Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have one final day to win over voters in a US presidential campaign that will be decided in just a handful of states.

The vice president is spending all of Monday in Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state which offers 19 electoral votes and is expected to determine the outcome.

Her rally in Philadelphia will include the likes of Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump plans four rallies in three states: North Carolina, Pennsylvania and finally Michigan.

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More than 77 million Americans have already cast their vote ahead of election week, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab. That’s almost half the 160 million votes returned in 2020.

But swing states, also known as battleground or toss-up states, hold disproportionate sway in presidential elections because they switch between voting Republican and Democrat.

That is why both candidates have focused their campaigning in the final days in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan and Nevada.

Heading into Monday, Ms Harris has mostly stopped mentioning Mr Trump and instead tried to focus on forward-looking themes.

At a rally in East Lansing, Michigan, she spoke to some of the state’s Arab-Americans, and addressed concerns about US support for Israel.

“As president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza,” she said.

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Meanwhile, Mr Trump repeated that he would bring about the “golden age of America” if elected, though he also doubled down on his accusations of election fraud.

In Georgia, he depicted a second-term Trump administration: “We stand on the verge of the four greatest years in American history. It’ll be nasty a little bit at times, and maybe at the beginning in particular.” Mr Trump didn’t elaborate on what would be “nasty”.

Polling is tight

The final poll of the election from NBC, Sky News’ US partner, found Ms Harris and Mr Trump tied at 49% although the margin of error is 3.1 points – a figure that creates a significant level of uncertainty about the result.

In Georgia, the race appears very tight. A recent poll by the New York Times puts Ms Harris ahead by one point. Other polls have Mr Trump narrowly leading.

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Meanwhile, election officials in Georgia are pushing back against claims from Mr Trump and his allies of “election interference” – which appear to be part of efforts to challenge the election if he loses.

Mr Trump has also rejected the findings of a shock survey in Iowa which suggested Ms Harris led him by three points in the state, calling it a “fake poll”.

Ms Harris is in a closely fought race for Michigan’s 15 electoral college votes but is currently polling just ahead of Mr Trump in the battleground state.

Celebrity endorsements

Hollywood actor Robert De Niro was out canvassing for the vice president this weekend in Pennsylvania – one of the key battleground states.

It is not the first time he has endorsed Ms Harris. In September, he was joined by fellow actor Steve Buscemi for a livestream to help raise funds for the Democrats.

Meanwhile, the vice president made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live, where she performed in a short skit alongside Maya Rudolph.

On the night, Sky News will have access to the most comprehensive exit poll and vote-counting results from every state, county and demographic across America through its US-partner network NBC.

You can find out more about Sky News’ coverage here.

The sprawling state of Arizona was once reliably Republican but in 2020 that changed.

Joe Biden became only the second Democrat to win here since 1948, winning by less than 11,000 votes, and polling suggests Arizona could once again be won and lost by the narrowest of margins.

Above Phoenix, Dobbins Lookout provides a panoramic view of the rugged Grand Canyon State.

Many of the people there to watch the Friday night sunset were contemplating a consequential decision.

Those include Jennifer Montero and her fiance Richie Garcia, who say their vote on Tuesday is based on their economic circumstances.

“Prices have gone up like crazy,” said Ms Montero, “and then, especially now that I’m wanting to get married and have kids, I definitely want to be able to go to McDonald’s and afford a spicy for a dollar like they used to be.”

The couple are of Mexican descent, in a state where one in four voters are Latin American and the debate about immigration is complicated.

For Mr Garcia, being born in America means the border is less of a concern.

“Times are changing. I think a lot of the Hispanic community was very inclined to vote Democrat due to immigration status, but my parents are citizens. I believe that immigration status doesn’t really matter to me much anymore,” he said.

Less than 30 minutes away in downtown Phoenix, people were already beginning to vote at a drive-through polling centre.

One of them was Renee Rojas, a lifelong Republican voting Democrat for the first time.

Ms Rojas, who is of Native American and Latino descent, says that decision is down to Donald Trump.

“Recent rhetoric and the changes of the Republican Party just made me realise that things are not going the way they should be,” she said, before adding, “My mom, my grandmother is a Republican. She’s Navajo. You know, my other family members and friends, they’re all Republicans, but half of them are voting Democrat this year.”

US election latest: Harris and Trump make late bid to woo voters

Ms Rojas’s thoughts on the prospect of trouble after the result are a reminder of the strong Conservative values of the state she lives in.

“I’m an Arizonan. I have a gun myself, I have several different kinds of firearms, heavy machine guns and handguns. So I am a proud gun holder and people will demonstrate the way they want to as long as they’re not hurting anybody.”

For other drive-through voters like Peter Orozco, the choice was a simple one, about stability.

He feels the current administration will maintain the foreign policy status quo.

