Harris, Trump head west in US election race countdown
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump take their nail-biting White House race west on Thursday, seeking supremacy on border security and aiming to woo crucial Latino voters days ahead of the US election. Pop singer Jennifer Lopez will bring her star power to the stage for Harris in Las Vegas, as the candidates battle through the seven swing states expected to decide the next president.
Meanwhile, Trump has scheduled an interview in Arizona with ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson and a rally in Nevada. Both campaigns have been sidetracked in recent days after controversies stemming from a remark by a warm-up speaker at a Trump rally, which initially blew back against Republicans before a damaging gaffe from President Joe Biden. Harris made political hay from the comedian calling the US territory of Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage," winning the backing of Puerto Rican celebrity Lopez, rapper Bad Bunny and singer Ricky Martin.
But she then found herself on the defensive after Biden appeared to call Trump supporters "garbage" -- prompting the Democratic candidate to state that she disagreed with criticism of people based on who they vote for. Trump, who himself has branded Harris's allies "garbage" at a public rally, was quick to pounce on the misstep with a publicity stunt as he climbed into a garbage truck at an airport in Wisconsin.
The 78-year-old will also visit New Mexico on Thursday -- a surprising call since polls suggest that the state will go to Harris by a comfortable margin. - 'Locking arms' - Campaigning out west, the two candidates are hoping to entice Hispanic voters and earn credit on the crucial election issue of migration. Trump is betting that frustrations over the Biden-Harris administration's immigration policy will swing Arizona, which shares a border with Mexico, back in his favor.
Biden beat Trump in Arizona in 2020, becoming the first Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1996 to win the state's electoral college votes. Latinos have traditionally voted more in favor of Democrats, but recent polling shows a noticeable trend toward Republicans. The latest New York Times/Siena poll showed Harris with 52 percent of support among Hispanic voters to Trump's 42 percent.
Both candidates will be in North Carolina on the weekend as part of a blitz of the battleground states, with Harris also visiting Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania before Election Day. Speaking in Wisconsin on Wednesday, the vice president shared a message of unity that followed her "closing argument" speech the night before at a huge rally in the capital Washington. "Folks are exhausted and want it to stop, the pointing fingers. It is time that we start locking arms together as a people who rise and fall together," she said.
Trump -- who has 34 felony convictions for crimes connected to the 2016 election -- is widely expected to reject Tuesday's election result if he loses. The Republican is already seizing on commonplace verification processes by election officials to amplify his claims of widespread "cheating." More than 57 million Americans have cast their ballots via early or mail-in voting so far, over a third of the 2020 total.
