USA elections 2020: Trump - Biden | Summary of 28 October
US live: 2020 election updates today
US elections latest: headlines
- Trump heads to Arizona on Wednesday, Biden to deliver Delaware speech
- Republican former US attorneys endorse Biden, call Trump threat to rule of law
- Staggering early vote turnout boosts hopes for Biden in Texas
Related articles that may be of interest:
"Anonymous" author reveals identity
Miles Taylor, the former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, who anonymously authored a 2018 New York Times op-ed and subsequent book critical of President Donald Trump has come forward as the "anonymous" senior Trump administration official.
TikTok to team up with fact-checkers for Election Day
According to Reuters and confirmed by AP TikTok will team up with fact-checkers to limit the spread of false messages about election results.
TikTok will also add a banner pointing viewers to a guide on content with unverifiable claims about voting.
Kamala Harris sports a pair of 2020 Converse
At a campaign event in Las Vegas, Nevada Democrat vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris was pictured by David Becker wearing a pair of customized Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers.
Justice Barrett sits one out and Pennsylvania can count their votes
Newly appointed Justice Amy Coney Barret was expected to cast the deciding vote in decision over whether Pennsylvania could have three days after Election Day to count absentee ballots. Republicans were pushing to have all ballots counted on Election Day.
Justice Barrett said she hadn't had time to review each side of the case by Wednesday's vote. She was sworn in Monday night.
Trump supporters left stranded in Omaha after rally
Twitter is still buzzing with memes on the hashtag #omahastranded after dramatic events last night in Nebraska.
Hundreds of Trump supporters were stuck on a freezing cold Omaha airfield after rally and 7 were taken to hospitals.
Governor Whitmer of Michigan defends integrity of elections amid Trump attacks
Michigan’s Democratic governor and top elections official on Wednesday defended the integrity of the election amid continued attacks from President Donald Trump, saying results may take longer in close contests due to a surge in absentee voting in the battleground state but every valid ballot will be counted.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer encouraged people to take advantage of their right to cast an absentee ballot for any reason, including in person at their clerk’s office, to reduce the risk of exposure to the coronavirus at a polling place on Election Day.
She echoed calls that those who already have a ballot hand deliver it to their clerk or put it in a secure drop box. They are due by 8 p.m. on Election Night.
Trump has baselessly suggested “massive fraud” in mail voting, saying the election is “rigged.” He said Wednesday he hoped courts would not allow states to “take a lot of time” after Nov. 3 to count votes.
“Depending on how close these races are, it may take a few days to determine who the winners are,” Whitmer said. “That’s OK. Our local election clerks across the state will be working to get the count right. That’s what really matters.”
AP: Millions of mailed ballots not yet returned in key states
Just days before the presidential election, millions of mail ballots have yet to be returned in key battleground states, and election officials warn that time is running out for voters who want to avoid a polling place on Election Day.
At least 35 million mail ballots had been returned or accepted as of early Wednesday, according to data collected by The Associated Press. That surpasses the 33.3 million total mail ballots returned during the 2016 election, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Yet an estimated 1.9 million ballots were still outstanding in Florida, along with 962,000 in Nevada, 850,000 in Michigan and 1 million in Pennsylvania. In most states, the deadline for ballots to be received is Election Day.
“Don’t wait until Election Day,” Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf implored voters this week. “Hand-delivering your own ballot now will give you the peace of mind that your vote will be counted, and your voice will be heard in this historic election.”
Tennessee sets new record for early, mail voting turnout
Tennessee officials say the state has broken its record for early and absentee voting combined three days before early voting ends for the Nov. 3 election.
Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s office says more than 1.8 million Tennesseans had voted as of the close of polls Monday, already surpassing the previous record of nearly 1.7 million early and absentee ballots cast during the 2016 presidential election.
The final day of the 14-day early voting period is Thursday. Amid the ongoing covid-19 pandemic and high interest in the presidential race, the state has seen about a 40% increase in votes cast so far compared to the same point during early voting in the 2016 election, according to state data, AP reports.
President Trump mocks treatment of covid-19 in the media, as US cases continue to soar
Suggesting that the media attention on covid-19 is an attempt at voter suppression, Trump continues his rhetoric on minimising the pandemic to benefit his re-election campaign.
The group of traditionally Democrat states won Donald Trump the presidency in 2016. Now Joe Biden is looking to reclaim America's industrial heartland.
Trump administration sets record low limit for new US refugees
The Trump administration has slashed the number of refugees it will allow to resettle in the United States in the coming year, capping the number at 15,000, a record low in the history of the country's modern refugee program.
President Donald Trump finalized his plan in a memo overnight and said the ceiling for fiscal 2021, which started this month, includes 6,000 unused placements from last year "that might have been used if not for the covid-19 pandemic."
The Republican president, seeking re-election on 3 November, has taken a hard line toward legal and illegal immigration, including sharply curbing refugee admissions every year since taking office in 2017.
In his statement, Trump said any new refugees this year should be placed by the US State Department in parts of the country open to hosting them.
"Newly admitted refugees should be placed, to the maximum extent possible, in States and localities that have clearly expressed their willingness to receive refugees" and "resettled in communities that are eager and equipped to support their successful integration into American society and the labor force," Trump said.
Electoral College map: which states have the most electors?
From George Washington to Donald Trump, and everyone in between, the electoral college has put the President of the United States into their position.
Trump lays into media coverage of covid-19 pandemic
The president, who has hit back at criticism of his administration's handling of the coronavirus crisis in the US by claiming a media campaign is being waged against him, continued the theme on Wednesday. "They will talk about nothing else until November 4th., when the Election will be (hopefully!) over. Then the talk will be how low the death rate is, plenty of hospital rooms, & many tests of young people," Trump tweeted.
