Georgia has voted solidly Republican in all but two presidential elections since 1960. Yet this year, the campaign team of Democratic candidate Joe Biden thinks he may have a shot. They're betting on support from black voters, who make up at least a quarter of all registered voters in the state.

On race-related issues, Biden polls far better than Trump. Black Lives Matter protests have gripped national news this year, and Georgia's youth have often led the demonstrations outside major cities.But Trump is pitching himself as the "law-and-order candidate", which could carry weight among white, conservative Georgians, who usually drive the state's result.It all depends on who shows up on polling day.

This election, a record number of women are running for US congress.

Though the majority of women are Democratic candidates, there is also a surge of Republican women.

Among the 301 women on the ballot, an unprecedented number of at least 115 of those candidates are women of colour.

This November, 33 women of colour are running as Republicans. About 17% of registered Republican voters are non-white, according to Pew Research, external.

Valerie Ramirez Mukherjee, 47, is amongst those Republican women running for US House in Illinois, District 10.

Ms Ramirez Mukherjee is the daughter of a Mexican father and Slovenian mother.

Now, in 2020, she is making her first run for public office.

Growing up, she recalls being raised to believe in gender equality.

"I didn't see that there was a 'role' of a girl or a boy," she said. "It was about who had the skill or the interest to get the job done."

Read more about some of the women running here.

Image source, Valerie Ramirez Mukherjee

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

For Donald Trump and his supporters, Wednesday’s report from the Commerce Department showing a massive economic rebound over the summer offered one more data point in favour of his presidency.

The 7.4% gain from the spring was indeed record setting – but not much of a surprise, given the enormous halt to activity earlier in the year. The report also showed how far there is to go before the US can claim a full economic recovery, as Democrats and many economists have warned.

Just what that gap looks like may depend on where a person lives. Job loss has been less severe in states that have had fewer coronavirus cases, many of which are reliably Republican.

But in this era, American views of the economy are shaped as much by politics as they are by facts on the ground. With just a few days to go before the election, and millions of votes already cast, it’s unlikely the latest GDP data will do much to sway anyone’s decision.

With the coronavirus pandemic taking much of the fun out of Halloween this year, some Americans are chanelling their energy into election decorations instead.

"Vote Like Your Life Depends On It" read one neon sign in the window of this house in Murray Hill, New York City.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

BBC's Yalda Hakim, in Wisconsin, on news hackers stole $2.3m from the Republican Party state campaign to get Trump re-elected

The Republican Party themselves were quick to admit that they were at a disadvantage with the money gone.

They say they were relying on it to make quick decisions, based on the state of the race.

Wisconsin couldn’t have been much tighter last time around, in 2016. Trump won by fewer than 23,000 votes, so the old cliché that every vote counts could not be more true.

Polls this time have consistently shown Joe Biden with a single-digit lead over the President.

And it’s not just in the polls that Donald Trump is lagging.

Campaign finance reports filed this week show that over the past two years Wisconsin Democrats have raised over double the amount of their Republican counterparts - and now some of those vital resources have been stolen.

In a campaign though, what is perhaps more important than money is time, and the President is spending lots of his here.

Tomorrow he’ll be making his third visit of the week. He’s not alone. Not to be out done, Joe Biden will also be making one of his much rarer trips to the state.

Follow Yalda on Twitter here, external

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The US election is being watched - and discussed - far and wide.

At a virtual meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, EU Council President Charles Michel, and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday, the three world leaders talked - and were asked - about climate change, Covid-19 and, of course, the looming presidential contest.

Describing the US as "a very important partner", von der Leyen said the EU was looking forward to stronger engagement with the US on climate change.

Keeping up the diplomatic tones, Trudeau added he hoped to deepen the already close ties with Canada's southern neighbour - regardless of next week's outcome.

Asked about the possibility of a contested election, Trudeau said Canada would follow along carefully "without interfering or intervening".

They're not the only world leaders watching closely. Read about who China really wants to win the US election.

Image source, BBc

Healthcare is one of the most important issues that drives voters to the polls. Today, we’re asking voters why.

Rachel Delgrego is a recent college graduate and a progressive voter concerned about the high cost of healthcare. After her mother was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease, she was denied coverage by 33 different insurance companies because of her pre-existing conditions.

She is voting for Joe Biden to bring “stability” back to the healthcare plans of everyday Americans.

Why does this election matter to you?

I have been involved in politics since my father was a local councilman in our small town of Norwood, Pennsylvania. Joe Biden was not my first choice. Because of my age and background, I tend to be further left of Joe. However, I do believe that what we need right now in this country is stability, and Joe will be able to provide us with true leadership.

How do your health issues influence your vote?

