Ana Faguy
Reporting from Pennsylvania

I've been talking to Kari Holmes, a pastor in eastern Pennsylvania, who tells me she feels the weight of being a voter in such a crucial swing state.

She says she's working hard to ensure Latino and black voters in the Allentown area show up at the polls on 5 November.

And Holmes isn't the only one, she tells me, referring to the stream of politicians flooding Pennsylvania to persuade voters.

"This is the time to feel the gravity of our vote as voters of colour in this very important commonwealth," she says of her community.

Image source, Reuters

Thousands of miles away from Pennsylvania, where Barack Obama just spoke at a Harris campaign event, Kamala Harris herself has participated in a town hall with an American Spanish-language broadcaster as she seeks to court Latino voters in Nevada.

Local reports suggest she was asked about immigration, healthcare, and other top issues. The event's due to air on Univision at 22:00 ET (03:00 BST).

During, Harris is said to have been asked to name three virtues about her opponent Donald Trump. She responded that he "loves his family".

Next up on Harris's campaign stop list is Phoenix, Arizona - a south-western battleground state.

• A reminder: On the Republican trail, Donald Trump appeared on Thursday in Detroit, Michigan, where he spoke about the "failing" automotive industry and blamed the Biden-Harris administration. Catch up on what else Trump said in our earlier coverage.

Rachel Looker
Reporting from the Obama event

Barack Obama ended his speech with a powerful message that honed in on the importance of the character and integrity of elected leaders.

It was a theme he used throughout the speech to attack fellow former US president Donald Trump.

The message seemed to resonate with the crowd, which erupted into cheers and claps as he finished his almost one hour speech.

Many are lingering around the stage after Obama shook the hands of those in the crowd before swiftly exiting the arena.

• In case you're interested: Earlier, the BBC's US election special of Question Time saw an audience of American voters debate various matters - including whether the character of a president or presidential candidate matters. Catch up with how that unfolded in our earlier posts.

Barack Obama reaches a crescendo as he wraps up his remarks with an impassioned call to vote.

“It's not just about policies that are on the ballot. It is about values," he tells the crowd.

“Put down your phone and vote. Grab your friends and family and vote."

And finally: “Vote for Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States."

There are huge cheers as he exits the stage.

We're continuing to listen in to Barack Obama's remarks at an event for Kamala Harris's presidential campaign.

The former president attacks Donald Trump on various issues - including the economy and abortion.

On the former, he criticises Trump saying during the 10 September presidential debate that he had "concepts of a plan" for healthcare. Harris, by contrast, has an actual plan, Obama says.

And on the latter, he says he knows people may oppose abortion for religious reasons - but that the decision regarding terminating a pregnancy should be left to the “woman whose body is involved and not by politicians".

"He handpicked three of the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe vs Wade. Went out there and bragged about it," Obama says of Trump, adding several states have abortion bans.

• For context: In 2022, following Trump's appointment of a conservative majority, the Supreme Court overturned a 50-year-old decision to make abortion a constitutional right in the US. Abortion rights is one of Harris' signature issues in this election.

Kayla Epstein
US reporter

Kamala Harris has struggled to convince voters that she is a 'change' candidate.

Now, former US president Barack Obama is trying to convince Pennsylvania voters that Harris, not her opponent Donald Trump, will bring the change they want.

"I get why people are looking to shake things up. I am the hopey-changey guy," he says, a reference to his own presidential campaign that promised "hope and change".

“What I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that is good for you, Pennsylvania," he says.

He says four more years of Trump would lead to more "bumbling and bluster and division."

Back in the campaign room, Barack Obama is acknowledging that this election will be tight because there are "a lot of Americans still struggling out there".

“As a country we’ve been through a lot these past few years," he says. "We had a historic pandemic wreaking having on communities and businesses."

Obama says that's contributed to rising prices, and that the interest of the public had "taken a back seat" to the interests of the rich, and so he understands why people want change.

Rachel Looker
Reporting from the Obama event

Just before Obama started speaking, I caught up with Kimberly Thomas, who's sporting a hot pink Harris-Walz baseball cap.

There’s a massive amount of Harris-Walz merch here. I’ve seen the traditional signs - but also T-shirts, buttons, stickers and bucket hats.

Thomas, 62, lives in Pittsburgh and has come to support what she calls a “new shift” and “movement” with the Harris-Walz campaign.

A top issue for Thomas is reproductive rights. While she does not agree with abortion, she says it’s important to her that all women have the right to choose and that she doesn't want a "tyrant" as president.

Thomas stresses the importance of not just electing a Democrat to the White House but also voting blue down the ticket - which she plans to do - so Democrats can win the House and Senate.

A beaming Barack Obama is in the room.

One of the Democratic Party's most popular messengers, he's hoping to boost excitement around Kamala Harris's candidacy and convince people to turn out to vote.

"Are you ready to go?" he asks the crowd in Pittsburgh. They cheer.

We'll bring you the key news lines right here. Stay tuned.

Image source, US Pool

Rachel Looker
Reporting from the Obama event

This will be former US president Barack Obama’s first campaign event of the 2024 election cycle.

He endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race back in July.

Held near the University of Pittsburgh’s campus, it marks the first of several events Obama is scheduled to make in key swing states across the country in the lead up to election day on 5 November.

