Election 2024 live updates: Harris and Walz rally in Wisconsin and Michigan with Vance nearby (2024)

RFK Jr. cancels event due to security concerns

Roughly half a dozen protestors at tonight's rally in Detroit began chanting “free Palestine!” and “Kamala, Kamala you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide!” while Harris was speaking.

She twice paused her remarks to refer to the protesters, first telling them: “I’m here because we believe in democracy. Everyone’s voice matter. But I am speaking now.”

She later added, "You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I'm speaking."

The crowd of supporters tried to drown out the protesters with chants of “Kamala! Kamala!” and “We’re not going back!”

Even before Harrisselected Walzas her running mate yesterday morning, Walz was facing fresh scrutiny over what critics said was a delay in calling in the National Guard during the2020 protests that engulfedMinneapolis after the murder of George Floyd.

Republicans all the way up to Trump have claimed Walz was responsible for that delay, criticism that quickly coalesced into one of the main arguments against thefreshly formed Democratic presidential ticketyesterday, though Trump also offered praise to Walz for his handling of the situation in 2020.

Just hours after Harris picked Walz, Vance claimed Walz, who struck a conciliatory tone after Floyd’s murder and the violence that followed, was “cheering on” rioters in Minneapolis as it “burned” during the May 2020 protests — a criticism also quickly echoed by the Trump campaign, theRepublican National Committeeand the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. super PAC.

Read the full story here.

The publication date for a book by the president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, which oversees the controversial Project 2025, has been delayed until after the November election.

“Dawn’s Early Light,” written by Kevin D. Roberts, had been scheduled to be published Sept. 24. But following a public uproar over Project 2025’s policy proposals for a future Republican administration, Roberts said in a statement that he will postpone the book until after Election Day.

Read the full story here.

Reporting from Mesa, Ariz.

Two former staffers for the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., endorsed Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego today in his bid for the Arizona Senate seat.

“I worked with Sen. John McCain, not just because I largely agreed with his vision, and we didn’t always agree. But I knew that he would always put America and Arizona first,” Paul Hickman, who was a policy director and state director for McCain, said at an event in Mesa launching “Republicans and Independents for Ruben.”

“I know that his fellow combat veteran Ruben Gallego carries that same spirit of leadership. And that’s why I’m supporting him in the race,” he said.

President Joe Biden says he is "not confident" that there will be a peaceful transfer of power in January if Trump loses the election in November.

Asked in a CBS News interview whether he was confident that power would be peacefully transferred in January, Biden said, "If Trump loses, I'm not confident at all."

"He means it, all the stuff about if we lose there'll be a bloodbath," Biden said. "You can't love your country only when you win."

Read the full story here.

In roughly seven hours of testimony over two days, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. insisted he always intended to return to New York after his wife, "Curb Your Enthusiasm" actress Cheryl Hines, retired from television.

It has become a key point in his claim of residency in New York, which is at the center of his efforts to get on the ballot as an independent presidential candidate in the state.

His testimony grew heated at times, covering wide-ranging topics from his attempts to train ravens in California to talk to the “extraordinary attributes” of his New York town.

A group of petitioners alleges that Kennedy misrepresented his residency status in New York when he filed for ballot access with the state, saying he never lived full time at the New York address he used on his filing petition. The judge’s bench ruling could affect Kennedy’s ability to appear on the New York ballot in the fall.

After their rally in Wisconsin, Harris and Walz visited a store that sells art, apparel and books with Justin Vernon, of the band Bon Iver, and Walz's daughter, Hope.

Vernon and Hope were wearing camo Harris-Walz hats.

Bon Iver performed at the campaign's rally in Eau Claire.

Logan Schiciano, Tara Prindiville and Jake Traylor

During Harris’ remarks in Wisconsin today, some people in the crowd started chanting “Lock him up! Lock him up!” in reference to Trump as Harris touted her background as a prosecutor.

Harris, who typically tries to quiet those chants or moves past them quickly, responded by encouraging her supporters to take action at the ballot box, instead.

Unlike yesterday's rally in Philadelphia, where neither Harris nor Walz mentioned Biden by name, the vice president began her remarks today in Wisconsin by praising the president.

“And let me say ... I want to bring greetings from our incredible president, Joe Biden,” Harris said in Eau Claire. “He loves Wisconsin, and I know we are all deeply grateful for his lifetime of service to our nation and for all he continues to do.”

The crowd at the rally then chanted, “Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!”

“That's right. I’m gonna tell him what you said,” Harris replied.

