What to know about the 2024 election today:
- A CBS News poll released earlier this week showed a tied race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.
- With Election Day only five days away, more than 60 million Americans have voted early as of Thursday morning.
- Trump will campaign in Wisconsin on Thursday, before heading to the west for a trio of events. Ahead of his rally on Wednesday, he was photographed walking onto a garbage truck adorned with American flags and said "We're not garbage."
- Trump said at the Wisconsin rally that his advisers had told him to stop saying he would "protect" women, but he said he told them "well, I'm going to do it, whether the women like it or not, I'm going to protect them."
- Harris is also campaigning in the west, holding rallies in Phoenix and Reno before heading to an event in Las Vegas that will feature Jennifer Lopez and Maná.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wishes "the best of luck" to Trump
Hungary's far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a social media post Thursday he'd recently wished Trump "the best of luck" during a phone call ahead of Election Day.
"Just got off the phone with President @realDonaldTrump. I wished him the best of luck for next Tuesday. Only five days to go. Fingers crossed," wrote Orbán, an ally of Trump's who is one of two populist European leaders to openly endorse his reelection, on X.
Orbán and Trump's relationship is friendly — he visited the former president at his home in Mar-a-Lago in July after attending a NATO summit in Washington, D.C. Trump, in turn, has spoken positively about Orbán in political speeches and other public remarks, including at the presidential debate with Harris.
Vance says young voters "have the most to lose or the most to gain" in this election
Sen. JD Vance, speaking at a town hall at High Point University in North Carolina, outlined a pitch to young voters, arguing that the group has "more to lose than anybody" if Harris wins. The Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that Harris' policies will produce "more war, more poverty, higher housing prices and lower wages for American workers."
"The question young people have to ask is, do I want to have a job where I earn a good day's wage for a good day's work?" Vance said. "Do I want to raise a family in an environment, or just build a life in an environment where I can afford to buy a home? Because if you'd like to do that, the only person is Donald J. Trump."
Vance continued, "if we let the American dream disappear in the United States of America, the consequences are going to fall hardest on the people in this room."
Voter intimidation charge added for 18-year-old accused of brandishing machete at Florida polling station
The 18-year-old arrested Tuesday for wielding a machete at a polling station in Jacksonville, Florida, has now been charged with an additional felony count for voter intimidation or suppression, authorities said.
Caleb Williams faces additional charges for aggravated assault on a person 65 years of age or older and improper exhibition of a firearm or dangerous weapon, Neptune Beach Police Chief Michael Key announced earlier this week. Williams arrived at the polling station with a group of teens who held signs backing the Trump campaign and chanted the former president's name. In a video, Williams appeared to wave a Trump flag speared onto the end of his machete, which he is accused of raising above his head threateningly while facing two older women.
The Neptune Beach Police Department attributed the incident to an apparent attempt to harass voters who did not share the teens' political views. The department announced Wednesday an additional charge against Williams for voter intimidation or suppression, brought in response to new video footage from the polling place.
"During the course of the on-going investigation, we have received new video footage which depicts the suspect committing an additional crime of voter intimidation or suppression within the designated voting location," said Neptune Beach Police in a statement. "As such, one felony of the third-degree count of Voter Intimidation or Suppression was added to the suspect's charges today. This remains an open investigation."
Tim Walz campaigning in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is heading Thursday to Pennsylvania to stump for Kamala Harris as the countdown to Election Day winds down.
Walz, the Democratic candidate for vice president, is scheduled to first speak at a campaign event in suburban Bucks County before traveling to Erie later in the day. The Harris-Walz campaign said the governor plans to make a "local stop" while visiting Erie.
Elon Musk doesn't show at Philadelphia hearing over super PAC's $1 million lottery for voters
Despite a judge's order that "all parties must be present," Tesla founder, X owner and billionaire Elon Musk did not appear in a Philadelphia courtroom Thursday after District Attorney Larry Krasner sued him over his super PAC's plan to award $1 million a day to voters in key battleground states in the 2024 election.
Krasner and members of his office joined attorneys for Musk in Judge Angelo Foglietta's civil courtroom at City Hall for a hearing Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.
Musk's attorneys filed documents Wednesday night in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, a federal court, requesting the matter be moved to their jurisdiction – and out of the local Court of Common Pleas. A judge granted that transfer.
Attorneys for Krasner said they would contest that recommendation.
"We will proceed to federal court and seek to address the issues there and have them addressed in state court. This is a case that addresses state law issues, and I'll leave it at that," said attorney John Summers.
Musk, who has campaigned with former President Donald Trump, has donated tens of millions of dollars to America PAC, a super PAC formed this summer to support the Republican candidate.
The lottery award goes to signers of a petition asking voters to support free speech and the right to bear arms. According to the super PAC's website, at least 12 people have received $1 million awards, including four from Pennsylvania.
Read more from CBS Philadelphia.
— Joe Brandt and Josh Sanders
The battle for the House: All 435 seats up for grabs in a critical election year
Trump campaign debuts Halloween-themed billboards ahead of Harris campaign stops
The Trump campaign is debuting several Halloween-themed billboards in battleground states where Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Gov. Tim Walz will be campaigning in the final days of the presidential election.
The billboards, first shown to CBS News, read, "Four more years of Kamala Harris would be scary!" and highlight key parts of Trump's campaign messaging, like lowering taxes and securing the border.
"Four more years of Kamala Harris would be scarier than any Halloween horror movie: high taxes, open borders, and high gas prices are downright frightening," Alex Pfeiffer, a Trump campaign spokesman, said.
