Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris barnstormed the battleground states Sunday in the final push to get supporters off the sidelines in a hard-fought race that remains a coin flip.
Mr. Trump started in Pennsylvania before jetting to North Carolina and Georgia. Meanwhile, Ms. Harris bounced around Michigan.
“The election is a choice between whether we will have four more years of incompetence and failure, which is what we have right now, or whether we will begin the four greatest years in the history of our country,” a gravelly voiced Mr. Trump said at the start of the day in Lititz, Pennsylvania.
Insisting Ms. Harris has made a mess of the economy and the U.S.-Mexico border, Mr. Trump vowed to “bring back the American dream.”
“Kamala broke it, and I will fix it,” Mr. Trump said. “For the sake of your family, for the sake of your country, for your freedom, you have to get out and vote.”
Mr. Trump called Democratic leaders “demonic,” “cheaters,” “sleezebags,” “bloodsuckers” and “crooked people.” He described Ms. Harris as a “moron,” “liar” and “dumb,” and he joked that the press corps would be in the line of fire if another person tried to shoot him.
Mr. Trump, who claims the 2020 election was stolen from him, planted seeds of doubt about the results of Tuesday’s election. He warned that Democrats are “fighting so hard to steal this damn thing.”
“Our country is a crooked country. It is a crooked country, and we are going to make it straight,” he said.
Speaking at a Black church in Detroit, Ms. Harris said voters have the opportunity to “advance the cause of freedom, opportunity and justice.”
Ms. Harris said the nation is “ready for a fresh start” and to move past the politics driven by “fear and division” that has ripped apart the populace.
“Yes, let us turn the page and write the next chapter of our history. A chapter grounded in a divine plan big enough to encompass all of our dreams. A divine plan strong enough to heal division. A divine plan bold enough to embrace possibility. God’s plan,” Ms. Harris said, striking an unusually religious note for a candidate steeped in liberal politics.
She targeted Michigan’s large pool of Arab American voters, many of whom are turned off by her support for Israel while it wages war against Hamas terrorists and others in the region.
“As president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, to bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure, and ensure the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, security and self-determination,” she said in East Lansing.
Elsewhere, former President Barack Obama campaigned on Ms. Harris’ behalf in Milwaukee, where former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, race car driver Danica Patrick, and former ESPN host Sage Steele headlined a Trump rally.
A New York Times/Sienna College poll released Sunday shows a tight race in the seven battleground states that will decide the election.
Mr. Trump remains the top pick of men and White voters without a college education and has made gains with minority and young voters. Ms. Harris’ strength comes from college-educated, young, minority voters and women.
In a memo, the Trump campaign dismissed the poll and accused The New York Times of trying “to drive a voter suppression narrative against President Trump’s supporters.”
“Some in the media are choosing to amplify a mad dash to dampen and diminish voter enthusiasm. It has not worked,” the campaign said. “Our voters are like President Trump: They fight.”
According to a running tally from the University of Florida’s Election Lab, the flurry of activity comes after more than 76 million people voted early, almost half the total number who voted in the 2020 election.
At each campaign stop, Ms. Harris vowed to defend Obamacare and abortion access. She also pledged to lower inflation and crack down on illegal immigration.
“I’m not afraid of tough fights. There is nothing in the world that will stand in my way,” she said.
Mr. Trump leapfrogged across the nation.
In Michigan, he visited with Arab American supporters at a halal cafe in Dearborn — the first Republican presidential nominee in recent years to visit the heavily Muslim area. During the visit, Mr. Trump vowed to bring peace to the Middle East.
At a rally in Warren, Michigan, Mr. Trump amped up his criticism that former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming is a so-called chicken hawk.
“She always wants war,” Mr. Trump said of Ms. Cheney, who is one of the most outspoken anti-Trump Republicans. “But If you gave Liz Cheney a gun and put her into battle, facing the other side with the guns pointing at her, she wouldn’t have the courage and the strength or the stamina to even look the enemy in the eye.”
Ms. Cheney and the liberal news media incorrectly recast his remark as a threat to put her in front of a firing squad.
Mr. Trump has four stops on Monday in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Ms. Harris plans to make her final pitch to voters in Pennsylvania as part of a full day in the state, where 19 electoral votes are up for grabs.
She will start the day in Allentown before traveling to Pittsburgh. She will cap off the evening with a concert and rally in Philadelphia featuring Lady Gaga, The Roots and Ricky Martin. Oprah Winfrey will also take the stage in Philadelphia to boost Ms. Harris.
Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will close out Monday in Detroit, hosting a concert by Jon Bon Jovi.
Over the weekend, Ms. Harris relied on Hollywood stars to help make her case, holding two star-studded rallies in swing states and appearing on “Saturday Night Live.”
Brendan Carr, a Republican commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, said Ms. Harris’ cameo on SNL violated the rule mandating TV networks to offer “equal time” to competing candidates.
“This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule,” he wrote on X. “The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased and partisan conduct — a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate on the eve of an election.”
A source told Variety that the show had not extended an offer to Mr. Trump.
The Harris campaign hopes the celebrities and SNL cameo will generate buzz and make her attractive to younger voters.
She hosted a rally and concerts on Friday in Milwaukee with rappers GloRILLa, Flo Mili, Mc Lyte, DJ Gemini Gilly, and the singing duo the Isley Brothers. Music superstar Cardi B didn’t perform but introduced Ms. Harris before she took the stage.
The next day, Ms. Harris appeared in Atlanta alongside Academy Award-winning director Spike Lee, Grammy-nominated singer Victoria Monet, Grammy Award rapper 2 Chainz, radio personality Big Tigger and actress Monica.
In between, Ms. Harris spoke in North Carolina with Mr. Bon Jovi.
In Milwaukee on Friday, Mr. Trump blamed Biden-Harris policies for hurting families with a higher cost of living, weakening the nation on the world stage and opening the border for violent illegal migrants to kill U.S. citizens and wreak havoc across the country.
He also vented about the technical difficulties with his microphone.
“Do you want to see me knock the hell out of people backstage?” Mr. Trump said. “It’s a pretty stupid situation, but that’s OK. … I’m seething. I’m working my ass off with this stupid mic.”
• Kerry Picket contributed to this report.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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