A week before Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris vowed to “change fear and divisiveness" at a campaign rally in the battleground state of Michigan.
Meanwhile, former US President Donald Trump lashed out at his critics, calling former first lady Michelle Obama “mean” at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia.
On Monday, incendiary devices were planted at two ballot boxes near Portland and Vancouver, Washington, destroying hundreds of ballots in what one official called a “direct attack on democracy.”
What’s the latest from the polls?
Harris and Trump remain in a close race, and analysts expect the election to be close in several key battleground states.
As of Tuesday, Harris held a narrow 1.4-point lead in national polls, according to FiveThirtyEight’s daily election poll. This marks a slight decline from the previous week, when she led by 1.7 percentage points.
The outcome of this election is likely to be decided in seven key battleground states. Both campaigns have put a lot of effort into that.
These seven states include Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Nevada.
Harris holds a narrow lead in Michigan, according to FiveThirtyEight’s daily poll tracker. Meanwhile, Trump holds a slight lead over Harris in Pennsylvania and Nevada, and even larger leads in North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia.
In Wisconsin, the difference between the two is less than 10 percentage points, according to FiveThirtyEight.
In all seven states, the candidates are within two points of each other, within the poll’s margin of error, and each state is in a tight race just days before the final vote.
What was Kamala Harris doing on Sunday?
Harris focused on Michigan, where her main event was an evening campaign rally and concert in Ann Arbor with vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and singer Maggie Rogers.
Michigan had the highest youth turnout in the nation in the 2022 midterm elections, with long lines forming at polling places on college campuses. This year, Democrats are trying to reignite that energy by organizing events such as a rally in Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan.
However, about 30 pro-Palestinian demonstrators confronted Harris at the event. The candidate acknowledged the chant and told the demonstrators, “I hear you, everyone.” The group was chanting, “Israel dropped the bomb, Kamala paid the reparations. How many children did they kill today?”
After acknowledging the group, Harris said: “When it comes to Gaza, we all want to end this war as quickly as possible and rescue the hostages. I will do everything in my power to do that.”
Protesters shout as Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris holds a campaign rally and concert in Ann Arbor (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
Before that, she held afternoon campaign events in Saginaw and Macomb counties. Harris appealed to working-class voters by highlighting her administration’s efforts to increase factory jobs in the state and support for labor unions.
Before flying to Michigan, Harris also attacked Trump, referring to a comment the comedian made at Trump’s New York rally the day before, in which he referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of trash.”
“(This) really highlighted the point I’ve been making throughout this campaign,” that President Trump is “obsessed with his grievances, with himself and with the divisions in our country, and will never strengthen the nation.” It’s not a thing.” American families, American workers,” Harris said.
“There’s a big difference between him and me,” she added.
Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, D.C., said the Harris campaign is trying to capitalize on some of the racist language from Trump’s rallies.
“This is a way for the Harris campaign to persuade undecided Latino voters, especially in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, to vote for her,” Jordan said.
More than 450,000 Puerto Ricans live in Pennsylvania, making up 8% of the state’s population. The difference between Trump and Harris is just 0.2 points, and Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes, the most of any battleground state.
Harris (right) and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, depart after speaking at a campaign rally. (Carlos Osorio/Associated Press)
What was Donald Trump doing on Monday?
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was visiting Georgia. He spoke at the 2024 First National Faith Summit in Powder Springs in the afternoon and held a rally in Atlanta in the evening.
During the event, Trump dismissed claims that he and his supporters were comparable to Nazis or fascists.
“I’m not a Nazi. I’m the exact opposite of a Nazi,” President Trump told the crowd gathered at Georgia Tech. “The way they speak is so disgusting and awful.”
“My father, I had a great, tough father. He always said, ‘Never use the word Nazi.’ Never use that word. ”
He then criticized Harris for using the f-word. Harris said she agreed with President Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly’s assessment that the former president meets the definition of a fascist. President Trump said of Harris: “She’s a fascist, okay?” she’s a fascist. ”
President Trump attends campaign rally at McAmish Pavilion in Atlanta (Brendan McDiarmid/Reuters)
He also called him “mean” during an event in Atlanta, after former first lady Michelle Obama criticized his comments over the weekend.
Georgia is an important swing state. Trump won the 2016 presidential election but lost in 2020.
But at the Georgia event, Trump remained silent about racist comments about Puerto Rico at the New York rally.
“But that’s what you would expect from a former president,” Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said, reporting from outside the former president’s rally in Atlanta.
“Donald Trump operates on the principle of never apologizing and never recanting,” he added.
Trump speaks at a campaign event at McAmish Pavilion on the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta (Eric Lesser/EPA)
What will happen to the Harris campaign and the Trump campaign?
Harris speaks in Washington, DC
Harris is scheduled to address a crowd of 20,000 people in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night in what her campaign is calling the former prosecutor’s “closing argument.”
Harris will speak at the Ellipse, just outside the White House.
It’s the same location where President Trump addressed supporters at the infamous “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, just before a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol.
Meanwhile, Ms. Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, is scheduled to campaign on Tuesday in Georgia, a key battleground state where Mr. Trump has actively mobilized his support base.
President Trump at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania
Trump will hold a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania is a key battleground state, and Trump and Harris have visited the state several times in recent weeks.
Given the size of the Puerto Rican vote in the state and racist comments made at Trump’s rallies against the U.S. territory, Trump’s campaign visit is likely to be a surprise as he looks to win the state, where he currently holds a narrow lead. It has the potential to become even more important. Vote for tracker.
Although Puerto Ricans living on the island do not vote in presidential elections, Americans of Puerto Rican origin or ancestry are an important demographic in some battleground states.
“Is Puerto Rico trash? We’re Americans, Donald Trump,” TV host Sunny Hostin said on Monday’s hit show The View. “We vote.” Hostin’s family is from Puerto Rico.
.@Sunny Hostin: “This Puerto Rican has something to say about my beloved island, where my family is from. Is Puerto Rico trash? We are Americans, Donald Trump.”
“Puerto Ricans, your garbage collection day is November 5, 2024. Don’t forget.” pic.twitter.com/fFC4aMeZUg
— The View (@TheView) October 28, 2024
Analysts believe whoever wins Pennsylvania has a good chance of winning the White House.
“I’m really looking at Pennsylvania,” Thomas Gift, associate professor of political science at UCL’s School of Public Policy, told Al Jazeera.
“Recent projections show that if Donald Trump can win Pennsylvania, his chances of winning the White House increase to 96 percent. If Kamala Harris wins Pennsylvania, she will win the White House. The odds of winning against the house would increase to 91 percent,” Gift added.
