US election live: Trump in Georgia, Harris in Michigan as polls show a tie Alice Speri, Nils Adler

Tension around presidential race affecting Americans’ mental health

Reporting from Washington, DC

One poll that I saw really shows how Americans feel about this race – whether they’re Democrats, Republicans or undecided.

It said 75 percent of Americans feel that this upcoming election is having an impact on their mental health.

They are anxious about the outcome of this election; regardless of who wins it, they’re worried about the day after and what that might look like.

So, that gives you a sense of the tension that most Americans are feeling.
Puerto Ricans slam Trump: ‘We are Americans … We vote’

Hours after a speaker at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally called US territory Puerto Rico an “island of garbage”, backlash against the Republican candidate only intensified as several high-profile Puerto Ricans responded by calling on fellow Puerto Ricans to make their disapproval known at the ballot box.

“Puerto Rico is trash? We are Americans, Donald Trump,” TV host Sunny Hostin said on the popular show The View on Monday. “We vote.”

Hostin proceeded to list the number of Puerto Ricans living in key swing states Trump is battling for: 500,000 in Pennsylvania, 115,000 in North Carolina, 100,000 in Georgia.

“We don’t like what was said about Puerto Rico. And we know how to take the trash out, Donald Trump. Trash that has been collecting since 2016, and that’s you Donald Trump,” she added. “Trash collection date is November 5, 2024.”

Others also took to social media to “make sure not one Puerto Rican in the US votes for [the Republican Party] and his candidates,” Luis A Miranda, Jr , a political strategist and chair of the Latino Victory Fund, wrote on X.

“Latino men of good will, have pride in yourselves and your ancestors,” the former Fox News commentator Geraldo Rivera echoed, targeting a demographic whose vote Trump has courted. “A vote for Trump is a vote against self-respect.”

Rivera wrote a flurry of posts condemning the comments, including an old photo of himself smiling with the former president and the message, “Sorry you went to the dark side.”

“[Madison Square Garden] is a legendary arena memorable for many historic occasions. Now it will be remembered as the place Donald Trump lost his bid for reelection. It was one hate speech too many.”

Explainer
Fact check: Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in New York City

Matthew Crowley, Louis Jacobson and Maria Ramirez Uribe and Amy Sherman | PolitiFact

Trump rallied his MAGA troops with angry words about immigration and mocked Harris.

We fact-check eight claims he made, including four about immigration:

Trump said Harris “has imported criminal migrants from prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions from all around the world, from Venezuela to the Congo”.

But there is no evidence that countries are emptying their prisons – or mental institutions – and sending people to irregularly migrate to the US.

Immigration officials arrested about 108,000 non-citizens with criminal convictions (whether in the US or abroad) from fiscal years 2021 to 2024, federal data shows.

That accounts for people stopped at and between ports of entry. Not everyone was let in.

Continue reading here.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump holds a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump holds a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City [Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images]
Elon Musk handing out money over US election is ‘totally inappropriate’: Biden

The US president has criticised the billionaire donor’s promise to give away $1m per day to a registered voter who signs an online petition.

President Joe Biden made the comment to reporters after casting his vote in New Castle, Delaware.

As we reported earlier, the district attorney of Philadelphia has filed a lawsuit to halt Musk’s giveaways as part of his political organisation’s efforts to boost Trump ‘s presidential campaign.

The suit by Philadelphia Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner is the first legal action to be brought over the America PAC’s sweepstakes offering $1m every day until Election Day to a person in a battleground state who has signed a petition supporting the US Constitution.

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US election 2024: Legal experts question Elon Musk’s planned cash giveaways
‘He’s the one who’s a piece of garbage’

Addressing Donald Trump supporters in New York yesterday, stand-up comic Tony Hinchcliffe said: “I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico”.

His “joke”, part of a set that included lewd remarks and racist comments about Black people, Latinos and Jews – was met with widespread condemnation in Puerto Rico and beyond.

In the island’s capital, San Juan, Milagros Serrano said her entire family were outraged by Hinchcliffe’s comments.

“He can’t be talking about Puerto Rico like that,” the 81-year-old, whose son lives in the swing state of Pennsylvania, told AP. “He’s the one who’s a piece of garbage.”

