NEW YORK (AP) — Halloween has plenty of traditions, from candy to jack-o’-lanterns — and the annual spectacle of Heidi Klum’s costume.

The supermodel-turned-TV personality is fond of surprising her guests with her elaborate costumes, like in 2022, when she arrived at the event on the end of a fishing line, encased in a slithering worm costume.

“I just wanted to be something random,” she explained while lying on the floor for maximum worm-like effect. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone being a rain worm before.”

Last year, she enlisted the help of several Cirque du Soleil performers as the tail feathers to her peacock costume.

“A lot of planning goes into it, you know,” Klum said through her peacock beak, with husband Tom Kaulitz next to her, dressed as an egg. “Because first, you have to have an idea.”

At her 2008 party she dressed as Kali, the Hindu goddess of death and destruction — complete with multiple arms, dangling heads and a deep coat of blue body paint.

Klum told The Associated Press she would immediately be planning her look for the following year. “After tonight I’ll be thinking about what I’ll do next year. It’s always got to be different. Completely different,” she said.

Other notable Klum costumes over the years have included a giant Transformer, a clone (complete with several Klum-lookalikes) an elderly version of herself, and an alien experiment gone awry.

The star has also transformed into a terrifying butterfly, an ape, a cat, a crow — and cartoon characters including Jessica Rabbit and Fiona from “Shrek.”

Her tip to those still trying to decide what to wear this Halloween? Leave the store-bought masks at home.

“I personally don’t like it when people hide behind those full masks. I prefer when people get a little bit creative and they play with their face, when they put a lot of makeup on,” she told the AP in 2007. “I always love that the most on me, I really go scary on the face.”

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and REBECCA BOONE

DENVER (AP) — A national campaign is backing ballot measures in six states to end partisan primaries, seeking to turn down the temperature in a polarized country by removing a process that gives the most active members of both major parties an outsize role in picking the country’s leaders.

The $70 million effort to replace traditional primaries with either nonpartisan ones or ranked choice voting is run by Unite America, a Denver organization dedicated to de-polarizing the country.

“People are losing faith in democracy itself,” said Kent Thiry, the group’s co-chair and the former chief executive officer of the kidney dialysis firm DaVita Inc, during a Denver debate about the initiative on the Colorado ballot.

Nick Troiano, Unite America’s executive director, said the goal is to end a system where 85% of congressional seats are effectively filled in partisan primaries because the districts are so overwhelmingly Democratic or Republican that whoever wins the relevant primary is virtually guaranteed victory in November.

Troiano said the Republican congressmen who voted to overturn the 2020 election after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol almost all represented noncompetitive districts and have had to answer only to their party’s voters.

Supporters are excited at the breadth of the campaign.

“It’s eclipsed by the presidential election, but this is the most important year for this sort of structural reform that I can recall,” said Edward Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University.

But some skeptics contend that changing the structure of primaries won’t make much of a difference in polarization given how so much of the country lives in either heavily Democratic or heavily Republican communities — and will naturally elect people who occupy those ideological extremes.

“It seems like it’s adding political complexity, weakening political parties, and it’s not clear what problem they’re solving,” said Lee Drutman of the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C.

The ballot measures include proposals to switch to ranked choice voting in reliably Democratic Colorado, evenly divided Nevada and two reliably Republican states where a sharp swing to the right among GOP primary voters have left traditional Republicans scrambling — Idaho and South Dakota.

Swing-state Arizona and conservative Montana both have measures to shift from partisan primaries to nonpartisan ones. In deep blue Oregon, an initiative would allow parties to still run their own primaries but require them to use ranked choice voting in certain statewide and federal races.

The ballot initiatives come as an unusual number of measures affecting voting are on state ballots in November.

Eight states will consider conservative-led measures to ban voting by noncitizens, which is already illegal under federal law. Connecticut voters will decide whether to allow anyone in their state to vote by mail, and Ohio whether to have a nonpartisan commission draw their state’s legislative lines.

The biggest change in U.S. elections could come from increased adoption of ranked voting. It requires every voter to rank candidates in order of preference. If one does not get a majority, the lowest-scoring candidate is eliminated and that politician’s votes are reallocated to whoever their voters picked second. This continues until one candidate wins more than 50% of the vote.

Ranked voting is a more complex way of running elections that is touted as producing winners who better represent the whole electorate. The process is used in two states — Alaska and Maine — as well as a handful of cities such as New York and San Francisco.

It allowed a Democrat, Rep. Mary Peltola, to win the race for Alaska’s single congressional seat in 2022 even as the state’s GOP governor and senator also won re-election. That result angered many Republican activists, who then pushed bans on the process in Republican-controlled states such as Florida and Tennessee. Now, even as additional states consider adopting ranked voting, Alaska voters will consider a ballot measure to repeal it.

Critics contend the campaign to attack partisan primaries is an effort to mute the voices of ideologically committed voters.

“This is trying to bring centrism back,” said Jason Lupo, a conservative political strategist in Colorado who opposes the measure in that state, during a recent debate in Denver. “This is a way to eliminate progressives; this is a way to eliminate conservatives.”

Critics also warn the proposed changes come as conservatives have become more distrustful of election processes following Trump’s lies about fraud costing him the 2020 race.

“It does make elections more complicated, and that in turn makes elections harder to trust,” said Trent England, the founder of the conservative group Save Our States, during a recent debate on the Idaho ballot measure. “Do we really think that now is the time to be doing that?”

Still, advocates of the ballot measures contend that something has to change.

Chuck Coughlin, a veteran Republican strategist in Arizona who used to work for Sen. John McCain, in 2022 wanted to support a Democrat running for Congress in one primary and incumbent Republicans running for county supervisor in the other. But he was allowed to vote only in one primary in a state where the Republican Party had swung sharply to the right.

“I’m like ‘I can’t do this anymore,”‘ Coughlin said after 2022, in which every candidate he worked for lost the Republican primary and the GOP nominees for governor, attorney general and secretary of state all lost to Democrats in November because they were too extreme for the state’s evenly-divided electorate. “I can’t just run elections to the fringe.”

Coughlin was thrilled to get help from Unite America, which donated $5 million to his Arizona initiative earlier this month.

The group was founded in 2013 to promote political independents. Troiano, who ran unsuccessfully as an independent for a Pennsylvania congressional seat, arrived to take it over three years later. He’s helped steer it toward investing more in structural changes to democracy such as nonpartisan redistricting.

Unite America has several wealthy supporters, such as board members Kathryn Murdoch, daughter-in-law of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and Kenneth Griffin, founder of the hedge fund Citadel. Its resources have become a target for opponents of its ballot measures, who contend that ranked choice voting and other changes to partisan primaries will mainly help deep-pocketed candidates win elections.

Opponents of the measures zero in on the funding as a reason to oppose the switch.

“It’s not the type of people I want writing my election law,” said Sean Hinga, a labor leader spearheading opposition to the Colorado ballot measure.

Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, and Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this report.

By CHRISTINE FERNANDO

CHICAGO (AP) — Billboards with the words “STOP Child Gender Surgery.” Pamphlets warning about endangering minors. “PROTECT PARENT RIGHTS” plastered on church bulletins.

As voters in nine states determine whether to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions, opponents are using parental rights and anti-transgender messages to try to undermine support for the ballot proposals.

The measures do not mention gender-affirming surgeries, and legal experts say changing existing parental notification and consent laws regarding abortions and gender-affirming care for minors would require court action. But anti-abortion groups hoping to end a losing streak at the ballot box have turned to the type of language many Republican candidates nationwide are using in their own campaigns as they seek to rally conservative Christian voters.

“It’s really outlandish to suggest that this amendment relates to things like gender reassignment surgery for minors,” said Matt Harris, an associate professor of political science at Park University in Parkville, Missouri, a state where abortion rights are on the ballot.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated constitutional protections for abortion, voters in seven states, including conservative Kentucky, Montana and Ohio, have either protected abortion rights or defeated attempts to curtail them.

“If you can’t win by telling the truth, you need a better argument, even if that means capitalizing on the demonization of trans children,” said Dr. Alex Dworak, a family medicine physician in Omaha, Nebraska, where anti-abortion groups are using the strategy.

Tying abortion-rights ballot initiatives to parental rights and gender-affirming is a strategy borrowed from playbooks used in Michigan and Ohio, where voters nonetheless enshrined abortion rights in the state constitutions.

Both states still require minors to get parental consent for abortions, and the new amendments have not yet impacted parental involvement or gender-affirming care laws in either state, said David Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University.

“It’s just recycling the same strategies,” Cohen said.

In addition to Missouri and Nebraska, states where voters are considering constitutional amendments this fall are Montana, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota.

Missouri’s abortion ballot measure has especially become a target. The amendment would bar the government from infringing on a “person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom.”

Gov. Mike Parson and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, both Republicans, have claimed the proposal would allow minors to get abortions and gender-affirming surgeries without parental involvement.

The amendment protects reproductive health services, “including but not limited to” a list of items such as prenatal care, childbirth, birth control and abortion. It does not mention gender-affirming care, but Missouri state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Republican and lawyer with the conservative Thomas More Society, said it’s possible that could be considered reproductive health services.

Several legal experts told The Associated Press that would require a court ruling that is improbable.

“It would be a real stretch for any court to say that anything connected with gender-affirming care counts as reproductive health care,” said Saint Louis University law and gender studies professor Marcia McCormick. She noted that examples listed as reproductive health care in the Missouri amendment are all directly related to pregnancy.

As for parental consent for minors’ abortions, she pointed to an existing state law that is written similarly to one the U.S. Supreme Court found constitutional, even before Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Most states have parental involvement laws, whether requiring parental consent or notification. Even many Democratic-leaning states with explicit protections for transgender rights require parental involvement before an abortion or gender-affirming care for minors, said Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law.

A state high court would have to overturn such laws, which is highly unlikely from conservative majorities in many of the states with abortion on the ballot, experts said.

In New York, a proposed amendment to the state constitution would expand antidiscrimination protections to include ethnicity, national origin, age, disability and “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive health care and autonomy.” The constitution already bans discrimination based on race, color, creed or religion.

