Trump Madison Square Garden rally live updates: New York turns MAGA as Kamala Harris campaigns in Pennsylvania

The doors at Madison Square Garden opened for special guests and VIPs at 12pm Eastern Time and general admission began flooding the arena at 1pm.

Fans began lining up in Manhattan Saturday night and camped out for the historic event set to attract 20,000 MAGA fans – at least inside the arena.

Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr. and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson are among the guests who will take the stage when the pre program begins around 3pm.

Trump will be the final act at the iconic arena, expected at 5pm but likely to kick off later after a lengthy pre show.

Tickets were handed out on a first-come, first-served basis.

Diehard MAGA fans were seen gathering outside Madison Square Garden just before sunrise ahead of Donald Trump’s big rally in New York City.

The sold out event will see roughly 20,000 Trump fans flock to the Big Apple – just nine days before what could be the closest presidential election in history as Trump and Kamala Harris are virtually tied in every poll.

Dozens of devoted Republicans were seen sporting red ‘Make America Great Again’ baseball hats as they lined up on the corner of 33rd and 6th Avenue of America early Sunday morning in predominantly-liberal New York City.

An array of Trump merch, including shirts, jackets, large billboards, and a trailer filled with flags – donning the Republican nominees’ face and name – surrounded the venue as the streets lit up in red, white and blue.

A heavy police presence also gathered as groups of NYPD officers were seen outside MSG accompanied by large police vehicles and multiple patrol cars.

More than two million North Carolina residents have already voted in one of the key states in the battle for the White House.

It amounts to more than a quarter of eligible voters in the state.

Lines formed in Mecklenburg County as people continued to fill out their ballots over the weekend.

Across the country, the number of Americans who have cast their ballot has already broken records.

Michael Rydelek, 27, of Rockland County told DailyMail.com that New York is not unwinnable for Donald Trump in 2024.

“I think in 2016 people said there’s no way Donald Trump would ever win the United States, it’s never going to happen. New York is, in a lot of ways, a mirror culturally of what’s going on,” Rydelek said.

And just as crazy as the win in 2016 was, I think we’re looking at the same thing in 2024. You have a lot of people in New York City that are aware something needs to change and willing to go forth with that change. New York City’s a big part of that equation.

People say, ‘why is Trump at Madison Square Garden?’ Well he’s making a play for New York.

Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in New York City

Melissa Vitelli, 37, of Brooklyn predicted that the former president has a chance to take liberal New York in 2024.

Outside Madison Square Garden on Sunday, the healthcare worker told DailyMail.com:

I think it will be closer than ever [in New York]. If [Trump] doesn’t take it, it’s gonna be close.

Trump is speaking at the renowened Manhattan arena on Sunday evening.

Vitelli said New York isn’t out of play and reflected on the shifts she has seen toward the right in recent years in her Brooklyn neighborhood.

“I live in a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood, Borough Park – they have Trump flags up. They’re relatively known for voting Democrat. And it is, it has shifted,” Vitelli said.

There’s definitely more of a shift [this election from 2020]. I think the media had a lot to do with it. The more negative they are towards him, the more it wakes people up.

Like, okay, he’s being targeted. And we feel as citizens, like, if he could get targeted, so can we.

Vitelli already cast her ballot for Trump on Saturday as early voting kicked off in New York.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent in Philadelphia

Kamala Harris said her first priority as president would be to restore abortion right s across the country.

‘My first priority is to put back in place those protections and to stop this pain, and to stop this injustice that is happening around our country,’ she told CBS News.

Democrats see abortion rights as a winning issue. It was one that motivated their voting bloc in the midterm election. Michelle Obama emphasized the fight for reproductive rights in her first campaign appearance for Harris on Saturday.

By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent in Philadelphia

Kamala Harris spent Sunday campaigning in Philadelphia, going to church, stopping at African American-themed bookstore, and sitting in the ‘lucky chair’ at a barber shop.

At the Philly Cuts in West Philly, Harris sat down in a chair that has been a good luck touchstone for political candidates. The barbers told her that every candidate running for elected office who has sat in the chair has won their election.

Pennsylvania could decide the presidential election with its 19 electoral votes.

Both campaigns are going all-in in the state.

Harris also visited a bookstore with books about Africa, civil rights icons, and slavery on the shelves.

She told people there: ‘I plan on putting on some pounds after this is over. They’re working me to the bone.’

Later Sunday night Harris will address a rally in West Philadelphia.

Thousands who have waited for the doors at Madison Square Garden for Donald Trump’s rally have started filling into the arena.

Many camped out overnight to get a prime spot in the ‘World’s Most Famous Arena’.

by Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior Political Reporter in Kalamazoo, Michigan

Former First Lady Michelle Obama hit the campaign trail for Kamala Harris for the first time on Saturday where she called for a ‘grown up in the White House’ and blasted Donald Trump for lies, childish antics and moral decline before making an emotional appeal directly to men.

Her appearance in Kalamazoo. Michigan comes as polls show the presidential race in a dead heat with just ten days to go before the election.

The former first lady questioned why Harris is being held to a higher standard and must prove she belongs.

‘But for Trump we expect nothing at all, no understanding of policy, no ability to put together a coherent argument, no honesty, no decency, no morals.’

She said too many people are willing to write off his ‘childish, mean-spirited antics.’

Obama accused the ex-president for ‘gross incompetence’ while people ask Harris to ‘dazzle’ at every turn.

‘I hope that you’ll forgive me if I’m a little angry that we are indifferent to his erratic behavior, his obvious mental decline, his history as a convicted felon, a known slumlord, a predator found liable for sexual abuse, all of this while we pick apart Kamala’s answers from interviews that he doesn’t even have the courage to do,’ she said.

