The state of Georgia has reported a record turnout on the first day of early voting in the United States elections, revealing a high level of engagement in the key battleground state.

Hours after polls opened in the southern state on Tuesday, election officials reported that more than 251,000 voters had already cast their ballot in person.

One of several races on the ballot is the high-profile showdown for the White House: Vice President Kamala Harris — the Democratic presidential candidate — is set to face off against her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump.

Tuesday’s voter tally in Georgia blew away the state’s previous record for the first day of in-person early voting, set in 2020. That year saw 133,000 residents show up to vote.

“As of 4pm [ET] we have crossed the quarter million mark with 251,899 votes cast. Spectacular turnout. We are running out of adjectives for this,” Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State, posted on X.

Historically, large turnouts for early voting have favoured Democrats, although both parties have been urging voters to go to the polls early in states where it is allowed.

US presidential elections are ultimately determined through a weighted voting system called the Electoral College.

Each state has a certain number of Electoral College votes to award, and most grant those votes in a winner-takes-all system: Whichever candidate wins the state — no matter how small the margin — receives all the Electoral College votes.

Georgia, with its 16 Electoral College votes, is one of seven tightly-fought “swing states”, which could lean either Democrat or Republican this election cycle. Other battleground states include Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina.

Close races in those states could determine who becomes the next president.

Eyes on Georgia

Tuesday’s tally has been interpreted as a sign of voter enthusiasm, particularly as the presidential race enters its final stretch. Election day — the final opportunity to cast a ballot — is set for November 5.

Both Harris’s and Trump’s campaigns have set their sights on winning Georgia. Trump rallied in its capital, Atlanta, on Tuesday, and Harris is set to hold her own event in the city on Saturday.

In 2020, President Joe Biden became the first Democrat to win the state since 1992, a victory largely attributed to a huge uptick in Black voting. Black residents account for about one-third of Georgia’s population.

But with a margin of victory of just 11,779, the state also became a key lever in Trump’s campaign to overturn Biden’s victory.

In the wake of the 2020 election, Trump infamously pressured Georgia’s top election official to “find” more votes, and he actively spread misinformation that the ballot tally was marred by election fraud.

The Republican leader was subsequently indicted on state racketeering charges in relation to his alleged efforts to overturn the vote.

The pending case, led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, will not go to trial before the 2024 election. Nevertheless, recent polls show Harris and Trump remain locked in a neck-and-neck race in the state.

Some Democrats fear that an apparent softening in Black voters’ support for Harris could help tip the race.

While Black residents overwhelmingly support Democratic candidates, a recent poll from The New York Times and Siena College showed Harris polling at lower levels than Biden did in 2020.

In turn, Trump’s campaign has increasingly sought to appeal to Black voters, whom critics say Democrats have taken for granted.

Trump’s claim that migrants are taking “Black jobs” has become a mainstay of his stump speech.

Harris has also made a concerted effort to appeal more to Black men. Earlier this week, she released a policy plan that would include giving forgivable business loans to Black entrepreneurs, more support for studying diseases that disproportionately affect African-American men and legalising marijuana on the federal level.

“Black men have long felt that too often their voice in our political process has gone unheard and that there is so much untapped ambition and leadership within the Black male community,” the Harris campaign said upon releasing the proposal.

Court ruling

Meanwhile, questions about the validity of Georgia’s election proceedings, fuelled by Trump’s false claims of fraud, have continued to hang over the state’s vote.

On Monday, Fulton County Superior Judge Robert McBurney ruled that local election board members could not refuse to certify election results in any situation.

That came in response to a local election board member’s request that the court rule that the certification is discretionary.

The request stoked concerns that some election board members — particularly those who have cast doubt on the 2020 results — would refuse to certify results in their counties.

Such a refusal would have wide-ranging implications in an election that could come down to just a handful of votes.

McBurney also blocked a new Georgia State Election Board rule that would have required districts to hand-count ballots.