The measure does not mention abortion. But because it is broader, it could be easier for opponents to attack it. But legal experts noted that it would also not change existing state laws related to parental involvement in minors getting abortions or gender-affirming care.

The New York City Bar Association released a fact-sheet explaining that the measure would not impact parental rights, “which are governed by other developed areas of State and federal law.” Yet the Coalition to Protect Kids-NY calls it the “Parent Replacement Act.”

Rick Weiland, co-founder of Dakotans for Health, the group behind South Dakota ‘s proposed amendment said it uses the Roe v. Wade framework “almost word for word.”

“All you have to do is look back at what was allowed under Roe, and there were always requirements for parental involvement,” Weiland said.

Caroline Woods, spokesperson for the anti-abortion group Life Defense Fund, said the measure “means loving parents will be completely cut out of the equation.” Weiland said those claims are part of a “constant stream of misinformation” from opponents.

If this campaign strategy failed in Michigan and Ohio, why are anti-abortion groups leaning on it for the November elections?

Ziegler, the University of California, Davis law professor, said abortion-rights opponents know they may be “playing on more favorable terrain” in more conservative states like Missouri or in states like Florida that have higher thresholds for passing ballot measures.

“Anti-abortion groups are still looking for a winning recipe,” Ziegler said.

Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By MARC LEVY

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Billions of dollars in advertising are raining down on voters across the Rust Belt, Rocky Mountains and American southwest as the two major political parties portray their opponent’s candidates as extreme in a struggle for control of the U.S. Senate.

In three races alone — Ohio, Pennsylvania and Montana — more than $1 billion is projected to be spent by Nov. 5.

The race in Ohio could break the spending record for Senate races. The race in Montana will go down as the most expensive Senate race ever on a per-vote basis. And, late in the game, Democrats are sending millions more dollars to Texas, a GOP stronghold where the party has new hopes of knocking off two-term conservative stalwart Sen. Ted Cruz, an upset that could help them protect their majority.

Republicans need to pick up two seats to capture a surefire majority, and one of those — West Virginia — is all but in the bag for the GOP.

Other races are more volatile and less predictable.

For Democrats, the brutal math of this year’s election cycle is forcing them to defend eight seats in tough states. Losses by established incumbents could amount to an extinction-level event for Democrats who represent reliably Republican states.

The election also will test the down-ballot strength of both parties in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the premier presidential battleground states known as the Blue Wall for their relatively reliable Democratic voting history. Wins there by Republicans would dramatically alter the Senate playing field.

All told, data from political ad tracking firm AdImpact projects that more than $2.5 billion will be spent on advertising in Senate races in this two-year campaign cycle, slightly more than the 2022 total.

That includes a half-billion dollars in Ohio alone, another $340 million in Pennsylvania and $280 million in Montana, population 1.1 million, or less than one-tenth of the population of either Ohio or Pennsylvania. The most expensive Senate race ever was Democrat John Ossoff ‘s victory in a Georgia contest that went to a runoff in 2021 and decided Senate control, according to data from the campaign finance-tracking organization Open Secrets.

Generally, campaign strategists say Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is polling ahead of his party’s Senate candidates in Senate battleground states, while Democratic candidates in those states are polling ahead of their presidential nominee, Kamala Harris.

That means there is a slice of voters who could vote for Trump but not back Republicans in Senate races — or who could split their tickets with Democratic Senate candidates.

Such splits have been rare. In Maine, in 2020 voters backed Democrat Joe Biden for president and re-elected Republican Sen. Susan Collins, for instance.

Republican strategists said they expect the party’s major super PACs to spend until election day in seven states where Democrats are defending Senate seats: Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where polls show competitive races, but also Nevada and Arizona, where Republicans are encouraged by strong early voting numbers.

Republicans are most confident about flipping the seat in deep-red Montana, where Republican Tim Sheehy is challenging third-term Democratic Sen. Jon Tester. They are also optimistic about reliably red Ohio, where Republican Bernie Moreno is challenging third-term Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Torunn Sinclair, a spokesperson for a pair of Republican-aligned super PACs, said one — American Crossroads — is pulling $2.8 million out of Montana, while the pair are plunging several million more into Pennsylvania.

There, Republican David McCormick is trying to knock off three-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in a presidential battleground undercard that both sides say is close.

McCormick, a former CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund, has hammered the message in two debates that Casey is a “sure thing” to back the Biden-Harris administration’s agenda.

In recent days, Casey began running an ad in conservative areas that touts his “greedflation” legislation to pursue price-gouging. The ad says “Casey bucked Biden to protect fracking” and “sided with Trump” on trade and tariffs.

Republicans say Casey’s ad showing Trump is similar to a TV ad that Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin is airing and speaks to both Democrats’ need to protect themselves against Harris’ vulnerability in their states.

“They’re hoping to peel off enough Trump voters to win,” Sinclair said.

Still, Casey ran a similar ad in 2018’s midterm election when he won easily — even though that ad didn’t mention Trump — while Casey’s campaign notes that he has long split with Democrats by opposing free trade agreements and supporting fossil fuel-power projects.

Democrats, conversely, say they are forcing competitive contests late in the campaign in two red states, Texas and Nebraska. Ousting incumbent Republicans from one or both of those seats could help Democrats to at least a 50-50 split in the Senate should Democrats lose in Montana or Ohio.

In Texas, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, a former professional football player, has proven adept at raising small-dollar donations in his challenge to incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Allred has outraised every Senate candidate nationally, except Tester and Brown.

The ad spending advantage for Allred has been 3-to-2, according to AdImpact, with the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC touting a new seven-figure digital ad buy and a separate $5 million TV ad buy attacking Cruz on a key issue for Democrats, abortion rights.

On top of that, Democrats hope Harris’ rally in Houston on Friday with Allred and Beyoncé can help Allred by boosting Black voter turnout.

In Nebraska, independent Dan Osborn — a tattooed former labor leader who supports abortion rights — appears to have consolidated Democratic and independent voters while making some inroads with Republicans, Democratic strategists say.

While Osborn is running as an independent and hasn’t said which party he’d caucus with, he’s getting support from a liberal super PAC that has helped him amass a significant spending advantage over Republican Sen. Deb Fischer.

In both states, Republicans acknowledge that they’ve had to spend money unexpectedly to shore up their incumbents’ prospects, but they also say they expect to win comfortably.

In Ohio, Brown has tried to personalize his appeal by appearing in most of his own ads and speaking directly into the camera.

“I’m Sherrod Brown and I have a question,” Brown says, looking into the camera and leaning his elbow on what might be a wood-working shop table. “Have you ever heard Bernie Moreno talk about what he’s going to do for Ohio?”

Brown also makes a personal appeal to potential swing voters, saying he has spent his career fighting for workers and veterans and working with law enforcement and “presidents of both parties to do what’s best for our state.”

Elsewhere, strategists expect first-term Florida Sen. Rick Scott will fend off a challenge from Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and that Democrat Angela Alsobrooks in deep-blue Maryland will beat former Gov. Larry Hogan to fill a seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin.

Associated Press reporter Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report. Follow Marc Levy at twitter.com/timelywriter.

By CALVIN WOODWARD, JEFF AMY and JONATHAN J. COOPER

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the millions of Americans on the radar of the Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaigns and those of their allies, the apocalypse is only a text message away.

The very future of the republic is at stake, some of the texts say and many others imply. But you — yes, YOU, Sally, Jose or insert-your-first-name here — can save it. For as little as $7.

Texting is a cheap and easy way to reach potential voters and donors, without all the rules meant to keep traditional paid broadcast advertising a bit honest. Both sides are working the texting pipeline aggressively. In the last days of the campaign, the pinging of phones can be relentless.

“All day, every day,” Robyn Beyah said of the torrent as she stood in line to get into a Kamala Harris rally outside Atlanta last week. “They have my number. We’re practically besties.”

Beyah is cool with that. She considers the text bombing “harmless” because it’s for a candidate she believes in. She even invites the Harris campaign to “harass me with text messages.” Not all voters are so charitable.

“To be honest with you, at this point, I’ve tuned it out of my brain,” said Ebenezer Eyasu of Stone Mountain, Georgia, standing in the same Harris rally line. He said the dozen or so texts he gets each day have become “background noise.”

Sarah Wiggins, a 26-year-old graphic designer from Kennesaw, Georgia, who supports Harris, prefers face to face persuasion. “I feel like it’s all about people around you,” she said. “Word of mouth is underrated.” As for the texts, “I just delete, to be honest. I don’t want to read it.”

Many Trump supporters also get pestered. Several at his rally in Tempe, Arizona, last week professed low-grade aggravation about that.

“They’re more of an annoyance than anything else,” said Morse Lawrence, 57, a physician assistant from Mesa, Arizona. “I get bombarded by text messages outside of political things as well. People wanting to buy my house, people wanting to sell me insurance, it’s all of it.”

He figures it’s an effective marketing strategy for campaigns even if the great majority of recipients don’t bite. “You go fishing and you catch two fish, you’ve got a meal for the day.”

Jennifer Warnke, 57, of St. John’s, Arizona, also at the Trump rally, expressed mixed feelings about what’s happening on her phone.

“They’re at least reaching out, because for years nobody ever called me,” she said. “I’ve been a registered Republican all my life and nobody ever called.”

She added: “It’s annoying, but it’s almost over.”

The campaigns spin a fantasy

Trump’s campaign, although uniquely fixated on selling hats via text, shares certain traits with the Democrats.

Both sides traffic in dire warnings should the other side win. Both cook up phony deadlines to get you to hurry up with your money. Both play on the fantasy that luminaries — whether Harris, Trump, George Clooney, Nancy Pelosi or Donald Trump Jr. — are texting you personally, instead of the machinery that really is.

Texts under the name of Trump Jr. come with a twist, if a transparent one: “Please don’t give $5 to help dad before his critical deadline. I’m serious. Don’t. … Let me explain.”

The explanation is a link to a page asking for lots more than $5. You can choose $20.24 if you are a basic Trump supporter in 2024 or $47 if you think the 45th president was the greatest ever and want to make him the 47th.

