| The state of the race: It’s going to be close if you look at the polling in the swing states. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris will be camped out in Pennsylvania today, holding three rallies in the state that could be the Electoral College linchpin. She ends the day at a Philadelphia event that is likely to be star-studded. Republican nominee Donald Trump will be in three states today: North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan. He’ll hold his final rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., the city where he closed out his two prior White House bids. Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance is in Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz will make stops in Wisconsin and Michigan.
No matter what happens on Tuesday, the dark imagery of this campaign could take time for the nation to recover from. In making his case for a change in direction, Trump has painted the nation as in decline and made illusions to violence about people he perceives as enemies. At an event in Arizona last week, Trump said former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney should have guns “trained on her face.” His campaign said the comments were intended to criticize her as a warmonger, but critics are condemning the former president’s remarks as evidence that he would target his enemies if elected. And yesterday, Trump spoke about standing behind bulletproof glass but suggested reporters covering him could be shot at. His campaign quickly issued a statement saying those remarks weren’t a threat directed at the news media and were taken out of context.
This will also go down as a considerably more expensive campaign than any before it. Harris is on course to outspend Trump on ads. Democratic groups are outpacing Republicans in every swing state, according to an NPR analysis. Pennsylvania will have seen more than $1 billion in ad spending alone given the competitive races it has from the White House contest on down. Total ad spending nationwide for all political races has exceeded $10 billion up $1 billion from 2020.
As the 2024 election reaches its final full day of campaigning, there are relatively few voters who are undecided. The question is who will vote. The campaigns and political parties are in overdrive trying to get the people they’ve identified as likely or possible voters for their candidates to actually cast ballots. MPR’s Dana Ferguson, Clay Masters, Ellie Roth and Mark Zdechlik tagged along for some of the get-out-the-vote events in Minnesota. Already, more than 1 million people have voted, and reports are that there were looonnnnggg lines at early vote locations across the state this weekend.
Secretary of State Steve Simon is stopping short of offering a turnout prediction for the election. But Minnesota will be among the top voting states. You have to go back to 1996 to find a presidential election where Minnesota had a turnout below 70 percent. And four years ago, turnout almost cracked 80 percent of the voting-age population. The two prior presidential elections saw roughly three quarters of eligible voters cast ballots. A year-by-year turnout chart can be found here.
We spoke with Secretary Simon and the state party chairs on Politics Friday. Hear what they had to say about the leadup to the election. We also spoke to a pair of political analysts about what they’ll be watching for on Tuesday. A reminder that MPR News will offer special live coverage Tuesday night beginning at 7 p.m.
For all the focus on the presidential race, sometimes things very local are big voter motivators. MPR’s Mathew Holding Eagle III went to Thief River Falls to talk to voters about what’s on their minds. Many of them brought up a local school referendum that could determine whether some buildings remain open and what else might have to be cut to balance the district budget. | 