Harris-Trump showdown: The Vice President to give closing argument with White House as backdrop
Vice President Kamala Harris brings her presidential campaign to the nation’s capital on Tuesday, as she delivers what’s being billed as her closing argument address to American voters.
With one week until Election Day, the vice president and Democratic presidential nominee will call on Americans to ‘turn the page’ on former President Trump, the Republican nominee.
And a senior Harris campaign adviser also said the vice president, in what’s being touted as an optimistic and hopeful speech, will pledge to always put country and common ground above party to achieve results for all Americans.
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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a rally in Houston, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
According to her campaign, Harris plans to argue that Trump – who four years later continues to charge that his 2020 election defeat to President Biden was due to an election rigged with massive voter fraud – is all-consumed by his grievances and desire for retribution that he’s not focused on the needs of Americans.
It’s an argument the vice president has been spotlighting in recent days.
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“He is focused and actually fixated on his grievances, on himself and on dividing our country, and it is not in any way something that will strengthen the American family, the American worker,” Harris told reporters on Monday.
And at a large rally in suburban Atlanta, Georgia last Thursday, the vice president asked supporters to “just imagine the Oval Office in three months. Picture it in your mind….It’s either Donald Trump in there, stewing — stewing over his enemies list, or me — working for you, checking off my to-do list.”
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at James R. Hallford Stadium, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Clarkston, Ga. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The vice president is expected to expand on that contrast in her speech.
Trump, who has been indicted multiple times and made history as the first current or former president convicted in a criminal case, has regularly threatened during the 2024 campaign that if he returned to the White House, he would prosecute his political foes.
And both Biden and Harris – who replaced her boss atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket in July after Biden ended his re-election bid – have repeatedly warned voters that Trump poses a threat to democracy if he’s re-elected.
“Our democracy is at stake,” the president said last week. “Think about it. Think about what would happen if Donald Trump wins this election.”
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Harris will deliver her address from the Ellipse, a large park located just south of the White House and north of the National Mall.
The Harris campaign points to two symbolic reasons for the Ellipse as the location of the vice president’s address.
First, the backdrop is the White House, where either Harris or Trump will soon succeed Biden in the Oval Office.
Then-President Donald Trump speaks to supporters from The Ellipse near the White House on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC, ahead of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images) ((Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images))
And second, Trump headlined a large rally of supporters at the Ellipse on Jan 6, 2021. Many of those who attended Trump’s rally then marched to the U.S. Capital and joined other protesters in storming the building in an attempt to upend congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump.
The Harris campaign says the vice president will also use her address to spotlight her plans and priorities for the country going forward. And they say at the top of that list is offering specifics on how she’ll bring down costs and put more money in the pockets of average Americans.
Trump gave his closing argument at a large rally Sunday at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, where the former president’s message was partially outshined by controversial comments from speakers during the pre-show that grabbed national headlines.
Harris’ address comes as the latest national polls indicate a margin-of-error race between her and Trump. It’s the same story with the most recent surveys in the seven crucial battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump and will likely determine if Harris or Trump wins the 2024 election.