The energy here is electric and the room is packed. The bass is vibrating the room as loud pop and hip-hop music blares from speakers throughout the room.

Several times, the crowd has erupted into chants of “Vote!” and “Not going back!”

Image source, US Pool

Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, a feed we're seeing shows a packed Pittsburgh venue where former US president Barack Obama is due to speak soon.

While it's a Kamala Harris campaign event, the Democratic presidential nominee won't be appearing herself, she's been in Nevada today.

We'll bring you live updates when Obama takes the stage, including from our reporter who's there and says the atmosphere is electric.

Rachel Looker
Reporting from Pennsylvania

Still in Erie, a city of less than 100,000 people in Pennsylvania, I'm visiting the County Courthouse where those eligible are lining up to complete early voting.

I get talking to Jeanne Snyder, 71, who's just voted - she cast her ballot early because she’s going to be deployed with the Red Cross around election day.

She says she voted for Harris “because the alternative is Trump”.

“That is just not good,” she tells me.

Snyder, who lives in Albion, a more rural part of the county, voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 and says she feels the economy is doing better compared with when he first took office.

"I don’t understand why people think they were better off with Trump - that boggles my mind."

The US presidential election is expected to be determined by a handful of states where both candidates stand a chance of winning; the biggest prize is seen as Pennsylvania, where the BBC's US election Question Time special was filmed.

Data from polling analysis website 538 suggests Kamala Harris has established a small lead over her Republican rival Donald Trump in the battleground state - but not by much.

At the moment, the latest data puts Harris on 48% and Trump on 47.2% - one of the smallest leads in the swing states.

When the margins are that fine, it’s impossible to know who is really ahead - especially when every poll conducted in Pennsylvania will have a margin of error that means the numbers could be higher or lower.

Meanwhile, here's a look at how the two candidates are faring across other battleground states, key to helping the winner hit the required 270 electoral college votes needed to become president.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Pennsylvania

Mark Henley, who spoke to me after the Question Time recording, was at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally on 13 July when Donald Trump was shot at.

He was also back again this past weekend, when Trump returned to the site of the assassination attempt.

The New Jersey resident is frustrated by the ongoing criticism of Trump, some of which, he says, he saw on display during filming.

Henley is concerned about what he described as worsening censorship in the US - a claim Trump's running mate JD Vance made multiple times during the vice-presidential debate with Democrat Tim Walz.

"We need to come together and fix this thing," he told me.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Pennsylvania

Evan Stubbs was among the undecided voters in the Question Time audience.

The University of Pennsylvania student told me he's still undecided because of foreign policy.

He believes Trump is the better candidate when it comes to China-related issues - but when it comes to character, he's more impressed with Harris.

He described Harris as the "safer choice".

And even though he's still undecided, Stubbs said he would be surprised if any of tonight's audience members came out of the hour-long discussion with "a changed mind".

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Pennsylvania

Kim Pelletier was one of a dozen or so audience members called on to speak during the taping of Question Time which, as we've said already, took place in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.

She was fierce in her defence of Donald Trump.

During her remarks, Pelletier said the former president was the right person to defend the US - regardless of his character.

Harris is not that person, Pelletier said.

"I feel like we're in a fight of good versus evil," she told me after the show.

Bringing the animated debate to an end, hot Fiona Bruce asks the audience: "Well that was lively, wasn’t it?”

There are chuckles in the crowd.

She's not wrong - what a whirlwind of an hour.

That's it, the programme has now ended, but stay tuned as our reporter Ana Faguy - who was in the studio while it was filmed in Pennsylvania last night - brings us some audience reaction.

Bryan Lanza, the Trump adviser on the panel, cuts in to say that for nearly 40 months the Biden-Harris administration has “failed to hit their own target of inflation - which, he says, made America unaffordable for the vast majority of working-class folks”.

He says they've done nothing to address it.

But an audience member pushes back.

He says inflation numbers are on the right track, and inflation is coming down - and that "all this happened without causing a recession".

The final question of the programme focuses on the US economy, which polling consistently shows is top of mind for voters.

Is Trump the only one who can improve the economy? is what the panel are asked.

White, a Republican Pennsylvania state representative, is first to speak - she says Americans have seen higher prices in food, fuel and energy under the Biden-Harris administration.

This is a “major” concern, she says, before going on to claim that “illegal immigration undermines American workers wages”.

But the BBC’s Zurcher, also on the panel, says unemployment is low, inflation is down and the economy is growing - though he notes that prices are higher under this administration than the last.

He adds that the Covid-19 pandemic is a key part of comparing these numbers. Inflation is a “post-Covid global phenomenon,” Zurcher says, and it is not just the US facing this problem.

Next up, an audience member asks how a Trump presidency in particular would handle various global crises - including the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and Nato membership.

Medhi Hasan criticises the current approach by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the situation in the Middle East - but says “I think Trump would be worse”. And on Ukraine “he’ll be horrifically much worse", Hasan claims, citing Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Martina White says Trump is a “good negotiator” and a “peacetime president” - meaning there were no new conflicts involving the US while he was in office. Under Biden, “there are wars breaking out left and right”, White adds.

On Nato, an audience member notes that Trump has been clear he does not support Nato. He says on the flip side, Biden has strengthened alliances by adding more countries.

• Get up to speed with both Trump and Harris's policies, including international issues