Harris opens ‘Saturday Night Live’ and urges US to ‘stay calm’ ahead of election

Nandita Bose and James Oliphant

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris appeared on the comedy TV show “Saturday Night Live” on Saturday, delivering a surprise jolt to the U.S. presidential election just three days before she faces Republican Donald Trump.

Harris pictured herself appearing in the mirror opposite the actress who plays her on the show, Maya Rudolph, as she nervously prepared for a campaign speech. Dressed identically in a black suit and pearls, the two traded variations of the name Harris, declaring that Americans want to “end the drama-a-la” in politics with a “cool new stepmom-ala.”

“Keep calm and carry on,” they said in unison.

“I don’t really laugh that much, do I?” Harris asked after Rudolph imitated her signature chuckle.

“A little,” replied Rudolf.

It was Harris’ first time on the show, which has featured other presidential candidates over the decades.

Trump appeared during his first presidential campaign in 2015, where he mocked his tendency to exaggerate and avoid political specifics. He also appeared in 2004, long before he entered politics. A Trump aide said he did not know whether he had been invited to speak this year.

Earlier Saturday, Harris and Trump’s planes shared the tarmac in Charlotte, North Carolina, while the two candidates held dueling events in the southern state, one of the few that will determine the outcome of Tuesday’s election. Candidates are campaigning in the same state for the fourth day in a row.

Only seven states are considered truly competitive, but a poll released Saturday showed Harris with a surprise lead in Iowa, a state Trump won easily in the last two elections.

Trump and Harris stuck to familiar themes in their speeches.

Trump said he would deport millions of immigrants if elected and warned that if Harris wins, “every city in America will be turned into a squalid and dangerous refugee camp.”

While campaigning in Atlanta, Harris said Trump would abuse his power if he returned to the White House.

“This is a person who is becoming increasingly unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed by resentment, and this is a person who seeks unlimited power,” she said.

More than 75 million Americans have already voted, according to the University of Florida Election Lab, a sign of voter enthusiasm.

In North Carolina, western counties hit by Hurricane Helen voted at about the same rate as the rest of the state, according to Catawba College political science professor Michael Bitzer.

“BEAUTIFUL WHITE SKIN”

At a later rally in Salem, Virginia, Trump said he was running for president to save the economy from “destruction” even though he would have found it easier to relax at one of his oceanfront resorts.

“I didn’t need to be here today,” he said. “I could stand on this beach, my beautiful white skin turning beautiful, and get hit in the face by a wave filled with salt water.”

Trump was joined on stage by women from a local college swim team who objected to competing with transgender athletes. Some of Trump’s television ads have tried to capitalize on the transgender controversy.

(The story has been moved to remove an extra word in paragraph 1)

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Ismail Shakeel; Writing by Andy Sullivan and Costas Pitas; Editing by Heather Timmons, Daniel Wallis, Cynthia Osterman, Leslie Adler and William Mallard)