worker in Georgia is accused of writing a letter threatening a bomb attack on himself and poll workers from a made-up voter.
Nicholas Wimbish, 25, of Milledgeville, Georgia, is said to have had an argument with a voter.
He is then accused of writing a letter threatening violence against poll workers, drafted in such a way as to make it appear as if it came from the voter.
The letter, which contained many unpleasant threats, concluded with a handwritten note, “PS boom toy in early vote place, cigar burning, be safe.”
Kit Heren
Harris' family weigh in with last-minute campaign video
Kit Heren
In pictures: the last day of campaigning before tomorrow's election
Kit Heren
Who would be better for the UK?
A Harris campaign win would be the favourable outcome for the UK, according to an expert on US affairs, while under a second Trump presidency the UK would be faced with a "tougher ask".
The Republican candidate is likely to chart a new US course on major conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, areas where Keir Starmer has largely followed the lead of US President Joe Biden.
"Donald Trump will have a much tougher ask," Dr Leslie Vinjamuri of Chatham House said, claiming the Harris campaign would be a preferable partner to Sir Keir's government.
Dr Vinjamuri, the director at the influential think tank's US and Americas programme, added: "I don't think that he (Mr Trump) puts the same emphasis on the history of co-operation and partnership and alliance as we've seen from the current Biden administration, or as we would likely see from a Harris administration. He's much more transactional."
Kit Heren
A Nevada county has put panic buttons at all voting places after threats
Threats against election workers have gotten so bad that all polling places in Washoe County, Nevada, have a “panic button” that workers can hit to call 911, reports the Associated Press.
But Andrew McDonald, the deputy registrar of voters in the swing county of half a million people, says there’s only been one incident in nearly two weeks of in-person early voting that required someone to hit the panic button.
That incident, McDonald said at a press conference, involved a voter at one of the county’s 24 early voting sites who would not remove his hat when asked by a worker, who was following state law prohibiting campaign signs or paraphernalia within 100 feet (30 meters) of a polling station.
“A few other voters in line sort of ganged up on the site manager,” McDonald said. But when police arrived, he added, “they calmed down and were able to vote.”
Washoe has become a hotbed for election conspiracy theorists who believe Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Still, McDonald noted that the panic button incident is the only significant one that’s happened during the early vote period, when 90,000 people cast their ballots.
“I get an incident report daily,” McDonald said, “and there haven’t been that many incidents.”
Kit Heren
The election will be 'historic' whatever the outcome, US politics expert tells LBC
Kit Heren