Highlights: Trump and Harris make final appeals to voters ahead of Election Day

After performing some of her hits at the Harris campaign rally in Pittsburgh, pop star Katy Perry touted her motherhood as one of the prime reasons she’s voting for the vice president. 

“Four years ago I became a mother. Best decision I ever made. Orlando and I, we welcomed our daughter Daisy. And she is the reason I am voting for Kamala Harris. I’ve known Kamala since before she was a senator. I’ve always known her to fight for the most vulnerable, to speak up for the voiceless. To protect our right as women to make decisions about our own bodies…I know she will protect my daughter’s future, and your children’s future, and our family’s future.”

The FBI and two other intelligence agencies are warning that Russia and other foreign adversaries are attempting to undermine confidence in the integrity of our elections.

In a joint statement, the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that “influence actors linked to Russia in particular” are manufacturing videos and creating fake news articles to weaken Americans’ trust. 

The agencies said Russian influencers were responsible for an article falsely claiming the officials are planning to commit election fraud, as well as a video that made false claims about election fraud in Arizona. The description of the latter matches a recent video that social media users baselessly claimed showed people dropping off fraudulent ballots in the Phoenix area.

In addition, the agencies said Iranian influencers also are creating false content intended to “suppress voting or stoke violence.”

Actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer gave a rousing introduction for Vice President Harris in Pittsburgh. 

“Our stories are different but our purpose is shared,” he told the audience. “We are here to be a part of the change. Y’all know that. We are here to choose a better future. We are here to elect Kamala Harris as the next president! Because America is ready for a new generation of leadership.” He says Harris is “not a demagogue, but she is not demure.”

He adds, “So tonight, let’s dance. And tomorrow, let’s make history!”

DJ Cassidy, who created the party-like atmosphere at this year’s music-infused Democratic National Convention, is playing emcee yet again at Harris’ final pre-Election Day campaign rally. He brought his “Pass the Mic” routine, in which he cues up speakers from across the country, to politics yet again. And the first speaker is Gov. Tim Walz, who’s telecasting in from a rally in Milwaukee. 

Walz touted Harris’ record and reiterated the opportunity voters have to “turn the page” on Trump. True to form, Walz made his point about the state of the election with a football reference: “We’re in the last two minutes of this game. This thing’s tied. But we’ve got the damn ball. We got the best quarterback in Kamala Harris. And we got the best team with the people right here in this room.”

Podcaster Joe Rogan, who held a three-hour interview with Trump in late October, has formally endorsed him.

In a social media post accompanying a new interview with Trump super-supporter Elon Musk, Rogan said he agrees with Musk.

“He makes what I think is the most compelling case for Trump you’ll hear, and I agree with him every step of the way,” Rogan wrote. “For the record, yes, that’s an endorsement of Trump.”

With his ties to UFC fighting and overwhelmingly young and male audience, Rogan could be described as the patron saint of Trump’s attempts to curry favor with the “bro vote.”

But Rogan wasn’t necessarily a lock for Trump. His politics are idiosyncratic, and he previously said positive things about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Kamala Harris’ performance at the September presidential debate.

The garbage line is not going away. Speaking at a rally in Atlanta, Sen. JD Vance offered a lengthy rebuttal to the Biden quote about Trump supporters and “garbage.”

“The citizens of this country, they are not garbage for thinking that you’re doing a bad job,” he said. The citizens of this country are not garbage for wanting to be able to afford groceries and a nice place to live. But in two days, we are going to take out the trash in Washington, D.C., and the trash’s name is Kamala Harris.”

The line is striking for a number of reasons. First, the parallelism of the quote makes it seem like it was planned and not just an impromptu aside. Second, the line comes after Trump and his allies have spent the better part of a week complaining that Biden implied his supporters were “garbage” in a much-disputed quote. 

Third, and most important, this line is directly aimed at Harris, not Puerto Rico or Trump supporters or whatever. It’s personal.

It comes amid a gender gap so large it may as well be a gender chasm and as Trump has called Harris a “sleaze bag,” “mentally impaired,” “lazy as hell” and “a stupid person;” reposted misogynistic sexual innuendo about her on his Truth Social account and laughed when a rallygoer suggested she was a prostitute.

Joy Reid speaking on MSNBC moments ago:

The one question on everyone’s mind, other than who’s going to win, is: When are we going to know the results? 

Polls will be closing in the seven key battleground states between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET tomorrow, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to know the winner right away. While there is a possibility the NBC News Decision Desk could project a winner as early as Wednesday, it could also take as long as a week. It all depends on just how close the race is. 

Each state has different laws and logistics when it comes to counting and reporting votes, whether it be early, absentee or same-day ballots. In some states, we could see results quickly, like in North Carolina, where the counting process moves faster. Election officials there can remove all ballots from their envelopes and feed them into tabulators weeks before Election Day. 

Other states take a little longer, like Pennsylvania, where workers aren’t allowed to begin processing absentee ballots until Election Day. That process is laborious, since workers have to check that voters have provided all necessary information and then remove the ballots from envelopes, unfold them, ensure they haven’t been damaged, and feed them into voting tabulators. 

So if there are delays, it doesn’t mean it’s voter fraud; it means the system is working the way it is supposed to. We need to be prepared for the probability that this is going to take time and unexpected things might happen. That’s OK and it’s normal. 

But we also have to be prepared for the likelihood that Trump will just disregard all of this and claim victory before all votes are counted and say that any other outcome than him winning is fraud.

These comments have been slightly edited for length and clarity.

At his Pittsburgh rally tonight, Trump just praised Green Party candidate Jill Stein. The former president has celebrated Stein and independent candidate Cornel West, both of whom have received campaign help from Trump-aligned Republicans. Their third-party campaigns could help him win by attracting voters who might otherwise cast ballots for Democrats.

“I love the Green Party,” Trump said. “Jill Stein ... I’ve never met her, but she may be one of my favorite politicians.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi posted a video on social media today to promote voting, but you might want to be careful about following her advice.

In the video, Pelosi can be seen putting her mail ballot into a blue U.S. Postal Service box:

That’s fine if you live in California, where your ballot will be counted as long as it’s postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days. But 32 states require that mail ballots be received on or before Election Day — including the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The Postal Service had recommended that any mail ballots be sent by Oct. 29 to ensure they arrive on time in states with tight deadlines.