Heading into the closing 24 hours, Trump and Biden each painted the other as unfit for office and described the next four years in near apocalyptic terms if the other were to win.
“The Biden plan will turn America into a prison state locking you down while letting the far-left rioters roam free to loot and burn,” Trump thundered Sunday at a rally in Iowa, one of the five he held in battleground states.
Trump also seems to have suggested he will fire Dr. Anthony Fauci after Tuesday’s election, as his rift with the nation’s top infectious disease expert widens while the nation sees its most alarming outbreak of the coronavirus since the spring.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Opa-locka, Florida, Trump expressed frustration that the surging cases of the virus that has killed more than 231,000 people in the United States this year remains prominent in the news, sparking chants of “Fire Fauci” from his supporters.
“Don’t tell anybody but let me wait until a little bit after the election,” Trump replied to thousands of supporters early Monday, adding he appreciated their “advice.”
Trump’s comments on Fauci less than 48 hours before polls close all but assure that his handling of the pandemic will remain front and center heading into Election Day.
It’s the most direct Trump has been in suggesting he was serious about trying to remove Fauci from his position. He has previously expressed that he was concerned about the political blowback of removing the popular and respected doctor before Election Day.
Biden said America was on the verge of putting “an end to a presidency that’s fanned the flames of hate.”
“When America is heard, I believe the message is going to be clear: It’s time for Donald Trump to pack his bags and go home,” Biden said in Philadelphia, the biggest city in a state that could decide the presidency. “We’re done with the chaos, the tweets, the anger, the hate.”
As the candidates close out the campaign, the pandemic, which has killed more than 230,000 Americans and cost nearly 20 million to lose jobs, reached a new peak in infection rates, threatening yet another blow to lives and livelihoods of voters.
The election caps an extraordinary year that began with Trump’s impeachment, the near collapse of Biden’s candidacy during the crowded Democratic primary and then was fully reshaped by the coronavirus outbreak.
A record number of votes have already been cast, through early voting or mail-in ballots, which could lead to delays in their tabulation. Trump has spent months claiming without evidence that the votes would be ripe for fraud while refusing to guarantee that he would honor the election result.
In the starkest terms yet, Trump on Sunday threatened litigation to stop the tabulation of ballots arriving after Election Day. As soon as polls closed in battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania, Trump said, “we’re going in with our lawyers.”
It was unclear precisely what Trump meant. There is already an appeal pending at the Supreme Court over the counting of absentee ballots in Pennsylvania that are received in the mail in the three days after the election.
The state’s top court ordered the extension and the Supreme Court refused to block it, though conservative justices expressed interest in taking up the propriety of the three added days after the election. Those ballots are being kept separate in case the litigation goes forward. The issue could assume enormous importance if the late-arriving ballots could tip the outcome.
Under the shadow of possible legal battles, Pennsylvania loomed as most important battleground on the map.
For Biden, who lives in neighboring Delaware, Pennsylvania has long been the focus of his campaign, a bulwark to block Trump from securing the electoral votes needed for reelection. Both he and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, and their spouses will crisscross the state on Monday.
But Biden’s other travel telegraphed his campaign’s hope to deliver a knockout blow to Trump that would make any Pennsylvania legal challenges essentially irrelevant.
Biden added a late stop to Ohio, a state where Trump once had a sizable lead and can’t win without. That came on the heels of the ticket’s pushes into other formerly reliable Trump strongholds like Iowa and Texas, as well as Georgia, where the Democrats’ most popular surrogate, former President Barack Obama, was set to campaign Monday.
But even as Biden enjoyed strong poll numbers, the move to expand the map revived anxiety among Democrats scarred by Trump’s 2016 upset over Hillary Clinton, whose forays into red states may have contributed to losing longtime party strongholds such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Read below for updates on Sunday's political events.
In an exclusive interview with Spectrum News, Sen. Kamala Harris responded to an Axios report which said that President Trump has reportedly told confidants that he will declare victory on election night if he appears to be "ahead."
When asked about her level of concern about chaos after votes are cast, Harris said: "Let me just tell you, I have full faith and confidence in the American people, and the commitment that all voters will have, whoever they vote for, the commitment that they will have for our democracy."
She went on to add: "And one of the very important pillars of our democracy is the peaceful transfer of power, and I do believe that there is a line that the American voter, whoever they vote for, will not cross, including anything that would be about going against what has been the foundation of the thing that we are then respected for around the world."
