The Latest: With just 5 days to go, Harris and Trump continue to battle for votes
Democrat Kamala Harris called Wednesday for Americans to “stop pointing fingers at each other” as she tried to push past comments made by President Joe Biden about Donald Trump’s supporters and “garbage ″ and keep the focus on her Republican opponent in the closing days of the race.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, showered former NFL star Brett Favre with praise on Wednesday at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where the former Packers quarterback campaigned for the Republican presidential nominee in the final week before Election Day.
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Here's the latest:
Billions of dollars in ads are raining down on voters across the Rust Belt, Rocky Mountains and American Southwest as the two major political parties struggle for control of the U.S. Senate.
Republicans need to pick up two seats to capture a surefire majority, and one of those — West Virginia — is all but in the bag for the GOP.
Republican strategists say they’re targeting seven other states where Democrats are defending seats: Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Democrats, conversely, say they are forcing competitive contests in two red states, Texas and Nebraska.
Data from political ad tracking firm AdImpact projects that more than $2.5 billion will be spent on advertising in Senate races in this two-year campaign cycle, slightly more than the 2022 total.
Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Nicky Jam has withdrawn his endorsement of Trump.
Tony Hinchcliffe — a comic who called Puerto Rico “garbage” before a packed Trump rally in New York — appears to be the catalyst.
In a video statement posted to his Instagram, Jam says he thought Trump would be good for the economy. But after Hinchcliffe’s comments, he says can no longer support the former president.
Other Puerto Rican superstars have backed Harris, including Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin.
Trump is traveling to New Mexico and Virginia in the campaign’s final days — choosing to stump for votes in states that Republicans haven't won in decades.
The former president will campaign in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Thursday during a swing that will also take him to the battleground states of Arizona and Nevada.
He’ll be in Salem, Virginia, on Saturday. The Trump team is projecting optimism and thinks he can be competitive against Harris in New Mexico and Virginia.
A Philadelphia judge is set to hold a hearing in the city prosecutor’s bid to shut down Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day sweepstakes in battleground states.
The giveaways come from Musk’s political organization, which aims to boost Donald Trump’s presidential campaign through Election Day.
Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner hopes to stop the America PAC sweepstakes. Judge Angelo Foglietta will hear motions Thursday on the issue in a City Hall courtroom. Matthew Haverstick is one of several lawyers representing the defendants.
Lawyers for Musk filed a motion late Wednesday seeking to move the case to federal court. However, a spokesperson for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Thursday the initial hearing at City Hall was still scheduled.
Across the U.S., people’s phones are pinging with text messages from Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and their allies.
Both sides are working the texting pipeline aggressively in the presidential campaign’s last days. It’s a cheap and easy way to reach millions of potential donors and voters.
It’s also an aggravation for many. At recent Harris and Trump rallies, some of the attendees said enough already. But the texting torrent is not bound to let up before Election Day next week, if it even does then.
A new poll from The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that about 7 in 10 Americans report feeling anxious or frustrated about the 2024 presidential campaign, and a similar share say they’re interested.
Only about one-third say they feel excited.
About 7 in 10 Americans say “anxious” describes how they are feeling ahead of Tuesday. For partisans, anxiety is dialed a little higher than before.
About 8 in 10 Democrats say “anxious” describes how they are feeling now, up slightly from the last election. About two-thirds of Republicans are anxious, a moderate uptick from 2020.
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