Election experts have warned the approach is actually less accurate than machine counting and could create long waits for a final tally. That, in turn, could help to fuel doubt and conspiracy theories about the election results.

Mr Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was pressed on his communication with the Russian president during a wide-ranging — and sometimes contentious — interview with Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait at the Economic Club of Chicago.

Mr Woodward reports in his book War that Mr Trump has had as many as seven private phone calls with Mr Putin since leaving the White House and secretly sent the Russian president Covid-19 test machines during the height of the pandemic.

I will tell you that if I did, it’s a smart thing. If I’m friendly with people, if I can have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing and not a bad thing in terms of a country

A Trump campaign spokesperson previously denied the report. During Tuesday’s interview, Mr Micklethwait posed the question to Mr Trump directly: “Can you say yes or no whether you have talked to Vladimir Putin since you stopped being president?

“I don’t comment on that,” Mr Trump responded. “But I will tell you that if I did, it’s a smart thing. If I’m friendly with people, if I can have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing and not a bad thing in terms of a country.”

Mr Trump said that Mr Putin, who invaded neighbouring Ukraine and who has been accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court, is well respected in Russia and touted his relationship with him, as well as the authoritarian leaders of North Korea and China.

“Look, I had a very good relationship with President Xi and a very good relationship with Putin, and a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un,” he said. Of Mr Putin, he later added: “Russia has never had a president that they respect so much.”

Mr Woodward reported that Mr Trump asked an aide to leave his office at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, so that the former president could have a private call with Mr in early 2024.

The aide, whom Mr Woodward does not name, said there have been multiple calls between Mr Trump and Mr Putin since Mr Trump left office, perhaps as many as seven, according to the book, though it does not detail what they discussed.

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called the reporting false. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the reporting about the calls was “not true”.

Mr Trump’s relationship with Mr Putin has been scrutinised since his 2016 campaign for president, when he memorably called on Russia to find and make public missing emails deleted by Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent.

Mr Trump publicly sided with Mr Putin over US intelligence officials on whether Russia had interfered in the 2016 election to help him, and Mr Trump has criticised US aid to Ukraine as it tries to fend off Russia’s attack.

Later in Tuesday’s interview, Mr Trump refused to say whether he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the November election. He also claimed there was a peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election, despite his supporters’ violent attack on the Capitol on January 6 2021.

“Come on. You had a peaceful transfer of power compared to Venezuela,” Mr Micklethwait responded.

Donald Trump issues a warning about the ‘Radical Left’ election reaction and offers military intervention.

Trump believes that if there is unrest following the results of the November election, his political rivals should be dealt with by the military.

The former president was questioned by host Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ about reports that the government had prevented a possible terror attack related to the election and whether the public should be concerned about a violent reaction from immigrants in November, as quoted in a report by the HuffPost.

An Afghan man who allegedly participated in a plan to carry out suicide attacks on sizable crowds on Election Day was taken into custody by the FBI last week. According to officials, the man had acquired AK-47 assault rifles, purchased one-way tickets for his family to travel to Afghanistan, and sold off their belongings to carry out his plans.

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Trump told Bartiromo that he was much more worried about left-wing Americans on Election Day than he was about actual threats from foreign militants.

The internal enemy, rather than the individuals who are destroying the nation, is the greater issue. The Republican presidential candidate stated that he does not think they’re the problem in terms of Election Day. He believes that internal issues are the main issue. They have radical leftist lunatics, sick people, and some horrible people.

The National Guard should be able to handle it with ease if needed by the military, as reported by the HuffPost.

In a recent interview, President Trump suggested that the National Guard or military may need to intervene if election-related unrest occurs. He also expressed confidence that his supporters would not cause trouble on Election Day.

However, it is worth noting that following Biden’s win in 2020, right-wing supporters incited chaos by storming the Capitol.

President Biden has already voiced concerns about potential violence from Trump supporters if the election outcome does not favour them.

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Despite his confidence in the fairness of the election, Biden remains unsure about its peacefulness.

