Harris and Trump’s final sprint to Election Day
Beyoncé will appear alongside Vice President Kamala Harris for the first time on the campaign trail in Houston on Friday, a person familiar with the planning.
Since the moment Harris ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket and received Beyonce’s permission to use “Freedom” as the campaign’s official anthem, the vice president’s team has been working behind the scenes to negotiate a joint appearance before Election Day.
Rumors of a Beyoncé appearance at the Democratic convention threatened to overtake Harris’ acceptance speech. Campaign officials insist it was never the plan to have Beyoncé join Harris in Chicago, even as they sent conflicting signals in the moment.
The Friday appearance in Houston, where Beyoncé will appear with Willie Nelson, is designed to be one of the biggest closing acts of the campaign. It remains an open question whether Taylor Swift will join Harris, given she is back in the United States for the final swing of her Eras Tour.
Though this is Beyoncé’s first time officially rallying with Harris, the superstar has a history of endorsing Democratic candidates.
In 2013, she sang the National Anthem at the inauguration of President Barack Obama. In 2016, Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z headlined a pre-election concert for Clinton in Cleveland, Ohio, with her backup dancers dressed in blue pantsuits to honor the woman who could have been the first female president. In 2020, Beyoncé endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket, posting on her Instagram to encourage her followers to vote.
More about Harris’ Texas visit: CNN reported earlier that Harris is expected to address abortion rights as she seeks to draw a contrast with former President Donald Trump over the controversial issue ahead of Election Day, according to a senior campaign official.
During her remarks, the vice president is expected to warn of the threat a second Trump term poses to women’s reproductive freedom. Harris will also place blame on the former president for extreme abortion bans, including in Texas, following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. She will be joined by women who have been impacted by the restrictive laws.
Democratic Senate nominee Rep. Colin Allred will join Harris in Houston as part of a get out the vote effort as he seeks to replace incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. While in Texas, Harris will also sit down for an interview with popular podcaster Brené Brown as she continues to participate in media engagements in an effort to reach voters where they are.
The campaign is hoping the political saliency of reproductive rights can help mobilize voters to head to the polls. This November, voters in at least 10 states will take to the polls to determine the future of abortion access in their state.
This post has been updated with more details on Beyoncé’s appearance and Harris’ trip to Texas.
Here’s where the 2024 candidates will be today
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Rebecca Wright/CNN/Carlos Barria/Reuters
The 2024 candidates are making their final case to voters with less than two weeks until Election Day.
Here’s where the candidates will be on Thursday:
Vice President Kamala Harris will join former president Barack Obama in Clarkston, Georgia at 7 p.m. ET for a “Get out the Vote” campaign event.
Former President Donald Trump will deliver remarks at a rally in Tempe, Arizona on inflation and prices for home goods. He will deliver keynote remarks at the “United for Change” rally hosted by Turning Point PAC and Turning Point Action at 10 p.m. ET.
Ohio Sen. JD Vance will deliver remarks at a campaign event in Waterford, Michigan at 5:30 p.m. ET. Vance will also participate in a town hall in Detroit, Michigan. The pre-recorded event will be livestreamed on X.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will make a political stop in Durham, North Carolina and Greenville, North Carolina. He will later deliver remarks at a Harris-Walz campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina at 6:30 pm ET.
Analysis: These are the key lines from Kamala Harris’ town hall with CNN
From CNN’s Zachary B. Wolf
Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a town hall moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper in Delaware County, Pennsylvania on October 23. Rebecca Wright/CNN
Vice President Kamala Harris tried to engage undecided and persuadable voters at a CNN town hall in Delaware County in the key state of Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
While she did not offer many details of policy proposals, she did talk about reaching across the political aisle as a way of contrasting herself with former President Donald Trump, who declined to join the town hall. Below are key lines from the event.
The moderator, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, got right into the allegation by Trump’s former chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, that the former president admires fascists.
Message to Trump supporters: Cooper asked Harris about what she has to say to the tens of millions of Americans — who have heard about Trump’s actions and either don’t believe it or are still choosing to vote for the former president.
Harris went on to talk about the long list of former Trump aides who have raised the alarm about his foreign policy, including his generals, chief of staff and defense secretary. She encouraged people to go listen to audio of Kelly. His recent comments to The New York Times were something she consistently returned to during the town hall.
“I think of it as he’s just putting out a 911 call to the American people — understand what could happen if Donald Trump were back in the White House. And this time, we must take very seriously those folks who knew him best and who were career people are not going to be there to hold him back,” she added.