Trump tells supporters he will protect women, "whether the women like it or not"
Speaking to a crowd at his latest campaign event this week in Wisconsin, Trump pledged to "protect women" should he win reelection, "whether the women like it or not."
Trump and Harris are both turning their attention to battleground states in the days leading up to Tuesday's election, and each traveled to Wisconsin on Wednesday to address their respective supporters. Harris held a rally in Madison while Trump focused his campaign effort in Green Bay.
The former president told the rally's attendees that people have told him not to say he wants "to protect the women of our country," as he has before at campaign events, because they felt it was "very inappropriate" for him to do so.
For his part, the former president, addressed their supporters at separate rallies in Wisconsin on Wednesday The former president, for his part, at this point said people have told him not to say he wants "to protect the women of our country," as he has at campaign events in the past, because they felt it was "very inappropriate" for him to do so.
"I said, well, I'm going to do it, whether the women like it or not," Trump said at the rally. "I'm going to protect them."
Given the battle over abortion rights largely divided along party lines, how American women would fare under a second Trump administration is often questioned by the Republican nominee's Democratic opponent.
"Donald Trump thinks he should get to make decisions about what you do with your body," Harris wrote on social media after his Green Bay rally. "Whether you like it or not."
FBI investigates arson attacks on ballot dropboxes in Oregon and Washington
Jennifer Lopez will speak at Harris' campaign rally in Las Vegas
Jennifer Lopez is set to appear at Harris' rally in Las Vegas Thursday night, continuing a streak of celebrity appearances along the Democratic nominee's campaign trail. (Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson and Jessica Alba have all recently joined Harris on the road.)
Lopez will attend the vice president's "When We Vote We Win" rally in the battleground state Nevada as the event's guest speaker, after the singer of Puerto Rican descent openly endorsed Harris and condemned Tony Hinchcliffe's racist joke about the U.S. territory at a Trump rally over the weekend.
"I don't know if you guys know this, but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it's called Puerto Rico," Hinchcliffe said during the rally in New York City.
Although Trump refused to explicitly denounce the comedian, Harris reacted to Hinchcliffe's comments and called out Trump for failing to support Puerto Rico during his first term in office, in a videotaped statement released this week by her campaign.
"I will never forget what Donald Trump did, and what he did not do, when Puerto Rico needed a caring and competent leader," said Harris. "He abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back-to-back devastating hurricanes and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults."
Lopez and the singer Bad Bunny, who is from Puerto Rico, each went on to repost portions of that statement to their own social media pages.
Joe Rogan explains why Harris did not appear on his podcast
After interviewing Trump for around three hours last week on an episode of his podcast that has since raked in millions of views, Joe Rogan shared more details Wednesday about why Harris has not appeared on his show.
In the latest installment of "The Joe Rogan Experience," the series' host said Harris' campaign initially reached out to him to inquire about scheduling an appearance, but the logistics didn't work out.
"I said, 'Great, I would love to talk to her.' But it was very difficult to tie it down," Rogan said in Wednesday's episode. "They wanted to travel and see the thing is, if I go somewhere, then there's going to be other people in the room. And they want to control a lot of things, I'm sure."
Rogan acknowledged the fact he didn't agree to the campaign's terms could make him seem like "a diva."
"But she had an opportunity to come here when she was in Texas, and I literally gave them an open invitation. I said anytime," he said. "I said if she's done at 10, we'll come back here at 10. I go, I'll do it at nine in the morning, I'll do it at 10 p.m. I'll do it at midnight if she's up, if she wants to, you know, drink a Red Bull. Party on."
Rogan previously addressed plans to sit down with the Democratic presidential nominee in a post on X.
"They offered a date for Tuesday, but I would have had to travel to her and they only wanted to do an hour," he wrote. "I strongly feel the best way to do it is in the studio in Austin. My sincere wish is to just have a nice conversation and get to know her as a human being. I really hope we can make it happen."
Trump talks to the press from a garbage truck ahead of Wisconsin rally
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday climbed into a trash truck adorned with Trump signs and American flags to speak to reporters ahead of a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Wearing an orange vest, Trump said the truck was in honor of people that voted for him, a reference to President Joe Biden's comments in the wake of a joke comparing Puerto Rico to garbage at Trump's rally in New York City.
"We're not garbage," he said. "I can tell you who the real garbage is but we won't say that."
It was the latest salvo as both Democrats and Republicans have seized on the comments to motivate voters in the waning days of the election. Trump said the truck was in honor of Mr. Biden and the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
"Joe Biden should be ashamed of himself, if he knows what he's even doing. And she should be ashamed, because she shouldn't let him do it. She's the Vice President, but I assume she's acting as the president. She should never have let that happen," Trump said Wednesday ahead of his rally in Wisconsin. "I hope you enjoyed this garbage truck."
—Jake Rosen and Olivia Rinaldi
Elon Musk ordered to attend Philadelphia court hearing over $1 million giveaway to voters
Billionaire Elon Musk has been ordered by a judge to attend a Philadelphia court hearing on Thursday after he was sued by District Attorney Larry Krasner over his $1 million giveaway to voters.
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in a courtroom at City Hall in Center City, according to a court document.
According to the Associated Press, Judge Angelo Foglietta of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas wrote that "all parties must be present at the time of the hearing."
Last week, Krasner sued Musk and alleged that Musk and his super PAC are trying to influence voters in next week's presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
"The Philadelphia District Attorney is charged with protecting the public from public nuisances and unfair trade practices, including illegal lotteries. The DA is also charged with protecting the public from interference with the integrity of elections," Krasner said in a statement announcing the complaint last week.