On the first day of early voting in Detroit Michiganwhich rapper Lizzo campaigned for Kamala HarrisShe dismissed the argument that America wasn't ready for a female president, adding: “It's about damn time.” In Atlanta, GeorgiaHarris was joined by singer Usher, who described the Democratic candidate Donald Trump's Talking as “nonsense”.

With Harris and Trump essentially tied in the most closely contested states, both campaigns are focusing on early mail-in or in-person voting with just 17 days remaining until the Nov. 5 election.

On the battlefield of PennsylvaniaTrump escalated his personal attacks on Harris, calling her a “shitty vice president.” The Republican candidate had billed the event as the start of his final confrontation with voters, but quickly went off script with a long story about Arnold Palmer in which he also made comments about the late golf legend's genitals.

This is what else happened on Saturday:

News and updates on the election of Kamala Harris

• In both Detroit and Atlanta, Harris urged her supporters to do everything they could to win. “On Election Day, we don’t want to regret what we could have done in the next 17 days,” she said. Harris criticized Trump for the second straight day for canceling events and avoiding another presidential debate due to what she described as “exhaustion.” Her campaign called Trump's rally in Pennsylvania “garbage” and said he focused on the issue “that matters most to voters in this election: the 'anatomy' of a deceased golfer.”

• In Atlanta, Harris said Trump had been “cruel” for the way he spoke about a Georgia mother's grieving family who died as a result of an abortion pill. Harris blamed Georgia's abortion restrictions for Amber Thurman's death and pointed to a clip of Trump at a Fox News town hall. When asked if the Thurman family would attend a separate media call, Trump reportedly said: “We'll get better ratings, I promise.” “Donald Trump still refuses to take responsibility for the pain and suffering, that he caused,” Harris said.

• Harris reiterated her call for a ceasefire in Israel's war in Gaza and said it was important to seize the opportunity presented by the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Harris sidestepped a question about whether Arab American and Muslim anger over U.S. support for Israel could cost her the election in the battleground state of Michigan, but said she would continue to speak about the tragic loss of innocent lives. “I speak publicly all the time about the fact that there are so many tragic stories coming out of Gaza,” Harris said.

News and updates on the election of Donald Trump

• In Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Trump said Harris was further to the left than Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sandersand added: “You have to tell Kamala Harris that you've had enough, that you just can't take it anymore.” Trump underscored the importance of the Eastern State's electoral college delegates to the overall election: “If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing damn thing.”

• Donald Trump's campaign may not reach the thousands of voters he wants to reach in Arizona and Nevadawith about a quarter of America Pac's door knocks flagged as potentially fraudulent by its acquisition app, according to leaked data and people familiar with the matter. The Trump campaign earlier this year outsourced most of its work to America Pac, the political action committee founded by Elon Musk, betting that spending millions to elect Trump supporters, especially those who don't typically vote, would increase returns.

Elsewhere in the election campaign

• Early voting also began Saturday in Nevada, where Barack Obama campaigned for Harris in Las Vegas. The former president mocked Trump, telling the audience, “We don't need to see what an older, crazier Donald Trump looks like without guardrails.”

• Billionaire Mark Cuban – who has emerged as an energetic surrogate for Harris in the election campaign – told the Guardian that Trump's proposed tariffs could “drive small retailers and manufacturers out of business.” “Small companies do not have the price elasticity of larger companies. They cannot pass on the additional costs and administrative costs associated with tariffs.”

• Elsewhere, another billionaire – Elon Musk – campaigned for Trump in Pennsylvania. Speaking in Harrisburg, he announced that he would begin randomly handing out cash rewards of $1 million per day until the election to a registered voter in the state who signed his organization's petition. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has taken an increasingly visible role in Trump's campaign, donating nearly $75 million to his political organization America PAC.

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