US election: Trump and Harris rally in Milwaukee

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have each raised hundreds of millions this election cycle, with donations topping a billion dollars each. A great deal is being spent in the final days of the campaign. Where did it all come from, and where did it go?

The Democratic and Republican candidates for president are making their final pitches to voters with four days to go to election day.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are both holding rallies in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Their dueling rallies will take place within 7 miles (about 11 kilometers) of each other. Milwaukee is home to the most Democratic voters in the swing state, but its conservative suburbs are where most Republicans live.

Trump will also host a rally in Warren, Michigan.

Also on Friday, the United States will release its monthly employment figures, providing a crucial economic snapshot at the end of a tight presidential election campaign focused on cost-of-living issues.

Both campaigns will closely examine the Labor Department's report. 

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are holding competing campaign rallies in Milwaukee on Friday, making last-minute appeals to undecided voters with election day approaching. 

Trump, the Republican candidate, will revisit the venue where he accepted his party's nomination this summer.

Meanwhile, Democrat Harris will be joined by rapper Cardi B.

Polls show a close contest between Harris and Trump, with the outcome of Tuesday's vote likely to be decided in seven battleground states.

Wisconsin was decided by less than one percentage point in 2016 and 2020, and the race for its 10 Electoral College votes is just as tight this time around.

The dueling rallies may be the candidates' last appearances in battleground Wisconsin before election day.

Vice President Kamala Harris criticized former President Donald Trump on Thursday for asserting that he would protect American women "whether they like it or not."

The Democratic presidential nominee said Trump does not understand women's rights "to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies."

"I think it's offensive to everybody, by the way," Harris said before she set out to spend the day campaigning in the western battleground states of Arizona and Nevada.

Harris followed up those remarks at her rally in Phoenix. "He simply does not respect the freedom of women or the intelligence of women to know what's in their own best interests and make decisions accordingly. But we trust women."

Actress and singer Jennifer Lopez introduced Harris at a Las Vegas rally and emphasized the importance of women for the Democratic nominee.

"I believe in the power of women," Lopez said. "Women have the power to make the difference in this election."

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is once again claiming that the only way he would lose the presidential election is through cheating, a claim he made four years ago when he lost to President Joe Biden.

"The only thing that can stop us is the cheating," the former president said in a conversation with media personality Tucker Carlson at a campaign event in Arizona. 

Despite his assertions of leading in battleground states and uncovering fraud, there is no evidence to support his statements.

Trump also attacked former Wyoming Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, who has been supporting Harris. 

"But the reason she couldn't stand me is that she always wanted to go to war with people. If it were up to her we'd be in 50 different countries."

After calling Cheney "a very dumb individual," Trump said: "She's a radical war hawk. Let's put her with the rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK, let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face."

Campaigning continued even as more then 60 million votes had reportedly been cast in early or mail-in voting — around 40% of the total votes cast in 2020.

lo/kb (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)