Is Trump a fascist? Cooper asked directly if Harris thinks Trump is a fascist.
“Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted,” the vice president said.
Reaching out to undecided voters: An undecided voter asked Harris what she’d do for “anti-Trump Republicans like myself who feel left out of the polarized political landscape.” Harris responded by promising to be “a president for all Americans” and referenced her background as a prosecutor – another point she returned to repeatedly during the town hall:
“I have never in my career as a prosecutor asked a victim or a witness of a crime: ‘Are you a Democrat or Republican?’ The only thing I’ve ever asked is: ‘Are you OK?’ And I do believe that is what the American people deserve in their president and not someone who makes decisions based on who voted for them, or what is in their personal interest.”
Read more about the key lines from Harris’ town hall with CNN.
An outside group with ties to RFK Jr. is running dark, conspiratorial TV and digital ads
From CNN’s David Wright
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks in Phoenix on August 23. Thomas Machowicz/Reuters
A pro-Trump outside group called the “Make America Healthy Again Alliance” with ties to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running dramatic, conspiratorial TV ads in key swing states warning of government censorship, assassination plots and poisonous chemicals.
RFK Jr. appears in one of the groups’ ads, declaring that “Enough is enough. President Trump and I are gonna stop the mass poisoning of American Children. We’re gonna make America healthy again.”
That ad opens with what appear to be AI-generated images of children consuming food emitting noxious green gasses, over audio of news sound bites that include, “She was selling baby food with high levels of toxic heavy metal,” “foods and cereals marketed to children contain a weed killing chemical that some health authorities link to cancer,” and “exposed to chemicals and additives that have been banned in other countries.”
The dark, conspiratorial tone is reflected in two other TV spots that the “MAHA Alliance” has produced.
Another ad opens with black-and-white footage of news coverage of the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy — RFK Jr.’s uncle — and proceeds to footage of the first assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump over the summer, including images of Trump pumping his fist with blood on his ear. A freeze-frame image turns negative, with on-screen text reading, “DON’T YOU WANT THE TRUTH?”
A third TV ad from the group, meanwhile, adopts a biting, sarcastic tone, mocking Democratic leaders speaking about misinformation and insinuating that they want to “end free speech.”
Trump reacts to Harris’ CNN town hall as “her worst performance” and calls opponents “dirty people”
From CNN’s Andrew Millman
Former President Donald Trump speaks in Zebulon, Georgia on October 23. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump reacted to Vice President Kamala Harris’ CNN town hall, calling it “her worst performance.”
“I think it’s her worst performance. She hasn’t had any good ones, but this was her worst performance,” Trump said on the Hugh Hewitt radio show, earlier saying Harris “is like a child almost.”
Trump later said his political opponents “are crude, rude and vicious. And by the way, [Kamala Harris]’s only a vessel and so is Joe Biden. He’s not the leader of the party, never was,” continuing that Harris “is no different. Watch her last night. She has no intelligence. She’s got nothing, she’s got nothing, and you can’t have a leader like that.” He later returned to this topic, calling Harris an “empty vessel” manipulated by Democratic Party elites.
Trump also addressed why he believes he provokes such strong feelings from his opponents, calling them “dirty people.”
“They’re vicious people, they’re dirty people, they’ve weaponized government, they’ve weaponized everything, and they’ve actually made me more popular,” he said, adding that “I think I’m a nice person” and attributing his abrasive style as “a personality type a little bit a guess, maybe Ronald Reagan was a softer person. He was. He was a softer person. I liked him. I liked his style.”
“The Republican Party is a very big, powerful party. Before it was sort of an elitist party with real stiffs running it. You know what a stiff is?”
Remember: CNN invited both Trump and Harris to participate in town hall events with voters. Trump declined CNN’s invitation.
Harris will join Obamas for “Get Out The Vote” events in Georgia and Michigan
From CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez
In this 2022 file photo, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama attend an event to mark the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/File
Vice President Kamala Harris will join the Obamas for “Get Out The Vote” events in the battleground states of Georgia and Michigan, marking the first time she’s hitting the trail with either former President Barack Obama or Michelle Obama, according to a senior campaign official.
As Election Day nears, campaign advisers are turning their focus to voter turnout, bringing in surrogates to mobilize voters in critical states.
Today, Harris will appear with former President Obama in Georgia, where early voting has begun.
On Saturday, she’ll head to Michigan to appear with Michelle Obama to mark the first day of voting in the state. It will also be the former first lady’s first time on the trail for the Harris-Walz campaign.
