Pennsylvania is the focus of Harris and Trump on final day of campaign

Former President Trump held his last full day of election campaign Monday says only he can save America from an apocalyptic future dominated by an out-of-control government. “invasion” of criminal immigrants and amoral liberals—messages of foreboding much like those that have fueled a decade of Republicans on the national stage.

Vice President Kamala Harris ended her presidential campaign with a series of rallies in which she vowed to turn the page and put the US on a more stable and hopeful trajectory, promising not to retaliate but to “spend every day working on your -Make a list on your behalf.”

While the two presidential candidates’ messages diverged sharply, they were nearly identical geographically: Both spent much of Monday in Pennsylvania, a state seen by both sides as critical to securing an Electoral College victory.

The Keystone State gives the winner more electoral votes — 19 — than any of the most closely contested states this year. Polls show Pennsylvania in a clear dead heat, with six other battlegrounds — Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada — also too close to call as voting ends Tuesday.

During a late afternoon rally at the Reading arena, Trump waxed nostalgic about his time on the national stage while continuing to criticize the establishment, which he accused of conspiring to keep him out of power.

“We have spent the last nine years fighting against the most sinister and corrupt forces on Earth,” he told the crowd. “With your vote in this election, you can show them once and for all that this nation does not belong to them. This nation belongs to you.”

Trump has promised that his second term, four years after he lost the presidency to Joe Biden, will usher in a new “golden age” of peace and prosperity for Americans. “November. October 5, 2024 will be American Emancipation Day! Trump shouted, even as he promised that “liberation” would begin on the first day of his presidency with the mass deportation of illegal immigrants to the United States.

“This is unsustainable for every country,” Trump said of migration across the border with Mexico. “They are taking over your cities, your schools, your hospitals,” he said, adding: “I will save every city and town that has been captured and conquered.”

Immigration at the southern border surged in 2023 under the administration of President Biden and his Vice President Harris, but by this summer the number of entries had dropped sharply. Democrats and Republicans crafted a compromise bill to stem the flow of migrants, but the legislation died when Trump opposed it.

Before finishing the penultimate day of his long campaign, the former president was scheduled to hold two more rallies in the state, in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

In a memo that raised particular concerns among some state residents, he expressed doubts about whether Harris would continue to allow hydraulic fracturing, known as hydraulic fracturing, to extract oil and gas. Trump promised the roughly 500,000 Pennsylvanians who work in the oil industry that if elected, “we will fracking, fracking, fracking and drilling, baby, drilling.”

He concluded his presentation, which lasted an hour and 20 minutes, with a familiar string of promises.

“We will make America powerful again. We will make America rich again. We will make America healthy again,” he began. “We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again!”

In another closing argument, Trump used his Truth Social platform to introduce a short video of his ally Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy argued in the video that Democrats are “weaponizing” government agencies to suppress dissent – an apparent reference to the administration’s attempt to stop the spread of misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic online. The former environmental lawyer assured viewers that Trump “will rely on me to help root out this corruption.”

Around the same time Trump spoke in Reading, Harris showed up an hour away.in Allentown, where she gave a 20-minute speech that included many crowd favorites from her whirlwind 105-day presidential campaign.

Harris returned to well-worn themes like reproductive freedom, love of country and fatigue after a decade of vicious politics. As with Trump’s cheers, the themes ignited the Democratic faithful, who applauded furiously and held up signs reading “USA” and “WHEN WE FIGHT, WE WIN.”

“Pennsylvania, you know me—I’m not afraid of a tough fight,” she said before listing her successes as a prosecutor in California. “I promise you, if you give me the chance to fight on your behalf as President, nothing in the world will stand in my way.”

Harris did not mention Trump by name, but noted that if elected, she would not worry about the “enemies list” (an apparent reference to the former president’s routine remarks in recent weeks about those he said had wronged him) and would instead of this “spend every day working on my to-do list on your behalf.”

Harris made sure to be very specific about what she wants Pennsylvanians to do next: providing hours during which they could vote and encouraging them to get out and do just that. After a nearly four-month hiatus unlike any other in modern American politics, Harris addressed his supporters with one final message: “One day left!” she said.

Democrats also took care to remind state residents, including some 300,000 Puerto Rican-Americans, of the controversial rhetoric that has marred the final days of the race. The words came in the form of a joke from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who spoke on behalf of Trump at a rally in Madison Square Garden last week.

Rapper Fat Joe reminded the Allentown crowd of the joke. “He was filled with so much hatred… calling Puerto Rico an island of trash,” said the musician, a Bronx native of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent. “My Latinos, where is your pride?”

Referring to the Trump-JD Vance ticket, the rapper asked, “What more do they have to do to show you who they are?”

Like Trump, Harris planned to end a long day of campaigning in Pennsylvania’s two largest cities with rallies planned in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Harris’ campaign said her final stop will be at the Philadelphia Museum of Art – the famous site where the title character completes her triumphant run in the movie “Rocky” – to highlight the importance of democracy in the city where America was born. the documents were written. Harris was expected to be joined at the rally by Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga, The Roots and other pop culture luminaries.

Times staff writer Noah Bierman in Philadelphia contributed to this report.