Image source, Getty Images

As we mentioned in our last post, Kamala Harris will today take part in a live interview with Charlamagne Tha God - a 46-year-old comedian, author and radio host dubbed a "political force" by the New York Times earlier this year.

Charlamagne’s radio show The Breakfast Club has a reported reach of nearly 6,000,000 monthly listeners, who tune in to hear him and his guests discuss topics ranging from celebrity gossip and music to politics.

Harris won’t be the first presidential candidate to face his questions. Hilary Clinton appeared on the programme in 2016, memorably telling its host she carried hot sauce in her handbag. And in 2020, Joe Biden told Charlamagne’s listeners "you ain’t black" if they couldn’t decide whether to vote for him or Donald Trump - a comment he later said he regretted.

Both candidates were hoping to engage The Breakfast Club’s audience of predominantly young, black men - as Harris is today.

Charlamagne has previously spoken positively about Harris and is promoting today’s interview as a sort of radio town hall. "Remember our listeners are very passionate," he said during Friday’s broadcast of The Breakfast Club. "I know we’ve got some pressing issues to talk about."

Sam Hancock
Live page editor, in Washington DC

I'm taking over editing our live US politics coverage from the London team now - and with three weeks to go until polling day, the campaigning is continuing to ramp up.

Donald Trump is due at an event in Chicago, which our reporter Mike Wendling is at. Look out for updates from him, which we'll bring you right here.

Meanwhile, as we've been reporting since earlier, early voting has begun in swing state Georgia and the BBC's Nada Tawfik is there chatting to residents.

Later, we'll hear from Kamala Harris as she visits another key state in this election - Michigan - where she's due to take questions from radio host Charlamagne Tha God, who's interviewed the last two Democratic presidential nominees.

So, another busy day, but stick around as we guide you through the latest news lines and analysis from our team here in DC and across the US.

Would Trump’s taxes on trade hurt US consumers?published at 15:56 British Summer Time 15 October 2024

15:56 BST 15 October 2024

By Ben Chu, policy and analysis correspondent

Donald Trump is due to speak at the Economic Club of Chicago today and he’s likely to talk about one of his key economic policies - tariffs.

These are taxes on imported goods and Trump wants to drastically increase them on foreign goods coming into the US - including 60% tariffs on ones from China.

He sees tariffs as a way of growing the US economy and protecting jobs and has claimed these taxes are "not going to be a cost to you, it’s a cost to another country".

However, the vast majority of economists dispute this and studies on tariffs Trump introduced as president suggest there was a cost for US consumers.

Take washing machines, he introduced a 50% tariff on imports of these in 2018. Researchers estimate the value of these products jumped by around 12% as a direct consequence, equivalent to $86 per unit.

BBC Verify has a new report into Trump’s tariffs here.

Mike Wendling
Reporting from Chicago

Donald Trump is about to appear at an event hosted by financial news outlet Bloomberg and the Economic Club of Chicago.

I’m waiting outside a hotel ballroom just a few blocks away from Trump’s Chicago tower, one of the city’s tallest buildings.

But the Republican candidate has a stormy relationship with the country’s third largest city.

He invokes Chicago on the campaign trail, using it as a shorthand for crime, disorder and American decline.

And his last visit here generated plenty of heat. In July he was grilled in front of the National Association of Black Journalists. In testy exchanges he sparred with the moderators, said that immigrants were taking “black jobs” and questioned Kamala Harris’ racial identity: “Is she Indian? Or is she black?”

Today he’ll be interviewed by Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief John Micklethwait in front of an invited crowd of business leaders and media, and we’ll bring you updates on this page.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from Georgia

Image source, Nada Tawfik / BBC

I’m in Savannah, one of the most beautiful cities in the swing state of Georgia, known for its antebellum architecture and centuries-old oak trees covered in Spanish moss.

The election has officially kicked off here with the start of early voting today, and the Harris campaign says this area is a priority for them.

It’s been a long time - since Bill Clinton was a candidate in the 1990s – that this city and coastal Georgia was such a focus of the campaigns.

Vice-President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz rode a bus tour through here, added staff and opened more field offices.