Trump himself seems to be heavily into merch. “I’m shipping you a Gold MAGA Hat!” say texts in his name. “Should I sign it?”

Tap through and you see the MAGA hat with gold lettering will cost you $50. But there’s more.

“Here’s my offer to you,” the digital Trump says. “If you place your order before the midnight deadline, I may add my signature and a quick personal note right on the brim!” May — or may not.

Thirteen days from Election Day, as she prepared to take the stage for a CNN town hall, Harris took a moment to confide in a Virginian she doesn’t know at all. At least that’s the scene sketched by a text in her name.

“Hi Chris, it’s Kamala Harris,” says the message. “It would mean the world to me if you added another donation to our campaign before my town hall on CNN tonight. Donald Trump and his allies are currently outspending us across the battleground states.”

A donation of $40 is suggested. No hat is offered. Despite the message’s angst over cash, Harris’ campaign and affiliated Democratic groups have raised over $1 billion in mere months and kept a large financial advantage over Trump in the campaign’s last leg.

The pings keep coming

Ping: “It’s Elizabeth Warren. ”

Ping: “From Trump: I JUST LEFT MCDONALD’S.”

Ping: “We’ve asked NINE TIMES if you support Kamala Harris … but you never completed the poll.”

Ping: “I just got off the debate stage.” — signed by Harris running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Ping: “This is a BIG F#@%ING DEAL.” — in the name of Democratic strategist James Carville.

Ping: “It’s Nancy Pelosi. I need you to see this.”

Ping: “But you haven’t stepped up to defend our Senate majority!?! Rush $7 now.”

Ping: “I have a McGift for you! It’s President Trump. Want to take a look?”

Are they legit?

Despite the sucker-born-every-minute undertone of some of the presidential campaign texts, experts say you can be reasonably confident that donations to the official candidate campaigns or the main party organizations will be used for your intended purpose.

But many more groups are pitching for your election-season cash, not all of them are legit and sorting that out takes work. Some voter-mobilization groups that claim to be funded by the left, for example, may be mischief-makers from the right, or just out to collect personal information on you.

This month, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin wrote to the U.S. and state attorneys general to report that thousands of fraudulent text messages from an anonymous source were sent to young people threatening $10,000 fines or prison time if they vote in a state where they are not eligible to cast ballots.

The scam was meant to intimidate students from out of state who are legally entitled to vote in Wisconsin if they are attending college there, or to vote back at home instead, the letter said.

Last weekend, thousands of Pennsylvania voters received a text message that falsely claimed they had already voted in the election, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday. It was from AllVote, which election officials have repeatedly flagged as a scam, the paper said. The group said the false claim was the result of a typo.

Experts say to read the fine print at the bottom of any fundraising link you open. It must outline the name of the group and where the money will go.

From there, people can go to sites such as OpenSecrets or the Federal Election Commission to see breakdowns of revenue and spending by groups that are registered political action committees. High overhead and low or no spending on ads or canvassing are red flags.

For all those traps, Beverly Payne of Cumming, Georgia, who has already voted for Harris and volunteers for her, welcomes the pings.

“I get texts every 30 minutes and I answer every single one of them,” Payne said. One favorite was about an ice cream flavor rolled out for Harris by Ben & Jerry’s, Kamala’s Coconut Jubilee layered with caramel and topped with red, white and blue star sprinkles. “I had to donate to that,” she said.

“It’s our culture now, we’re all addicted,” Payne said of texts and Harris’ use of them. “Maybe that’s why she has a billion dollars.”

Amy reported from Atlanta, Cooper from Tempe, Arizona. Associated Press writer Brian Slodysko contributed to this report.

By SCOTT BAUER, CHARLOTTE KRAMON, GARY D. ROBERTSON and LISA MASCARO

CROSS PLAINS, Wis. (AP) — At this stage of the election, the arguments have been made, the airwaves flooded with ads, the inboxes and doorsteps stuffed with flyers. What’s left is to get out the vote.

It’s a crucial step that can make or break campaigns, turning Americans into voters by nudging them to the polls — or the mailbox or ballot drop-box — with their choices.

Democrats this year are relying on a traditional strategy of targeted phone calls, text messages and door-knocking, from the party and its allies, to encourage turnout for Vice President Kamala Harris. Former President Donald Trump has outsourced much of the Republican operation to groups such as America PAC, the organization supported by billionaire Elon Musk, which has taken the unorthodox and possibly illegal step of giving away $1 million a day in prize money.

Now the two sides are going head-to-head to get their voters out in battleground states:

WISCONSIN

Kathy Moran never thought she’d be standing on the street at sunset, political flyers in a bag slung over her shoulder, trudging door to door trying to persuade people to vote.

But Moran, a 64-year-old retired employment attorney, said on a crisp late October night that she couldn’t sit on the sidelines any longer.

“With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which I couldn’t imagine, I just had to get involved,” she said while canvassing the streets of Cross Plains, a village of about 4,000 people on the outskirts of Wisconsin’s liberal capital city of Madison.

It’s volunteers like Moran who Democrats hope will make the difference in swing states like Wisconsin, where four of the past six presidential elections have been decided by 21,000 votes or less.

The Democrats’ approach to getting out the vote is clear: they are tapping a vast network of activists, volunteers, Democratic Party faithful and others to spread out across the country to ensure their voters go to the polls.

What America PAC is doing for Trump is less clear.

America PAC is targeting infrequent voters in Wisconsin by canvassing neighborhoods and sending mailings and digital and text ads, said the organization’s spokesperson, Andrew Romeo.

However, America PAC refused a request from The Associated Press to observe the work in person.

Republicans have privately expressed concerns about whether America PAC is doing enough to get out the vote for Trump in crucial battleground states. Whatever their methods, more Republicans are voting early than in past elections, another sign of high enthusiasm.

“A get-out-the-vote operation can’t turn a jump ball into a landslide,” said Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler. “But it can absolutely turn a 50-50 race into a 49.5-50.5 race.”

Moran said she logs between 8,000 and 14,000 steps on a typical night of canvassing and encounters mostly Harris voters as she knocks on the doors of houses decorated with skeletons, grave markers and a few political signs.

One woman refuses to engage with Moran, saying through the closed glass screen door it’s “none of her business.” Another man says he’s already voted but wouldn’t say for whom.

Another spots her “Harris/Walz” and “, la” buttons, smiles and says, “I see you’re with Harris.” He assures her that everyone in his house is voting for her.

Moran enters notes on an app so voters committed to Harris aren’t bothered again.

GEORGIA

The Harris campaign has more than 40,000 volunteers plus a staff of 220 working out of 32 field offices across the state. The campaign says its volunteers and staff have knocked on more than a million doors, including more than 100,000 last weekend alone, and has made two million phone calls.

“The ground game is very, very busy,” said state Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, a Dawson Democrat. “We are knocking on doors everyday, but the communities are huge. There’s a lot of ground to cover, but we have extremely diligent volunteers going out and putting their all into this race.”

Sims said she’s unsure who will win Georgia because she’s seen similar on-the-ground enthusiasm from Republicans.

The Trump campaign says it has nearly 25,000 volunteers working in Georgia, and has hosted more than 2,000 events there over the last three months.

At one event, eight women in matching pink Trump jackets with ‘47’ emblazoned on the sleeves and personalized etchings of their names marched into a spacious ranch south of Atlanta as part of Team Trump’s Women’s Tour.

The audience in South Fulton was small, but RNC co-chair Lara Trump and former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler urged supporters to rally their friends to vote for Trump.

Kim Burnette signed up to phone bank with the Trump campaign this year, calling infrequent voters who are registered Republicans.

“A lot of people are saying they’re going to vote,” Burnette said. “It’s looking good.”

Candace Duvall drove about 30 miles to the event and showed up decked out in gold Trump merch — she patched sparkly letters spelling out his name onto her t-shirt and wore earrings that displayed his mug shot. She rushed to the polls on the first day of early voting to vote for Trump, but she’s still receiving a flurry of texts, calls, and paper flyers from his campaign.

“He’s our only chance,” Duvall said. “I really think he was chosen by God, and I think this is good vs. evil.”

Camilla Moore and Lisa Babbage, chair and vice chair of the Georgia Black Republican Council, also showed up to support the women for Trump.

The pair has been mobilizing Black voters in South Fulton through events over the last few months.

“It has been easier this time than ever before,” Moore said.

People are less shy about supporting Trump now than they were in 2020, Moore said. They’re more open to conversation as they make the case for the former president.

NORTH CAROLINA

Charles Benson, 68, of Kinston, North Carolina, said he’s getting contacted several times a week, mostly by text, about the election and voting.

Benson, who is retired, attended Trump’s rally in nearby Greenville in late October, two days after he voted early in person. Still, candidate mailers keep filling his mailbox.

“I’m ready for it to be over,” Benson said. “I’m tired of taking that stuff out of the mail every day.”

Emma Macomber, 76, of New Bern, another Trump supporter at the Greenville rally, said she’s been contacted regularly, largely through text, being asked for political donations and to make sure that she votes.

Macomber said she’s already cast her ballot and has made some contributions.

“I want it to be over, but I’m scared for it to be over,” she said. “Because I don’t know what’s in the future, and I think everyone’s afraid of the unknown.”

Kramon reported from Atlanta, Robertson from Raleigh, North Carolina, and Mascaro from Washington.

By SUSAN HAIGH

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes isn’t a member of the historically Black sororities and fraternities known as the “Divine Nine.”

But throughout her hotly contested reelection campaign this year, Hayes, the first Black woman to represent Connecticut in Congress, has sometimes felt like she’s a fellow soror, the term used by Black Greek organizations for sorority sisters. On their own, members have shown up to call voters, organize fundraisers, knock on doors, cheer Hayes on at campaign events and even offer pro bono legal help.

“I had people from Massachusetts come in to volunteer,” said Hayes, a Democrat who is seeking a fourth term. “I’ve had people who had previously been considering going to a battleground state like Pennsylvania and are saying, ‘No, we’re going to stay right here and help out in this race in Connecticut.’”