The Axios report, published Sunday, cites "three sources familiar with his private comments." Speaking to reporters Sunday, President Trump called it a "false report," but added that, "I think it's a terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election. I think it's a terrible thing when states are allowed to tabulate ballots for a long period of time after the election is over."
"I think it's terrible that we can't know the results of an election the night of the election," he added.
She also touched on the importance of getting out the Black vote and the importance of the Tar Heel state in the election: "We know the path to the White House leads through North Carolina." Read more here.
Kamala Harris declared a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for someone who supports democracy, will enhance America’s standing in the world and conducts himself with dignity during a campaign stop in North Carolina.
She says Trump, by contrast, offers none of those things. Harris made her remarks to a small crowd in Goldsboro, a majority Black city in Wayne County. It was her first of two Sunday stops in North Carolina.
In 2016, Trump won the county where she was campaigning.
Harris, the first Black woman on a major party presidential ticket, has been trying to appeal directly to Black voters in key swing states. She gave a shout out to people in the crowd wearing representing historically Black fraternities and sororities. Harris was part of Alpha Kappa Alpha at Howard University. She said North Carolinians are more familiar than most with attempts at voter suppression. She’s citing a previous state voter ID law that was struck down by a court that said it targeted African Americans with surgical precision.
Biden, meanwhile, denounced disruptive demonstrations by supporters of President Donald Trump across the country.
Speaking at a canvass kickoff in the Philadelphia suburbs, Biden referenced a recent effort by Trump supporters to swarm a Biden campaign bus and drive it off the road in Texas. Trump tweeted a video of the caravan and declared, “I LOVE TEXAS!” Biden also referenced reports that Trump supporters shut down a major roadway in New Jersey.
“We’ve never had anything like this. At least we’ve never had a president who thinks it’s a good thing,” Biden said.
The FBI is investigating the incident in Texas.
Biden also said he’ll take on the coronavirus pandemic, but first he has to defeat another “virus”: Donald Trump.
The former vice president told the crowd: “The truth is, to beat the virus, we first have to beat Donald a Trump - he is the virus!”
Despite a light rain coming down, many in the crowd sat atop their cars or stood in the mud under umbrellas to watch Biden speak. Supporters honked their horns throughout the speech, while others waved signs and cheered.
Biden closed out a day of campaigning in Philadelphia with a critique of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He said Trump was “a disgrace” to suggest that doctors inflate COVID cases for cash.
He set the stakes for the crowd, telling them Pennsylvania is “critical” to his chances. But he expressed optimism at the outcome Tuesday, saying that “when America is heard, I believe the message is going to be clear: it’s time for Trump to pack his bags and go home.”
"I know Philadelphia well," Biden said at his "Souls to the Polls" event in Philadelphia. "I married a Philly girl!"
Speaking to people gathered at the event, Biden said, "we only have two more days. Two more days, we can put an end to this presidency that has, from the very beginning, sought to divide us, to tear us apart."
"My message is simple," Biden said. "Pennsylvania is critical in this election. I’m a Pennsylvania boy, born in Scranton."
"The last time Donald Trump ran, he won this state by 44,000 votes," he added. "So every single vote matters."
"President Trump is terrified of what will happen in Pennsylvania. He knows that the people of Pennsylvania get to have their say," the former vice president said. "And if you have your say, he doesn't stand a chance."
Slamming Trump's record on race, Biden said, "we cannot afford four more years of anger, hate, and division that we've seen under this president."
"I'm running as a proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American president," he added.
Biden invoked the names of Black Americans shot by police officers while talking about the need to "deliver racial justice in America."
"I see in all the protests here in Philadelphia and across the country a cry for justice," he said. "Folks, protesting is not burning or looting, and violence must never be tolerated, but the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake, Walter Wallace, Jr. – they will not soon be forgotten."
"They will not be forgotten by me. They will not be forgotten by you. And they'll not be forgotten by the American people. Because here's what they're gonna do – they're inspiring a new wave of justice in America."
Biden also recalled speaking to George Floyd's 6-year-old daughter: "I knelt down to say hi to her, she looked at me and she said, 'Daddy is going to change the world.'"
The campaign also announced Sunday that Lady Gaga will join Biden at his event in Pittsburgh Monday, and John Legend will join Harris at her event in Philadelphia.
The Trump campaign slammed the star-studded lineup: "Nothing exposes Joe Biden’s disdain for the forgotten working men and women of Pennsylvania like campaigning with anti-fracking activist Lady Gaga," Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said.