Obama also said Harris ‘dominated her opponent so thoroughly in the debate he was too scared to face her again.’

The biggest election night 2024 mystery may not be whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris gets the White House – but when Americans will find out who won.

With polls showing the race a virtual coin flip between Trump and Harris, the November 5 election looks to be perhaps the closest in history.

That will likely spell a long, drawn out round of mail-in ballot counts and even recounts depending on the state.

If any of the seven battlegrounds are close, counting could drag on well into November 6 and beyond.

The 2020 election was not called for Joe Biden until four days later – on the following Saturday.

On Election Day in 2000, Democrat Al Gore conceded in the wee hours the next morning, but then spectacularly rescinded his not-legally-binding concession.

NBC election guru Steve Kornacki said Sunday that it is ‘hard to ignore’ poll numbers showing Donald Trump gaining momentum with just over a week until the election.

On Meet The Press he said that recent surveys don’t show Trump pulling away, but the slim margins are bad news for the vice president.

The election is still shaping up to be one of the closest in history, but the tide seems to have turned to Trump in recent days.

Democrats in past elections have seen a bigger lead than Harris has in the build-up to election day.

Kornacki insisted the race will still be decided in the seven battleground states, but explained the nationwide trend.

One thing we have noticed in the last couple of days, this is not all of the polls that are out there now, but we have seen a number – four in the last four days – that have shown very small, but in the context of this close race, potentially meaningful movement in Trump’s direction. I don’t want to overstate it, but at the same time, it’s hard to ignore these four

The CNBC poll came out the other day – has Trump ahead by two. The Wall Street Journal poll – Trump ahead by three.

These are national numbers. CNN, The New York Times, A tied race, CNN, a tied race. The significance here is broader movement. Again, we’re seeing in Trump’s direction.

To put this into some context, here is our current national polling average. Harris continues to lead nationally.

We want to stress that. But we’ve been tracking this every week on the air here.

A couple of weeks ago, this number was at three for Kamala Harris. Her lead in the poll average now down to 1.2 because of some of the numbers that I just showed you.

As the campaign heads into the final stretch with less than ten days to go before Election Day, former President Donald Trump is facing fresh accusations he praised Adolf Hitler.

But with early voting already underway, his Republican supporters are rejecting the latest allegations.

More than 38 million people have voted in the election already.

Early in-person voting kicked off in Michigan on Saturday with a steady stream of Trump supporters showing up to cast their ballots for the ex-president.

They dismissed the reported Hitler praise as ‘hogwash’ and slammed Trump’s former White House chief of staff retired General John Kelly who shared his account of it.

In less than two weeks, Americans will decide whether Vice President Kamala Harris will be the first female president, or former President Trump will win a second term.

But experts say another factor will play a big role in this decision: the weather.

In the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton, which ravaged the East Coast from Florida to Virginia, many voters are still in recovery mode and may not be able to get to the polls.

Helene’s devastating impact on swing state North Carolina could have an especially strong influence on the election, political strategist Bradley Trunk told DailyMail.com.

‘North Carolina is one of the seven states that will determine who the next president of the United States is going to be,’ he said. ‘You can’t really have much higher stakes than this.’

Elsewhere in the US, even your average rainstorm could have a significant influence on voter turnout and mood, Trunk said.

Research has shown that rainfall negatively impacts voter turnout. One study estimates that for every centimeter of rain that falls on voting day, turnout falls by 0.95 percentage points.

by Rob Crilly, Chief Political Correspondent

For two decades Kari Lake’s throaty voice and pixie cut were fixtures on Fox 10 in Phoenix, providing the sort of comforting presence common on local news channels across the nation: Introducing cooking features moments after relaying details of grisly murders.

That all seems like a long time ago.

Now she is running for the Senate as a Trump loyalist who, like him, leveraged TV name recognition into a firebrand political career, rising to national prominence and infamy after refusing to accept election defeat.

‘She’s a killer,’ Trump told DailyMail.com aboard his plane last year when the 55-year-old was frequently floated as a potential running mate.

She has been afforded fundraisers at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida home, and some of MAGA world’s top insiders have worked on her run for Senate.

Renowned pollster Frank Luntz revealed the exact moment Kamala Harris lost herself the election.

During a CNN interview Wednesday, Luntz, also known as ‘The Nostradamus of pollsters,’ said the Democratic nominee was doing well in the polls until she ‘froze’ after focusing her attention on Donald Trump.

‘She had the best 60 days of any presidential candidate in modern history,’ Luntz said.

‘And then the moment she turned anti-Trump and focused on him and said ‘don’t vote for me, vote against him.’ That’s when everything froze.’

Luntz added that Trump is ‘defined’ as he is ‘not gaining’ and ‘not losing’ in the election, while his opponent is ‘less well defined.’

Donald Trump is heading to New York City’s renowned Madison Square Garden to make his closing argument to Americans about why he should be back in the White House.

The sold out event will see roughly 20,000 MAGA fans come out just nine days before what could be the closest presidential election in history as Trump and Kamala Harris are virtually tied in every poll.

Trump choosing to hold one of his final rallies at Madison Square Garden is curious as Harris is polling a solid 14 points ahead of him in the state.

While New York is a solidly blue state, the Big Apple is still Trump’s original hometown and where the billionaire started his business empire several decades ago.

And he hopes to infuse momentum into several crucial down-ballot races in the state that Republicans need to hold onto if they want to keep their slim majority in the House of Representatives.

Former TV star Trump loves a show and MSG is bound to give him the spectacle he desires.