“We can’t politically make any big changes, especially on an international scale, you know, because if we get somebody else president other than what the existing presidency is, it could be World War Three,” he said.

In Arizona, there are other voters who feel the state is worse off since the Democrats came to power.

They include Dane Jensen, a 26-year-old mortgage broker.

For the last few days, Mr Jensen has been standing outside another polling station in Scottsdale with a “Swifties for Trump” banner.

He made the banner as a joke to try to ruffle the feathers of people voting for the Democratic party, which the singer has endorsed.

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About Swift, he said: “That’s like someone like that who has a private jet and is flying around the country who is, in my opinion, creating more fossil fuels and bad energy for the environment than any one person.

“And for you to sit there on your high horse and billions of dollars, and tell people what you think should happen when you’re already set for life, I don’t really agree with that.”

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Beyond celebrity endorsements is an economic and social reality in Arizona, which Mr Jensen and all the voters in the state will recognise.

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“I’m born and raised here. So I know that area as well as anyone. But, you know, crime, the border economy, those are really important issues, they’re everyday issues,” he said.

It’s those everyday issues in a handful of vital places like Arizona that will decide an election hinging on the tightest of margins.

On the night, Sky News will have access to the most comprehensive exit poll and vote-counting results from every state, county and demographic across America through its US-partner network NBC.

You can find out more about Sky News’ coverage here.

It’s been a whirlwind of a presidential election campaign, consisting of an assassination attempt (and another alleged one), changing candidates and some bizarre claims on the campaign trail.

With days to go before Americans head to their polling stations, here’s a recap of some of the biggest moments…

Trump shot at rally

On 13 July, Donald Trump became the first president or candidate to be shot since Ronald Reagan in 1981.

The former president escaped with a bullet wound to his ear in the attack as he was giving a speech to supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Eight shots had been fired by 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, who was positioned on the roof of a nearby building, before he was killed by a Secret Service counter sniper.

Corey Comperatore, a former volunteer fire chief, was shot dead in the crowd as he tried to shield his family from the bullets.

As Mr Trump was mobbed by Secret Service agents seeking to shield him, he took a moment to pump his fist and shout “fight” to his cheering admirers in the audience.

Musk endorses Trump

On the night of the shooting, billionaire Tesla boss Elon Musk post on X saying: “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.”

This proved significant for Mr Trump, not just for the X owner’s immense social media presence and general clout – but also for his wallet.

Between July and September, Musk donated $75m (£58m) to a campaign group he set up to support Mr Trump’s presidential bid, and gave about $44m (£34m) in the first half of October, financial disclosures show.

He’s also spoken at a number of Mr Trump’s rallies.

Biden drops out of the running

Pressure had been piling on president Joe Biden for some time before he withdrew from the race in July.

The 81-year-old’s frequent blunders during speeches, particularly during a disastrous debate with Mr Trump a month prior, threw cold water over his push for a second term.

He instantly threw his support behind his vice president Kamala Harris, urging Democrats to donate to her campaign as he pulled out.

Harris runs for office

She got the president’s backing instantly, but Ms Harris still needed to be formally chosen as the Democrats’ new presidential nominee.

The 60-year-old had a couple of potential challengers just after Mr Biden dropped out, but it never looked in doubt once former president Barack Obama endorsed her.

In the end, no challengers formally presented themselves ahead of the deadline, meaning Ms Harris was declared the Democratic candidate in early August.

In her first speech after accepting the nomination, she called for unity, saying this was “a chance to chart a new way forward”.

‘Kamala IS brat’

Yes, Ms Harris needed her party’s backing to become its nominee, but she also needed to get potential Democratic voters on her side, fast.

A branding opportunity seemingly fell right into her lap when British pop star Charli XCX endorsed her, writing in a post on X: “Kamala IS brat”.

Out of context, it sounds like a peculiar insult.

But Charli XCX had just released her smash hit album Brat, leading to a social media trend for something known as a “brat summer”.

Instead of its typical meaning – a badly behaved or ill-mannered child – the singer had helped redefine brat as a lifestyle “characterised by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude”.

Ms Harris and her campaign pounced on the trend, creating artwork for her HQ campaign account which mirrored that of the Brat album.

‘Childless cat ladies’

Now-infamous comments made by Mr Trump’s running mate JD Vance in 2021 resurfaced shortly after the brat endorsement.

Mr Vance, speaking to Fox News at the time, had said Ms Harris and other Democrats were “a bunch of childless cat ladies… miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made”.

“The entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” he said, despite the fact Ms Harris co-parents two stepchildren – Ella and Cole – with her husband Doug Emhoff.

Friends star Jennifer Aniston criticised Mr Vance’s remarks as she shared the clip on Instagram, writing in the caption: “I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States.”

The Ohio senator said he stood by the sentiment but that his remarks weren’t a criticism of people who decide not to have children.