Meanwhile, speaking to a rally in Dubuque, Iowa, Trump predicted a “red wave” of Election Day votes for him, aiming to overcome Democratic leads in early votes. "I like Election Day, and most of you do too.”
Trump turned the microphone over to his daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump, who said it’s time for Trump‘s supporters to have his back.
She says: “He fights so hard for each of us every single day, and now you can fight for him.”
In Georgia, Biden’s running mate Sen. Kamala Harris thanked Democratic voting rights activist Stacey Abrams for proving the Peach State is now a battleground state.
"It's good to be back in Georgia," Harris said as she stepped off the plane to talk to reporters. "We're here to remind Georgians of the importance of their vote and, of course, the significance of what Joe and I care about in the lives of the people in this state."
Campaigning in Duluth outside Atlanta, Harris said Abrams’ 2018 governor’s race solidified Georgia’s status as more than a Republican stronghold.
“Look at where we are in Georgia," Harris told the attendees at her drive-in rally.
Abrams narrowly lost her bid to become the first Black woman governor in U.S. history. Two years later, Georgia is a presidential tossup.
"I don't know if y'all know this," Abrams said, "but we're living in a battleground state!"
"A few years ago, when we said that Georgia was on the move, it was hard to get people to believe us," she added. "We knew what we could see. We knew that diversity wasn't destiny, it was opportunity. And so we started investing, and we started running, and we started winning, and now we are on the cusp of delivering 16 Electoral College votes to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris."
Georgia hasn’t sided with Democrats in a presidential race since 1992, and Trump can’t afford to lose its 16 electoral votes. The president is headed to Rome, Georgia, on Sunday evening.
Abrams reminded the rally that her loss included hours-long voting line, which she called a sign of election officials’ “incompetence” and not just voter enthusiasm. She urged Democrats to stick it out Tuesday.
Exuberant Biden supporters on Sunday got admonished at an Atlanta-area drive-in rally because they’d gotten out of their cars and congregated along the railing near the stage where Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris was about to speak.
A few hundred Biden-Harris supporters in Duluth stood masked but not socially distanced through several speeches from Georgia warm-up acts: Senate candidate Jon Ossoff, who’s trying to unseat Republican Sen David Perdue; Rep. Lucy McBath, who flipped a suburban Atlanta district in 2018; and Rep. Hank Johnson, a veteran congressman from a heavily Democratic district in metro Atlanta.
None of the Democrats on the ballot this year took issue with their supporters’ close company. But when Johnson finished, a Biden staffer instructed supporters to go back to their cars, because “we are not a Trump rally.”
Trump has spent the fall campaign flouting public health guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic, holding rallies without enforcing masks or imposing social distancing.
In addition to Joe Biden's "barnstorm" of Pennsylvania, the former vice president will be traveling to Ohio on Monday for an event in Cleveland, his campaign announced Sunday.
Recent polls show the Buckeye State as a toss-up. President Trump won the state and its 18 electoral votes by about 8 points in 2016.
President Trump braved flurries and a stiff wind chill as he rallies thousands of supporters in Michigan.
Trump took the stage Sunday in Washington Township and told the crowd, “it’s freezing out here.”
The president is aiming to run up support in the whiter, more rural parts of Michigan as Democrat Joe Biden was in the state Saturday with former President Barack Obama in a bid to increase turnout among Black voters.
Trump expressed confidence and said of Biden, “I don’t think he knows he’s losing.”
It’s the first stop of Trump’s final blitz of 10 rallies in the final 48 hours of the campaign.
Biden, meanwhile, is spending the final Sunday before Election Day rallying voters in the all-important swing state of Pennsylvania.
Biden will make two stops in Philadelphia on Sunday — an appearance at a Baptist church for a “Souls to the Polls” event, and a rally in Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park downtown.
Biden’s return to Philadelphia underscores the significance of Pennsylvania, the Rust Belt state that helped deliver President Donald Trump the White House four years ago. Biden has visited Pennsylvania more times than any other battleground state this cycle, and Philadelphia remains a key base of Democratic support in the state. Biden and the rest of his top surrogates — his wife Jill, Sen. Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff — will also fan out across the state on Monday.
While Biden’s campaign argues the Democrat can still win without Pennsylvania, Trump’s path to victory would narrow considerably without the state’s 20 electoral votes. The president has made Pennsylvania a priority as well - he held four rallies across the state on Saturday, and will return Monday for a campaign event in Scranton, Biden’s hometown.
