{"id":1143,"date":"2024-11-11T16:43:48","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T16:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/harris-and-trump-make-a-furious-final-push-before-election-day\/"},"modified":"2024-11-11T16:46:06","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T16:46:06","slug":"harris-and-trump-make-a-furious-final-push-before-election-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/harris-and-trump-make-a-furious-final-push-before-election-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Harris and Trump make a furious final push before Election Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Kamala Harris<\/a> and Donald Trump<\/a> closed out this year\u2019s presidential race with a fierce battle for Pennsylvania on Monday, making their final pitch to voters across a state that could prove decisive in the campaign for the White House.<\/p>\n

Harris ended her night in Philadelphia at the art museum steps made famous in the movie \u201cRocky,\u201d where she said \u201cthe momentum is on our side.\u201d She also rallied with supporters in Allentown, Scranton and Pittsburgh, and she swung through Reading to visit a Puerto Rican restaurant and do a little canvassing herself, knocking on doors alongside campaign volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the day before the election and I just wanted to come by and say I hope to earn your vote,\u201d Harris told one woman, who said she had already cast a ballot for the Democratic nominee.<\/p>\n

Trump started the day in North Carolina and finished it in Michigan, but he spoke in Reading and Pittsburgh in between. The former president delivered stemwinders at each stop, blending false claims about voter fraud with warnings about migrants committing crimes and promises to revitalize the United States.<\/p>\n

\n

AP AUDIO: Harris and Trump make a furious final push before Election Day<\/h2>\n

AP correspondent Norman Hall reports on Donald Trump\u2019s first campaign stop of the day, in North Carolina, in his final campaign push through key states.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWith your vote tomorrow, we can fix every single problem our country faces and lead America, and indeed the whole world, to new heights of glory,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While Harris focused on optimism about the future and never mentioned Trump by name, the Republican nominee excoriated his opponent at every turn. His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, followed Trump\u2019s lead during his own rally in Atlanta, telling the crowd that \u201cwe are going to take out the trash in Washington, D.C., and the trash\u2019s name is Kamala Harris.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his final rally, Trump called former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who led the House when it impeached him twice, a \u201ccrazy, horrible human being\u201d and barely restrained himself from using a sexist slur.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a crooked person, she\u2019s a bad person, evil,\u201d Trump said. \u201cShe\u2019s an evil, sick, crazy \u2013 oh no. It starts with a b, but I won\u2019t say it. I want to say it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last day of campaigning was an appropriately frenetic ending to a presidential race that has defied expectations at every turn.<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump was convicted during a felony trial<\/a> involving hush money payments and survived two assassination attempts. He remains under indictment<\/a> for trying to overturn the last presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Harris became Democrats\u2019 replacement candidate this summer when Biden was pushed off the ticket<\/a> and forced to abandon his reelection bid after stumbling badly in his debate with Trump.<\/p>\n

One of the few constants in the campaign has been how close it\u2019s remained. The election is expected to be decided by razor-thin margins, and the results may not be known for days.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania has the most Electoral College votes of any battleground state, making it the top prize of the campaign. A victory there would clear a path to White House for either candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are going to make the difference in this election,\u201d Harris said in Allentown.<\/p>\n

About 30 miles away in Reading, Trump told supporters that \u201cif we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole ball of wax.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Pittsburgh, Trump delivered what his campaign aides described as his closing argument after his previous attempt \u2014 a mass rally at Madison Square Garden<\/a> in New York — was derailed by crude and racist jokes. He has also veered into invocations of violence<\/a> and said he \u201cshouldn\u2019t have left\u201d<\/a> the White House after he was voted out.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past four years, Americans have suffered one catastrophic failure, betrayal and humiliation after another,\u201d Trump said. He added that \u201cwe do not have to settle for weakness, incompetence, decline, and decay.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crowd exploded in cheers when Trump said the country should tell Harris, \u201cYou\u2019re fired,\u201d his catchphrase from \u201cThe Apprentice,\u201d the reality television show that made him a nationally recognized star.<\/p>\n

