Harris woos on-the-fence Republicans, Trump tours storm-damaged state
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Ms Kamala Harris (left) appeared alongside Ms Liz Cheney, who called on undecided voters “to reject the kind of vile vitriol that we’ve seen from Donald Trump”.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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ASHEVILLE, North Carolina - US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris made a push to woo moderates in her rival’s camp in three swing states on Oct 21.
Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump slammed the government’s response to Hurricane Helene as he toured the devastated state of North Carolina.
With just over two weeks until election day, the two candidates are on a blitz through the battlegrounds that will decide the outcome in a race that polls say is too close to call.
On Oct 21, Ms Harris appeared in Pennsylvania alongside Ms Liz Cheney – a prominent Republican – who called on undecided voters “to reject the kind of vile vitriol that we’ve seen from Donald Trump”.
Trump toured storm-damaged Asheville and repeated conspiracy theories about the government’s disaster response.
Later, at a rally in Greenville, he hammered home his campaign message that immigrants were “looting, ransacking, raping and pillaging” the country.
On Oct 21 alone, Ms Harris had events scheduled in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – Rust Belt states that were in Trump’s column in 2016 but crucial to US President Joe Biden’s victory four years later.
Ms Cheney and her former vice-president father Dick were once considered fixtures in the Republican firmament, but have been ostracised since it was taken over by Trump.
Ms Harris said Trump’s dominance in politics since his shock 2016 election had led Americans to “point the finger at one another” and left the country “exhausted”.
“Donald Trump is an unserious man, and the consequences of him ever being president of the United States again are brutally serious,” she said.
Ms Cheney, who endorsed Ms Harris in September, said it was not a difficult decision to make, as a politician or as a mother.
“If you wouldn’t hire somebody to babysit your kids, like you shouldn’t make that guy the president of the United States,” she said.
Speaking in Michigan, Ms Harris called for voters to put partisan politics aside when they cast their ballot.
“On some issues, we just have to all be Americans,” she said.
Both candidates have courted voters from blocs that have historically sided with their rivals, a sign of how close the contest is.
On Oct 21, Trump appealed to Arab Americans in a social media post, calling Ms Harris a “war hawk” over the White House’s handling of Israel’s war with Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, respectively.
Trump has previously cast himself as Israel’s “protector” and said the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must “finish the problem” in its war against Hamas.
‘Crippled and destroyed’
Trump has been criticised for a tumultuous few weeks that have featured rambling monologues and threats about weaponising the military against Democrats, whom he calls “the enemy from within”.
In Greenville, he painted a picture of a US that was “crippled and destroyed” by immigration, crime and inflation.
Earlier, in Asheville, the 78-year-old doubled down on conspiracy theories, accusing the administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency of redirecting disaster funds to bring in undocumented immigrants and bolster Democratic votes.
Officials in the state were forced to issue hurricane response fact-checks after Trump and his backers pushed what Mr Biden called “an onslaught of lies” about confiscated property, neglected Republican areas and funds diverted to migrants.
Trump notched his narrowest victory in North Carolina when he eventually lost the election to Mr Biden in 2020.
Both Ms Harris and Trump are fighting to lock down a few thousand wavering voters in key districts as they bid to edge ahead in the race.
Ms Harris’ campaign brought in and spent over US$200 million (S$263 million) in September – more than three times as much as Trump, who is out on bail in two criminal cases and awaiting sentencing in a third over allegations of 2020 election-related misconduct.
Despite the Vice-President’s campaign spending, opinion polls suggest the race has been tied since late August.
As the pair make their closing arguments, a new Washington Post-Schar School poll of registered voters in seven battleground states found support even at 47 per cent for each candidate
Ms Harris had a one-point lead among likely voters.
Pro-Trump tech mogul Elon Musk has weighed heavily on the election, pouring US$75 million into his political committee, turning his social media company X into a bullhorn for the Republican side and stumping for Trump in Pennsylvania.
But the state’s Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro suggested the authorities could investigate Mr Musk’s promise at a weekend rally t o award a US$1 million prize daily until election day
