Harris had big moment in Washington with closing argument to ‘turn the page’ on Trump

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris delivers her presidential campaign’s “closing argument” on Tuesday from the same site where Donald Trump incited the 2021 Capitol riot, offering a stark visual of the alternative futures voters will face if she or Trump make that decision He hopes to present it. He reached the Oval Office in just three months.

With a week left until Election Day, Harris would use her 7:30 p.m. ET address on the grassy Ellipse near the White House to promise Americans she would work to improve their lives while defending her Republican opponent’s involvement. itself.

He hoped to further sharpen that contrast by delivering his final speech from the same location where Trump told lies about the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021, and marched the crowd to the Capitol, where he unsuccessfully tried to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden. victory and the sealing of his own defeat.

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With time running out and the race so tight, Harris and Trump are looking for big moments to try to shift the momentum one way or another. But after her speech in the nation’s capital, Harris will return to furiously canvassing for votes at rallies and events in battleground states.

“It’s a place that we firmly believe helps clarify the choice in this election,” said Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, calling it “a striking visualization of probably the most infamous example of Donald Trump and how Trump wields his power.” power against evil.”

Campaign aides have emphasized that President Joe Biden will not offer a treatise on democracy that has been central to his efforts to contrast Trump or spend too much time focusing directly on the shocking images of that day. Harris aides have said the vice president aims to make a broader case for why voters should reject Trump and consider his overtures.

“There’s a big difference between him and me,” Harris told reporters Monday as she previewed her speech. “If he is elected, on day one he will sit in the Oval Office and work through his list of enemies. “On day one, if I’m elected, which I fully hope to be, my to-do list will be working on behalf of the American people.”

His campaign hoped to draw a large crowd to Washington for the event. But more importantly, his campaign hopes the environment will help him capture the attention of battleground state voters who remain undecided about who to vote for or whether to vote at all.

This comes after Harris appears alongside megastar Beyoncé and hears the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. It comes just days after Wade traveled to Texas, a reliably Republican state, to highlight the consequences for women after overturning his case. It was also a speech aimed at attracting the attention of voters in battleground states.

The vice president’s final speech has been in the works for weeks. But aides hoped his message would be more effective following Trump’s rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday, where speakers shouted cruel and racist slurs. Harris said the event “underscores the point I’ve been making throughout this campaign.”

“He is focused and essentially fixated on his grievances, on himself, and on dividing our country,” he said.

Harris was expected to use her speech to lay out a pragmatic and forward-looking plan for the country, including reminding voters of her economic proposals and pledging to work decisively for access to reproductive care, including abortion.

“This stark contrast has real power when Trump sows division and hatred while offering solutions,” O’Malley Dillon said.

It’s also central to his message: positioning himself as a “next-generation” leader after Trump and even his current boss, Biden. “He’s going to talk about what next-generation leadership really means and center it around the American people and the things they care about,” O’Malley Dillon said.

As for Trump, Harris said Monday: “People are literally ready to turn the page. They’re tired of it.”

Harris aides, many of whom advised Biden’s campaign before his departure, still believe focusing the race on who Trump is and how different he is will be their strongest message to voters.

“He has already made his claim and presented his evidence. “He’ll be presenting a brief tonight and he’s relying on the wisdom of the jury,” campaign communications director Michael Tyler said.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said it was important for battleground voters to be reminded of the results of their election this fall and for Harris to “really lay out the stakes of this election and the clear contrast in the race.”

He said Harris has a stronger argument on economic policies, reproductive freedom and the issue of chaos and order, adding that she “has a vision that will bring more order, more hope and more joy.”

Trump was preparing to make planned remarks to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Tuesday morning to preemptively rebut Harris’ speech, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Her campaign said Harris spent the day before recording the speech broadcasting television interviews in Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and Spanish-language radio in Pennsylvania.

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Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price in Atlanta contributed to this report.