Election 2024 live updates: Trump slams Harris as a ‘cognitive mess’; Cheney urges pro-life voters to back Democrat

Jill Biden has admitted it was the “right call” for her husband Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential election.

In an interview with ABC News' Good Morning America on Monday, the First Lady said it would be “tough” for the couple to relinquish the White House but that they were ready for “a new journey”.

Io Dodds has the story.

Speaking today on the subject of reproductive rights, Kamala Harris said that she thinks they are a “compelling issue” in this year’s election following the draconian rules implemented in some states following the ending of Roe v Wade.

“I do believe it is a compelling issue, especially when we consider the fact that for so many of us, our daughter is going to have fewer rights than their grandmother. And America’s strength, one of the attributes of our progress, has been the expansion of rights, not the restriction of rights, and that’s what we’re seeing happen,” Harris told reporters.

Meanwhile, campaigning alongside the vice president to encourage suburban women in swing states to side with the Democratic ticket, former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney said the idea of women not getting the care they need is not sustainable, and pro-lifers should cross party lines.

“I think there are many of us around the country who have been pro-life, but who have watched what’s going on in our states since the Dobbs decision, and have watched state legislatures put in place laws that are resulting in women not getting the care they need,” Cheney said.

“And so I think this, this is not an issue that we’re seeing break down across party lines, but I think we’re seeing people come together to say what has happened to women and when women are facing situations where they can’t get the care they need, where, in places like Texas, for example, the attorney general is talking about suing, is suing to get access to women’s medical records. That’s not sustainable for us as a country, and it has to change.”

Mike Bedigan writes:

Donald Trump’s 30-minute shift at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s was one of his most meme-worthy campaign stunts yet. The franchise in Bucks County was shut down during the visit and the former president’s labor was carefully choreographed and documented by his campaign.

But while many online were quick to remark about the former president’s breaches of health and safety protocol, such as no hair net or visible hand-washing, as a former teenage fry-cook I have to be honest: He… didn’t actually do a bad job.

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Per the Georgia Secretary of State’s office:

Monday, October 21st marked the eighth day of Early Voting for the November 5th Presidential Election. On Friday, Georgia voters surpassed the 1 million mark, and as of Monday at 3:30pm surpassed the 1.5 million mark with 1,504,332 check-ins, shattering previous Early Voting performance.

“Georgia voters know we’ve made it easy to cast a ballot. It’s really that simple,” said Secretary Raffensperger. “Over the past four years we’ve worked tirelessly to prepare for this election by adding Early Voting days and investing in infrastructure, only to be rewarded with the lies of Jim Crow 2.0 and a missed All-Star Game. We’re battled tested and ready, despite the critics.”

A Minnesota poll courier has been fired after leaving thousands of ballots unattended in an open car trunk outside Edina City Hall, southwest of Minneapolis.

The incident happened on Friday as the worker was dropping off boxes of ballots, and a photo of the trunk with the unsecured boxes spread on social media.

Gustaf Kilander reports.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican Rep Liz Cheney are at the second stop of their day of campaigning together — Royal Oak, Michigan — speaking with Maria Shriver, journalist and former first lady of California.

Said Harris at the event: “I think most of us believe, regardless of your party affiliation, that the real measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up. And so for that reason, I'm not surprised that Liz Cheney and I are on the same stage.”

The vice president added: |I have seen a lot of Republicans go up to Liz Cheney and thank her. They may not be doing it publicly ... I think she has shown to your point extraordinary courage especially in this environment post January 6...from my vantage point, she is actually not alone.”

Cheney said: “When I look at the nature of the threat that Donald Trump poses and…think about that level of instability, the level of erratic decision-making, misogyny, that is not something that you can entrust with the power of the Oval Office.”

She added: “When Donald Trump says that his political opponents are the enemy within, and when he contemplates deploying force against them, the response that we all have should not be to be so afraid we don't act. It should be vote him out... Vote for Vice President Harris.”

People can’t get enough of betting on the 2024 presidential election, and thanks to a recent legal ruling, it’s easier than ever for Americans to vote with their wallet.

On Polymarket, one of the top online exchanges, people have already spent over $1.2 bn betting on the US presidential election. That includes two mystery individuals betting millions on a Trump win.

Betting market odds are suddenly on the lips of US broadcasters and campaign spin doctors, quoted like polls and watched like the weather.

Josh Marcus reports.

Donald Trump called the host of his Pennsylvania town hall by the wrong name after months of mocking President Joe Biden for his own gaffes.

Former ESPN host Sage Steele moderated the former president’s town hall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on Sunday, with the former president making the slip-up almost immediately.

Kelly Rissman has the story.

A former Park Service ranger said Friday that U.S. Senate hopeful Tim Sheehy of Montana has been lying about a bullet wound that the candidate said came from fighting in Afghanistan — going public with an accusation that has nagged the Republican’s campaign for months.

The claim from former ranger Kim Peach that Sheehy in fact shot himself on a family trip in Montana was immediately dismissed by Sheehy and his allies as a smear campaign engineered by Democrats in a race that’s expected to help decide control of the Senate.

Read the full story here: