On Politics

Mon Oct 28 2024

Rebecca Morin | Senior National News Reporter

@RebeccaMorin_

Hi all. It's Rebecca Morin, senior national news reporter at USA TODAY. I'm back in D.C. after a quick trip to Texas to cover Democrat Kamala Harris' rally with Beyoncé on Friday.

We're 8 days out from Election Day. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump (and their running mates) are swinging through several key battleground states. We have you covered on all the election news of the day.

Trump faces backlash from Bad Bunny, Puerto Ricans amid fight for Latino vote

Donald Trump held one of his closing rallies at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. It was there that comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who goes by the stage name Kill Tony, made racist jokes about Black Americans and Latinos and said Puerto Rico was a "floating island of garbage." The comments saw widespread (and bipartisan) condemnation, especially among big name Puerto Ricans like Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin. Read more.

•	Trump and Harris are vying heavily for Latino voters in the razor-thin election cycle, especially as Trump is seeing growing support among some Latino and Black voters.
•	Puerto Rico is U.S. territory, and while residents on the island can't vote for the president, there are many Boricuas that live in the United States. About two-thirds of Puerto Ricans live in the U.S. and can vote in the presidential election.
•	Watch: Harris and Trump fight for the Latino vote days before Election Day

The remarks at Trump's rally came as he is making his closing argument ahead of the Nov. 5 general election – an event that was marked with racist tropes and vitriol . There, Trump repeated his plans to launch the "largest deportation program in American history."

Harris will make her closing argument on Tuesday in Washington D.C. at the Ellipse, which is the same place Trump delivered a fiery speech before a crowd of his supporters stormed the Capital on Jan. 6, 2021. Harris will use the symbolic venue to make a call for voters to end Trump's "era of chaos and division," and talk about a new path.

A politics pit stop

•	A poll roundup: What the latest surveys on Harris vs. Trump say with 8 days to go
•	Or forget the polls? Prediction fever takes over Trump vs. Harris 2024 election
•	Why a potential Trump win – and his Jan. 6 pardon plan – have one family fearing for their lives
•	When will we know if Kamala Harris or Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election?

Virginia asks Supreme Court to allow it to purge suspected noncitizens from its voter rolls

Just days before the general election, Virginia Republicans have asked the Supreme Court to let them reinstate a purge of suspected noncitizens from voter rolls. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares filed an emergency petition with the high court hours after a federal appeals court on Sunday upheld a lower court's ruling stopping the purge. Read more.

The president votes early

President Joe Biden is just like us sometimes. The president on Monday morning waited in line to cast his ballot in the 2024 election . It's the last ballot he'll cast as president after he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race earlier this year and went on to endorse Harris as the nominee.