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

Departing the White House for a three-state tour of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, the president aired his grievances with Minnesota's coronavirus measures imposed by the state's Democratic governor which will restrict his rally size -- for the first time -- to 250 people, while arguing he has "biggest crowds in the history of politics."

"We have 25,000 people in Minnesota, which is our last stop today. Twenty-five thousand people want to be there, and they say you can only have 250 people. So they thought I’d cancel, but I'm not canceling," Trump said, adding his supporters are still angry from civil unrest over the summer.

"And I think it's going to flip for the first time since 1972," Trump added.

After losing Minnesota to Hillary Clinton by just 44,000 votes in 2016, Trump has set his sights on flipping the historically blue state, which has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1972. His visit on Friday will be his fourth trip to the state this year and his eighth visit in the last four years.

But Trump is also facing a surging coronavirus pandemic in the Midwest, as Minnesota state health protocols currently mandate that all large gatherings be limited to 250 people, which the Trump campaign has deemed "free speech-stifling" ahead of the president touching down in Rochester. 

Trump narrowly lost Olmsted County, which includes the city of Rochester, by 598 votes in 2016. Although once a fundamentally Republican area, Obama carried the county twice, and now the Trump campaign has devoted increased resources into flipping such districts and courting voters in surrounding rural communities.

The former vice president is set to appear at a drive-in campaign event in St. Paul -- where Democrats have historically performed well -- just one hour before the president is scheduled to appear to take the stage an hour south.

The candidates' visits come one day after the state's reported its single highest daily increase on record. They also come on the heels of the the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to require all absentee ballots in Minnesota to be received by local officials 8 p.m. on Nov. 3 in order to be counted -- a victory for Trump who has demanded all votes be tabulated on election night, though votes are always certified in the coming days and weeks.

FiveThirtyEight's polling average currently has Biden leading in Minnesota by 8 points.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.

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.

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

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

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. 

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