My mother’s and my health issues have become one of the biggest influences on my vote since I turned 18 and could start voting. My first election was the 2016 election, so you can imagine how nervous I was when casting my vote that we could lose our healthcare, have premiums and copays raised, and have our rights terminated depending on what candidate was elected. In the past 4 years I have seen that nightmare play out, and I don’t believe my mother and I would have a good chance of surviving another four years of this turmoil.

These are members of our US election voter panel. You'll hear more from them throughout the week.

Join the conversation:

• We want to hear from you - what questions do you have about the US election?
• In five words, tell us what's at stake in this election.

It's just five days to go until election day on 3 November and Donald Trump and Joe Biden are starting their final efforts to persuade voters to support them. The main developments so far:

• Biden and Trump will both campaign later on Thursday in swing-state Florida where they are neck-and-neck in the presidential race
• The candidates clashed again on Wednesday over coronavirus. Biden said Trump's handling of the pandemic was an insult to the 225,000 who had died. Meanwhile Trump said Biden would force the US into lockdowns and he mocked mask mandates
• The chairman of the Wisconsin Republican party has said that hackers stole $2.3m from the state's campaign to get Trump re-elected
• The US Supreme Court has ruled that absentee ballots can be accepted for several days after election day in two battleground states. Record-breaking early voting means that postal ballots could be instrumental in determining who wins the election
• New economic data shows that the US economy emerged quickly from the depths of the crisis triggered by coronavirus lockdowns this spring, but full recovery remains out of reach
• Meanwhile, Covid-19 continues to spread at a fast rate around the US. Around 800 people are dying each day. And the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, said on Wednesday that it might take until 2022 for the country to see "some semblance of normality"

Image source, Getty Images

Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson has said that a "damning" collection of confidential documents related to Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, has been lost in the mail.

"They searched the plane and the trucks that carried it...they combed their entire cavernous sorting facility," he said. "But they found nothing, those documents have vanished."

Later on Thursday, a spokesman for the US Postal Service told The Daily Beast that they had located the package. Carlson has not yet commented.

Many Trump critics met the explanation with disbelief online. They wondered why Carlson failed to make copies or secure pictures of the crucial documents, which the host had previously teased on his show.

The journalist and advocate of Donald Trump has been among the most vocal in pursuing controversial allegations against Hunter, related to his business dealings in Ukraine and China while his father was vice-president. No criminal activity has been proven, and no evidence has emerged that Joe Biden did anything to intentionally benefit his son.

Want to go deeper? Here's what we know about Hunter Biden.

Donald Trump won a surprise victory in Wisconsin in 2016 by a razor-thin margin - a single percentage point - mainly by appealing to rural areas and working-class white women. But this same group of voters helped elect a Democratic state governor two years later - and now Joe Biden is currently ahead in the polls.Wisconsinites may have been put off Trump by foreign trade wars that have strangled exports from the state's many dairy farmers, leading to plummeting prices and farm closures.The state has been rocked further by violent protests after a black man was shot by police in the city of Kenosha. Republicans warn that a Democrat win would bring lawlessness and further violence. But will Wisconsin voters be persuaded?

Both candidates will keep a close eye on the state and its 10 electoral votes on 3 November.

We’ve been asking our readers for their most pressing questions about the US election. Now it’s our turn to respond.

Judy, 81, from Swansea, UK, asks: Which are the battleground states and how many votes does each have?

Things can change in each election cycle, but here are places that could potentially go either way this year:

• Florida - 29 electoral votes
• North Carolina - 15 electoral votes
• Ohio - 18 electoral votes
• Georgia - 16 electoral votes
• Arizona - 11 electoral votes
• Michigan - 16 electoral votes
• Minnesota - 10 electoral cotes
• Pennsylvania - 20 electoral votes
• Wisconsin - 10 electoral votes
• Texas - 38 electoral votes
• New Hampshire - 4 electoral votes

And remember, you need 270 electoral votes to win.

Of these, it's really down to some core battlegrounds: Florida, Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia. To win the White House, a candidate will need to win several of these states.

What makes them unique? They feature a mix of rural and urban voters as well as diverse populations that could be motivated to turn out for either party.

Try your hand at predicting the president based on these states in our game here.

Click here if you want to know more about this project or send in a question of your own.

Tara McKelvey
BBC News, Pennsylvania

Image source, Jose Moreno

Everybody in Pennsylvania loves Trump – or at least that is what you might think when you are in rural areas. Trump signs are everywhere, and messages are caustic: “Make liberals cry again,” says a yard sign in York.

But once you get close to Philadelphia, the mood changes. In this area, there are lots of signs for former Vice-President Joe Biden, a Democrat. The state’s suburban areas lean Democratic, while small towns and farming areas lean Republican.