Harris arrived in Pittsburgh while Trump\u2019s rally was underway. By the time she finished her succinct remarks, he was still talking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must finish strong,\u201d Harris said. \u201cMake no mistake, we will win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The day was further evidence of the ripple effects from Trump\u2019s Madison Square Garden event, where the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe referred to Puerto Rico as a \u201cfloating island of garbage.\u201d<\/a> Southeastern Pennsylvania, which was visited by both candidates on Monday, is home to thousands of Latinos, including a sizable Puerto Rican population.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was absurd,\u201d said German Vega, a Dominican American who lives in Reading and became a U.S. citizen in 2015. \u201cIt bothered so many people \u2014 even many Republicans. It wasn\u2019t right, and I feel that Trump should have apologized to Latinos.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Emilio Feliciano, 43, waited outside Reading\u2019s Santander Arena for a chance to take a photo of Trump\u2019s motorcade. He dismissed the comments about Puerto Rico despite his family being Puerto Rican, saying he cares about the economy and that\u2019s why he will vote for Trump.<\/p>\n

\n

AP AUDIO: Harris and Trump are making a furious last-day push before Election Day<\/h2>\n

With one day until the election, both presidential candidates are making their final pitches to voters. AP correspondent Julie Walker reports.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIs the border going to be safe? Are you going to keep crime down? That\u2019s what I care about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While in Reading, Harris visited Old San Juan Cafe with New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, who has Puerto Rican heritage.<\/p>\n

Supporters chanted \u201cS\u00ed se puede\u201d and \u201cKamala\u201d as the vice president\u2019s motorcade pulled up. Once inside, Harris chatted with some diners, even mixing in \u201cgracias\u201d and a few Spanish words. The vice president later ordered cassava, yellow rice and pork, saying, \u201cI\u2019m very hungry\u201d as she noted that she\u2019s been too busy campaigning to find time for many meals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stand here proud of my long-standing commitment to Puerto Rico and her people,\u201d she told her crowd in Allentown. Harris promised to be \u201ca president for all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, meanwhile, stuck to talking about his proposed crackdown on immigration while speaking in Reading. He called to the stage Patty Morin, the mother of 37-year-old Rachel Morin, who was found dead a day after she went missing during a trip to go hiking. Officials say the suspect in her death, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, entered the U.S. illegally after allegedly killing a woman in his home country of El Salvador.<\/p>\n

About 77 million Americans have voted early. A victory by either side would be unprecedented.<\/p>\n

Trump winning would make him the first incoming president to have been indicted and convicted of a felony. He would gain the power to end other federal investigations pending against him. Trump would also become only the second president in history to win nonconsecutive White House terms, after Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Harris is vying to become the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office \u2014 four years after she broke the same barriers in national office by becoming Biden\u2019s second in command.<\/p>\n

Heading into Monday, Harris has mostly stopped mentioning Trump by name, calling him instead \u201cthe other guy.\u201d She is promising to solve problems and seek consensus.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/a> \"Republican<\/picture>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at J.S. Dorton Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo\/Evan Vucci)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Harris campaign chair Jen O\u2019Malley Dillon said on a call with reporters that not saying Trump\u2019s name was deliberate because voters \u201cwant to see in their leader an optimistic, hopeful, patriotic vision for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

On her final day of campaigning, Harris took a rare trip down memory lane by talking about being a longshot candidate for San Francisco district attorney in 2003, her first elected office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d walk to the front of the grocery store, outside, and I would stand up my ironing board because, you see, an ironing board makes a really great standing desk,\u201d the vice president said, recalling how she would tape her posters to the outside of the board, fill the top with flyers and \u201crequire people to talk to me as they walked in and out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/a> \"Attendees<\/picture>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>
Attendees holding the flag of Puerto Rico cheer as Allentown, Pa. Mayor Matt Tuerk speaks during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in Memorial Hall at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo\/Susan Walsh)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>
\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Trump seemed nostalgic as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad because we\u2019ve been doing this for nine years,\u201d he said in Pittsburgh after inviting members of his family to join him onstage.<\/p>\n

He held his final rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he also concluded his campaigns in 2016 and 2020. He savored the moment, stopping every few steps as he made his way to the stage, soaking in an explosion of applause. A few in the crowd waited nearly 18 hours, at times in the rain, for a rally that finally began after midnight and ended after 2 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d Trump said when he started talking after standing wordless at his lectern for an extended ovation. \u201cThink of it. This is it. This is the last one that we\u2019ll have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/h2>\n

Superville reported from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Barrow reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, North Carolina; Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia; Luis Andres Henao in Reading, Pennsylvania; Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix; and Zeke Miller, Will Weissert, Michelle L. Price and Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 Kamala Harris and Donald Trump closed out this year\u2019s presidential race with a fierce battle for Pennsylvania on Monday, making their final pitch to voters across a state that could prove decisive in the campaign for the White House. Harris ended her night in Philadelphia at the art museum steps made famous<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-trump"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1168,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions\/1168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}