They’ve also dispatched surrogates to court suburban and rural voters, including former President Clinton and Harris's husband Dough Emhoff - who will be in Savannah this week.

The strategy reflects the fact that she needs to overperform not just in the blue counties around Atlanta, but in this big county and the surrounding rural Republican-leaning ones too, like Joe Biden did, if she has any hope of turning the Peach State blue once again.

Remember, President Joe Biden won Georgia by just 0.2 points.

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his weekly US Election Unspun newsletter.

Readers in the UK can sign up here.

Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Image source, Reuters

Kamala Harris is weighing up whether to appear on Joe Rogan's podcast, Reuters news agency reported - citing unnamed campaign sources.

The Democratic candidate is keen to reach young male voters after polls indicated the group is backing Donald Trump in larger numbers than other Republican candidates in previous races.

The Joe Rogan Experience podcast is among the most listened to in the world, with millions of subscribers on streaming platforms and YouTube. According to YouGov, its audience skews heavily towards young men, external.

Trump has actively tried to reach young male voters during this cycle by appearing on podcasts popular with the demographic, which is sometimes dubbed the "manosphere".

Both candidates have looked to non-traditional media to reach voters. Trump sat down with YouTube star and podcaster Logan Paul and Harris appeared on the popular Call Her Daddy podcast.

Kayla Epstein
US reporter

Early voting is officially under way in Georgia, but there could be speed bumps ahead.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has criticised a controversial rule change in the state to hand count ballots in the upcoming November election. The rule change faces legal challenges.

In an interview yesterday with the Washington Post, Raffesnperger, who oversees the state's elections, said it could slow down the vote count and create a "breeding ground for conspiracy theories". The Republican official said the rule change "exceeds state law".

"They got pushback from both sides of the aisle," he said, adding that the rule raised "chain of custody concerns" and noted that a hand count will take "a lot more time". He went on: "Everything we’ve been fighting for since 2020 is, get the voter quicker responses, quicker results."

• For context: There's been a lot of talk during this election campaign about election integrity - particularly as Donald Trump and many of his allies continue to falsely suggest Joe Biden did not win the 2020 election. After that election, a recording revealed that Trump had told Raffensberger he wanted to "find 11,780 votes" - to overturn the election result - when the final vote tally showed Biden had won Georgia. Trump - who has pleaded not guilty - and some 18 other defendants are accused of criminally conspiring to overturn his defeat in the state of Georgia in the 2020 election.

Image source, EPA

As we've reported, early voting begins in the key battleground state of Georgia this morning. But it could take a long time to find out if the state is swinging red or blue.

Georgia's election boards have voted to require a hand count for every ballot cast in the state, potentially creating further delays in a system that took weeks to deliver a final result four years ago.

The state's election officials opposed the hand count mandate, warning it could introduce the risk of error or fraud.

Poll workers in the state's 6,500 voting precincts will only start counting votes on election night on 5 November.

In 2020, a definitive result in Georgia wasn't delivered until 7 December, after Donald Trump requested a recount.

You can read more in our full story on voting in Georgia this year.

On the campaign trail last night, Donald Trump turned what was initially a Pennsylvania town hall Q&A into an impromptu musical listening party.

After two members of the audience fainted, apparently because of high temperatures in the venue, the Republican presidential candidate stopped taking questions and said: "Let's just listen to music... who the hell wants to hear questions, right?"

The extended musical encore lasted for 39 minutes, as Trump swayed along on stage and gestured at the crowd. The earlier question portion of the evening lasted about 30 minutes.

Trump's campaign's communications director Steven Cheung posted on X that it was a "Total lovefest at the PA townhall! Everyone was so excited they were fainting so @realDonaldTrump turned to music. Nobody wanted to leave and wanted to hear more songs from the famous DJT Spotify playlist!"

The video above shows the moment Trump decided there would be no more questions for the night as he introduced the Village People's YMCA song.

Bernd Debusmann Jr & Brandon Drenon
Reporting from Washington DC

With just weeks to go until the US presidential election, Kamala Harris is ramping up efforts to court black and Latino voters. Despite holding a clear lead among both groups, some Democrats have warned she needs to do more to energise these voters to turn out for her in November.