The question is: who will cast their ballot - those in live in rural parts or those in the suburbs? Whoever acts in greater numbers will determine the outcome of the state’s vote and could decide the overall election. The state has 20 electoral votes, a significant chunk of the votes that a candidate needs in order to win.

One Pennsylvanian, Dasha Pruett, a Republican who is running for Congress, has made her views clear. “I like that the president is putting America first,” she tells me. Pruett – for the record – is definitely voting.

Joe Tidy
Cyber-security reporter

The information security world is tense right now waiting and watching for cyber attacks that could affect the US Election.

This type of attack was probably not on many people’s lists of expected hacks.

It sounds like an almost standard case of something called Business Email Compromise (BEC). Effectively the hackers have either gained access to or spoofed an email address to put themselves between the Wisconsin Republican party HQ and one of their suppliers. The party then transferred the money to the hackers instead of their campaign partner.

In many cases of BEC, banks are able to reverse the transaction and return at least some of the money to the victims. The Republican party will be hoping that this is what happens here ...

We've got more information now about the Wisconsin Republican Party's claims that $2.3m was stolen from their Trump re-election campaign, as reported by the Associated Press news agency.

Party Chairman Andrew Hitt said the theft occured when a number of campaign invoices were manipulated - they were for vendors posting pro-Trump leaflets and providing paraphernalia, such as hats. The documents were altered so that when the party paid the invoices, the money did not go to the vendors, Hitt explained.

He said it appears to have begun as a phishing attempt.

Trump and Biden are both making a final push this week to secure Wisconsin. Trump won the state by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016. Polls have consistently shown a tight race, usually with Biden ahead.

The Wisconsin Republican party chairman says hackers stole $2.3m from the group's effort to get Trump re-elected, reports the Associated Press news agency.

The party said it contacted the FBI on Friday after it noticed suspicious activity, said Republican Party Chairman Andrew Hitt.

He said the FBI is investigating.

Hitt claimed the party is at a disadvantage now and that the campaign needed money late in the race.

Image source, Getty Images

The nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, said on Wednesday that it might take until 2022 until the US sees "some semblance of normality".

Speaking on a panel discussion with the University of Melbourne, Dr Fauci said that even if the US has a vaccine approved in the next few months, it's possible that a substantial proportion of Americans won't receive a vaccination until late into 2021.

"We're not in a good place," he said, noting the US is averaging about 70,000 cases each day.

Praising the near-universal mask wearing in Melbourne, he said that the US should adopt the same "mentality".

And speaking to the BBC earlier in the day, the apolitical Dr Fauci said he thought that Donald Trump's political rallies were bound to spread Covid-19 as potential superspreader events.

Image source, Getty Images

Next week, Americans will be voting on a lot more than just Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Both parties are closely eyeing the US Senate, where Republicans hold a thin three-seat advantage.There are 35 senators up for re-election this year - a good many of whom are vulnerable.

Republican bigwig Lindsey Graham, a former Trump critic who has turned into one of his most vocal supporters, is facing a strong challenge from Jaime Harrison, a former lobbyist and chairman of the state Democratic Party.

And in Maine, voters look set to punish one of the few moderate Republican senators still in office, Susan Collins, in a race that underscores just how tricky it is to be a centrist in the age of Trump.

Read more about the Senate races to watch.

More than 245 million Americans are eligible to vote - yet only a small percentage of them will actually determine who the next president is. Who are they and where do they live?

Image source, Getty Images

The latest data suggests that the US economy emerged quickly from the depths of the crisis triggered by coronavirus lockdowns this spring, but full recovery remains out of reach.

Official figures show the economy grew at a record 33% annual rate over the three months to 30 September, swinging upward after a severe decline earlier in the year.

But output remained 2.9% lower compared with the same period last year.

It will be interesting to see how the campaigns react to this as we go through the day.

Read more: US growth surged in summer but recovery is slowing

Image source, Getty Images

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany stopped by Fox News this morning, saying that Twitter hadn't "censored" Joe Biden during the campaign, while it blocked tweets from her boss.

McEnany did not note that the president's suppressed tweets have been tied to spreading misinformation and violating Twitter's user policies.

Turning to the coronavirus, she repeated a common line of attack, saying that if Biden is elected, Americans "will be locked down" - a claim that the Democrat has repeatedly refuted.

McEnany has made several appearances on the conservative network in recent days in a "personal capacity" - a distinction that allows the White House employee to avoid violating the Hatch Act, which forbids her from engaging in campaign activities. Since assuming the job in April, McEnany has blurred the lines between the government and Trump's campaign for reelection.