Downballot candidates like Hayes — particularly Black women — have benefited from a surge in support this year from volunteers who happen to be members of Black Greek organizations, many energized by Kamala Harris’ presidential run. The vice president is a longtime member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., which was founded at her alma matter, Howard University, in 1908. Harris pledged AKA as a senior at Howard in 1986.

Collectively known as the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the nine historically Black sororities and fraternities are nonpartisan and barred from endorsing candidates because of their not-for-profit status. The organizations focus on voter registration drives, civic engagement and nonelectoral initiatives and are careful not to show favor to a particular candidate. But many of the groups’ members, as individuals, have been “extremely active” in federal and state races around the country this year, said Jaime R. Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

“I think that’s a part of the Kamala Harris effect,” Harrison said during a recent visit to Connecticut.

There were women affiliated with all the D9 sororities on a recent get-out-the-vote bus tour through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland to support Black women on the ballot.

Along with other volunteers, they knocked on hundreds of doors, made thousands of calls and sent out hundreds of postcards, urging people to vote. The trip was organized by the Higher Heights for America PAC, a nearly 13-year-old organization that works to elect progressive Black women.

Members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. showed off their crimson and cream colors while stumping in Maryland for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks, a fellow Delta who is in a closely watched race against former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

Volunteers who are D9 sorority members also campaigned for Democratic U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha who is running for the U.S. Senate. If both candidates were elected, it would mark the first time two Black women have served in the Senate simultaneously.

Latosha Johnson, a social worker from Hartford, recently participated in a get-out-the-vote phone banking session for Hayes along with other Black women who, like her, are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha. She said there’s a realization among many Black and brown voters that the stakes in the election are particularly high. And if Harris wins, she’ll need allies in Congress, Johnson said.

“If we don’t get her a Congress that’s going to be able to move things,” Johnson said, “that becomes hard.”

Hayes is in a rematch against former Republican George Logan, a former state senator who identifies as Afro-Latino but has not seen an outpouring of support from D9 members, according to his campaign.

Both Harris and former President Donald Trump are courting Black voters in the final days of the presidential race. Harris’ campaign has expressed concern about a lack of voting enthusiasm among Black men.

While Republicans have made some inroads with Black voters, two-thirds still identify as Democrats. About 2 in 10 identify as independents. About 1 in 10 identify as Republicans, according to a recent poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Voter registration and nonpartisan get-out-the-vote efforts by the sororities and fraternities, coupled with the mobilization of individual members, could potentially have an impact on some of these races, said Darren Davis, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame.

“In local elections, in statewide elections, where the Black vote is more powerful and concentrated as opposed to in national elections, D9 organizations have this tremendous untapped ability to reach and to mobilize disaffected voters,” Davis said.

The D9 fraternal groups were founded on U.S. college campuses in the early 1900s when Black students faced racial prejudice and exclusion that prevented them from joining existing white sororities and fraternities. In a tradition that continues today, the organizations focused on mutual upliftment, educational and personal achievement, civic engagement and a lifelong commitment to community service.

Many of the fraternities and sororities served as training grounds for future civil rights leaders, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. member Brandon McGee is a former Democratic state representative who now leads Connecticut’s Social Equity Council on cannabis. As the father of two daughters, he is excited about helping Harris and Hayes win.

“I want my babies to see me working for a female who looks like their mother. And even beyond looking like their mother, a female,” he said. “And I want my babies to know, ‘You can do the same thing.’”

This story has been edited to correct that Alpha Phi Alpha is a fraternity not a sorority. Also, Latosha Johnson is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, not Delta Sigma Theta.

Today is Thursday, Oct. 31, the 305th day of 2024. There are 61 days left in the year. This is Halloween.

Today in history:

On Oct. 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi, India’s Prime Minister for more than 15 years, was assassinated by two of her own security guards.

Also on this date:

In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation making Nevada the 36th state, eight days before the presidential election.

In 1913, the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile highway across the United States, was dedicated.

In 1941, work was completed on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, begun in 1927.

In 1950, Earl Lloyd of the Washington Capitols became the first African-American to play in an NBA game; Lloyd would go on to play for nine seasons, winning an NBA championship in 1955 with the Syracuse Nationals.

In 1961, the body of Josef Stalin was removed from Lenin’s Tomb as part of the Soviet Union’s “de-Stalinization” drive.

In 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990, bound from New York to Cairo, crashed off the Massachusetts coast, killing all 217 people aboard.

In 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.

In 2011, the United Nations estimated that world population had reached seven billion people (world population is greater than eight billion today).

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Lee Grant is 99.
• Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather is 93.
• Actor Stephen Rea is 78.
• Olympic gold medal marathoner Frank Shorter is 77.
• TV host Jane Pauley is 74.
• Football coach Nick Saban is 73.
• Film director Peter Jackson is 63.
• Rock drummer Larry Mullen Jr. (U2) is 63.
• Rock musician Johnny Marr is 61.
• Baseball Hall of Famer Fred McGriff is 61.
• Actor Dermot Mulroney is 61.
• Country singer Darryl Worley is 60.
• Actor-comedian Mike O’Malley is 58.
• Rap musician Adam Horovitz (Beastie Boys) is 58.
• Rapper Vanilla Ice is 57.
• Actor Leticia Wright is 31.
• Singer Willow Smith is 24.

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 30, the 304th day of 2024. There are 62 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Oct. 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of a scheduled 15-round bout known as the “Rumble in the Jungle,” in Kinshasa, Congo (then Zaire), to regain his world heavyweight title.

Also on this date:

In 1912, Vice President James S. Sherman, running for a second term of office with President William Howard Taft, died six days before Election Day.

In 1938, the radio play “The War of the Worlds,” starring Orson Welles, aired on the CBS Radio Network.

In 1961, the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb, the “Tsar Bomba,” with a force estimated at about 50 megatons (over 3,500 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima).

In 1972, 45 people were killed when an Illinois Central Gulf commuter train was struck from behind by another train on Chicago’s South Side.

In 1975, the New York Daily News ran the headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead” a day after President Gerald R. Ford said he would veto any proposed federal bailout of New York City.

In 1995, by a razor-thin vote of 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent, Federalists prevailed over separatists in a Quebec secession referendum.

In 2005, the late Rosa Parks became the first woman to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda; President George W. Bush and congressional leaders paused to lay wreaths by the casket of the civil rights icon.

In 2013, the Boston Red Sox romped to their third World Series championship in 10 seasons, besting the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 in Game 6 at Fenway Park.

In 2018, notorious gangster James “Whitey” Bulger was found beaten to death at a federal prison in West Virginia; the 89-year-old former Boston crime boss and longtime FBI informant had been transferred there just hours earlier.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Author Robert Caro is 89.
• Football Hall of Fame coach Dick Vermeil is 88.
• Rock singer Grace Slick is 85.
• Songwriter Eddie Holland is 85.
• R&B singer Otis Williams (The Temptations) is 83.
• Actor Henry Winkler is 79. B
• roadcast journalist Andrea Mitchell is 78.
• Country/rock musician Timothy B. Schmit (The Eagles) is 77.
• Actor Harry Hamlin is 73.
• Country singer T. Graham Brown is 70.
• Actor Kevin Pollak is 67.
• Actor Michael Beach is 61.
• Musician Gavin Rossdale (Bush) is 59.
• Actor Nia Long is 54.
• Actor Matthew Morrison is 46.
• Business executive and former presidential adviser Ivanka Trump is 43.
• Olympic gold medal gymnast Nastia Liukin is 35.
• NBA guard Devin Booker is 28.
• NHL defenseman Cale Makar is 25.

Today is Monday, Oct. 28, the 302nd day of 2024. There are 64 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Oct. 28, 2016, the FBI dropped what amounted to a political bomb on the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton when it announced it was investigating whether emails on a device belonging to disgraced ex-congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of one of Clinton’s closest aides, Huma Abedin, might contain classified information.

Also on this date:

In 1636, the General Court of Massachusetts passed a legislative act establishing Harvard College.

In 1858, Rowland Hussey Macy opened his first New York store at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan.

In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland.

In 1919, Congress enacted the Volstead Act, which provided for enforcement of Prohibition, over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto.

In 1922, fascism came to Italy as Benito Mussolini took control of the government.

In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicated the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary.

In 1962, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the United States that he had ordered the dismantling of missile bases in Cuba; in return, the U.S. secretly agreed to remove nuclear missiles from U.S. installations in Turkey.

In 1991, what became known as “The Perfect Storm” began forming hundreds of miles east of Nova Scotia; lost at sea during the storm were the six crew members of the Andrea Gail, a fishing boat from Gloucester, Massachusetts.

In 2001, the families of people killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack gathered in New York for a memorial service filled with prayer and song.

In 2012, the San Francisco Giants won their second World Series title in three years, beating the Detroit Tigers to complete a four-game sweep.

In 2018, The Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series in five games.

In 2021, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company was rebranding itself as Meta, an effort to encompass its virtual-reality vision for the future, while keeping the same name for the social network itself.

In 2022, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took control of Twitter for $44 billion after a protracted legal battle and months of uncertainty.

In 2022, Paul Pelosi, the 82-year-old husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was attacked and severely beaten by an assailant with a hammer who broke into their San Francisco home.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Jazz singer Cleo Laine is 97.
• Actor Joan Plowright is 95.
• Basketball Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens is 87.
• Actor Jane Alexander is 85.
• Actor Dennis Franz is 80.
• Actor-singer Telma Hopkins is 76.
• TV personality and Olympic gold medal decathlete Caitlyn Jenner is 75.
• Actor Annie Potts is 72.
• Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is 69.
• Actor Daphne Zuniga (ZOO’-nih-guh) is 62.
• Actor Lauren Holly is 61.
• Talk show host-comedian Sheryl Underwood is 61.
• Football Hall of Famer Steve Atwater is 58.
• Actor-comedian Andy Richter is 58.
• Actor Julia Roberts is 57.
• Actor Jeremy Davies is 56.
• Singer Ben Harper is 55.
• Football Hall of Famer Terrell Davis is 52.
• Country singer Brad Paisley is 52.
• Actor Joaquin Phoenix is 50.
• Actor Gwendoline Christie is 46.
• Actor Matt Smith is 42.
• Actor Troian Bellisario is 39.
• Singer-songwriter Frank Ocean is 37.
• Tennis player Taylor Fritz is 27.
• Actor Nolan Gould is 26.