Jose Acevedo, a 48-year-old health worker from San Juan, shook his head as he recalled how he felt while watching the rally at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“What humiliation, what discrimination!” he told the news agency, adding that he immediately texted relatives in New York, including an uncle who is a Republican and had planned to vote for Trump.

“He told me that he was going to have to analyse his decision,” Acevedo said, adding that his relatives were in shock. “They couldn’t believe it.”

Michael Melendez Ortiz, a 33-year-old unemployed janitor, said he and a friend thought the video was fake at first because they were so taken aback by what the comedian said.

“We must be respected,” he said. “We are good and upstanding people.”
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe speaks during a rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at the Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in New York [Andrew Kelly/Reuters]
In Gettysburg, unity remains elusive

With 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania could play a key role in the US elections.

Centuries ago, a three-day battle in Gettysburg largely defined the course of the country’s civil war, which then raged between the North and South.

It was a “civil war that pitched Americans against each other- a scenario that echoes in the divided nation of today”, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna said, reporting from Gettysburg.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has repeatedly criticised Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his ominous comments about “the enemy within” the US and threat to deploy the military domestically in an effort to paint her opponent as a threat to democracy.

“When we start to see people who think differently than us as our enemies, then I don’t know that there’s are enough elections, enough democracy if you will, that can save us from that”, Niambi Carter, a political scientist at Maryland University told Al Jazeera.

Hanna said Pennsylvania has traditionally been a Democrat state but has increasingly leaned Republican. Gettysburg is in the 13th congressional district, which Republicans have controlled for the past six years.

Beth Farnham, the Democratic party’s candidate in the district, argued that Trump’s rhetoric could cost him at the polls.

“The majority of people I’ve spoken to, including several Republicans, recognise what a threat [Donald Trump] is to our democracy,” she said.

Explainer
What is gerrymandering in US elections?

It’s been called vote-rigging, a power grab, and just plain sneaky – but it’s legal, and both Republicans and Democrats do it.

Gerrymandering, the process of redrawing voting districts to favour political parties, is almost as old as the US and yet still very much part of the modern political process.

In this year’s general election, it could affect the outcome of crucial races for the US House of Representatives as well as state legislatures.

For all you need to know about gerrymandering in US elections, read our 500-word explainer, here.
A privacy booth is seen at a polling station located in the Maryland, US
Poorly drawn voting districts can potentially violate laws like the Voting Rights Act, which bars racial discrimination at the ballot box [File: Hannah McKay/Reuters]
Tuesday will be a big day for Team Harris

Reporting from Washington, DC

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris will deliver her closing arguments tomorrow in Washington, DC.

It was supposed to be a rally for 8,000 people, but we’re now hearing it may be closer to 20,000 people gathered on the Ellipse (a large park near the White House).

The Ellipse is also the site of an official tree-lighting ceremony at Christmas time in the United States.

It’s intended to be a very presidential-looking moment in which Kamala Harris makes the case that she should take the Oval Office, painting a contrast between herself and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Offering a message of joy, Harris says she will provide a new sort of era and a break with her predecessor, President Joe Biden.

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‘A threat to democracy’? A look at Democrats’ push against Trump

As we previously reported, Harris accused Trump this morning of being “fixated on his grievances, on himself, and on dividing our country”.

Democrats, as well as US civil rights advocates, have long painted Trump as a threat to democracy.

The argument gained traction after January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol in Washington, DC, to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory.

Trump – who gave a speech shortly before the riot telling his supporters to “stop the steal” and “fight like hell” – was impeached by the US House of Representatives for “incitement of insurrection”.

He also faces two criminal cases linked to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election: A federal indictment and a case in the US state of Georgia accusing him of conspiring with allies to subvert the results.

More recently, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, John Kelly, said he believes the former president is a fascist. Kelly also said Trump had spoken positively about Adolf Hitler, an allegation the Republican has denied.

Houthi
Biden has voted

The US president waited in line for about 40 minutes before casting his ballot in New Castle, Delaware.

Joe Biden handed his identification to the election worker, who had him sign and announced, “Joseph Biden now voting.”