FAQs

Did Donald Trump suggest using the military against the radical left?
Yes, Trump stated that if there is unrest among the Radical Left following the election, it can be handled by the National Guard or even the military if necessary.

What is Trump’s main concern on Election Day?
Trump is more concerned about potential unrest among left-wing groups in the United States than foreign threats, describing them as a larger issue.

Harris says second Trump term would be ‘dangerous’ as presidential candidates hold duelling rallies in key swing state.

US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has accused her Republican rival Donald Trump of being a threat to democracy, as the pair held duelling rallies in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Harris and Trump addressed their respective supporters on Monday evening, with Harris speaking in the city of Erie and Trump hosting a town hall in Oaks, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia.

“A second Trump term would be a huge risk for America – and dangerous. Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged,” Harris told the crowd, referencing recent comments in which Trump warned that the United States faced an “enemy from within”.

Trump has leaned into increasingly incendiary rhetoric as the race for the White House heats up ahead of the November 5 vote.

The former president has adopted dehumanising rhetoric about immigrants, and he also recently suggested the country faced internal enemies who could be addressed with military force.

“I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within,” he told Fox News in an interview that aired at the weekend when asked about potential chaos on Election Day. “We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics.”

He added: “It should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by [the] National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”

Trump also has previously shared content on his social media platform suggesting that his political opponents were traitors who should face military tribunals.

For years, Democrats have sought to portray Trump as a threat to US democracy, particularly after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.

President Joe Biden – who defeated Trump in that 2020 vote – said last year that the ex-president’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) campaign was an “extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy”.

But recent polls suggest Trump and Harris are locked in an extremely tight race for the White House, less than a month before the election.

In recent weeks, Harris has been on a media blitz as her campaign pushes to appeal to key segments of the Democratic base, including Black men as well as Arab and Muslim Americans who have shown waning support for the candidate.

At her rally on Monday, she showed clips of Trump’s most recent comments as she warned against electing him to another term.

“He considers anyone who doesn’t support him, or who will not bend to his will, an enemy of our country,” the US vice president said.

Polling averages show Harris with a narrow lead of less than 1 percent in Pennsylvania, a northeastern state that could prove critical in the upcoming election.

For his part, during his event in the Pennsylvania town of Oaks, Trump repeated a pledge to increase US oil drilling, which he said would drive down costs though domestic production is already at record highs.

“We’re going to drill baby drill. We’re going to have so much energy and we’re going to bring prices down,” Trump said.

After medical incidents in the crowd interrupted his town hall, the Republican candidate requested that the song Ave Maria be played for the audience.

“Those two people who went down are patriots,” Trump said afterwards. “We love them. And because of them, we ended up with some great music, right?”

Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to release her medical history and records Saturday, as her campaign is now planning to put pressure on former President Donald Trump to release his own. 

The report will say the 59-year-old Harris has the physical and mental resiliency to serve as president, according to a senior Harris aide. 

It is unknown yet how detailed Harris’ records will be, but her campaign views the release as an opportunity to turn the conversation towards the physical health and mental acuity of her opponent, the 78-year-old Trump. Harris’ advisers argue they can contrast her age and Trump’s — daring him to disclose more recent information.

Harris did not release her medical records during the 2020 campaign. In November 2023, Trump posted a letter from his doctor of osteopathic medicine, Bruce Aronwald, that said he had been examined in September 2023 and that his “overall health is excellent.” No specifics on his vitals or medications were shared. 

In an interview with CBS News in August, Trump said he would “gladly” release his medical records and that he recently had a medical exam and had a “perfect score.”

If elected in November, Trump would be the oldest president in U.S. history by the end of his term. 

The Harris campaign’s attempt to highlight Trump’s age mirrors the Republican campaign’s approach to President Biden while he was the candidate. When Biden was still running, Trump’s campaign would often post clips of him stumbling up the stairs of Air Force One, or of his verbal gaffes. 