DETROIT (AP) — Leon Draisaitl scored his second goal of the game 18 seconds into overtime and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on Sunday night.

Evan Bouchard also scored and Calvin Pickard stopped 25 shots to help the Oilers win their second straight. Connor McDavid and defenseman Mattias Ekholm each had two assists.

Andrew Copp had a goal and an assist, and J.T. Compher also scored for the Red Wings, and Patrick Kane had two assists. Cam Talbot finished with 30 saves.

The Oilers beat the Red Wings for the fifth time in six games (5-0-1).

Takeaways

Oilers: With his two goals, Draisaitl extended his point streak to six games (five goals, three assists). McDavid has 25 points (five goals, 20 assists) in 16 career games against Detroit.

Red Wings: Defenseman Jeff Petry had an assist on Copp’s goal for his first point of the season.

Key moment

Detroit’s penalty-killing unit, tanked 31st in the NHL af 64.3%, successfully killed off a tripping penalty to Copp with 1:51 remaining in regulation, assuring the team of at least one point.

Key stat

The Red Wings have been outshot in six consecutive games and are 3-3 over that span. Detroit is 31st in the NHL in shots allowed per game (34.7) and 32nd in shots on goal per game (24.6). The Red Wings have given up at least 30 shots in six straight games, while going five games in a row generating fewer than 30 shots on goal.

Up Next

The Oilers visit Columbus on Monday, while the Red Wings host Winnipeg on Wednesday.

By Colleen Long and Zeke Miller

The Associated Press

Inside a small community theater in Royal Oak, Vice President Kamala Harris was asked at a recent forum to talk about her life for the benefit of voters who are still getting to know her.

It was the type of question typically asked of a new candidate. But here was Harris getting it less than two weeks before the Nov. 5 election and after millions of people already had voted. Her response underscored perhaps the defining challenge of her campaign for the White House.

“How much time do we have?” Harris quipped.

The fact is, not much.

Any candidate’s most valuable resource is time, and from the start, Harris has been historically constrained. The Democratic nominee has been running for only three months after Democratic President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, and Harris still is confronting voters who say they want to learn more about who she is or how she will govern.

Her public events have tended toward large rallies where crowds ride high on vibes and Harris delivers variations on her standard stump speech. In the past week or so, though, she has added events in more intimate settings, lower-key church services and black box theater sit-downs where the conversations can be more revealing.

“I have lived a full life,” Harris told the Michigan audience. “I am a wife, I am a mother, I am a sister, I am a godmother. I love to cook.”

Harris, 60, is a relative newcomer on the national political stage.

Much of her career, as she often reminds voters, was outside of Washington, in California as a prosecutor and state attorney general. That was followed by a four-year stint in the Senate and a flame-out in the 2020 race for the White House. Her time as vice president boosted her profile, but nothing like what a traditional candidate would have at this stage in the race.

“Harris, comparably, is still such a relatively unknown quantity as a candidate,” said Kevin Madden, a political strategist who worked on three presidential campaigns. “It takes years to build up the kind of national profile that can withstand the brutality of a presidential campaign.”

Biden ran several times before he won the nomination and had three decades of public service on his resume, including eight years as vice president. Democrat Barack Obama started to build his profile during John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004 and the midterm elections in 2006 before his two-year quest for what would be his first term in the White House. On the Republican side, the Bush family brand was built through multiple presidential campaigns over two decades.

“It was always going to be a major, major challenge to build and execute a presidential campaign unique to Harris in the space of 108 days,” Madden said.

Republican Donald Trump, meanwhile, is a known quantity. He had near-universal name recognition even before his 2016 campaign, owing to his time in reality television. He has been campaigning essentially ever since he lost the 2020 election to Biden — a fact he refuses to acknowledge to this day.

To Harris and her aides, the shortened campaign has offered advantages and challenges. But with no way to change the reality of that political timeline, they can only try to make the most of it.

That makes for an endless series of tough choices: where to go, what to talk about, with whom to speak. Those challenges come into focus in the final weeks of any campaign, but for Harris they have been a central feature in her sprint.

Aides have framed the campaign in different phases.

In the opening days, Harris prioritized locking down the nomination and staving off any would-be challengers. Then she shifted to trying to introduce herself on her own terms to the public. That meant talking about her biography, but also her governing philosophy, particularly on economic issues, as potential voters complained they did not know what she was about.

Along the way, she has returned to Washington for duties associated with her office, trying to play up the government’s competence in response to natural disasters and to show her national security credentials in approaching wars overseas.

“The hill was a little steeper for her to climb because of the truncated nature of the race, but that’s why she’s doing everything she possibly can,” said Eric Schultz, who served as deputy White House press secretary under Obama.

In recent weeks, Harris has spoken more frankly about the summer Sunday when Biden dropped out of the race and handed her the keys to the campaign. She offered voters a new glimpse into her faith, looking to harness a profound political moment into an opportunity to connect with voters.

“It was an extraordinary day that Sunday when the president called me, and I instinctively understood the gravity of the moment, the seriousness of the moment,” she said during a CNN town hall.

So she called her pastor, she said. “I needed that spiritual kind of connection, I needed that advice, I needed a prayer.” She added she prays every day.

The event in Royal Oak was one of three in crucial Midwestern states this past week in which Harris, joined by Liz Cheney, a prominent Republican critic of Trump who has endorsed the Democrat, answered questions from a moderator and audiences of undecided voters. It was a different version of the vice president from the one seen in her rallies, more relaxed and talkative.

Rita Peterson, 48, said she came away impressed by Harris’ ability to connect.

“I think when you come from a place of joy and you come from a place of wanting to work together to move forward, I think there are a lot of people who want to be a part of that and want to move forward together,” she said.

The conversations with Cheney were meant to attract Republican voters, those concerned about a second Trump presidency, particularly in the wake of Trump’s failed effort to overturn the 2020 vote and after the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters beat and blooded law enforcement in an effort to stop the certification of Biden’s win.

In the closing days of her campaign, Harris is zeroing in on drawing a contrast with Trump. She will return to the site near the White House where Trump helped incite the mob on Jan. 6, hoping it will crystalize for voters the fight between defending democracy and sowing political chaos.

She will give a speech at the Ellipse on Tuesday — one week before Election Day — to urge the nation to “turn the page.”

Miami edged ahead of Texas and climbed to No. 5 in The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll on Sunday, its highest ranking since 2017, and Notre Dame, BYU and Texas A&M all moved into the top 10.

Oregon, Georgia, Penn State and Ohio State remained the top four teams, and Washington State and Colorado entered the Top 25 for the first time this season.

Led by Heisman Trophy candidate Cam Ward, Miami improved to 8-0 with its win over Florida State on Saturday. The Hurricanes have been in the top 10 eight straight polls but not this high since they spent two weeks at No. 2 in November 2017.

Texas, which had dropped from No. 1 to No. 5 after its home loss to Georgia, slipped another spot to No. 6 following a three-point win at Vanderbilt.

Notre Dame, knocked out of the top 10 after its Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois, moved up four spots and is No. 8 following its 51-14 win over Navy.

No. 9 BYU went on the road and beat UCF to go 8-0 and has its highest ranking since 2020, when the Cougars opened with nine straight wins.

Texas A&M’s 38-23 win over LSU was its second of the season against a top-10 opponent, and first-year coach Mike Elko’s Aggies were rewarded with a four-rung promotion to No. 10. That’s their highest ranking since they were sixth in September 2022.

No. 1 Oregon received 61 of 62 first-place votes — two more than last week — after a 38-9 win over Illinois. No. 2 Georgia, which was idle, received the other first-place vote.

Penn State overcame the loss of quarterback Drew Allar to injury just before halftime to win at Wisconsin and remained No. 3 going into this weekend’s home game against Ohio State, which stayed No. 4 after scuffling to a 21-17 win at home against nearly four-touchdown-underdog Nebraska.

Poll pointsNotre Dame and Texas A&M made the biggest upward moves. LSU’s drop from No. 8 to No. 16 was the biggest demotion.

BYU has risen in six consecutive polls since it entered at No. 22 on Sept. 22. Pittsburgh has moved up in four straight since it made its season debut at No. 22 on Oct. 6.

Because of Texas’ drop to No. 6, this is the first poll this season that the Southeastern Conference has had only one representative in the top five. This is the fourth straight week the Big Ten has had three of the top four teams.

Miami is the first Atlantic Coast Conference team in the top five since Florida State was No. 4 the first week of last December.

In-and-outWashington State (7-1) beat San Diego State for its third straight win and entered at No. 22 to become the first ranked team this season from what remains of the Pac-12 (Oregon State is the only other current member).

Colorado (6-2) has won five of six after beating Cincinnati and is No. 23, the first ranking for Deion Sanders and his Buffaloes since they appeared in three straight polls early last season.

Vanderbilt’s first ranking since the 2013 season lasted just one week. The Commodores, who had been No. 25, received the most votes among teams outside the Top 25.

Navy, in the poll two straight weeks, was knocked out after committing six turnovers in its 37-point loss to Notre Dame. Rival Army (7-0) climbed two spots to No. 21.

Conference callSEC — 8 (Nos. 2, 6, 7, 10, 14, 16, 19, 25).

Big Ten — 5 (Nos. 1, 3, 4, 13, 24).

ACC — 4 (Nos. 5, 11, 18, 20).

Big 12 — 4 (Nos. 9, 11, 17, 23).

American — 1 (No. 21).

Independent — 1 (No. 8).

Mountain West — 1 (No. 15).

Pac-12 — 1 (No. 22).

Ranked vs. Ranked— No. 4 Ohio State at No. 3 Penn State. This will be the fourth meeting of top five teams this season. Buckeyes have won seven straight in the series. Both teams have health issues, none bigger than the knee injury to Penn State’s Allar.

— No. 18 Pittsburgh at No. 20 SMU. Of the four teams unbeaten in ACC play, these two are the biggest surprises. Pitt was picked 13th in the conference in the preseason media poll and SMU seventh.

