Harris, Trump battle for swing-state votes as Musk draws lawsuit
Trump rallies evangelical voters in Georgia, Harris touts plans to boost manufacturing
Washington: Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris appealed to Christian groups and union workers in battleground states, while Elon Musk faced backlash for his plans to give selected registered voters $1 million as part of an election sweepstakes to motivate turnout for the Republican nominee.
President Joe Biden criticised Musk’s scheme after casting an early ballot in Delaware, highlighting how both campaigns are encouraging supporters to get to the polls.
Trump rallied evangelical voters in Georgia, while Harris highlighted her plans to boost manufacturing during a tour of Michigan as the two candidates furiously campaign with just eight days until Election Day.
Trump looked to build his advantage with independent and male voters over the weekend with a three-hour Joe Rogan podcast appearance on Friday and a rally Sunday night in New York.
But both events offered fodder for Harris headed into the weekend’s final stretch.
In New York, warm-up acts for Trump made racist and crude comments about Black Americans, Puerto Ricans and Palestinians, undermining the Republican nominee’s attempts to make inroads with minority voters. On the Rogan podcast, Trump also disparaged the Biden administration’s signature legislation offering subsidies for semiconductor manufacturers who opened plants back in the US, saying he would have accomplished the same goal through high tariffs.
What time does polling end?
Votes are counted in each state after their respective polls close. Poll close times vary from state to state but generally begin from around 7pm local time.
The range of time zones across the US means that on the east coast, ballots will have been tabulated while voters in states like Alaska and Hawaii are still making their way to the polls.
When do we get the election results?
The winner of the election will likely not be projected for days. Even then, the results are not properly finalised for months. However, states and the whole election result are typically “called” long before final votes are counted.
Harris seized on both while in Michigan, criticising the remarks about Puerto Rico and visiting a Hemlock Semiconductor LLC facility, just a week after the company received a $325 million preliminary investment under the Chips and Science Act.
Biden cast an early-voting ballot in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. Biden, the oldest US president in history at 81, ended his own reelection bid this summer and endorsed Harris.
The president arrived at a polling station with US Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, who is running for Senate to replace retiring Democrat Tom Carper. Biden greeted people waiting in line outside the station to cast their own ballots, including helping push one woman in a wheelchair.
Biden received a sticker after voting and took questions from the press, telling them he thought Democrats would win. And he used the opportunity to assail Trump over his Sunday rally and the comments from speakers.
“It’s simply embarrassing. It’s beneath any president,” Biden added.
Biden also criticised the election sweepstakes being organised by Musk and his super political action committee, America PAC.
“I think it’s totally inappropriate,” the president said.
America PAC is offering registered voters in swing states the chance to win $1 million if they sign an online petition pledging to support free speech and the right to bear arms.
The vice president has enlisted Democratic heavyweights like former President Barack Obama and celebrities like BeyoncA(c) Knowles-Carter to join her on the trail.
Biden, however, has been mostly appearing solo since the two campaigned together on Labor Day in Pittsburgh.
Musk sued over giveaways
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is suing Musk and the billionaire investor’s super PAC over the offer to give registered voters in US swing states $1 million prizes.
Krasner is asking a state judge to stop Musk from running what the complaint calls an “unlawful lottery” that is lulling “Philadelphia citizens to give up their personal identifying information and make a political pledge in exchange for the chance to win.”
The lawsuit marks the first official legal challenge Musk, the world’s richest person, has faced over the programme, which has drawn scrutiny from legal experts and the US Department of Justice. The DOJ sent Musk’s PAC a letter warning the program might violate federal law barring paying individuals to vote or to register to vote.
Asked about the suit, a spokesman for America PAC pointed to a post on Musk’s X social-media platform announcing a winner from Michigan and indicating the effort would continue to Election Day.
Trump sat for a moderated discussion at the National Faith Summit in Powder Springs, Georgia, in another appeal to win over evangelical voters, a group that polls show are breaking overwhelmingly for the former president.
The Republican was, at times, awkward in his appeal to Christians, dodging a question about his own faith life, referring to a religious congregation as “an audience,” musing about whether “pastor” or “minister” is the preferred term and admitting that as a child attending religious classes sometimes he “couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”
“I shouldn’t scold anyone, but Christians aren’t known for being very solid voters,” Trump said.
Trump lamented that the US is “less based on religion now” — calling it the “glue” and “fabric” holding the country together — while castigating Democrats for minimising faith and repeating baseless claims about the persecution of Catholics.
Harris touts chip investments
The vice president toured a semiconductor facility in Michigan, using the trip to push back on Trump’s criticisms of the Chips Act, which subsidizes domestic chip manufacturing.
Harris said the law made the US more competitive with China and cast it as the type of jobs-growing investments Americans could expect under her administration.
“When we can find a way to have meaningful partnerships with the private sector, with industries, to do the kind of work that is happening here, everybody wins,” Harris said.