With two days until the presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are blitzing through battleground states on Sunday to make a final appeal to voters. Follow here for the live updates:
Harris Caps Barnstorm of Michigan With East Lansing Rally
A capacity crowd of some 6,000 supporters filled Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University for Harris’s last appearance in the state before the Nov. 5 election.
“We have momentum,” Harris told the crowd. “It’s on our side, can you feel it?”
Harris’s 20-minute speech brought the boisterous crowd to its feet a number of times as she hit the familiar themes of her campaign, including freedom and inclusion. “I’m excited about what we can do together,” she said. “I know our future is bright.”
In response to Harris’s question, “Who here has voted already?” it appeared that more than half of the audience responded with a raised hand. She urged listeners to encourage friends and family members to vote as well.
“We need everyone to vote in Michigan. You will make the difference in this election,” Harris said.
The event capped a day of campaigning in the state, beginning with attending a service and delivering remarks at the Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ in Detroit.
From there, Harris proceeded to Kuzzo’s Chicken and Waffles in Detroit, where she greeted patrons and shook hands. She was joined by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.
Harris’s next stop was at Elam’s Barber Shop in Pontiac, where she participated in a moderated conversation with black men and with leaders from Pontiac and Detroit, according to the Harris campaign.
Early voting closed in Michigan at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, though citizens can register and cast an absentee ballot in person at their local clerk’s office on Monday as well as on Election Day.
Trump Praises Hurricane Victims for Early Voting in North Carolina
Early voting in North Carolina ended on Nov. 2. A day later, hours before Trump took the stage at a rally in Kinston, the State Board of Elections reported that more than 4.2 million residents had cast early voting ballots—a record number.
Turnout in the 25 western North Carolina counties impacted by Hurricane Helene was 58.9 percent—around 2 percent higher than the statewide total, the state board said.
In Kinston, Trump praised the people who had voted early in areas where homes and businesses had been swept away by mudslides and flooding from Helene.
“Many of these people don’t even have a house anymore. The devastation is like something never seen. It’s largely areas where people like Trump that were affected, and even with all of that devastation, they turned out in record numbers early,” Trump said.
“The people of your state, the people of North Carolina, are amazing. I thought we would get 50 percent of the number that voted in 2020. [Instead] they broke the record,” he added.
Trump Rallies Supporters in Amish Country in Swing Through Pennsylvania
On Nov. 3, Trump addressed supporters in Lititz, Pennsylvania—a region known for its Amish population—to urge them to turn out on Election Day.
On average, Trump is polling slightly ahead of Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania, but that lead has slipped in recent days to just 0.3 percent. The state’s 19 Electoral College votes make it the most influential battleground state in the election, and the rally was the first Trump event of the day—at the unusual time of 10 a.m. on Sunday—as part of his tour through the state.
“Do you like it better now, or four years ago?” Trump asked the crowd as he began the rally. The central argument of Trump’s presidential campaign has been the contrast between his and President Joe Biden’s administrations on questions of inflation and border security.
“I will end inflation and I will stop the invasion of massive numbers of criminals coming into our country,” he said.
Harris Speaks at Church in Detroit
Earlier Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris stopped at a predominantly black church in Detroit ahead of a campaign rally in Lansing, the state capital, later this evening.
“We have the power to decide the fate of our nation for generations to come,” Harris said to the congregation, before quoting a passage from the Bible.
“God has a plan for us. He has good plans for us, plans that will heal us and bring us together as one nation—plans for freedom, plans for opportunity, plans for justice,” she told the crowd.
“We must remember that faith, combined with our actions, gives us power, the power to move past division and fear and chaos…and the power to fulfill the promise of America, the promise of freedom and opportunity, not just for some, but for all,” she said.
Harris will visit a Detroit restaurant and a barbershop in Pontiac before her rally on Sunday night.
Harris Votes by Mail, Trump to Vote in Person on Election Day
Harris confirmed on Sunday that her mail-in ballot was “on its way to California.”
Trump confirmed Saturday that he’ll vote in person on Tuesday in Florida, despite saying previously he’d vote early.
North Carolina Sets Early Voting Record with Over 4.2 Million Ballots Cast
North Carolina had already surpassed its early voting record set in 2020. The State Board of Elections announced on Sunday that more than 4.2 million voters had cast ballots at early in-person voting sites, with turnout in western counties hit by Hurricane Helene outpacing the rest of the state.
Early in-person voting, which ended Saturday, has become increasingly popular in the presidential battleground state in recent election cycles. People can simultaneously register to vote and cast ballots at early voting sites.
Four years ago, a record 3.63 million people voted at hundreds of sites in all 100 counties during the early voting period. This year, the state exceeded that total by Thursday, days before the period ended, the board said.
Including absentee voting, 4.4 million registered voters—or 57 percent of the state’s 7.8 million—cast ballots in the general election as of Sunday morning, officials said, noting that turnout may be slightly higher because of a lag between when ballots are cast and when data is uploaded.