In a rally today in Wisconsin, Walz brought up a topic that has been circling this election cycle: IVF.

"When Gwen and I decided to have children, we went through years of fertility treatments, and I remember each night praying that the call was going to come and it was going to be good news. The phone would ring, tenseness in my stomach, and then the agony when you heard the treatments hadn't worked. So it wasn't by chance that when we welcomed our first child, our beautiful daughter, we named her Hope," he said as the crowd cheered around him.

In vitro fertilization was at the center of discussion this year when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that embryos are children, causing several clinics in the state to put treatments on hold. In June, Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic-led bill to protect access to reproductive treatments including IVF.

On the other side of the ballot, Vance has been in hot water for comments he has made about childless people (he has said he supports IVF, but he was one of the Republicans who voted to block the Senate bill).

At an event in Wisconsin, Vance blasted Harris on the border, saying his mother's battle with addiction could have been worse under a Harris administration.

"I really believe that if the poison that Kamala Harris is letting come across the border in 2024 was coming across the border 15 years ago, or 12 years ago, I never would’ve gotten that second chance with my mom, and we would have never had the opportunity to see her build a wonderful relationship with her three grandchildren," Vance said, alluding to the fentanyl crisis and his mother's longtime battle with addiction.

Vance told NBC News last month that he could see himself in the Trump administration as a spokesperson on combatting drug abuse. He has mentioned his mother's past struggle with addiction on the campaign trail and in his speech at the Republican National Convention.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore defended Walz’s military service after Vance accused the Minnesota governor, who served 24 years in the National Guard, of having “abandoned” his unit to avoid being deployed to Iraq.

“You get to sergeant major because you were willing to put on the uniform and put the flag of this country on your shoulder and promise to defend it against all enemies foreign and domestic,” Moore said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” “I think JD Vance knows, as being a corporal, that you don’t get to sergeant major just because.”

Moore, a combat veteran who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2005 as a captain, argued that, “especially as a veteran” himself, Vance must "respect” Walz and “anybody who is willing to raise their hand, to put on the uniform of this country.”

“This is a person who believes in patriotism; he believes in the goodness of the American people,” Moore said, referring to Walz. “He believes in the goodness of the documents that we fall under and that we served under.”

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House speaker, emphasized the excitement in the Democratic Party surrounding the Harris-Walz ticket in an interview on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

“I’m very proud of the campaign, but it speaks not only to our readiness, but the opportunity the public presented to us," Pelosi said. "They were eager for us to get moving. They wanted to be joyful. They wanted to be hopeful, and this campaign is giving them that.”

Asked about Trump's comments regarding Harris' vice presidential pick, she said:“Who cares what he thinks about her choice? He’s got enough trouble with his own choice for vice president.”

Vance landed in Wisconsin just a few minutes after Harris touched down for her afternoon rally in the state. Trump's running mate then approached Air Force Two because, as he told reporters, "I just wanted to check out my future plane."

He said he didn't see or interact with Harris, who is rallying with Walz in the city of Eau Claire.

Easter-egg-eyed fans noticed something peculiar about Taylor Swift’s Instagram postyesterday about her latest shows: an image, deep into the carousel, that featured the silhouette of a person onstage who somewhat resembles Vice President Kamala Harris.

Long story short, Swift’s backup dancers wear pantsuits during a part of the Eras Tour, and that’s the literal explanation behind the Warsaw photo. A source close to the Harris campaign says that if including the picture sent any message to its supporters, it came as a surprise to the campaign and was not officially coordinated in any way.

Still, Harris followers certainly don't mind the chatter, given her platform and reach. Earlier this year, back when Biden was still running, the belief was that a Swift endorsem*nt would most likely come deeper into the cycle, closer to the fall.

The Harris campaign said it has raised $36 million since it announced yesterday that Walz would be Harris’ running mate. NBC News could not independently verify the number, which should be included in the campaign's future Federal Election Commission disclosures.

Trump has attacked Walz as "very liberal" after he was selected as Harris' running mate, but the former president himself once put the Minnesota governor in a high position.

As president, Trump appointed Walz to serve on the Council of Governors in 2019. The bipartisan advisory council consists of five Democratic and five Republican governors and helps build federal-state partnerships in matters of homeland security and civil support missions. The governors serve two-year terms and work with senior administration and military officials, including the secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security, the president’s homeland security and counterterrorism advisor, the commander of U.S. Northern Command and the chief of the National Guard Bureau.

