California Gov. Gavin Newsom begins a two-day tour of South Carolina, meeting voters in rural and Republican-leaning areas. The trip over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday includes eight stops at coffee shops, small businesses, and churches. Newsom's visit to this early-voting state signals potential interest in a 2028 presidential run. On Wednesday, he plans to visit Seneca, a conservative town in a county where Donald Trump won over 75% of votes in 2024. South Carolina holds significant influence in Democratic primaries due to its diverse electorate. Newsom's efforts reflect a strategy to broaden his appeal beyond his liberal California image.

The nation's deep partisan divisions extend to trust in the vote tallies for this year's election. A new poll finds that Republicans are much more skeptical than Democrats that ballots will be counted accurately. The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey found that voters generally show more distrust toward nationwide voting results compared to the tallies done by their own local election offices. The survey also found older voters have more faith in the vote count at all levels than younger voters. This year's election marks the first presidential race since former President Donald Trump began a campaign of lies about a stolen 2020 election. Election experts warn that Trump may be laying the groundwork to once again challenge the election if he loses.

Kamala Harris is seeking to energize voters in Philadelphia, a crucial Democratic stronghold. She needs strong turnout in the city to overcome Republican Donald Trump's strength in Pennsylvania's rural areas. On Sunday, she attended church services, then visited a barbershop, a bookstore, a Puerto Rican restaurant and a youth basketball facility. During a rally at the end of the day, Harris said "no one can sit on the sidelines" in the election. She also said that Trump is only focused on himself while she's running for president to help Americans.

With Donald Trump's encouragement, Republicans are joining Democrats at the polls to cast their ballots early this year. The surge of GOP voters has helped break records for early voting in certain swing states such as Georgia and Nevada. At least 17 million early votes had been cast as of Tuesday. Campaigns typically try to get their voters to cast ballots early, either in person of by mail, so they can focus on turning out marginal voters on Election Day. But when Trump condemned early voting in 2020 and 2022, many Republicans stopped doing it. It's unclear what the early turnout means for the presidential election because it only factors in a voter's registration, not their actual vote.