By Steve Holland, Jeff Mason and James Oliphant
NEW YORK/PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will headline a rally at New York’s Madison Sq. Backyard on Sunday, a high-profile occasion in a state that final backed a Republican president in 1984.
Opponent Vice President Kamala Harris is traversing Philadelphia, the most important metropolis and a Democratic stronghold in must-win Pennsylvania, and plans stops in a Black barbershop and a Puerto Rican restaurant to encourage folks to vote.
Talking on the Church of Christian Compassion Sunday morning, Harris did not point out Trump by title. “In this moment we do face a real question: what kind of country do we want to live in?” she stated.
Trump’s rally in Manhattan, like Harris’ occasion in Houston on Friday with Beyonce, hopes to lean on star energy to help native congressional candidates forward of the Nov. 5 election.
U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, who’s supporting Trump’s reelection bid along with his X social media platform, monumental wealth and money giveaways which have raised authorized questions shall be among the many featured audio system, the Trump marketing campaign introduced.
Trump, a New York celeb for many years, will use the occasion on the iconic venue recognized for Knicks video games and Billy Joel live shows to ship his closing argument in opposition to Harris.
“We want to close it out with a beautiful bang,” he stated final week.
Polls present the rival candidates are neck and neck within the battleground states that may determine the election with simply over per week till Election Day. Greater than 38 million votes have already been solid.
Trump has been in search of to tie Harris to the Biden administration’s dealing with of immigration and the economic system. Final week, Trump debuted a brand new assault line: “She broke it, and I promise you I will fix it.”
The U.S. economic system has outperformed the remainder of the developed world for the reason that COVID disaster, and inventory markets hit report highs this 12 months. However excessive costs of meals, utilities and housing have roiled voters, who consider the economic system is headed within the improper route.
Harris, who held a rally with Bruce Springsteen on Thursday, will maintain one other high-profile occasion with a speech on Tuesday on the Nationwide Mall in Washington, the place she is going to spotlight contrasts between herself and Trump.
Trump, who held a rally in Lengthy Island, New York, in September, has stated he’s making a play for the state. Ronald Reagan’s reelection was the final time New York backed a Republican for president; Democrat Joe Biden gained the state in 2020 by 23 share factors.
‘SHOW OF STRENGTH’
By staging the attention-grabbing occasion on the earth’s largest media market, Trump may assist enhance Republican candidates in New York congressional races. The state has seven aggressive seats that might assist decide whether or not the social gathering holds onto the U.S. Home of Representatives subsequent 12 months.
It may additionally give Trump a lift in close by northeastern Pennsylvania, a battleground state that has more and more develop into house for New York commuters.
Trump’s marketing campaign stated the occasion on the 19,500-seat enviornment, which might value upwards of $1 million to hire, was offered out. Tickets are free and on a first-come-first-served foundation, as was the case with Harris’ Houston rally.
A crowd of some 30,000 folks attended Harris’ rally with celebrity singer Beyonce on Friday night time in Houston, and about 20,000 attended the Atlanta rally.
After Sunday’s neighborhood Philadelphia stops, Harris plans to go to each battleground state in coming days, together with a Madison, Wisconsin, rally and live performance with people rock band Mumford & Sons and a Las Vegas occasion with Mexican pop band Mana.
Trump’s 2016 presidential opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, has accused him of “re-enacting” a pro-Nazi rally that was held on the Backyard in 1939 on the eve of World Battle Two. Trump’s critics have lengthy accused him of empowering white supremacists by his dehumanizing and racist rhetoric.
Her feedback drew a rebuke from Trump and Republican leaders.
“She said it’s just like the 1930s. No, it’s not,” Trump stated at a rally in Michigan on Friday. “This is called Make America Great Again, that’s all this is.”
Different audio system on the Sunday occasion embrace Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the previous impartial presidential candidate who dropped out of the race and backed Trump; conservative commentator Tucker Carlson; and Howard Lutnick, who’s chair and CEO of the monetary providers agency Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of the Trump White Home transition staff.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ:) and SpaceX and proprietor of X, has traveled throughout Pennsylvania on Trump’s behalf and has given $119 million to his pro-Trump spending group that’s serving to prove voters in essentially the most intently contested states.