That's in part because of recent polling which suggests Harris’s Republican rival Donald Trump is having success in winning over black and Latino voters, a continuation of gains he made in 2016 and 2020.

One New York Times and Siena poll indicated Harris had 78% support among black voters, compared to around 90% support for Democrats in recent elections, with men accounting for most of this drop-off.

This could prove crucial in a race that looks set to be decided by razor-thin margins. And even if this polling is off, in key battleground states modest gains among black or Latino voters could ultimately sway the result.

In Georgia, where early voting begins today, black voters constitute about 30% of the total.

• Read more: Harris courts black and Latino votes as polls suggest Trump gains

Image source, EPA

The White House says it is tracking Iranian threats against Donald Trump and warned of "severe consequences" for any attack on a US citizen.

In July, it emerged the former president - who authorised a strike which killed Iran's most senior military figure in 2020 - had been given extra security after US authorities learned of an Iranian plot to kill him.

The Trump campaign said in September it had been briefed by US intelligence on assassination threats from Iran, without providing further details.

Tehran has previously denied US claims of interfering in American affairs.

On Monday, Reuters reported White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett as saying: "We consider this a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority, and we strongly condemn Iran for these brazen threats.

"Should Iran attack any of our citizens, including those who continue to serve the United States or those who formerly served, Iran will face severe consequences."

Brandon Livesay
Live editor

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US politics for Tuesday, 15 October.

Today is important for the residents of Georgia - it's the start of early voting in the state for the presidential election.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have put significant campaign resources in the state already because it's one of the seven critical battlegrounds that will likely determine who wins the election.

If we rewind back to the 2020 race, Georgia was won by Joe Biden by only about 12,000 votes.

That vote count is also part of one of Trump's ongoing legal battles. In a phone call following the 2020 election, Trump pressured state’s top election official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, to "find 11,780 votes" – a move which along with other alleged efforts to overturn the result led to criminal charges against Trump and some of his allies. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Stick with us, we've got plenty of updates and analysis to bring you.

Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining our live coverage of the US election, here are the main developments on the campaign trail you need to get caught up on:

• Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaigned in Pennsylvania on Monday - a swing state which could prove pivotal when votes are counted after the 5 November election
• Polls suggest the state is incredibly close and both the Republican and Democratic candidates are trying to win over undecided voters in the remaining weeks of the campaign
• Harris used a rally in the city of Erie to strongly condemn her opponent, where she focussed on his comments about a domestic "enemy within" and said a second Trump presidency would be "dangerous" for Americans
• Trump took questions from audience members at a town hall-style event in Oaks, which was cut short after two supporters in the crowd collapsed, seemingly due to high temperatures in the venue
• Elsewhere, Harris has agreed to an interview with Fox News later this week, in what will be her first extended appearance on the conservative news network

Image source, Reuters

The campaigns, pundits and voters of all stripes will be frantically checking the polls over the coming weeks.

BBC News has compiled this tracker which looks at how Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are performing nationally - and, crucially, what their support looks like in those all-important swing states.

The polls suggest Harris continues to hold a narrow lead over Trump across the US, but it's a much tighter picture when you drill down into the key states both camps are desperate to win.

Leads for either Trump or Harris are well within a 3% margin of error in Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona - or, to put it more simply, this election is too close to call.

As ever, all polls should be treated with caution. They can only indicate how voters were feeling on any given day and it's possible some industry-wide methodological error means the pollsters will be left red-faced come 6 November.

Image source, BBC News

Bernd Debusmann Jr
US Reporter

Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump is making gains with black and Latino voters, polling data from the New York Times and Siena suggests.

While Harris is still ahead among both electorates - 78% to 15% among black voters, and 56% to 37% among Latinos - the poll indicates Trump is more popular among these voters than any Republican for decades.

Even slight gains for Trump could give the former president an edge in key battleground states such as Arizona, Nevada and Georgia.

The poll suggests a majority of both groups are dissatisfied with the state of the economy - a factor which further helps Trump with some voters.

