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Election 2020 updates: Trump ends long day rushing through final rally

Trump and Biden both campaigned in three Midwestern states Friday.

ByLibby Cathey and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: November 1, 2020, 11:41 AM EST

With four days until Election Day, and President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden racing toward Nov. 3, more than 82 million Americans have already cast their ballots -- an early voting record.

Friday brings both Trump and Biden to Minnesota and Wisconsin, revealing how crucial the states are to both campaigns, with the contest overshadowed by coronavirus cases rising there and in nearly every battleground state.

The president's aggressive, defensive strategy -- visiting states he won in 2016 including a first stop in Michigan this afternoon -- comes as polls show him trailing nationally and in swing states key to his reelection hopes. Vice President Mike Pence returns to Arizona for a pair of rallies in Flagstaff and Tucson.

Biden will see his busiest travel day to date of the general election. With a stop in Iowa, too, it's the first time the former vice president has made plans to campaign in three states in one day for the 2020 cycle. Running mate California Sen. Kamala Harris is in Texas as Democrats play offense and sense an opportunity to snatch the GOP-stronghold for the first time in more than four decades.

Top headlines:

Here is how the day is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 30, 2020, 11:45 AM EDT

Significance of Harris campaigning in Texas in the homestretch

Sen. Kamala Harris is taking to Texas this afternoon, becoming the first member of either major party ticket to attend a non-fundraiser event in the state since the general election campaign got underway and the first Democrat vice presidential candidate to campaign in the state since 1988.

Though Biden made a noteworthy stop in Dallas during the primaries in March -- where Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg and Beto O'Rourke joined him to lend their official endorsements -- Friday's events mark the Democratic ticket's acknowledgement that the state -- and other significant races across the state -- may be in play.

Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at a drive-in campaign rally in Tuscon, Ariz., Oct. 28. 2020.
ABC

The visit comes after several prominent Texas Democrats made public pleas for Biden or Harris to visit, noting that, in addition to any boost in the presidential race, their presence would bolster local candidates.

"We need some help from the national ticket,” O’Rourke said on a Texas Democratic Party call last week.

Harris will visit Fort Worth, McAllen and Houston, in what would appear to be a play to solidify the Democrats' inroads with suburban voters and Latino voters at the border.

Beyond the presidential race, not only are there opportunities to convert additional suburban voters and run up the score in Democratic strongholds, but the party is further hopeful that Harris' presence can have a trickle-down effect on congressional contests.
 
-ABC News’ Adam Kelsey

Oct 30, 2020, 11:18 AM EDT

COVID-19 election battleground state tracker

As the country enters what many scientists are calling a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic and the presidential candidates make their final pitches to voters in battleground states, here’s an update of the COVID-19 situation in 13 states ABC News rates as competitive for the presidential election (either toss-ups, leaning Democrat or leaning Republican).

Eight battleground states -- Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin -- are experiencing a rise in all three metrics: cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

Rate of positivity: 

  • Increased in 12 states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin

Current hospitalizations:

 

  • Increased in ten states: Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin

Daily deaths:

 

  • Increasing in eight states: Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin 
  • Decreasing in four states: Arizona, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada

The data comes as the presidential candidates blitz the Midwest -- where the number of people per capita hospitalized with COVID-19 in the region has now surpassed its own spring peak, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

-ABC News' Soorin Kim, Arielle Mitropoulos, Ben Bell and Brian Hartman

Oct 30, 2020, 10:39 AM EDT

Biden departs for 3-state tour, says he's not taking 'anything for granted'

Just before he boarded his plane with his granddaughter, Maisy, the former vice president took a quick question from the press about why he was visiting Minnesota, a state Democrats won by 2.5 points in 2016, and if that signaled concern about the state.

“No, I’m not concerned. We’re gonna be in Iowa, we’re gonna be in Wisconsin, so I thought I’d stop in Minnesota. I don’t take anything for granted. We’re gonna work for every single vote up til the last minute,” Biden said. 

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden boards his campaign plane at New Castle Airport in New Castle, Del., Oct. 30, 2020, to travel to Des Moines, Iowa.
Andrew Harnik/AP

Biden will now head out for Iowa -- a state Trump won in 2016 by nearly 10 points and one Biden hasn't seen since the Iowa caucuses -- his first of three stops in the Midwest today.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

Oct 30, 2020, 10:15 AM EDT

Texas shatters 2016 voting record on last day of early voting

Texas has shattered its voting record with four days to go until Nov. 3, reporting 9,009,850 votes already cast as of this morning, beating the state's all-time record of 8,969,226 votes cast in 2016.

People vote in North Austin, Texas on Oct. 19, 2020.
Ken Herman/Austin American-Statesman/TNS via Newscom

In a final push to encourage early voting, Harris County, the state's most populous county which includes Houston and the surrounding area, kept eight locations open for 24 hours. The 24-hour period started Thursday morning. Between 7 p.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday, 10,250 people voted there.

Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins announced during a drive-in concert late Thursday that the county -- home to roughly 4.7 million people -- had surpassed its entire voter turnout from 2016 with nearly 1.4 million votes already cast.

Friday is the final day Texans can vote early in the 2020 election. It comes as California Sen. Kamala Harris takes to the GOP-stronghold for the day as Democrats sense an opportunity -- though a long shot -- to win the state's 38 electoral votes.

-ABC News' Bonnie Mclean

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