NOVI, Mich. (AP) Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to CNN anchor Anderson Cooper with a woman's first name in recent days as the Republican presidential nominee focuses his closing message on a hypermasculine appeal to men.

On a Friday morning post on Trumps social media site Truth Social, the former president referred to one of the most prominent openly gay journalists in the U.S. as "Allison Cooper.

Watch Trump's full speech in the video player below: Full speech: Donald Trump campaigns at Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi

Trump made the subtext even more explicit later Friday during a rally in Traverse City, Michigan, where he criticized a town hall Cooper hosted with Vice President Kamala Harris.

If you watched her being interviewed by Allison Cooper the other night, hes a nice person. You know Allison Cooper? CNN fake news, Trump said, before pausing and saying in a mocking voice: Oh, she said no, his name is Anderson. Oh, no."

On Saturday, Trump repeated the name during another Michigan rally. They had a town hall, Trump said. Even Allison Cooper was embarrassed by it. He was embarrassed by it.

In referring to Cooper with a womans name, Trump appeared to turn to a stereotype heterosexual people have long deployed against gay men. Such rhetoric evokes the trope of gay men as effeminate and comes as Trump aims to drive up his appeal among men in the final stages of his bid to return to the White House.

The former president on Friday recorded a three-hour interview with Joe Rogan, a former mixed martial arts commentator whose podcast is wildly popular among young men. On Oct 19, Trump kicked off a Pennsylvania rally discussing legendary golfer Arnold Palmers genitalia.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for Cooper declined to comment.

Related election information Check if you're registered to vote in Michigan Find your polling location How to get an absentee ballot  View your sample ballot  More information about early voting

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) Michelle Obama challenged men to support Kamala Harris ' bid to be America's first female president, warning at a rally in Michigan on Saturday that women's lives would be at risk if Donald Trump returned to the White House.

The former first lady described the assault on abortion rights as the harbinger of dangerous limitations on healthcare for women. Some men may be tempted to vote for Trump because of their anger at the slow pace of progress, Obama said, but your rage does not exist in a vacuum.

Watch both Obama and Harris in the video player below: Kamala Harris and Michelle Obama campaign in Kalamazoo

If we dont get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women will become collateral damage to your rage, Obama said. So are you as men prepared to look into the eyes of the women and children you love and tell them you supported this assault on our safety?

The rally in Kalamazoo was Obamas first appearance on the campaign trail since she spoke at the Democratic National Convention over the summer, and her remarks were searing and passionate in their support of Harris.

By every measure, she has demonstrated that shes ready, the former first lady said. The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?

Obama added, Do not buy into the lies that we do not know who Kamala is or what she stands for. This is somebody who understands you, all of you.

Watch Harris' full speech separately in the video player below: Full speech: Kamala Harris campaigns with Michelle Obama in Kalamazoo

Although Obama has been a reluctant campaigner over the years, she showed no hesitation on Saturday as her speech stretched from the political to the personal. Obama said she fears for the country and struggles to understand why the presidential race remains close.

I lay awake at night wondering, 'What in the world is going on?' she said.

Watch Obama's full speech seperately in the video player below: Full speech: Michelle Obama campaigns with Kamala Harris in Kalamazoo

Her voice vibrating with emotion, Obama talked about the struggle for women to understand and care for their own bodies, whether its their menstrual cycles or menopause. And she spoke about the dangers of childbirth, when a split-second decision can mean the difference between life and death for a mother and her baby.

I am asking yall from the core of my being to take our lives seriously," Obama pleaded.

Harris took the stage after Obama and promised the crowd that she would keep their interests in mind unlike Trump, who she accused of only being interested in himself.

There is a yearning in our country for a president who sees the people, not just looking in the mirror all the time, but sees the people, who gets you and who will fight for you," she said.

The rally in Kalamazoo followed Harris' visit to a local doctor's office in Portage to talk with health care providers and medical students about the impact of abortion restrictions. One of them said they have patients visiting from other parts of the country where there are strict limitations on abortion, and another said she's worried that people won't want to practice in important areas of medicine because of fears about government intrusion.

We are looking at a health care crisis in America that is affecting people of every background and gender," Harris told reporters before visiting the doctor's office.

Harris appeared with Beyonc on Friday in Houston, and she campaigned with former President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen on Thursday in Atlanta.

It's a level of celebrity clout that surpasses anything that Trump, the Republican nominee, has been able to marshal this year. But there's no guarantee that will help Harris in the close race for the White House. In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost to Trump despite firing up her crowds with musical performances and Democratic allies.

Trump brushed off Harris' attempt to harness star power for her campaign.

Kamala is at a dance party with Beyonc, the former president said Friday in Traverse City, Michigan. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, held a rally in Novi, a suburb of Detroit, on Saturday before a later event in State College, Pennsylvania.

Watch Harris' event with Liz Cheney in Royal Oak earlier this week below: Vice President Harris, Liz Cheney hold moderated discussion in metro Detroit

Saturday is the first day that early in-person voting became available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters.

When Clinton was running against Trump, Michelle Obama inspired Democrats with the slogan when they go low, we go high.

But this year, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, she adopted a more biting approach. She accused Trump of "doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make peoples lives better.

While Harris was with Obama in Michigan, President Joe Biden visited the Laborers International Union of North America in Pittsburgh. He mentioned that Harris once walked a picket line with the United Auto Workers she has a backbone like a ramrod while Trump has undermined organized labor.

He views unions as getting in the way of the accumulation of wealth for individuals," Biden said. Its in labors interest to defeat Donald Trump, more than any other race youve been in.

Biden's remarks to the mostly male audience referenced the gender divide that has been a consistent feature of this year's presidential race.

Speaking on Trump, Biden said, "Im just gonna say straight up, hes a loser as a man.

He also said that women deserve more opportunities than they've received in the past.

They can do anything any man can do, including be president of the United States of America," Biden said.

___

Madhani reported from Pittsburgh and Megerian reported from Washington.

By JILL COLVIN and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Friday is heading to Texas — his first public campaign event in the state since receiving the Republican nomination — to sit down with the most listened-to-podcaster in the country, creating another opportunity for him to highlight the hypermasculine tone that has defined much of his 2024 White House bid.

The GOP presidential nominee will hold a news conference in Austin and meet with podcaster Joe Rogan at his studio there. It is only the second time he has campaigned in the state after a Dallas visit where he addressed members of the National Rifle Association in May. On Friday, his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, will also be visiting Texas for a rally on abortion rights with superstar Beyoncé.

Trump has made masculinity a central theme of his campaign, appearing on podcasts targeting young male voters and tapping surrogates who sometimes use crude language.

At a Trump rally on Wednesday, former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson called the Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz a “weak man” and compared Trump’s return to the White House to a dad who comes home and “he’s pissed!” and ready to punish his misbehaved children.

“When dad gets home, you know what he says?” Carlson asked. “You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl, and you are getting a vigorous spanking right now.”

Rogan and Trump have a complicated relationship. Rogan had previously said that he declined to host Trump on his podcast before, but that he did not want to do it because he did not want to help him.

Earlier this year, Trump criticized Rogan after the podcaster said that then-candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. was the only candidate running who made sense to him. Kennedy has since suspended his bid, endorsed Trump and joined him on the campaign trail.

“It will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC Ring??? MAGA2024,” Trump wrote on his social media site in August.

The podcaster is known for his hourslong interviews on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which is listed as No. 1 in the United States, according to Spotify’s charts. He calls women “chicks” and once laughed as a comedian friend described repeatedly coercing young women comics into sex.

Trump ramps up his immigration rhetoric even more

Trump will also hold a news conference to talk about border security. He is escalating his already dark and apocalyptic rhetoric against illegal immigration in the race’s final stretch.

During a rally in Arizona Thursday, Trump railed against Harris for the Biden administration’s record on the border, which he said had “unleashed” an “army of migrant gangs” who are “waging a campaign of violence and terror against our citizens.”

“We’re like a garbage can for the world,” Trump said, adding a new insult to a litany he’s used to describe the state of the nation under the Biden administration.

At a Turning Point event in Las Vegas later in the day, Trump claimed towns had been “invaded and conquered” by violent immigrants, adding: “We have a lot of towns that haven’t yet been infected.” Trump has long echoed tropes about immigration in portraying migrants as spreading disease, dating back to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump views immigration as the issue that won him the White House in 2016. He accuses Harris of perpetrating “a wicked betrayal of America” and having “orchestrated the most egregious betrayal that any leader in American history has ever inflicted upon our people,” even though crime is down.

While migrants have been charged for some high profile crimes that Trump repeatedly highlights, research has shown that immigrants — including those who entered the country illegally — are charged with fewer violent crimes than American citizens.

He has also spread false theories that Democrats are registering immigrants without legal status to vote.

With Harris visiting Houston for her rally with Beyoncé, Trump and his allies Friday morning made illegal immigration the centerpiece of their pushback. They pointed to the killing of a 12-year-old Texas girl, Jocelyn Nungaray, whose body was found in June. Prosecutors have charged two Venezuelan men in the U.S. illegally with capital murder.

By COLLEEN LONG, DARLENE SUPERVILLE and NADIA LATHAN

HOUSTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris will team up with Beyoncé on Friday for a rally in solidly Republican Texas aimed at highlighting the medical fallout from the state’s strict abortion ban and putting the blame squarely on Donald Trump.

It’s a message intended to register far beyond Texas in the political battleground states, where Harris is hoping that the aftereffects from the fall of Roe v. Wade will spur voters to turn out to support her quest for the presidency.

Harris will also be joined at the rally by women who have nearly died from sepsis and other pregnancy complications because they were unable to get proper medical care, including women who never intended to end their pregnancies.

Some of them have already been out campaigning for Harris and others have told their harrowing tales in campaign ads that seek to show how the issue has ballooned into something far bigger than the right to end an unwanted pregnancy.

Since abortion was restricted in Texas, the state’s infant death rate has increased, more babies have died of birth defects and maternal mortality has risen.

