Uncertainty reigns entering the final full week of the 2024 campaign with Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump locked in a fiercely competitive presidential contest. What happens in the coming days will be pivotal in deciding the winner of next week’s election.

Trump on Sunday held a rally at Madison Square Garden where several speakers made racist and crude remarks, including comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who described Puerto Rico as “a floating island of garbage.” Shortly after those remarks, Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Bad Bunny endorsed Harris.

Trump plans to hold a rally in Atlanta Monday evening while Harris will make several campaign stops in Michigan, including a rally with singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers.

Here’s the latest:

Speaker Johnson Appears to Confirm Trump’s ‘Secret’ Plan

House Speaker Mike Johnson appears to be confirming Trump’s claim that Republicans have a “secret” plan to win the election.

“By definition, a secret is not to be shared — and I don’t intend to share this one,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.

The Republican speaker, who led a key legal challenge to the 2020 election, has worked to stay close to Trump and has been hesitant to contradict him. At his rally in New York on Sunday Trump said they have a “little secret” in the House that will have a “big impact.”

The statement was first reported by the New York Times.

Related Story: Puerto Ricans React With Fury to Comedian’s Insult at Trump Rally

Harris Says Her Administration Will ‘Reassess’ Federal Jobs Requiring a College Degree

Kamala Harris, campaigning in Michigan on Monday, told an audience at a semiconductor facility in Saginaw County that on “day one” of her possible presidency she will reassess which federal jobs require a college degree.

The comment is both a policy proposal and a political bridge.

One of the clearest political divides in the nation over the past few presidential cycles has been between college-educated and non-college-educated voters, with Democrats acknowledging they need to cut into Donald Trump’s support among the latter group.

“One of the things immediately is to reassess federal jobs, and I have already started looking at it, to look at which ones don’t require a college degree,” she said. “Because here is the thing: That’s not the only qualification for a qualified worker.”

Earlier in her speech, Harris said, “We need to get in front of this idea that only high-skilled jobs require college degrees.”

Related Story: New ‘RBG PAC’ Spending $19 Million From Secret Donors to Aid Trump on ...

Fires Set in Drop Boxes Destroy Hundreds of Ballots in Washington and Damage 3 in Oregon

SEATTLE — Authorities — including the FBI — are investigating after early morning fires were set in ballot drop boxes in Portland, Oregon, and in nearby Vancouver, Washington.

Hundreds of ballots were destroyed in the Vancouver fire. In Portland, only three ballots were damaged after an incendiary device triggered a fire suppression system inside a drop box. The drop box that was targeted across the Columbia River in Vancouver also had a fire suppression system, but Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey says that for unknown reasons it failed work effectively.

Vancouver is in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, the site of what is expected to be one of the closest U.S. House races in the country, between first-term Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger Joe Kent.

▶ Read more about the ballots that were destroyed

‘We Cannot Rest on Tradition’

Vice President Kamala Harris told an audience at a semiconductor facility in Saginaw County, Michigan, on Monday that their work represents “the best of who we are as a country,” balancing the traditions of the nation and the desire to push technology forward.

“When we understand who we are as a nation, we take great pride in being a leader on so many things. And we have a tradition of that,” she said at the Hemlock Semiconductor facility in central Michigan. “But I think that what we know as Americans is that we cannot rest on tradition.”

Harris added: “We have to constantly be on top of what is happening, what is current, and investing in the industries of the future, as well as honoring the traditions and the industries that have built up America’s economy.”

Hemlock Semiconductor recently received a $325 million federal grant for a new factory.

Related Story: Trump Flirts With the Ultimate Tax Cut: No Taxes at All

Trump Will Speak to Reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday

The Republican nominee for president will deliver what his campaign is calling “remarks to the press” at 10 a.m. at his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. It is unclear whether the former president will take questions.

Americans in Puerto Rico Can’t Vote for US President. Their Anger at Trump Is Shaping the Race

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A comic calling Puerto Rico garbage before a packed Donald Trump rally in New York was the latest humiliation for an island territory that has long suffered from mistreatment, residents said Monday in expressions of fury that could affect the presidential election.

Puerto Ricans cannot vote in general elections despite being U.S. citizens, but they can exert a powerful influence with relatives on the mainland. Phones across the island of 3.2 million people were ringing minutes after the speaker derided the U.S. territory Sunday night, and they still buzzed Monday.

▶ Read more about Puerto Ricans’ response to the remarks

Biden Criticizes Musk’s $1M Giveaway as ‘Inappropriate’

President Joe Biden said it was “totally inappropriate” for Elon Musk to pledge to give away $1 million a day to voters for signing his political action committee’s petition. The billionaire and owner of the social platform X has gone all-in on Republican Donald Trump.

The giveaway has raised questions and alarms among some election experts who say it is a violation of the law to link a cash handout to signing a petition that also requires a person to be registered to vote.

“I think it’s totally inappropriate,” he said in Delaware where he just voted.

Related Story: Puerto Ricans React With Fury to Comedian’s Insult at Trump Rally

Since Labor Day, the Campaigns Have Made More Visits to Pennsylvania Than to Other States

The Democratic and Republican presidential tickets are heading into the final week of campaigning with a familiar strategy: Rally supporters in the handful of states that will decide the race.

Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin have received the most attention from Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and their running mates since the Labor Day weekend — the point when campaigning traditionally intensifies.

The Democratic ticket has been more active over the past two weeks, according to Associated Press tracking of the campaigns’ public events.

From Oct. 14 through this past weekend, Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, held 42 campaign events over the seven swing states while Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, held 25.

There has been a stark contrast in Wisconsin: Harris and Walz visited the state eight times between Oct. 14 and Sunday, compared to just one visit by Trump and Vance during that span. The Republicans are headed back to Wisconsin this week, including a rally in Milwaukee.

The AP tracker shows that from Labor Day through this past weekend both campaigns have made more visits to Pennsylvania (43) than to Georgia, Arizona and Nevada combined (40). See where the campaigns have been traveling with this AP interactive map.

Biden Calls Trump’s New York Rally ‘Simply Embarrassing’

In response to Donald Trump’s New York rally where speakers made crude and racist insults, President Joe Biden said: “It’s simply embarrassing. That’s why this election is so important.”

Biden was speaking after he voted Monday in Delaware.

“Most of the presidential scholars I’ve spoken to talk about the single most consequential thing about a president is character. Character,” Biden said. “And he puts that in question every time he opens his mouth.”