Staggering early vote turnout boosts hopes for Biden in Texas
Less than a week before Election Day, Joe Biden is tantalizingly close to a prize that has eluded generations of Democratic presidential candidates: Texas.
Public opinion polls show Biden and Republican President Donald Trump effectively tied in the Lone Star State. They also suggest the former vice president is leading among those helping to set its staggering early vote totals.
As of Tuesday, nearly 8 million Texans had cast ballots, approaching 90% of the entire 2016 vote - a higher percentage than any state in the country, according to the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida.
Trump appears to have the edge with voters planning to cast ballots on 3 November, according to polls, which also show him improving his standing among Hispanics in Texas, a huge constituency, mirroring modest gains he has made with that demographic nationally since 2016.
Texans do not register by party, which makes it difficult to say with certainty who is leading in early voting.
A Biden win in Texas, which hasn't voted for a Democratic nominee for president since 1976, would end any chance of Trump's re-election.
The Democrat's campaign has been cautious not to lose its focus on the battleground states, however. Four years ago, Hillary Clinton was criticized for miscalculating by spending time in Republican states late in the campaign only to lose seemingly solid Democratic states to Trump.
"We've been really focused on our top six states," said Jenn Ridder, the campaign's national states director, referring to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida and North Carolina. "But in these last 10 days, if we can do a little bit to put (other states) over the edge, we're going to take that opportunity."
Who are the candidates for 2020 US Elections besides Trump and Biden?
In the 2020 general election the main focus has been on Biden versus Trump but the down ballot races, primarily the Senate, will shape the country too.
Deirdre Barrett wears a protective mask as she waits in line to cast her ballot for the upcoming presidential election as early voting begins in Houston, Texas. REUTERS/Go Nakamura
Republican former US attorneys endorse Biden, call Trump threat to rule of law
Twenty former Republican US attorneys on Tuesday accused President Donald Trump of threatening the rule of law as they declared their support for Democratic White House candidate Joe Biden.
The former senior federal prosecutors, who collectively served under every Republican president from Dwight Eisenhower to George W. Bush, said in a publicly released letter that Trump treated the Department of Justice as his personal law firm by pressuring government lawyers to protect his allies and attack his political foes.
The group is the latest of several Republican-led organizations opposing Republican Trump's re-election.
Others include Republican Voters Against Trump, Former Republican National Security Officials for Biden, and 43 Alumni for Biden, which consists of hundreds of officials who worked for George W. Bush, the 43rd president.
The former US attorneys say Trump has politicized the Justice department like no other president.
"We believe that President Trump's leadership is a threat to the rule of law in our country," the group wrote.
The Trump campaign has described Republican-led groups campaigning for Biden as disaffected former officials "trying to take down the duly elected president of the United States."
Trump on Twitter last year referred to "Never Trump Republicans" as "human scum."
USA coronavirus live online updates: cases, deaths and latest news
Coronavirus: live US updates
You can also follow live, US-focused coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here:
Trump or Biden's big economic challenge: millions of struggling Americans
The winner of the race for the White House will face a generation of low-to-middle income Americans struggling to get back to work because of a health crisis not seen in more than 100 years.
Whether it's President Donald Trump or Democratic challenger and former Vice President Joe Biden, the reality is grim: about half of the 22 million who lost their jobs during the pandemic are still out of work.
New hiring is slowing, dimming prospects for the low-wage workers hit hardest by job losses. Infections of the virus that killed more than 225,000 Americans are rising to new records. Hotels, transportation companies and food providers warn that more layoffs are coming, and the government aid that helped many pay the bills is long gone.
Securing a future for a vast, growing underclass "is the most important challenge America faces over the next few years, 10 years, 20 years," said Gene Ludwig, a former comptroller of the currency under President Bill Clinton and author of "The Vanishing American Dream," a book about the economic challenges facing lower and middle income Americans.
"We cannot sustain a democratic society that has these kinds of numbers of low and middle income people that aren't able to have a hope for the American dream and live decently."
Congressional Democrats and the Trump administration have been trying to negotiate a $2 trillion coronavirus aid bill, but many Senate Republicans object to the cost and question whether more stimulus is needed. A deal may not be reached until early 2021.
Trump promises to "get husbands back to work"
"I'm also getting your husbands, they want to get back to work, right? They want to get back to work. We're getting your husbands back to work, and everybody wants it," Trump said (per USA Today). "And the cure can never be worse than the problem itself," the president said at a rally in Michigan in an attemp to garner support amid what some are describing as the US' first "female recession."
"We're going to do great. And I love women, and I can't help it. They're the greatest. I love them much more than the men," Trump added.
Trump set for rallies in Arizona, Biden to give speech in home state
President Donald Trump will hold two campaign rallies on Wednesday in the battleground state of Arizona, where polls show him narrowly trailing Democratic rival Joe Biden, as the White House race heads into its final six-day stretch.
Biden, who has repeatedly criticized Trump for failing to contain the coronavirus pandemic, will receive a briefing from public health experts and deliver a speech near his home in Delaware on his plans to combat covid-19 and protect Americans with pre-existing health conditions, his campaign said.
Biden still leads Trump comfortably in national opinion polls in a race dominated by the pandemic. The race is tighter in several battleground states where the election might be decided.
(Text: Reuters; photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP)
Live US elections updates: welcome
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the run-up to the 2020 presidential and congressional elections in the United States.
There are now just six days to go until Election Day, which will see President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger go head to head for the White House - although a record total of more than 70 million Americans have already voted.
That's more than half the turnout in the election four years ago, per Reuters.
(Photo: EFE/EPA/ERIK S. LESSER)