More on the the Harris-Obama relationship: Obama and Harris have been acquainted for 20 years. The energy fueling her candidacy and thunderous crowds chanting her name have drawn comparisons to Obama’s history-making 2008 run.
Earlier this month, Obama admonished Black men who are hesitating to back Harris, telling them it’s “not acceptable” to sit out this election and suggesting they might be reluctant to vote for the vice president because she’s a woman.
The former president campaigned alongside Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, in Michigan earlier this week.
New state polling finds close races in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania
From CNN’s Jennifer Agiesta
Voters wait in line to cast their ballots during early voting in Marion, North Carolina on October 17. Jonathan Drake/Reuters
The race for president in Georgia is tied at 49% each among likely voters, with no clear leader in Arizona (50% Trump to 49% Harris) or North Carolina (50% Trump to 48% Harris) according to a trio of new polls from Marist College, while a Franklin and Marshall College poll finds Trump at 50% to Harris’ 49% among Pennsylvania likely voters.
F&M’s poll suggests little change in the numbers among registered voters since their previous poll in September (currently 48% Harris to 44% Trump among that group, compared with a 49% Harris to 46% Trump finding in September), but shifting to likely voters in the new poll boosts support for Trump.
The Marist polls suggest little movement in any of those three states since Marist’s last polls in September, with identical results in Arizona, and neither candidate moving more than 1 point compared with the previous result in Georgia or North Carolina.
Across polls of likely voters, results in Arizona have tilted more in Trump’s direction than Harris’ this fall, while in Georgia and North Carolina they have been more mixed. In North Carolina, there hasn’t been a single poll that meets CNN’s standards for reporting that has found either candidate leading outside the margin of error since Harris entered the race in July.
Pennsylvania’s recent polling has included some suggesting a significant Harris lead, while others show a near-even divide. The CNN Poll of Polls average in Pennsylvania now stands at a one-point margin, with Harris at 48% to Trump’s 47%, a finding with no clear leader. Averages in the other three states are unchanged from previous results, and continue to show tight races.
Harris campaign celebrates support of 2 typically conservative figures in Michigan and Wisconsin
From CNN’s Alison Main
The Harris campaign is touting endorsements by two more typically conservative figures in Blue wall battleground states.
Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly, who changed his party affiliation from Republican to independent, told a local station on Wednesday that he’s casting his ballot for Harris this year.
“It would be easier for me to stay quiet and vote my conscience privately, but the stakes of this election are so important that I feel compelled to share publicly that I am voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and I encourage other Wisconsinites who care about our country to do the same,” he said in a statement Thursday.
Former Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan will also announce his endorsement of Harris this morning, according to the vice president’s campaign.
Upton was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump in the aftermath of the Capitol riot. He announced in early 2022 he would not seek reelection.
The campaign highlights signs of Trump’s potential weaknesses with the Republican electorate in the midwestern states.
“In the Michigan GOP presidential primary in February, more than 356,000 Republican voters cast their ballots against Trump – more than double the margin that Joe Biden won Michigan by in 2020,” the campaign writes.
Analysis: The issues driving the last 12 days of the election
From CNN’s Stephen Collinson
A customer shops at a grocery store on February 13 in Chicago. Scott Olson/Getty Images
No presidential candidate in history has had to field questions on grocery prices and her opponent’s alleged fascism at the same event.
But the almost absurd linkage between these two issues that Kamala Harris must confront perfectly tells the story of the 2024 election and America’s fierce estrangement nine years into the Donald Trump era.
Just after 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday, the Democratic nominee emerged from the front door of her official residence in Washington to pose this question:
“What do the American people want?”
She got her answer eight hours later, at a CNN town hall in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, one of the Philadelphia suburbs where she needs a massive turnout to beat the former president in an election only 12 days away.
Thirty-two voters who were still undecided sought answers from Harris on the country’s polarized political tumult, on punishing prices at the grocery store and on an immigration crisis the Biden administration struggled to address. She was asked about the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. Someone else worried about the surge in antisemitism in the United States. Harris was asked to explain her policy reversals on fracking and her plans to hike taxes on the rich. One voter wanted to know whether she’d increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court to 12 – a step that would water down the conservative majority.
Each question that Harris received represented not just a chance to interact with one single voter but to reach millions more countrywide with the same concerns.
Trump will campaign in Arizona and Nevada today
From CNN staff
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a campaign event sponsored by conservative group Turning Point USA, in Duluth, Georgia, on October 23. Carlos Barria/Reuters
Donald Trump will appear in two Sunbelt States today — Arizona and Nevada — where Republicans hope he’ll make inroads with Latino voters.