“This is not about criticising people who, for various reasons, didn’t have kids,” he said. “This is about criticising the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-child.”

The Harris campaign hit back at Mr Vance’s comments, saying “every single American has a stake in this country’s future”.

Trump questions Harris’s racial identity

In a move that drew gasps from the audience at a convention hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago, Mr Trump questioned the racial identity of Ms Harris, asking: “Is she Indian or is she black?”

He said: “I’ve known her a long time, indirectly not directly… and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage.

“I didn’t know she was black, until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black, and now she wants to be known as black, so I don’t know, is she Indian or is she black?”

Ms Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both immigrants to the US.

In response, Ms Harris said the comments were “the same old show” and that “America deserves better”.

‘That’s my dad!’

Minnesota governor Tim Walz was relatively unknown when Ms Harris picked him as her vice presidential running mate at the start of August.

But he truly made his mark with a landmark speech at the Democratic National Convention a couple of weeks later, telling his party’s faithful it was “time to turn the page” on Donald Trump.

It was the sort of speech you’d fully expect from a former American football coach like Mr Walz, as he urged his comrades to “leave it all out on the field” until election day.

There was seemingly no one more inspired by Mr Walz than his son Gus, who stood up midway through his speech and, through tears, proudly exclaimed: “That’s my dad!”

‘They’re eating the pets…’

You’d be forgiven for assuming cats would only play a key part in the election campaign once.

But the “childless cat lady” comments were in fact overshadowed by completely unsubstantiated claims repeated by Mr Trump and Mr Vance about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating residents’ household pets.

In a presidential debate between him and Ms Harris, Mr Trump said: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats… They’re eating… they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.

“And this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”

Ms Harris, who could be seen laughing and saying “this is unbelievable”, responded when it was her turn: “Talk about extreme.”

It was the headline-grabber in what has proved to be the only debate between the candidates, but they also clashed over issues including abortion, the economy and illegal immigration.

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Taylor Swift backs Harris

Almost straight after the debate, Taylor Swift told her 283 million Instagram followers she would be voting for Ms Harris.

The singer urged them to “do your research” – but said AI-generated images of her supporting Mr Trump made her realise “I need to be very transparent about my actual plans”.

The post was accompanied by a photo of the singer holding her cat Benjamin Button, and she signed off with “Taylor Swift – Childless Cat Lady”.

Mr Trump initially dismissed Swift’s endorsement of his rival for the presidency by simply saying he was “not a Taylor fan“.

But days later, as public opinion polls showed Ms Harris gaining significant ground on him, the former president took to his Truth Social media account to add: “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”

‘Assassination attempt’ on Trump at golf course

A second apparent attempt on Mr Trump’s life was thwarted by the Secret Service on 15 September as the former president played golf at his course in West Palm Beach in Florida.

Ryan Routh was arrested after a rifle was seen poking through bushes near where Mr Trump was playing.

He had allegedly been staking out for around 12 hours before an agent spotted him and opened fire. He was detained less than an hour later, having fled the scene.

Mr Trump used the incident to demonstrate his resilience.

“Nothing will slow me down,” he wrote in a statement. “I will NEVER SURRENDER! I will always love you for supporting me.

“Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again. May God bless you.”

Routh was later charged with trying to assassinate Mr Trump.

Musk promises millions of dollars to swing state voters

Seven battleground states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – are widely believed to be where the election will be won or lost.

As a result, well over a billion dollars is said to have been spent on presidential ads targeted at the more than 60 million people living in them.

Musk has thrown his wealth behind Mr Trump in a way that’s never been seen before: by promising to give away $1m (£772,000) each day until 5 November to registered voters in swing states.

All the voters have to do to become eligible is sign his online free speech and gun rights petition.

The first $1m was awarded to a man named John Dreher during a campaign event in Pennsylvania on 19 October.

The X owner was subsequently summoned to an emergency court hearing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, accused of operating an illegal lottery and trying to influence voters.

But the lawsuit has been placed on hold while a federal court considers whether to take up the case, meaning Musk is free to continue the giveaway.

Campaigning almost over – but more drama to come

The candidates will be trying to win over voters right up until voting closes on the evening of Tuesday 5 November.

From there, it’s anyone’s guess what happens next, with polls suggesting it’s going to be the tightest race in years.

There will be live coverage on Sky News throughout election night, led by chief presenter Mark Austin, world news presenter Yalda Hakim and US correspondent Mark Stone.

Fellow correspondents James Matthews and Martha Kelner will be reporting on the ground in the candidates’ home states of Florida and California as the results come in.

As it becomes clearer who will become the next president, chief presenter Anna Botting and presenter Gillian Joseph will join Austin, Stone and Hakim for both the build-up and aftermath of the election.

On the night, Sky News will have access to the most comprehensive exit poll and vote-counting results from every state, county and demographic across America through its US partner network NBC.

You can find out more about Sky News’ coverage here.