With the presidential election in a dead heat, the Democratic nominee is banking on abortion rights as a major driver for voters — including for Republican women, particularly since Trump appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn the constitutional right. He has been inconsistent about how he would approach the issue if voters return him to the White House.

Harris’ campaign has taken on Beyonce’s 2016 track “Freedom” as its anthem, and the message dovetails with the vice president’s emphasis on reproductive freedom. The singer’s planned appearance Friday adds a high level of star power to Harris’ visit to the state. She will be the latest celebrity to appear with or on behalf of Harris, including Lizzo, James Taylor, Spike Lee, Tyler Perry, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Eminem. While in Texas, Harris also will tape a podcast with host Brené Brown.

Trump is also headed to Texas Friday where he’ll talk immigration, and tape a podcast with host Joe Rogan.

There is some evidence to suggest that abortion rights may drive women to the polls as it did during the 2022 midterm elections. Voters in seven states, including some conservative ones, have either protected abortion rights or defeated attempts to restrict them in statewide votes over the past two years.

“Living in Texas, it feels incredibly important to protect women’s health and safety,” said Colette Clark, an Austin voter. She said voting for Harris is the best way to prevent further abortion restrictions from happening across the country.

Another Austin resident, Daniel Kardish, didn’t know anyone who has been personally affected by the restrictions, but nonetheless views it as a key issue this election.

“I feel strongly about women having bodily autonomy,” he said.

Harris said this week she thought the issue was compelling enough to motivate even Republican women, adding, “for so many of us, our daughter is going to have fewer rights than their grandmother.”

“When the issue of the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body is on the ballot, the American people vote for freedom regardless of the party with which they’re registered to vote,” Harris said.

Harris isn’t likely to win Texas, but that isn’t the point of her presence Friday.

“Of all the states in the nation, Texas has been ground zero for harrowing stories of women, including women who have been denied care, who had to leave the state, mothers who have had to leave the state,” said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, a legal group behind many lawsuits challenging abortion restrictions. “It’s one of the major places where this reality has been so, so devastatingly felt.”

Democrats warn that a winnowing of rights and freedoms will only continue if Trump is elected. Republican lawmakers in states across the U.S. have been rejecting Democrats’ efforts to protect or expand access to birth control, for example.

Democrats also hope Harris’ visit will give a boost to Rep. Colin Allred, who is making a longshot bid to unseat Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Allred will appear at the rally with Harris.

When Roe was first overturned, Democrats initially focused on the new limitations on access to abortion to end unwanted pregnancies. But the same medical procedures used for abortions are used to treat miscarriages.

And increasingly, in 14 states with strict abortion bans, women cannot get medical care until their condition has become life-threatening. In some states, doctors can face criminal charges if they provide medical care.

About 6 in 10 Americans think their state should generally allow a person to obtain a legal abortion if they don’t want to be pregnant for any reason, according to a July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Trump has been inconsistent in his message to voters on abortion and reproductive rights. He has repeatedly shifted his stance and offered vague, contradictory and at times nonsensical answers to questions on an issue that has become a major vulnerability for Republicans in this year’s election.

Texas encapsulates the post-Roe landscape. Its strict abortion ban prohibits physicians from performing abortions once cardiac activity is detected, which can happen as early as six weeks or before.

As a result, women, including those who didn’t intend to end a pregnancy, are increasingly suffering worse medical care. That’s in part because doctors cannot intervene unless a woman is facing a life-threatening condition, or to prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function.”

The state also has become a battleground for litigation. The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the side of the state’s ban just two weeks ago.

Complaints of pregnant women in medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms in Texas and elsewhere have spiked as hospitals grapple with whether standard care could violate strict state laws against abortion.

Several Texas women have lodged complaints against hospitals for not terminating their failing and dangerous pregnancies because of the state’s ban. In some cases, women lost reproductive organs.

Of late, Republicans have increasingly tried to place the blame on doctors, alleging that physicians are intentionally denying services in an effort to undercut the bans and make a political point.

Perryman said that was gaslighting.

“Doctors are being placed in a position where they are having to face the prospect of criminal liability, of personal liability, threat to their medical license and their ability to care for people — they’re faced with an untenable position,” she said.

Long reported from Washington and Lathan from Austin, Texas.

Opportunity comes knocking Saturday for two of the surprise teams in college football.

No. 25 Vanderbilt, in an Associated Press regular-season poll for the first time since 2008 and coming off 10 consecutive losing seasons, hosts No. 5 Texas three weeks after it shocked the nation with its upset of then-No. 1 Alabama.

No. 24 Navy, unbeaten halfway through its season following four straight losing campaigns, has been ranked for two weeks and plays its annual game against No. 12 Notre Dame, this year at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Vanderbilt (5-2) went into the Alabama game 0-60 all-time against top-five opponents. The chance to play for a second top-five win in a month and the excitement around the program present a challenge when it comes to tuning out the noise.

“When the winds outside the program were shifting and negative, we were disciplined not to pay attention,” fourth-year coach Clark Lea said. “Now that they’re celebrating and giving us attention — I’m not saying we don’t appreciate that, because we do — but we’re certainly not going to give power to it.”

The Midshipmen lost 42-3 to Notre Dame in Ireland last year in the opener of coach Brian Newberry’s first season. Irish coach Marcus Freeman said Navy’s transformation has been impressive.

“I love it,” he said. “We’re looking forward to a great challenge. To play a 6-0 team, as the head coach you’d much rather do that than play a team that’s 0-6, because it doesn’t take much to motivate your guys.”

The picks, with all games Saturday unless noted, and lines from BetMGM Sportsbook:

No. 3 Penn State at Wisconsin (plus 6 1/2)

Wisconsin has outscored the opposition 117-16 during its three-game win streak. Mirage? The opposition was Purdue, Rutgers and Northwestern. The Nittany Lions are coming off an open date since their overtime win at Southern California.

Pick: Penn State 21-17.

Nebraska at No. 4 Ohio State (minus 25 1/2)

Will Howard has had a hot hand lately, the 2014 national championship team will hold a reunion at the Horseshoe and the Buckeyes have beaten Nebraska seven straight times by an average score of 48-18. The Cornhuskers just got hammered 56-7 at Indiana.

Pick: Ohio State 45-14.

No. 5 Texas at No. 25 Vanderbilt (plus 18 1/2)

It’s bounce-back week for the Longhorns. Quinn Ewers was out of sorts against Georgia, and coach Steve Sarkisian gave him a vote of confidence this week. The Commodores’ upset of Alabama and the buzz around them will keep Texas focused.

Pick: Texas 31-14.

Florida State at No. 6 Miami (minus 21)

The unbeaten Hurricanes have played three straight close games, and FSU’s defense is good enough to make this a four-quarter game. The offense isn’t, though. The Seminoles have scored no more than 16 points in six straight games, and the Canes’ Cam Ward is playing like he’s on a mission to win the Heisman Trophy.

Pick: Miami 39-14.

No. 8 LSU (plus 2 1/2) at No. 14 Texas A&M

The home team has won the last seven meetings. The Aggies’ defensive front will challenge LSU, just as South Carolina and Mississippi’s did. Close wins in those two games galvanized the Tigers. A&M’s highlight so far is its lopsided win over a then-top-10 Missouri.

Pick: LSU 32-27.

No. 11 BYU at UCF (minus 1 1/2)

UCF has lost four straight, but the change to QB Jacurri Brown has sparked an offense that gave Iowa State all it could handle last week. The key is whether Brown can limit his mistakes against a BYU defense that already has 12 interceptions.

Pick: UCF 31-28.

No. 12 Notre Dame vs. No. 24 Navy (plus 12 1/2)

Notre Dame’s biggest worry is limiting Navy’s big plays. The Midshipmen have added wrinkles to their triple-option offense and broken five runs of at least 50 yards. Newberry goes for his first win over a ranked opponent and Navy’s first 7-0 start since 1978.

Pick: Navy 28-24.

Washington at No. 13 Indiana (minus 6 1/2)

Tayven Jackson is in line to start for Indiana in place of Kurtis Rourke, who injured his right thumb against Nebraska. The Huskies face the travel hurdle again. They lost at Iowa last week and head east again, this time three time zones away for what to them will be a 9 a.m. kickoff.

Pick: Indiana 41-24.

Kansas at No. 16 Kansas State (minus 10)

The Wildcats come in off two straight road wins and will be playing their first home game in a month. They’ve found a nice rhythm while winning three straight since their clunker at BYU. Kansas has lost 15 straight in the Sunflower Showdown.

Pick: Kansas State 38-16.

Oklahoma at No. 18 Mississippi (minus 20 1/2)

The Rebels have had two weeks to get over their crushing overtime loss at LSU and are at home to face an opponent in disarray. Sooners coach Brent Venables, who called his offense an “abomination,” fired coordinator Seth Littrell earlier this week and turned over play-calling to Joe Jon Finley.

Pick: Mississippi 27-3.

No. 17 Boise State (minus 3 1/2) at UNLV

Big Friday night game between teams with hopes of earning the Group of Five spot in the College Football Playoff. National rushing leader Ashton Jeanty has gone over 200 yards in three of the Broncos’ six games and is well rested after an open date. UNLV is best in the Mountain West at stopping the run.

Pick: Boise State 33-28.

Syracuse at No. 19 Pittsburgh (minus 5 1/2)

Desmond Reid is Pitt’s first running back to have three 100-yard rushing games and two 100-yard receiving games in the same season. Syracuse’s Kyle McCord puts up prodigious numbers and is clutch on third down. Pitt has won five straight Thursday night regular-season games.

Pick: Pittsburgh 37-27.

No. 20 Illinois (plus 21 1/2) at No. 1 Oregon

Illinois held Michigan to its lowest point total since 2014 in a 21-7 win. Oregon’s offense is a different animal. The Ducks just beat Purdue 35-0 on the road — the same Purdue team that scored 40 second-half points at Illinois before losing 50-49 in overtime.

Pick: Oregon 42-24.

No. 21 Missouri at No. 15 Alabama (minus 14)

Jalen Milroe and the two-loss Crimson Tide have been trying to regain their mojo since beating Georgia, and there’s no room for error now if they are to contend for a playoff bid. Missouri QB Brady Cook made an inspiring return from the hospital in the second half to lead the Tigers past Auburn last week.