He will first speak at a campaign rally in Tempe, Arizona on inflation and prices for home goods.
He will then head to Las Vegas to deliver keynote remarks at the “United for Change” rally hosted by Turning Point PAC and Turning Point Action. The event is expected to focus on “celebrating the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community while driving civic engagement,” according to the event’s website.
Key takeaways from Harris’ CNN town hall with undecided Pennsylvania voters
From CNN’s Eric Bradner, Gregory Krieg, Arit John and Daniel Strauss
Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a CNN Presidential Town Hall moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on October 23. Rebecca Wright/CNN
Over and over, Vice President Kamala Harris argued at a CNN town hall Wednesday night that Republican rival Donald Trump is “unstable” and “unfit to serve.”
The Democratic nominee’s message in the closing weeks 2024 presidential race is squarely focused on warning Americans — particularly undecided independents and moderate Republicans — that Trump poses a threat to the nation’s core principles.
Here are some key takeaways:
Yes, Harris thinks Trump is a fascist: Harris was asked Wednesday night if she considers Trump a fascist.
“Yes, I do,” she said. But, she added, she doesn’t want voters to take her word for it.
Harris pointed to senior military leaders who served under Trump and have said the former president is a fascist — including the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, and Trump’s former White House chief of staff, retired Marine general John Kelly
Harris promises “a new generation of leadership”: Harris has faced repeated questions on the trail over how — and to what degree — she would break from President Joe Biden on policy. Mostly, she has brushed them off.
On Wednesday night, though, Harris seemed more comfortable with the proposition and argued that, if she was elected, change would follow.
“My administration will not be a continuation of the Biden administration,” Harris said. “I bring to this role my own ideas and my own experience. I represent a new generation of leadership on a number of issues and believe that we have to actually take new approaches.”
After ticking off a few major policy plans, like having Medicare cover home health care for the elderly, Harris returned to what she described as “a new approach.”
Border security and migration a tricky area: By both CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and audience members, the vice president was pressed on border security.
She was asked on the record number of illegal border crossings that occurred during the Biden administration in spite of multiple executive orders. That flow had only begun to shrink after a major executive action earlier this year, Cooper noted, and asked why Biden and Harris hadn’t done something sooner.
Harris argued that the Biden administration, and she personally, believed that executive actions were just short-term solutions and that a long-term fix could only happen through a bipartisan agreement in Congress. She stressed the need for a large bipartisan bill on border security.
Read more key takeaways from the town hall.
Some voters tell CNN they made up their mind after town hall while others remain undecided
From CNN’s Elise Hammond
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with Pam Thistle after a CNN Presidential Town Hall in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, October 23. Rebecca Wright/CNN
Some voters who stayed to talk with CNN after the town hall with Kamala Harris on Wednesday in Pennsylvania said they have made up their mind. Two of five of the voters who spoke with CNN’s John King are leaving the town hall planning to vote for Harris — but others said they still have major policy concerns.
One of the voters, Joe Donahue, did not raise his hand when asked if he was going to vote for Harris and said there are still some “personal policy difference,” specifically on abortion.
“The right to life is so fundamental in this country that it becomes — without that right being respected, it’s incredibly difficult to talk about anything else,” Donahue said.
Still, Donahue said he is still “not sold” on former President Donald Trump either because “his personality” and his actions on January 6, 2021. Harris spoke with him after the town hall, which he said meant “quite a bit” to him and appreciated given the fact that they have opposing ideas.
Pam Thistle said she left the town hall with a “a feeling of adoration” for Harris personally, but as a widow raising children, the economy and paying her bills is her top concern: “I really do have to vote for my family.”
“And another thing that is very much a turn off, and this is with both candidates — stop trashing each other. We don’t care. Stop trashing Trump. Trump, stop trashing the vice president. We don’t care,” Thistle said, adding that’s not what voters care about.
Taneisha Spall echoed that sentiment, saying she would respect Harris more if she stayed out of the “schoolyard bulling” and ran on her policy positions. She said she doesn’t feel like Harris needs to lodge attacks and that she thinks “it’s beneath her.”
Erik Svendsen said he has decided to vote for Harris. He said hearing Harris admit that she doesn’t know the answer to everything and she has people around her that she can trust resonated with him.
“I don’t need a president that knows everything or thinks they know everything, because that’s not what America needs,” Svendsen said. “They need to put the right people in the right place to lead the country efficiently. One person can’t lead this country, they need a team.”