Turnout in the 25 western counties affected by Hurricane Helene was stronger than the rest of the state at 58.9 percent—about 2 percent higher than statewide turnout, officials said.
Final NYT/Siena Poll Shows Harris, Trump Leading in Different Key Battleground States
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are leading the race in different key swing states two days before the election, according to the final poll released by The New York Times/Siena College on Nov. 3.
The poll, which queried likely voters, found Harris is leading Trump 49–46 percent in Nevada, 48–46 percent in North Carolina, 49–47 percent in Wisconsin, and 48–47 percent in Georgia. Trump leads 49–45 percent in Arizona, while the two candidates are tied 48–48 and 47–47 in Pennsylvania and Michigan, respectively.
Almost all polling results fall within the margin of error, making the race for the White House a statistical tie.
Michigan Early Voting Tops 41 Percent
Early voter turnout in Michigan reached 2.9 million on Nov. 2, about 41 percent of the state’s active registered voters, according to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. About 2.4 million mail-in ballots have been requested and about 1.9 million have been returned, Benson said.
Saturday marked the highest in-person voting day yet with 146,000 votes cast. More than 1 million people have voted in person to date.
The state has just under 7.3 million active registered voters, about 1.9 million of whom are on the permanent mail-in voter list.
Sunday is the last day of early in-person voting in Michigan.
Harris Appears on ‘Saturday Night Live’
Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live” on Nov. 2, playing herself as the mirror-image double of Maya Rudolph’s version of her in the show’s cold open.
The first lines the Democratic nominee spoke as she sat across from Rudolph, their outfits identical, were drowned out by cheers from the audience.
“It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph with a broad grin she kept throughout the sketch. “And I’m just here to remind you—you got this.”
In sync, the two said supporters need to “Keep Kamala and carry-on-ala,” declared that they share each other’s “belief in the promise of America,” and delivered the signature “Live from New York it’s Saturday night!”
Harris made the surprise trip to New York City with the election looming, briefly stepping away from the battleground states where she’s been furiously campaigning in favor of NBC’s iconic sketch comedy show, where she was hoping to generate buzz and appeal to a nationwide audience.
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Harris Tops Trump in Iowa in Latest Des Moines Register Poll
Harris has surpassed Trump in a new poll in Iowa, with likely women voters responsible for the turnaround in a state that Trump won easily in 2016 and 2020, according to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released on Saturday.
The poll of 808 likely voters, who were surveyed from Oct. 28–31, has Harris leading Trump 47 percent–44 percent in Iowa, which has been trending deeply Republican in recent years. The result is within the 3.4 percentage point margin of error, but it marked a turnaround from a September Iowa poll that had Trump with a 4-point lead, the newspaper reported.
“The poll shows that women—particularly those who are older or who are politically independent—are driving the late shift toward Harris,” the Register said.
Trump won Iowa in his past two presidential campaigns by more than 9 percentage points in 2016 and 8 points in 2020.
The Trump campaign released a memo from its chief pollster and its chief data consultant calling the Des Moines Register poll “a clear outlier,” and saying that an Emerson College poll—also released Saturday—more closely reflected the state of the Iowa electorate.
The Emerson College Polling/RealClearDefense survey of a similar number of likely voters queried from Nov. 1–2 had a starkly different result, with Trump leading Harris by 10 points. This poll also has a 3.4 percentage point margin of error.
The Emerson College survey had Trump with strong leads over Harris among men and independents, while Harris was performing well with those under the age of 30.
Harris Campaigns in Michigan, Trump Hits Eastern Battleground States
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns in Michigan on Sunday while her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, will stop in three eastern battleground states in the final days of an election campaign that could be decided by a small slice of American voters.
Opinion polls show a historically close race, and both campaigns say they are not sure who will prevail in the seven states that are likely to determine the outcome on Tuesday.
Harris is due to campaign in East Lansing, Michigan, a college town in an industrial state that is viewed as a must-win for the Democrat.
She faces skepticism from some of the state’s 200,000 Arab Americans who are frustrated that the sitting vice president has not done more to help end the war in Gaza and scale back aid to Israel. Trump visited Dearborn, the heart of the Arab American community, on Friday and vowed to end the wars in the Middle East.
Trump is due to hold rallies in three smaller cities that could help him galvanize the rural voters who make up an important part of his base. He starts the day in Lititz, Pennsylvania, before heading to Kinston, North Carolina, in the afternoon, and ending with an evening rally in Macon, Georgia.
It will be the first day since last Tuesday that the two candidates are not campaigning in the same state.
At least 75 million Americans have already cast their ballots, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, equal to nearly half of the 160 million votes cast in the 2020 election.
Still, the winner might not be known for several days as states like Pennsylvania will need time to tally their mail-in votes.
Epoch Times reporters Lawrence Wilson, Jeff Louderback, Arjun Singh, and Jacob Burg, The Associated Press, and Reuters contributed to this report.