US presidential election updates: Kamala Harris delivers closing address while Trump and Biden talk ‘garbage’

From the Ellipse – the Washington park where Donald Trump delivered his speech before the 6 January 2021 storming of the Capitol – Kamala Harris addressed the nation on Tuesday evening with a week to go before the election. She portrayed herself as in-touch with the worries of ordinary Americans, while labelling her opponent a “petty tyrant”.

With thousands watching on in person, Harris urged Americans to vote in the most important election of their lifetimes for a “new generation” of leadership. Harris is a generation younger than Trump – and than Joe Biden, whom she replaced on the Democratic ticket.

Meanwhile Trump said of America that “It’s like we’re a giant garbage can” and of the Puerto Rican community – a large and influential group of voters repeatedly insulted by the Republican campaign – that nobody loves them like he does.

Meanwhile, Biden sought to clarify remarks after it appeared that he had referred to Trump supporters as “garbage” during a town hall with young Latino voters. Biden said his comment referred only to the “hateful rhetoric” of a comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.

Here is what else happened on Tuesday:

Kamala Harris election news and updates

• Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania governor and high-profile Democrat backer of Harris, said he would not call Trump supporters “garbage” as Biden was interpreted as having done. Speaking on CNN, Shapiro was shown video of the comment Biden made earlier. He was asked for a response. “I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn’t support,” Shapiro replied.

• Harris will spend election night at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss her campaign’s plans. If elected, Harris would be the first graduate of a historically Black university to occupy the Oval Office.

• The leader of the United Auto Workers (UAW) made a last plea to union members to vote for Harris, casting the election as a fight between the interests of the working class and billionaires.

• Michelle Obama took the stump in Georgia. The former first lady’s organisation When We All Vote hosted a rally for more than 2,000 people at an arena in College Park, near Atlanta’s airport – a slickly produced event that was dominated by earnest pleas to vote from a star-studded roster.

Donald Trump election news and updates

• Urged by some allies to apologise for racist comments made by speakers at his weekend rally, Donald Trump took the opposite approach on Tuesday, saying it was an “honour to be involved” in such an event and calling the scene a “lovefest” – the same term he has used to describe the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol.

• The supreme court on Tuesday rejected an emergency appeal to remove Robert F Kennedy Jr from presidential ballots in Wisconsin and Michigan. Kennedy wanted to remove himself from the ballot in the two crucial swing states after dropping his independent bid and endorsing Donald Trump. He argued that keeping him on violated his first amendment rights by wrongly implying he still wanted to be elected president.

• Trump’s Truth Social stock market valuation is now greater than the estimated value of Elon Musk’s X after an extraordinary rally ahead of next week’s election. Some context around that, though: Twitter/X’s valuation is calculated to have tanked by as much as 90% since Musk took over. Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the former president’s tiny social media empire, rose 8.8% on Tuesday. Trading of the stock was suspended several times due to volatility.

• JD Vance hit back at those who say Trump is a fascist, accusing Harris and her allies of disrespecting second world war veterans as he campaigned on Tuesday in one of the most hotly contested regions of battleground Michigan.

• In a new book, Rudy Giuliani claims his extensive legal problems and those of Trump are the results of persecution by “a fascist regime” run by Harris and Biden – all while avoiding mention of a $150m defamation award against him won by two Georgia election workers. The book repeats the lies about electoral fraud that saw him lose law licences in New York and Washington DC.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail

• Powered by consumer spending, the US economy likely kept expanding at a healthy pace from July through September despite the pressure of still-high interest rates. The commerce department is expected to report on Wednesday that gross domestic product – the economy’s total output of goods and services – grew at a 2.6% annual pace last quarter, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet. That would be down from a 3% annual rate in the April-June period.

• China’s government on Wednesday implied that if Trump wins he could “discard” Taiwan given the US has always pursued an “America first” policy. Trump has made several comments on the campaign trail saying Chinese-claimed Taiwan should pay to be protected and accusing the island of stealing American semiconductor business.

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