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
Early vote explosion shows system working, with stress tests ahead
It's happening the way it's supposed to happen. Voters are voting -- smashing records, adjusting behaviors and recalibrating expectations -- in ways that show the nation is many things, but definitely not apathetic.
It's also happening in ways that will stress the systems built to account for it all. More early votes, oddly, will mean reporting out results will take longer in several critical states -- to say nothing of the continuing challenges of participating in and administering an election in the midst of a pandemic.
Amid a flurry of COVID-era campaigning in battleground states, this week brought new high-water marks that suggest turnout records will fall this year.
Nearly as many Texans have voted as in all of 2016, with Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and Arizona are among the states already three-quarters of the way there, according to the United States Elections Project at the University of Florida.
But this week also brought continued uncertainties about the process of voting. The Supreme Court now has nine justices again, and voters in states, including Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and North Carolina have a right to be confused about what the law is when it comes to how to vote -- and even what those laws might be on Election Day and beyond.
Layered on top of all of that are the efforts by President Trump to sow doubts about the integrity of the election.
From the local level on up, election officials say they're confident that there will be an accurate -- and, hopefully, promptly tallied -- vote count. But the surge of voting, while good for democracy, figures to make everything more difficult during this most difficult of times for the country.
-ABC News’ Political Director Rick Klein
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.