Dr. Jill Biden will also participate in a "Souls to the Polls" event in Tallahassee, Florida, on the last day of early voting in the Sunshine State.
She will also rally voters in Kissimmee and Tampa before joining her husband in Pennsylvania on Monday.
Trump is mounting one final test of whether the massive crowds that often show up at his signature rallies will translate into votes as he finishes the final 48 hours of his reelection campaign with a dizzying onslaught of events in the battleground states that could decide the race.
Down in the polls and at a cash disadvantage to his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, Trump is turning to rallies to help keep his message in front of voters. But it’s unclear whether they will broaden his appeal beyond those already likely to vote for him. And the packed — often unmasked — crowds risk deepening the pandemic at a time when coronavirus cases are surging across the U.S.
But Trump, still relishing his late-stage upset in the 2016 campaign, sees his showmanship as a central element of his outsider appeal that he hopes will resonate again this year.
“Let me ask you, is there a better place to be anytime, anywhere than a Trump rally?” Trump asked a massive crowd Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, that responded in roaring approval.
With more than 92 million votes already cast, Trump and Biden are out of time to reshape the race. Instead, they’re focusing on their base and making sure that any potential supporters have either already voted or plan to do so in person on Tuesday.
For Biden, that means paying close attention to Black voters who are a critical part of the coalition he needs to build to win. His team is confident in Biden’s standing with women, college-educated voters and those who live in the suburbs.
But some Democrats worry that voters of color may not be excited about Biden and won’t show up in force to support him, which could be devastating in fiercely contested battleground states like Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The challenge is exacerbated by the Democratic push this year to encourage voting by mail to prevent people waiting in long lines during a pandemic. But that runs counter to the tradition of some Black voters who prefer to vote in person on Election Day.
“Most Black voters in Philly have been skeptical of mail-in voting,” said Joe Hill, a veteran Democratic operative-turned-lobbyist from the city. “A lot of us have gotten our ballots already,” Hill said, but added, “Election Day has always been everything in Philadelphia.”
Biden will spend much of Sunday in Philadelphia encouraging voters to turn out. He’ll participate in a “souls to the polls” event that’s aimed at encouraging Black church congregations to organize and vote.
He held his first in-person campaign events with former President Barack Obama on Saturday in the predominantly Black cities of Detroit and Flint, Michigan. Obama will also campaign for Biden on Monday in Georgia and in South Florida, another area of potential concern if Latino voters sit out the election.
As the largest city in a state that could decide the presidency, Philadelphia has always held special significance for Biden. Just 30 miles from his longtime home in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden planted his campaign headquarters in Philadelphia before the pandemic forced most of his staff to work remotely.
The city gets intense focus because it’s such a deep trove of Democratic votes, especially non-white voters.
Democrat Hillary Clinton lost Pennsylvania by almost 45,000 votes four years ago even as she fell just 4,800 votes shy of Obama’s Philadelphia County total in 2012. Clinton’s bigger problem was that she lost ground to Trump in other parts of the state beyond Philadelphia and its suburbs.
According to an analysis by University of Florida professor Michael McDonald, a nonpartisan political data expert behind the U.S. Elections Project, almost 2.3 million Pennsylvania voters had returned absentee ballots as of Friday out of almost 3.1 million requested. That’s a statewide return rate of 74.2%.
Philadelphia’s return rate was a tick higher, at 74.6%, but it had the highest raw total of outstanding ballots, with more than 101,000. Statewide, registered Democrats maintained a solid advantage over Republicans on returned ballots: 1.54 million to about 520,000. In a separate analysis, the Democratic data firm TargetSmart found that more than 385,000 of the early Democratic voters didn’t vote at all in 2016.
Across the state in Pittsburgh, Democratic consultant Mike Mikus stressed that Philadelphia isn’t Biden’s only path to flipping Pennsylvania. Mikus noted that Trump won a Pittsburgh-area congressional district by nearly 20 percentage points in 2016 only to watch Democrat Conor Lamb win a special congressional election there a year later. Lamb won a full term in 2018 and is heavily favored again Tuesday.
Mikus said that trend will help Biden run up a wide margin in Allegheny County, the state’s second most populous.
“He’s got a real base, but there’s just no evidence that he’s done anything to reach anybody who didn’t already like him in 2016,” Mikus said, “and he’s lost people who weren’t sure about him but were willing to take the gamble. ... It’s not just about Philadelphia.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.