Trump calls for ‘a humiliating rebuke’ of Democrats to close campaign

PHILADELPHIA — Josh Shapiro, the Democratic candidate for governor, and Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D) in separate interviews Tuesday afternoon chastised Republicans in the state for, in their view, attempting to disenfranchise voters by trying to have some ballots thrown out and slowing down the count.

“I don’t know why they’re [Republicans] working so hard to try and, you know, stop people’s votes from being counted,” Shapiro said. “I’m not sure what they’re so afraid of.”

Under pressure from GOP lawsuit, Philadelphia takes step that will slow vote count

After a morning of visiting polling places, Shapiro stopped by a Democratic luncheon here where hundreds of elected officials and Black community leaders crammed inside a restaurant and dined on a buffet of Southern fare. All of Pennsylvania’s top Democrats were in attendance, including Casey and Gov. Tom Wolf. Missing was Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the party’s U.S. Senate candidate, who was home on the other side of the state.

More Americans have cast early votes for this midterm election than they did in 2018.

According to the U.S. Elections Project, more than 43.5 million Americans have cast early ballots as of Monday evening. At this same point in 2018, 39.1 million early votes were cast.

The high number is the continuation of a trend of increasingly relying on early voting despite vocal objections from some Republicans. As The Washington Post reported on Sunday, this year’s total will grow because election officials are still receiving ballots through the mail and some states allow in-person early voting through the weekend.

Donald Trump blamed Democrats for allowing immigrants to cross the border and commit crimes, illustrating his point in his speech Monday with the story of a gang member who beat a teenage boy at a playground and stabbed him 32 times. The crime he was describing occurred in 2018, when Trump was president.

Former president Donald Trump called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) an “animal” at his rally in Dayton, Ohio, on Monday. He seemed to immediately recognize the comment would be met with outrage, adding, “They’ll say, ‘Oh, what a horrible thing he said.’ ”

But Trump stood by it, explaining, “She impeached me twice for nothing. Nothing.”

Pelosi has been the target of years of vicious attacks from Republicans. Her house was broken into while she wasn’t home on Oct. 28 and her husband was violently assaulted, requiring surgery for a skull fracture. The assailant allegedly said he was looking for Pelosi and had posted online about right-wing conspiracy theories.

The people of Arizona deserve “someone better thank Kari Lake,” said Meghan McCain, daughter of the late senator John McCain (R), a beloved figure in Arizona politics.

Meghan McCain issued this condemnation of Lake after the Republican candidate, who is running for governor in Arizona, attacked her father, calling him a “loser.”

Lake, at a campaign event, asked the crowd if there were “any McCain Republicans in here, do we?”

Her question drew boos from the crowd.

“Okay, if you [are], get the hell out,” Lake replied.

CANBY, Ore. — Christine Drazan on Monday ended her improbably close race for Oregon governor with a call for a “new direction” to upend 40 years of Democratic rule.

“People across the state said Republicans can’t win in Oregon!” the former state House minority leader told a crowd of 175 supporters gathered at the county fairgrounds here, the last stop on a statewide tour to rally voters in rural areas she needs to win on Tuesday. “Tomorrow we are going to choose change and restore balance to our civic life.”

While campaigning for GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker in Georgia, Sen. Lindsay O. Graham (R-S.C.) said giving D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood would dilute Republicans’ power.

“Does anybody need D.C. and Puerto Rico to be a state?” Graham asked the crowd at a Walker rally.

No, they yelled.

“That dilutes our power,” Graham said.

D.C. and Puerto Rico have long fought statehood, and both are Democratic strongholds — which is largely the reason Republicans opposed statehood efforts for the two.

Graham also said that if his party takes back the Senate, he’ll become chair of the chamber’s Budget Committee — which is now led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

J.D. Vance made his final pitch to Ohio’s voters before Donald Trump arrived to campaign for him, drawing together his main campaign messages on inflation, crime and the border.

“We need to tell Joe Biden, you don’t get another dime for your priorities unless you do the job of securing the southern border,” Vance said.

PHOENIX — On the eve of the election, officials in Maricopa County, home to most of Arizona’s voters, dedicated a news conference to false election narratives and urged voters to beware of them in the coming days.

In front of a room packed with reporters from around the world, officials dispelled a sampling of previous social media posts from the state’s GOP leader and cautioned against believing unverified information. Factions of Republicans have spread inaccurate information in the swing state this cycle about issues including the amount of time it takes to count ballots to the reliability of tabulation machines.

DAYTON, Ohio — Ahead of Donald Trump’s expected arrival at the election-eve rally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) made a surprise appearance to work up the crowd and stump for Republican Senate nominee J.D. Vance.

“There’s a lot of traitors and criminals that need to be held accountable,” said Greene, adding that the Republicans would “defund the IRS army” if they win a majority in Congress.

“We can and we will impeach Joe Biden,” said Greene, pausing to smile and raise a Trump-style fist at the cheering crowd.