Harris and Trump focus on Sunbelt states during final weekend push for votes

Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump zeroed in on the Sun Belt on Saturday as they embarked on one last weekend quest to sway every undecided voter in the battleground states. They pitched rival agendas on the economy — and more — that each insisted is what Americans want.

“We have overcome every attack, every abuse and even two assassination attempts,” Trump said at a rally in Gastonia, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. “And now it all comes down to this.”

Later, Trump headed to Virginia, which isn’t considered a battleground state, but offered a similar message, telling supporters that there is no way he can lose and is on the cusp of “the greatest political victory in the history of our country.”

Trump predicted he would win not just the Electoral College count, but a majority of votes cast across the country, which he failed to do in two previous tries.

“We’re going to win the popular vote,” Trump told the crowd. “I think we have a really good chance to win the popular vote.”

Harris, meanwhile, has been urging her supporters to vote early so she can be elected and provide the “new generation of leadership” that she argues she represents.

“I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States of America,” she said during remarks in a rally at the Atlanta Civic Center parking lot. She had to pause a few times to allow medics to attend to people who had fainted after spending hours in the heat.

“It’s hot out here, Atlanta,” the vice president said.

It was unclear whether Harris herself had voted early. Campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler said Saturday that Harris plans to vote by mail, but he could not say whether she had returned her ballot to her home state of California. Trump confirmed Saturday that he’ll vote in person on Tuesday in Florida, despite saying previously he’d vote early.

“Anybody here already voted?” she asked the Atlanta crowd, which cheered loudly in response. “Oh wow. Oh my goodness. Thank you, thank you.”

It was part of a final, frenzied push by Harris, Trump, their running mates and their high-profile stand-ins to encourage people to vote early or in person on Tuesday, Election Day.

Harris’ campaign hoped for a “high-impact” moment with a two-minute spot to air Sunday during NFL games on CBS and FOX, including the Green Bay Packers against the Detroit Lions, two swing state teams. It shows Harris interacting with people during the campaign and talking directly to viewers.

“Now I’m asking for your vote because as president I will get up every day and fight for the American people,” she says at the end.

Harris Campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon projected confidence Saturday on a conference call with reporters as both sides embarked on that final sprint to get out the vote. “If you can hear the joy in my voice it is because we are in GOTV weekend,” she said.

Trump, meanwhile, spoke wistfully, as he has at some of his recent rallies, about how after nearly a decade of campaigning, his final race is nearing its end.

“We’re going to meet again many times I hope,” the former president said in the first of two North Carolina rallies. “This has been the thrill of a lifetime for me and for you.”

At the second rally, in Greensboro, he said he’ll do two more days of rallies “and then we shut it down, never to happen again.” He said he’ll then have “a different form of rally — a rally for our country.”

Later, he laughed along with a sexist joke about Harris. As Trump repeated his claim, without evidence, that Harris lied about working at McDonalds in her youth, someone in the crowd yelled, “she worked on the corner.” Trump laughed, looked around and pointed toward a section of the crowd.

“This place is amazing,” he said to cheers. “Just remember, it’s other people saying it. It’s not me.”

Planes carrying Harris and Trump met on the tarmac in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the vice president ended her campaign day.

She was joined there by actress Kerry Washington and rocker Jon Bon Jovi, who played a newer song “The People’s House” that he said he wrote shortly after the January 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump insurrectionists.

“We still have work to do,” Harris told her Atlanta rally, adding, “Make no mistake, we will win.”

She also called her campaign and supporters “the promise of America.”

President Joe Biden, who dropped out of the race this summer when it became clear he could not win, was doing his part for the Democrats by making what could be his final 2024 campaign stop. Biden, who turns 82 this month, struck a nostalgic tone as he tried to help get out the vote for Harris and running mate Tim Walz during an event at the carpenters’ local in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

And, as he’s done frequently lately, Biden also went off script to offer some especially blunt statements. After slamming Trump and his supporters on policy issues, the president added, “I know some of you guys are tempted to think he’s this macho guy … but, I’m serious, these are the kind of guys you’d like to smack in the ass.”

Walz joined actress Eva Longoria at a get-out-the-vote event in Las Vegas before the Minnesota governor’s events in Flagstaff and Tucson, Arizona. GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance was also in Arizona and Nevada. First lady Jill Biden was campaigning in Georgia and Hillary Clinton was appearing for Harris in Tampa, Florida.

Walz visited a few homes in the Las Vegas suburbs. He and Democratic Rep. Dina Titus spoke with a couple who were excited to see both politicians — and were hopeful.

“We’re gonna win,” Walz said. “These last days matter and it will be on the margins.”

Elsewhere, other voters sounded notes of cautious optimism about the election outcome.

Marzella and Darrell Pittman said they canceled weekend plans after learning that Harris would be in Atlanta and drove four hours from Alabama to attend.

Marzella thinks Harris will win, but Darrell is nervous because many of the young Black men in his life support Trump and are hesitant to vote for a woman for president.

“It’s tight, and the other side, they got a lot of our people believing in that side, just like we believe in Kamala,” he said.

Until the election, “we have nothing but voting on our mind and we’re talking to everybody,” Marzella Pittman said.

Trump supporters were equally passionate about their candidate.

“Mr. Trump came in a garbage truck. I came in a garbage bag,” said Elmer Baber, who lives in Gastonia, North Carolina and attended Trump’s rally. It was a reference to Trump riding in a garbage truck after Biden said Trump’s supporters were “garbage.” Biden later said he was talking about rhetoric from a speaker at Trump’s recent event at Madison Square Garden.

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Colvin reported from Gastonia, North Carolina, and Superville from Washington. Associated Press writers Chris Megerian in Washington, Matt Brown in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta and Isabella Volmert in Warren, Michigan, contributed to this report.