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WATCH LIVE: Harris holds rally in Philadelphia on final day of campaign


WATCH LIVE: Harris holds rally in Philadelphia on final day of campaign

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump delivered their final campaign addresses to voters in the same part of Pennsylvania at about the same time Monday, spending the last full day of the presidential campaign in a state that could be theirs Make or break opportunities.

Kamala Harris is scheduled to hold her final rally of the 2024 campaign in Philadelphia at 10:30 p.m. EST. Watch it in the player above.

Focusing on the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania, Trump took the stage in Reading, about 30 miles from Allentown, where Harris held her own event about half an hour later.

“If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole ball of wax,” Trump said. “It's over.”

In fact, a Trump victory in Pennsylvania that skews his 19 Electoral College votes would break the Democrats' “blue wall” and make it harder for Harris to win the required 270 votes.

READ MORE: 2024 Electoral College map

Harris, the Democratic candidate, spent all day Monday in Pennsylvania, the largest voting district among the states expected to decide the Electoral College outcome, and offered a similarly blunt assessment.

“We need everyone in Pennsylvania to vote,” she said. “You will make the difference in this election.”

In addition to Allentown, Harris visited Scranton – the birthplace of President Joe Biden – and Reading and had planned a stop in Pittsburgh before ending with a nightly rally in Philadelphia that was scheduled to be attended by Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.

“Are you ready for this?” Harris shouted Monday in Scranton, with a large handmade “VOTE FOR FREEDOM” sign behind her and a similar “VOTE” banner at her side.

Trump first traveled to North Carolina before visiting Reading. He then traveled to Pittsburgh, on the other side of the state, before ending in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he will hold his final campaign rally at the same location where he concluded his 2016 and 2020 runs.

READ MORE: How to see the 2024 election results

Southeastern Pennsylvania is home to thousands of Latinos, including a sizable Puerto Rican population. Harris and her allies repeatedly attacked Trump over a comic attack in Puerto Rico during the former president's marquee event at Madison Square Garden. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”

“It was absurd,” said German Vega, a Dominican who lives in Reading and became a U.S. citizen in 2015. “It bothered so many people – even a lot of Republicans. “It wasn't right and I think Trump should have apologized to Latinos.”

But Emilio Feliciano, 43, waited outside the Santander Arena in Reading for the opportunity to take a photo of Trump's motorcade. He dismissed the comments about Puerto Rico, even though his family is Puerto Rican, and said he cares about the economy and that's why he will vote for Trump.

“Will the border be secure? Will you keep crime down? That’s what I care about,” he said.

Harris told the crowd, “I stand here proud of my longstanding commitment to Puerto Rico and its people.”

“And I will be a president for all Americans,” she said, adding that “the momentum is on our side. Can you feel it?”

Trump, meanwhile, stopped short of talking about his planned crackdown on immigration. He called to the stage Patty Morin, the mother of 37-year-old Rachel Morin, who was found dead during a hike the day after she disappeared. Officials say the suspect in her death, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, entered the United States illegally after allegedly killing a woman in his home country of El Salvador.

About 77 million Americans voted early. A victory for both sides would be unprecedented.

Trump's victory would make him the first new president to be charged and convicted of a crime following his hush money trial in New York. He will be given the authority to close other federal investigations pending against him. Trump would also be only the second president in history to win non-consecutive terms in the White House, after Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century.

Harris is vying to become the first woman, the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office, four years after she broke the same hurdles in national office by becoming President Joe Biden's running mate.

The vice president rose to the top of the Democratic ticket after Biden's disastrous performance in a June debate set in motion his withdrawal from the race – one of several upsets to hit this year's campaign.

Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. His intelligence unit foiled a second attempt in September when a gunman set up a rifle as Trump was golfing at one of his golf courses in Florida.

The 60-year-old Harris has portrayed herself as a generational change from the 81-year-old Biden and the 78-year-old Trump. She has emphasized her support for abortion rights following the 2022 Supreme Court decision that struck down the constitutional right to abortion services, and she has regularly pointed to the former president's role in attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.

Harris assembled a coalition that ranged from progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York to former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney. fascist.”

As of Monday, Harris has largely stopped mentioning Trump by name, instead calling him “the other guy.” It promises to solve problems and seek consensus.

Harris campaign chairwoman Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a call with reporters that not using Trump's name was deliberate because voters “want to see in their leader an optimistic, hopeful, patriotic vision for the future.”

Harris also offered some insight into her personal development as a politician that she doesn't often share. In Scranton, she recounted how she was once an underdog when she ran for San Francisco district attorney in 2002 and how she “always campaigned with my ironing board.”

“I went outside the supermarket and set up my ironing board, because an ironing board really works great as a standing desk,” the vice president said, recalling how she used tape to hang posters on the outside of the board, fill it Cover the top with flyers and “ask people to talk to me as they come in and out.”

In Allentown, Harris teamed up with rapper Fat Joe. After Trump's rally ended, she then made her own visit to Reading and visited the Old San Juan Cafe, a Puerto Rican restaurant, with Ocasio-Cortez. Both Fat Joe, whose real name is Joseph Cartagena, and Ocasio-Cortez are of Puerto Rican descent.

Supporters chanted “Sí se puede” and “Kamala” as the vice president’s motorcade pulled up. Inside, Harris chatted with some guests and even threw in “Gracias” and a few Spanish words. The vice president later ordered cassava, yellow rice and pork, saying, “I'm very hungry,” as she was too busy campaigning to find time for many meals.

To pay, she asked her team to hand over her credit card.

Standing in line for Harris' Allentown rally, 54-year-old Ron Kessler, an Air Force veteran and Republican turned Democrat, said he planned to vote for only the second time in his life. Kessler said he didn't vote for a long time because he thought the country would “vote for the right candidate.”

But “now that I'm older and much wiser, I think it's important, it's my civic duty. And it's important that I vote for myself and for democracy and the country.”

Just on Sunday, Trump renewed his false claims that the U.S. election was being rigged against him, ruminated about violence against journalists and said he “shouldn't have left” the White House in 2021 – dark twists that further anchor his closing arguments: “Kamala ruined it. I’ll fix it.”

Superville reported from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Barrow reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Zeke Miller, Will Weissert and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.


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