Harris and Trump to speak in swing states as running mates prep ahead of VP debate

Jeff Flake, a former Republican senator from Arizona who recently left his position as US ambassador to Turkey, announced his endorsement of Kamala Harris for president.

“I want to support a candidate who understands that political opponents are our fellow citizens – the ‘loyal opposition’ as our parties once knew each other – not the enemy,” Flake said in a statement.

“I want to support a candidate who respects the will of the voters and would never attempt to use the powers of the Presidency to overturn an election after having been turned out by the voters,” Flake added.

Vice-President Kamala Harris is slated to rally in Las Vegas on Sunday night.

The rally is part of Harris’s latest western swing, which included walking alongside a towering, rust-colored border wall fitted with barbed wire in Douglas, Arizona, on Friday.

Harris attended a San Francisco fundraiser on Saturday and had plans for a Sunday event in Los Angeles before heading to Nevada, with a return to Washington set for Monday night.

Tonight’s speech is scheduled for 10.30pm ET.

Kamala Harris arrives at Los Angeles international airport on Saturday.

Trump was hailed at the Georgia-Alabama football game at the University of Alabama with musicians Kid Rock and Hank Williams Jr and with two-time major champion golfer John Daly.

Trump came to the football game as the guest of Alabama businessman Ric Mayers Jr, a member of Mar-a-Lago. Mayers said in an interview before the game that he invited Trump so that he could enjoy a warm welcome.

Many University of Alabama fans, anticipating Trump’s visit to their campus for a showdown between the No 4 Crimson Tide and No 2 Georgia Bulldogs, sported stickers and buttons that read: “They’re eating the Dawgs!”

They broke out in random chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” throughout the day, a preview of the rousing welcome he received early in the second quarter as he sat in a 40-yard-line suite hosted by a wealthy member of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump In Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Good morning, US politics blog readers. Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at an event in Erie, Pennsylvania, in the north-west corner of Pennsylvania, on Sunday. The former president is heading to a town where Biden won Erie county in 2020 by less than 1,500 votes in a key swing state.

Meanwhile, Vice-President Kamala Harris is set to hold a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday night, also looking to gain momentum in a swing state ahead of November. The rally is part of Harris’s recent western tour, which included her first visit to the US-Mexico border since she took the role at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket from President Joe Biden.

The vice-presidential candidates, the Ohio senator JD Vance and Minnesota governor Tim Walz, are preparing to take the debate stage on Tuesday.

Here’s what else is happening:

• Donald Trump attended a football game at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa moments after delivering remarks against immigrants on Saturday afternoon in the Rust belt.

• Walz has been prepping for the debate in Minneapolis with the US transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, while Vance has been holding mock debates with the Republican whip in the US House, Tom Emmer, according to the Guardian’s Ed Pilkington.

• As the US’s tumultuous 2024 election unfolds, with concerns about democracy being at risk, several assassination attempts on Donald Trump, and fears of civil unrest, there has also been a troubling shift in how animals are politically treated in American politics.