Trump concludes MSG rally with anti-immigrant rhetoric

Trump was introduced to the stage by Melania in an unannounced appearance.

ByAlexandra Hutzler, Ivan Pereira, Tal Axelrod, Meredith Deliso, Emily Chang, David Brennan, and Julia Reinstein
Last Updated: October 28, 2024, 6:39 AM EDT

The race for the White House remained essentially a dead heat on Sunday -- with nine days to go until Election Day.

Former President Donald Trump delivered a speech Sunday afternoon at New York's Madison Square Garden. After making several stops in Philadelphia on Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris held a rally there Sunday afternoon.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news developed:
Oct 28, 6:03 am

Almost 42 million voters have cast a vote

Almost 42 million Americans have cast a vote through early voting methods, as of Sunday afternoon, according to data from the University of Florida's Election Lab.

The about 41.9 million recorded mail and early in-person votes were evenly split with about 21 million mail ballots returned nationally and about the same cast at in-person early voting polling sites across the country, the data showed.

Early voting options are now open to voters in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Many early voting periods will last until the weekend before Election Day.

Oct 25, 2024, 10:59 AM EDT

Trump zeroes in on 'blue wall' states

Trump will embark on a rigorous schedule making his final pitch to voters. The former president is focusing on the "blue wall" states this weekend and early next week, specifically targeting Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

After stops in Michigan and Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump will culminate his weekend campaigning with a rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, in which the former president has coined as a "celebration of the whole thing" with his nine years of campaigning coming to close.

-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa and Soorin Kim

Oct 25, 2024, 10:47 AM EDT

Americans accused of noncitizen voter fraud face doxxing

Eliud Bonilla, a Brooklyn-born NASA engineer born to Puerto Rican parents, was abruptly purged from the voter rolls as a "noncitizen."

Bonilla later voted without issue, but the nuisance soon became a nightmare after a conservative watchdog group published his personal information online after obtaining a list of the state's suspected noncitizen voters.

"I became worried because of safety," he told ABC News, "because, unfortunately, we've seen too many examples in this country when one person wants to right a perceived wrong and goes through with an act of violence."

Bonilla's story highlights a real-world impact of aggressive efforts to purge state voter rolls of thousands of potential noncitizens who have illegally registered. Many of the names end up being newly naturalized citizens, victims of an inadvertent paperwork mistake or the result of a clerical error, experts say. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections.

Read more about Bonilla's story and a fact check of noncitizen voting claims here.

-ABC News' Devin Dwyer and Sarah Herndon

Oct 25, 2024, 10:44 AM EDT

Half of Americans see Trump as fascist, Harris viewed as pandering: POLL

A new poll from ABC News and Ipsos found half of Americans (49%) see Trump as a fascist, or "a political extremist who seeks to act as a dictator, disregards individual rights and threatens or uses force against their opponents."

A majority of voters (65%) also said Trump often says things that are not true.

But Harris also faces perception headwinds, though far fewer Americans (22%) said they viewed her as a fascist.

Fifty-seven percent of registered voters said Harris is making proposals "that just are intended to get people to vote for her," not that she intends to carry out. Just more than half (52%) said the same about Trump.

Read more takeaways from the poll here.

Oct 25, 2024, 7:51 AM EDT

Trump to appear on Joe Rogan podcast in play for young male voters

Former President Donald Trump sits down with podcast host Joe Rogan for the first time Friday, appearing on the highly popular "The Joe Rogan Experience," as he reaches out to an audience of mostly young males as potential voters.

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump arrives at a Turning Point Action campaign rally at the Thomas & Mack Center on Oct. 24, 2024 in Las Vegas.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The podcast, which boasts approximately 15.7 million followers, a Spotify representative confirmed to ABC News, is greater than the population of any of the seven election battleground states.

Read more here

-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd and Emily Chang