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
Biden battles noisy Trump supporters during Minnesota rally
At his stop in St. Paul, Minnesota, former Vice President Joe Biden battled with noise from Trump supporters as he took aim at the president.
Talking over a constant stream of air horns and beeps, the Democratic nominee responded to President Donald Trump's claim at a rally earlier Friday that doctors inflate the number of deaths from COVID-19 to get more money.
"The president of the United States is accusing the medical profession of making up COVID deaths so they make more money," Biden said. "Doctors and nurses go to work every day to save lives. They do their jobs. Donald Trump should stop attacking them and do his job."
Biden addressed the noise three times during his remarks. At one point, he referred to those "ugly folks" blasting horns and attempting to interrupt the event.
"Dr. [Anthony] Fauci called for a mask mandate last week. This isn't a political statement like those ugly folks over there beeping the horns," Biden said. "This is a patriotic duty, for God's sake. Look, in his own words, as I said, the president knew back in January how extremely dangerous and communicable this disease was."
Biden pleaded with voters to keep themselves engaged in the final four days of the race -- once again taking a jab at the loud protesters as he did so.
"Right here in Minnesota, with all of you, in the final days, keep that sense of empowerment. Keep that -- empowerment with you, that sense of optimism, of what we can overcome," he said. "Now look, there's a reason they don't want to hear me, because they know the president doesn't say anything. So they're not used to not hearing anything."
Toward the end of his remarks, Biden pointed to a recent appellate court ruling that absentee ballots received after Election Day cannot be counted, and urged everyone to hand-deliver their ballot rather than mail it.
"So if you want your voice to be heard, drop off your ballot. Don't put it in the mail. Or vote safely in person any day up through Election Day," he said. "But you've got to get it done. And make sure everyone you know votes as well, so they'll not be able to stop us."
-ABC News' Molly Nagle
From Wisconsin, where COVID-19 metrics are trending up, Trump says country is 'rounding the turn'
At his second rally of the day, President Donald Trump spoke to supporters on a chilly day in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
As he has at every rally recently, the president attempted to downplay the threat of COVID-19 and said the U.S. is "rounding the turn" on the pandemic, despite the country facing a third wave of cases and hospitalizations surging around the country.
Coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths are particularly on the rise in Wisconsin. On Friday, the state reported more than 5,000 new cases, and almost every county is experiencing "very high disease activity," including Brown County, where Green Bay sits, state health department data shows.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has called the surge an "urgent crisis" and has asked people to stay home.
While in Wisconsin, Trump made it very clear that if "we win this state ... it's over."
He also continued to blast this week's ABC News/Washington Post poll, which found him down 17 points to Biden among likely voters in Wisconsin.
"I said, wait a minute, I just left a crowd of 25,000 people or more," said Trump, referring to a rally earlier this week in West Salem. "They were going crazy. That wasn't a second-place crowd. You know, we know a second-place crowd. That was not a second-place crowd."
-ABC News' Terrence Smith, Elizabeth Thomas and Will Steakin
In Arizona, crowd chants 'lock her up' after Pence says Pelosi 'has got to go'
At his first of two stops in Arizona on Friday, Vice President Mike Pence threw his support behind congressional candidates and told Arizonans to elect them so House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., can be removed from her post.
"So right after you reelect President Donald Trump for four more years and right after you reelect Sen. Martha McSally to the United States Senate, we all need you to send Paul Gosar, Congressman Markwayne Mullin and Tiffany Shedd to a new Republican majority in the House of Representatives, and retire Nancy Pelosi once and for all. Out! She has got to go," Pence said at the outdoor rally in Flagstaff.
That caused some supporters to chant "lock her up!"
Mullin, it should be noted, is not on the ballot in Arizona, but represents Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional District.
McSally, who is competing in one of the most-watched Senate campaigns this cycle, introduced Pence. The vice president said it was "an honor" to share the stage with her, and that she has "emerged as one of the greatest champions" for Republicans.
On the coronavirus, Pence said that a vaccine is "just a short time away." He acknowledged that COVID-19 cases are increasing in the state, which reported 1,565 new cases Friday.
"And as we see cases rise, particularly across the heartland and even somewhat here in Arizona," he told of the crowd of about 500, the majority of whom were not wearing masks or social distancing. "I want to assure you, we're going to continue to move heaven and earth to make sure that our doctors and nurses, and here in Arizona and everywhere in America, that every family has access to the health care that we'd want any member of our family to have."
-ABC News' Justin Gomez
ABC's race ratings update: Texas is now a toss-up in campaign's final days
With only four days until Nov. 3, Texas has moved this week in Biden's favor -- shifting from lean Republican to a toss-up, according to ABC's race ratings.
Here's where the race to 270 currently stands: Biden - 290; Trump - 125; Toss-up -123.
Click here for ABC's interactive electoral map, which is updated weekly.
-ABC News' Kendall Karson
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.