The Latest: Early voting surges in race’s closing stretch

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the presidential campaign (all times EDT):

10:20 a.m.

Early voting is surging less than three weeks before Election Day.

As of Saturday, more than 5.3 million votes have been cast, far ahead of the pace at this time in 2012.

Balloting is underway in 34 out of 37 early-voting states, both in person and by mail.

Hillary Clinton so far appears be showing strength in pivotal states such as North Carolina and Florida. Donald Trump has shown promise in Iowa and Ohio.

In all, more than 46 million people are expected to vote before Election Day — or as much as 40 percent of all votes cast.

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9:50 a.m.

A new GOP ad in the Missouri Senate race acknowledges that Hillary Clinton is likely to be president and warns against sending a Democratic senator to join her.

It’s the latest example of an ad strategy that Republicans have begun employing as Donald Trump’s defeat looks increasingly likely.

Here’s the message: Elect Republicans to be a “check and balance” against Clinton.

The ad backing GOP Sen. Roy Blunt is by from the Senate Leadership Fund. It’s a well-funded Senate campaign committee run by allies of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

The ads shows the Democratic candidate in Missouri, Jason Kander, morphing into Clinton and claims the two are identical on issues including immigration and liberal Supreme Court justices.

The narrator says: “One Hillary in Washington would be bad enough, reject Jason Kander.”

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9:35 a.m.

Mike Pence is praising agriculture as an economic and cultural pillar of the United States.

The GOP vice presidential nominee is appearing at the Future Farmers of America convention in Indianapolis.

Pence — Indiana’s governor — was speaking in his official capacity and didn’t mention running mate Donald Trump.

Pence received an enthusiastic ovation from 10,000 high school students when he mentioned “the extraordinary opportunity my little family has today” on “a national ticket.”

Pence noted that U.S. agriculture and related enterprises employ 21 million people.

According to federal data, that includes about 740,000 crop laborers who are immigrants working in the U.S. illegally. Those workers and their employers could be affected by Trump’s immigration proposals.

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9 a.m.

Look for Donald Trump to lay out his to-do list for the first 100 days of a Trump administration.

The Republican presidential nominee is set to give what’s being billed as a major speech on Saturday morning in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Trump is trying to shift attention back to his priorities after weeks of campaign controversy.

Aides say the address is a first glimpse at the closing argument he’ll being making in the final two weeks of the race.

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8:30 a.m.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign says four people have been examined by medical personnel after a white powdery substance arrived in an envelope at a New York campaign office — and no health issues have been reported.

Campaign spokesman Glen Caplin says federal and local officials have determined the substance wasn’t hazardous.

Police say preliminary tests showed the substance found Friday in an envelope at Clinton’s Manhattan office, where mail is received, wasn’t harmful. A police spokesman declined to identify what the substance was.

The envelope arrived late Friday afternoon. It was taken to Clinton’s Brooklyn headquarters and the 11th floor there was evacuated.

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