• Former Republican president strikes ‘dark note’, says he shouldn’t have left White House after losing to Biden in 2020
• Vice president courts voters angered by her administration’s stance on Gaza

PITTSBURGH: A presidential election unlike any other in US history has entered its last full day, with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump launching a final frenzied campaign blitz on Monday.

Even after the astonishing blur of events of the last few months, the electorate is divided down the middle. The winner may not be known for days after Tuesday’s vote, but both campaigns are projecting optimism.

Both sides say they are encouraged by early turnout, with over 78 million people having voted already, around half of the total number of ballots cast in 2020.

In the final days of this campaign, both sides are flooding social media sites and TV and radio stations with a last round of ad campaigns, and racing to knock on doors and make calls.

The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president frantically rushed through several swing states as they tried to win over the last holdouts, with less than 36 hours left until polls open on Election Day today (Tuesday).

In must-win Michigan, Harris courted voters angered by the Gaza war, while Trump doubled down on violent rhetoric in Pennsylvania with a comment about journalists being shot, as the tense election campaign entered its final hours.

Trump predicted a “landslide”, while Harris told a raucous rally that “we have momentum — it’s on our side.”

The 2024 race is going down to the wire, with more key states effectively tied at this point than in any comparable election. Over 77.6 million people have cast early votes, around half of the total ballots cast in 2020.

Harris, 60, spent the day in Michigan where she risks losing the critical support of a 200,000-strong Arab-Ame­rican community that has denounced US handling of the war on Gaza. She is expected to spend election night at Howard University in Washington, a historically Black college that is her alma mater.

Meanwhile, Trump on Sunday zigzagged through Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia — the three biggest swing-state prizes in the Electoral College system that awards US states influence according to their population.

He then plans to return to Palm Beach, Florida, to vote and await election results.

‘Dark comments’

Former president Trump has doubled down on his dark and violent rhetoric in his pursuit of a second term, which would make him the first convicted felon and the oldest major party candidate ever elected.

His latest remarks saw him musing to supporters in Lititz, Pennsylvania that he wouldn’t mind if journalists were shot.

Discussing his near-miss assassination attempt against him in July, he said to laughter that to be hit again “somebody would have to shoot through the fake news — and I don’t mind that so much.”

Trump called Democrats “demonic” and, despite no evidence of any meaningful election cheating so far, claimed that Democrats in Pennsylvania “are fighting so hard to steal this damn thing.”

Adding to fears that he would not accept a defeat in 2024, Trump added that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House after he lost his 2020 reelection effort to Joe Biden.

Trump and his allies, who falsely claim his 2020 defeat was the result of fraud, have spent months laying the groundwork to again challenge the result if he loses.

He has promised “retribution” if elected, spoken of prosecuting his political rivals and described Democrats as the “enemy within.” Trump believes concerns about the economy and high prices, especially for food and rent, will carry him to the White House.

In the closing days of the campaign, he repeated his regular insults of his rival, saying “she’s a low IQ individual”.

“Kamala, you’re fired. Get the hell out,” he told cheering supporters on Monday.

All eyes on Pennsylvania

After many dramatic twists, including two bids to kill Trump and Harris’s shock late entrance, the race is coming down to Pennsylvania, the most fought-over battleground state.

Trump and Harris will hold duelling rallies in the industrial city of Pittsburgh, highlighting how Pennsylvania is the single biggest swing state prize under the US Electoral College system, which awards influence in line with population.

Harris will campaign in five Pennsylvania cities, ending the day with a rally in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which will include performances by Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin and Oprah Winfrey.

The closeness of the 2024 White House race reflects a divided United States, as it chooses between two candidates whose visions could scarcely be more different.

The Harris campaign team believes the sheer size of its voter mobilization efforts is making a difference, and says its volunteers knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors in each of the battleground states this weekend.

But outgoing President Biden, 81, has been notably absent from the trail since a gaffe in which he referred to Trump’s supporters as “garbage” last week.

Biden will spend most of the last day of the campaign at the White House, while Harris will start her day with an event in his hometown of Scranton, Penn­sylvania.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2024