Today’s must-read from Maggie Haberman and Matt Flegenheimer in the NYT:

Darrell L. Clarke, Philadelphia’s City Council president, said the racial overtones of Mr. Trump’s remarks were clear.

“When you talk about ‘certain areas’ in Pennsylvania, we all know what that means,” he said. “He’s talking about Philadelphia and some of the urban areas.”

The Trump campaign recently started a website urging people to sign up as election watchers. All campaigns bring on poll watchers, but they are required to go through extensive training about what crosses the line into intimidation.

The Republican National Committee has been operating under a consent decree for more than three decades, after claims that members of the committee intimidated minority voters at the polls in the 1970s and 1980s. Mr. Trump’s campaign, according to committee officials, is not bound by that document, despite the intermingling of their resources.

The consent decree is set to expire soon, but not before the election. Republicans have fretted that Mr. Trump’s bombast would invite Democrats to fight to keep it in place.

Mr. Braden, the Republican election lawyer, said that sweeping talk about fraud could backfire in tight Senate races in which Republicans end up ahead by a slim margin.

“From my perspective, no, it is not helping,” he said. “A more measured, thoughtful discussion of the issue, which is worth discussing, would be helpful.”

“But that,” he added, “does not seem to be his style.”