Among those who have expressed concern about the economy is is Quenton Jordan, a 30-year-old Virginia resident who once voted for Barack Obama, but has voted for Trump since he first entered the national political stage in 2016.

"Inflation has pretty much made it impossible, or extremely challenging, for people to provide basic necessities for their families," Mr Jordan says.

"It's tangible things like that, that make people say [they] don't like the pressure I'm getting from the cost of goods. It's making it harder for me," he adds.

What could Trump's 'enemy within' line mean in practice?published at 04:15 British Summer Time 15 October 2024

04:15 BST 15 October 2024

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Donald Trump has referred to his political opponents and those who disagree with his policies as “the enemy within” on numerous occasions during his latest presidential campaign.

At times, he has even said they present a greater threat to the nation than America’s foreign rivals and adversaries.

During a television interview that aired on Sunday, however, he went a step further.

When asked whether he expects “chaos” on election day, the former president said the real threat was “radical left lunatics” - and added that the National Guard or, perhaps, the US military could be used to ensure security.

While on the campaign trail, Trump has also called for using the military to fight crime in US cities and prevent undocumented migrants from crossing the US-Mexico border.

Trump's comments echo those made when he was president in 2020, when he advocated using active duty military forces to re-establish order during the sometimes violent Black Lives Matters protests.

Those efforts were opposed by members of the US military, including then-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Mark Milley, who has since publicly criticised Trump as being “fascist to the core”.

Cai Pigliucci
Reporting from Pennsylvania

Recent polls suggest support for Kamala Harris could be slipping among a key demographic: black men.

As Tommy Twillie waited to enter Harris's rally in Erie earlier, I asked him what he makes of criticism that she isn’t doing enough to earn support from black men.

"I don't see that she needs to do anything else," he told me. "She's for all. Not just for any one particular race or one particular religion."

Former President Barack Obama faced backlash in recent days for remarks he made on the campaign trail in Pittsburgh, where he suggested some black men are considering not voting for Harris because she's a woman.

Homer Smith echoed Obama's comments, saying he thinks "many young men in particular are looking at it from a standpoint that’s discriminatory, that women shouldn't be put it in that position" as president.

But Smith said Harris has "proven she can hold her own," and that she has done enough to earn the votes of black men like himself.

Regan Morris
US Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

In Arizona, some Republicans are backing a Democratic candidate over their party's own in the race to become Maricopa County's top election official.

The state's largest county was at the heart of the so-called "stop the steal" movement in 2020. Trump supporters surrounded the County Recorder's Office after it became clear Joe Biden was on course to win the county, and with it the state.

An audit found no evidence of election interference but Republican election official Stephen Richer has endured years of harassment and death threats for certifying the results.

Richer was ousted in a Republican primary in July after being defeated in a primary by Justin Heap. While Heap has never explicitly denied the state's election result, he has the backing of prominent figures who claim Trump won.

Many of the state’s Republicans are backing Democrat Tim Stringham over Heap in the race to become the new Maricopa County Recorder.

At a press conference on Monday, Bettina Nava - a Republican strategist and former state director for John McCain - called Heap "extreme" and an "election denier".

Julie Spilsbury, a councilmember from Mesa City and "lifelong Republican", called on voters to "support candidates who prioritize integrity and transparency in our elections regardless of party affiliation".

Heap, a current state lawmaker, could not be reached for comment.

Cai Pigliucci
Reporting from Pennsylvania

Earlier at the Harris rally, we heard the crowd chant "lock him up”. That chant was made notorious by Trump supporters during his first presidential run when it was aimed at Hilary Clinton.

Harris politely stopped them, saying: “Now hold on, the courts will handle that.”

Harris spent the first half of her remarks touting her economic record and promoting her new policy to expand medicare for seniors to give them the ability to live at home. The economy and healthcare are what voters here told me they wanted to hear about most.

However, much of the rally focused on Trump and what Harris says are the risks of his potential return to the White House.

She said he’s not a serious man, but “the consequences of him ever becoming president again are brutally serious.” She also played an ad where Trump refers to “the enemy within”.