Pick: Alabama 28-10.

No. 22 SMU (minus 11 1/2) at Duke

Coaching connections abound. Third-year SMU coach Rhett Lashlee was first-year Duke coach Manny Diaz’s offensive coordinator at Miami in 2020-21. Duke OC Jonathan Brewer worked with Lashlee at SMU in 2022-23, and Duke DC Jonathan Patke was with Lashlee at Miami.

Pick: SMU 36-16.

AP predictions scorecard

Last week: Straight-up — 14-3; Against spread — 9-8.

Season: Straight-up — 127-33; Against spread — 84-75.

____

— By ERIC OLSON, The Associated Press

A full slate of games returns for Week 8 with several mismatches.

Six teams are favorites by at least seven points on BetMGM Sportsbook. Three of those are double-digit favorites.

Pro Picks took three of the underdogs to cover the spread.

Five games feature division rivals, including showdowns for first place in both the AFC and NFC South.

The Vikings and Rams kick off the week on Thursday night while the Giants and Steelers finish up on Monday night. The Cowboys and 49ers renew their rivalry on “Sunday Night Football” with both banged-up teams underachieving.

Atlanta (4-3) at Tampa Bay (4-3)

Line: Falcons minus 2 1/2

This matchup for the NFC South lost its luster when the Buccaneers lost their top two receivers. Chris Godwin is out for the season and Mike Evans could miss at least three games. Without them, Tampa Bay has to rely more on an improved rushing attack to avoid putting too much pressure on Baker Mayfield, who leads the NFL with 18 TD passes but has thrown five picks in the past two games. Kirk Cousins has plenty of playmakers, including Bijan Robinson, who has run for 198 yards the past two weeks and is averaging 4.7 yards per carry. The Falcons rallied for an overtime win over the Buccaneers in Week 5. They’ll take control of the division with another victory.

BEST BET: FALCONS: 27-20

Philadelphia (4-2) at Cincinnati (3-4)

Line: Bengals minus 2

Saquon Barkley’s addition has paid off for the Eagles. Jalen Hurts is making fewer mistakes and Philadelphia’s defense hasn’t allowed a touchdown in the past two games. The Bengals have a chance to even their record after a 1-4 start but they’ll need Joe Burrow and the playmakers on offense to produce more. Cincinnati has scored 38 points combined over the past two wins after averaging 35 over a three-game stretch.

UPSET SPECIAL: EAGLES: 24-23

Minnesota (5-1) at Los Angeles Rams (2-4)

Line: Vikings minus 3

After losing their first game of the season at home against Detroit, the Vikings hit the road to face the Rams on Thursday night amid speculation that Minnesota is pursuing Matthew Stafford. The Vikings hurt themselves with penalties and mistakes in a 31-29 loss. If they don’t get Stafford, they should still stay in the playoff race with Sam Darnold, who has cooled after a hot start. The Rams have to decide whether to trade assets and build for the future or pursue a playoff bid in an NFC West that’s up for grabs. The return of receiver Cooper Kupp should boost their offense.

VIKINGS: 26-20

Baltimore (5-2) at Cleveland (1-6)

Line: Ravens minus 9

Two-time NFL MVP Lamar Jackson is playing elite ball, Derrick Henry has been sensational and the Ravens are back after an 0-2 start. The Browns are turning to Jameis Winston after losing Deshaun Watson for the season. That’s an upgrade. Cleveland is playing for pride against a division rival, still has a tough defense and Baltimore is coming off a short week after a Monday night win. That’ll keep it closer than it should be.

RAVENS: 24-16

Tennessee (1-5) at Detroit (5-1)

Line: Lions minus 11 1/2

Jared Goff has been exceptional, especially over the past three games. The Lions beat the Vikings on the road to reclaim the NFC North. With Super Bowl aspirations, Detroit isn’t looking back. The Titans are giving up the fewest yards per game (259.2), but the offense is next-to-last in yards and is averaging just 17.7 points. Mason Rudolph or Will Levis? Doesn’t matter.

LIONS: 27-14

Arizona (3-4) at Miami (2-4)

Line: Dolphins minus 3 1/2

Tua Tagovailoa is expected to return after missing four games because of a concussion. The Dolphins desperately need him to boost an anemic offense that averaged 10 points per game during his absence. The Cardinals are coming off a Monday night win over the Chargers but Kyler Murray and the offense aren’t putting up enough points. Arizona’s banged-up defense has a tough task against Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and the rest of Miami’s offense that should be rejuvenated by Tagovailoa’s return.

DOLPHINS: 26-20

New York Jets (2-5) at New England (1-6)

Line: Jets minus 7

Davante Adams’ arrival didn’t help Aaron Rodgers get on track. He’s looking more like a 40-year-old quarterback than a four-time MVP. The “soft” Patriots — that’s what coach Jerod Mayo called his team — should provide a cure for New York’s woes. The Jets already beat New England 24-3 in Week 3. But Drake Maye is starting for the Patriots now so they’ll be more competitive on offense. The teams are a combined 1-9 against the spread in their past five games.

JETS: 23-17

Green Bay (5-2) at Jacksonville (2-5)

Line: Packers minus 4

The Jaguars are starting a stretch of games that will determine their season, facing four NFC teams that currently have a combined record of 19-4. Meanwhile, Jacksonville is just 5-23 in its past 28 games against non-conference opponents. Trevor Lawrence is coming off a mistake-free game and needs another to have a shot against the Packers. Tank Bigsby has run for 90-plus yards in three of Jacksonville’s past four games. Green Bay found a way to beat Houston last week despite three turnovers. If Jordan Love protects the ball — he is tied for an NFL-most eight picks — the Packers will have success.

PACKERS: 29-24

Indianapolis (4-3) at Houston (5-2)

Line: Texans minus 5

The Texans are trying for just their second sweep of the Colts in this AFC South rivalry. C.J. Stroud is coming off his worst game of the season in Houston’s loss at Green Bay but the Texans can strengthen their hold on the division with another victory over Indianapolis. Anthony Richardson was shaky again in his return last week as the Colts won for the fourth time in five games since an 0-2 start. They’ll need more from Richardson in the passing game to have a chance in Houston.

TEXANS: 27-20

New Orleans (2-5) at Los Angeles Chargers (3-3)

Line: Chargers minus 7 1/2

So much for the unstoppable Saints the league saw the first two weeks. The offense has struggled, Derek Carr and other key players have been sidelined and New Orleans has been blown out at home the past two games. Maybe a road trip to California will help. The Chargers won’t be in a good mood after a last-second loss in Arizona. Justin Herbert is coming off his best game but the offense isn’t finishing drives.

CHARGERS: 23-17

Buffalo (5-2) at Seattle (4-3)

Line: Bills minus 3

Josh Allen hasn’t thrown an interception, the Bills have a comfortable lead in the AFC East and new addition Amari Cooper already made a big impact. Now Buffalo tries for its first win against a team that has a winning record. The Seahawks are back on track after losing three in a row. They’ve got the NFL’s top-ranked passing offense behind Geno Smith but likely won’t have DK Metcalf.

BILLS: 26-20

Chicago (4-2) at Washington (5-2)

Line: Bears minus 2 1/2

Doesn’t look promising for the No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup. Caleb Williams and the Bears probably won’t face Jayden Daniels when they visit the Commanders. Daniels has a rib injury and veteran Marcus Mariota would start for Washington in place of the injured rookie QB. The Bears are rolling. Williams, a balanced offense and a strong defense have helped Chicago win three in a row. The Commanders have been a surprise team under first-year coach Dan Quinn thanks to Daniels, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury’s productive offense and a revamped defense. With Daniels, it’ll be a different game. Without him, the Bears have a big edge.

BEARS, 22-19

Carolina (1-6) at Denver (4-3)

Line: Broncos minus 10

If Sean Payton gets Bo Nix and the offense on par with Denver’s defense, the Broncos will be a dangerous team in the AFC West. They’ve already come a long way. The Panthers are headed nowhere and could end up with the No. 1 overall pick again. Even worse, they haven’t found out if Bryce Young can be a franchise QB. Young made a cameo in last week’s lopsided loss and gets a chance to play this week because of Andy Dalton’s thumb injury.

BRONCOS: 24-13

Kansas City (6-0) at Las Vegas (2-5)

Line: Chiefs minus 10

The two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs (6-0) gave Patrick Mahomes a new playmaker, acquiring three-time All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins. He provides another edge for Mahomes and his teammates, who will seek to avenge the Raiders’ nonsensical offseason trolling of the three-time Super Bowl MVP. Keep the Kermit puppets at home.

CHIEFS: 33-13

Dallas (3-3) at San Francisco (3-4)

Line: 49ers minus 4

Micah Parsons could return to give Dallas a significant boost. The Cowboys are coming off a bye that gave them an extra week to think about a 38-point loss to Detroit. The banged-up 49ers keep losing players with Brandon Aiyuk out for the season. Brock Purdy has to avoid trying to do too much and rely on other playmakers around him. San Francisco has won the past three meetings, including two playoff games. Neither team is playing at a January level right now.

49ERS: 23-21

New York Giants (2-5) at Pittsburgh (5-2)

Line: Steelers minus 6 1/2

It should be a long night for Daniel Jones and the rest of New York’s offense against T.J. Watt and a defense that’s allowed just 14.4 points per game. On the other side, Russell Wilson follows up his impressive prime-time debut for the Steelers with a Monday night appearance. He’ll need to avoid Dexter Lawrence and continue distributing the ball efficiently.

STEELERS: 26-16

___

Last week: Straight up: 10-5. Against spread: 5-10.

Overall: Straight up: 72-35. Against spread: 57-48-2.

Prime-time: Straight up: 16-9. Against spread: 12-12-1.

Best Bet: Straight up: 5-2. Against spread: 5-2.

Upset Special: Straight up: 5-2. Against spread: 5-2.

___

— By ROB MAADDI, Associated Press

Pro Picks is a weekly column where AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi shares his picks for upcoming games. For all previous Pro Picks, head here.