Election 2020 updates: Trump ends long day rushing through final rally in Minnesota
Trump and Biden both campaigned in three Midwestern states Friday.
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:
- Trump speaks for just 21 minutes at final rally of the night in Minnesota
- Biden battles noisy Trump supporters during Minnesota rally
- Trump mocks COVID-19 public health precautions at Minnesota rally
- Biden argues Trump’s presidency has hurt jobs in Iowa
- 5 coronavirus cases linked to Trump campaign events in Wisconsin, one case linked to Biden rally
5 coronavirus cases linked to Trump campaign events in Wisconsin, one case linked to Biden rally
Wisconsin Department of Health Services told ABC News that a total of five cases have been linked to four different Trump rallies over the last three months.
Here's how the cases breakdown: One case from Oshkosh Trump rally on Aug. 17; One case from Mosinee Trump rally on Sept. 17; Two cases from Janesville Trump rally on Oct. 17; One case from Waukesha Trump rally on Oct. 24
In addition, the health department has identified one case linked to a Biden campaign rally in Manitowoc on Sept. 21.
As ABC News has previously reported, in Minnesota, at least 23 cases have been linked to coronavirus outbreaks from three Trump/Pence campaign rallies in September, and North Carolina on Thursday announced that two people who attended a Trump rally in Gaston County on Oct. 21 have tested positive.
However, Wisconsin Health Services Department cautioned that the above cases from Wisconsin "don't necessarily provide a complete picture."
"Because of the sheer volume they’re working with, our contact tracers are conducting abbreviated versions of full interviews and may not capture all details about where an infection was acquired," Wisconsin health department spokesperson Elizabeth Goodsitt told ABC News. "Also, the people below reported other possible exposures, so we can’t say for sure these events were or were not the cause of these cases."
-ABC News' Soorin Kim
Trump touts potential crowd size ahead of first restricted rally in Minnesota
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.
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.
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
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:
Current hospitalizations:
Daily deaths:
-ABC News' Soorin Kim, Arielle Mitropoulos, Ben Bell and Brian Hartman
Kamala Harris joined by Beto O'Rourke, Julian Castro at 2nd Texas stop
Sen. Kamala Harris made a second stop in Texas on Friday evening, where she was joined on stage by former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke and former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro at a drive-in rally in McAllen.
The Democratic vice presidential candidate gave her typical stump speech drawing contrast between Joe Biden and President Donald Trump on multiple fronts, with emphasis on what she described as Biden's ability to unify Americans.
"Joe Biden, in his heart, knows who we really are as America. Joe Biden, in his heart, knows that regardless of where you live, your race, your gender, your age, the language your grandmother speaks -- Joe Biden knows that the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us. And it is time that we reject hate and division, and unify as a country. There are clear choices," she said.
-ABC News' Averi Harper