Biden left the 2024 race in July after Democratic infighting and skepticism he could serve a full second term, which was spurred by a June debate performance where he appeared to show signs of his age, 81, by speaking with a hoarse voice and stumbling through answers. 

On social media, Harris’ campaign has been leaning into references to Trump’s age, pointing out moments where Trump slurs his words or meanders. 

“Americans are tired of your lies and slur-filled delusions. It’s getting…old,” the Kamala HQ X account posted in August. 

Yesterday I praised Viola Davis’s Oscars speech for being memorable without being explicitly political—for simply talking about her job in a moving and well-written way. Twitter quickly let me know I missed something. On social media and conservative-leaning news sites, Davis’s speech had in fact sparked outrage.

After explaining that she felt her mission was to “exhume … the stories of the people who dreamed big and never saw those dreams to fruition, people who fell in love and lost,” Davis said this:

This claim has become one of the discussion items of the right-wing internet following the Oscars ceremony. “Art is wonderful; art is enriching; art can connect us with each other,” writes Ben Shapiro at Daily Wire. “But the utter arrogance of stating that artists are ‘the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life’ is astounding. How about doctors? How about stay-at-home mothers, who help shape lives rather than pursuing their own career interests? How about morticians? How about pretty much everybody in a free market economy, giving of themselves to others to improve lives?”

Variants of that sentiment have ricocheted online, with Davis sometimes misquoted as though she’d said only “actors” celebrate what it means to live a life, or, worse, are the only ones who “know” what it means to live a life.

Are people right to be offended? Did she say artists are better than anyone else? Reading her words literally, within the context of her speech, and extending her the slightest benefit of the doubt, it’s hard to see backlash against Davis as anything other than a symptom of our overblown culture wars.

Anyone might “celebrate what it means to live a life” in their own personal ways, but for whom is that a primary function of their profession? Artists, definitely. Clergy, maybe. Doctors save lives rather than celebrating them, and it doesn’t denigrate them to say so. Stay-at-home parents help others, and Davis might even agree that that’s more noble, important, and essential than “celebrating” the meaning of life.

Her point was simply that artists serve a unique role in telling stories about the human experience, and that she’s glad she’s a part of that.

Certainly, she could have edited herself to make a less controversial, though arguably less interesting, statement. If she’d simply said, “I became an artist—and thank God I did—because we celebrate what it means to live a life,” complaints may have been harder to come by. The “only” highlights a specific way that artists are special, but it also is a dogwhistle to anyone holding strong resentment about Hollywood elitism and condescension. And there’s rarely been a better time to air such resentment than right now.

On the right, reflexive disgust for the entertainment industry has taken on new fervor under Donald Trump. During the Fox and Friends after the Oscars, the snafu whereby La La Land mistakenly was announced as Best Picture was spun by Steve Doocy as, “Hollywood got the election wrong, and last night Hollywood got the Oscars wrong.” Guest Tucker Carlson agreed but added that Moonlight “had to win” because the moralizing, politically correct establishment willed it to. Yes, the Oscars were both an out-of-touch catastrophe and an insidiously rigged game.

Donald Trump has given his own interpretation of the Academy’s screwup: “I think they were focused so hard on politics that they didn’t get the act together at the end,” he told Breitbart, as if the PricewaterhouseCoopers accountant who handed Warren Beatty the wrong envelope did so because he’d been cackling too hard at Kimmel tweeting the president “u up?”

Liberals may groan at Trump taking credit for his critics making a logistical mistake. But, of course, both sides see a lot of politics in entertainment these days: See all the takes making like Doocy and comparing the end of the Oscars to election night.

To many viewers on Sunday, Davis’s speech seemed remarkable for how it nearly transcended partisan fray and just passionately talked about acting. But one word—“only”—was enough to make her a culture-war litmus test. Maybe she wanted to pick a fight about art’s place in society, or maybe she was simply portraying her profession as she genuinely sees it. Either way, it was a defiant move in an era where artists are increasingly held to the same standards as candidates for office: expected to choose their words not for truth but for politics.