Walz, who was reappointed by Biden in 2021, currently serves on the council as the Democratic co-chair. The leadership position is tasked with ensuring the interests of governors across the nation are accurately represented on the council. Phil Scott of Vermont serves as the Republican counterpart.

Georgia gave local officials significant new powers over the certification of elections results yesterday, a move that could delay or derail future post-election certification processes.

In a 3-2 vote, the Republican-controlled State Election Board voted to define the certification of election results as “attest, after reasonable inquiry, that the tabulation and canvassing of the election are complete and accurate and that the election results are a true and accurate accounting of all votes cast in that election.”

Theruledoes not define “reasonable inquiry,” which means that different counties will likely interpret the rule differently. It’s expected to allow county election boards to request information and potentially delay or block certification of results if they see fit. And the resulting delays could block the timely reporting of election results to state and federal authorities.

Read the full story here.

Vance took aim at Harris’ record on crime and immigration in remarks to the press in Shelby Township, Michigan.

Noting that Harris had served as California’s attorney general, Vance accused Harris of being a policymaker who is soft on crime and controlling the increase of migrants crossing the southern border.

“It is a policy choice to open up the American southern border and allow migrant criminals to come into this community and make it less safe," Vance said. "It is a policy choice to not deport people, to suspend deportations, which is what Kamala Harris did.”

Vance’s remarks echo Trump’s attacks on Harris as a “border czar” who is responsible for an overwhelmed asylum system in the U.S. In 2021, President Joe Biden tasked Harris with addressing the root causes of migration of people from Central American countries.

Before Tim Walz entered the political path that led to his selection as Harris' running mate, his former students knew him as an educator who challenged them to draw upon what was inside of them and think for themselves.

Anne Albracht was an eighth grader in Alliance, Nebraska, when Walz was a student teacher for her social studies class. She said she still cherishes the lessons she learned from an exercise he assigned asking each student to argue a side in Supreme Court cases affecting students' First Amendment rights.

Albracht, now a high school journalism teacher in Papillion, a suburb of Omaha, uses Walz's exercise and models her teaching method on his to inspire her students today.

"He's not telling you how he wants you to be, or what he wants you to think. He's opening up whatever it is inside of you and then kind of playing with that and challenging that, and growing that and encouraging that," she said.

Albracht added, "I definitely see the way that he interacted with students serving the way that we communicate within my classroom — and that is just honoring every voice, listening and valuing the contributions of everyone."

Rep. Cori Bush has lost the Democratic primary in Missouri to St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, the second “Squad” member to lose a House primary this election cycle. NBC News’ Steve Kornacki takes a look at the results and breaks down other primary elections in Michigan.

Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., acknowledged yesterday that he is under FBI investigation over his campaign finance filings and that the agency had seized his cellphone.

“It has been widely reported for months that my campaign made mistakes in our initial financial filings," Ogles wrote in a post on X. "We have worked diligently with attorneys and reporting experts to correct the errors and ensure compliance going forward. Last Friday, the FBI took possession of my cell phone. It is my understanding that they are investigating the same well-known facts surrounding these filings. I will of course fully cooperate with them, just as I have with the Federal Election Commission. I am confident all involved will conclude that the reporting discrepancies were based on honest mistakes, and nothing more.”

A local CBS affiliate has been investigating the congressman's campaign finances, and in January, the Campaign Legal Center, a watchdog organization, requested that the Office of Congressional Ethics investigate whether he violated financial disclosure requirements. The House Ethics Committee has not yet opened an investigation.

Ogles, his lawyer and the FBI did not immediately respond to NBC News' requests for comment on the investigation.

Following Trump's interview on "Fox & Friends" this morning, the Harris campaign said his comments show "the split screen that defines this election."

In the interview, Trump called Walz a "shocking pick" and "very, very liberal," adding that the Democratic ticket “would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner.”

In a statement, the Harris campaign said Trump "struggled to make a coherent argument" for his campaign.

“On Fox News this morning, criminal Donald Trump rambled, lied, and offered America nothing but chaos, hate and anger — the polar opposite of what we saw in Philadelphia last night," campaign spokesperson James Singer said in the statement, referring to Harris and Walz' first campaign appearance since she named him as her running mate. "We aren’t surprised Trump wouldn’t show his face, he’s ashamed of his dangerous Project 2025 agenda, is afraid to debate, and has no positive vision to present to the American people.”

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly was elevated to chair of the Democratic Governors Association after two years of serving as vice chair, the group announced today.

Since December, Walz had served as the chair of the organization, which functions like a campaign committee backing Democratic governors and candidates for governor.

Kelly, who will serve out the rest of his term, thanked Walz for his service in a statement.

"I want to thank Governor Tim Walz for his leadership and partnership over this last year, helping to steer the ship to success — including breaking fundraising records and putting Democratic candidates for governor in the best position to be competitive in tough races this year," she said. "We will do everything in our power to ensure success of the Harris-Walz ticket this November."

Walz is not a political newcomer, he is relatively unknown nationally. NBC’s Hallie Jackson reports for "TODAY" with a closer look at Harris’ choice for a running mate, including his policies, career and family.

Trump said in an interview this morning that he was astonished when Harris announced Walz as her running mate.

“I never thought this was going to be the one that was picked,” he said, adding that he knows Walz a “little bit” because of the 2020 protests and rioting that erupted over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. He said Walz had called him at the time because he was “very concerned” about Trump's supporters' potential response to the riots.

“That’s my only thing I ever had to do with him,” he added. “He’s a very, very liberal, man. And he’s a shocking pick, and I’m thrilled. I could not be more thrilled.”

Harris campaign adviser David Plouffe touted her choice of Walz as her running mate, contrasting what he said were the Minnesota governor's "mainstream positions” with the "extreme positions" of Trump's vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.

“I think Tim Walz is going to be super effective," Plouffe said in an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." He said Walz will reach voters in “places where he can speak about his values, his biography, and what he accomplished.”

Among Walz's "mainstream, popular accomplishments,” Plouffe noted his signing of bills codifying the right to abortion and establishing a refundable child tax credit.

Plouffe says the candidates' backgrounds will also be at the center of the campaign's messaging given Harris and Walz's "deep experience at the state and local level,”which he said contrasts with Trump and Vance having only federal experience.

Walz, a former school teacher and football coach, served for more than two decades in the Army National Guard before entering politics and winning a rural Trump district. As Harris’ newly minted running mate, Democrats hope Walz will appeal to Rust Belt Americans and white working-class voters. "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker joins "TODAY" with more perspective on what Walz could potentially bring to the Democratic ticket.

Harris had just 16 days to pick someone she could be linked to forever. She ended up going with one of the options that she — and the rest of the world —knew the least.

Walz was a dark horse from the start, left off early lists of potential running mates. But no one used the 16 days since Biden stepped aside more effectively than Walz, who charmed Harris and national Democrats alike with aDiet Mountain Dew-fueledmedia tour that labeled the opposition as “weird” and won him a spot in history.

The choice will leave an indelible imprint on the image of Harris that is still forming for many Americans, who know her far less than they do Biden or Trump, raising the stakes of a choice that can be difficult in the best of times, let alone under unprecedented time pressure.

Read the full story here.

A GOP outside group is also hitting the airwaves in Michigan, targeting Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin on pandemic relief spending in the state’s crucial Senate race, according to an ad shared first with NBC News.

One Nation, the nonprofit arm of the GOP super PAC Senate Leadership Fund, is launching its first ad as part of a $9.4 million buy that will run through Labor Day,

The 30-second spot, which will run on television, radio and online platforms, will run in Michgian’s competitive 7th District, which Slotkin represents in the House.

“Elissa Slotkin’s votes for reckless spending have cost Michigan families thousands,” a narrator says in the ad. “Tell Elissa Slotkin ‘no thank you’ to the wasteful spending and to start putting Michigan families first.”

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be in a courtroom in Albany, New York, today.

An organization is suing him over the address he claims as his home in New York on ballot access petitions.

Kennedy has argued that he has maintained an address in New York "for decades" and that the case shouldn't be cause for striking his name from the ballot.

Trump's running mate will start the day in Michigan with remarks at a police department before heading to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, for another campaign event.

Trump has no campaign trail events scheduled for today. He said in a Truth Social post last night that he'll be interviewed on "Fox & Friends" at 7:30 a.m. ET.

Harris and Walz will hit the ground running today, starting in Wisconsin and then ending in Michigan for the second stop of their battleground state tour.

In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the pair will be joined by Gov. Tony Evers and Sen. Tammy Baldwin. The band Bon Iver, whose members are from Wisconsin, is also set to perform.

In Michigan, Harris and Walz will appear alongside Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Reps. Shri Thanedar, Hillary Scholten, Haley Stevens, Dan Kildee, Elissa Slotkin and Debbie Dingell, as well as United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain.