On the final day of a brutal, wild and highly contested campaign, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris surprised voters Monday with their latest pleas for turnout.
With the race tied at 49% nationally in an NBC News poll Sunday and field surveys showing all tie-breaking states within margins of error, millions of Americans will cast their ballots on Tuesday. It is not yet clear how long it will take before the votes are counted.
The last two elections were decided by historically narrow margins: Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton by roughly 77,000 votes in three states in 2016 and Joe Biden defeated Trump by about 44,000 votes spread across the same number of states in 2020.
In other words, the final pitches could be decisive.
Harris sees himself as a candidate on the rise at the crucial moment. She held her last rally in Philadelphia late Tuesday night, standing on the steps of the city’s art museum made famous by the “Rocky” films.
“It’s good to be back in the City of Brotherly Love, where the foundation of our democracy was laid,” Harris said. “And here, at these famous steps, a tribute to those who start as the underdog and rise to victory.”
“Momentum is on our side,” she added at her event, which was attended by celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga and Will.i.am. “Our campaign tapped into the ambitions, aspirations and dreams of the American people.”
Trump told his supporters in Raleigh, North Carolina, that he is ahead and only needs their votes to seal his return to the White House.
“Hopefully everything will be fine; we’re ahead of the curve. All we have to do is get close, we have to close it,” he said. “I actually hate that expression, but it’s ours to lose. Does that make sense to you? It’s ours to lose. If we, if we get everyone out and voting, they can’t do anything.”
Trump’s latest rally took place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the same city where he concluded his past two campaigns. As usual, the former president arrived late and did not take the stage until after midnight.
Trump exuded confidence he would win — saying there was a 95% chance — boasted about the size of his crowd and went after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
“She’s a bad, sick, crazy, b… Oh no,” he said, quietly pronouncing the derogatory term. “It starts with a ‘b’, but I won’t say it.”
“I want to say it,” he added, as the crowd urged him to say it.
There were signs, however, that Make America Great Again voters were more exhausted than their candidate. Trump spoke to partially full houses in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and people began leaving en masse before he wrapped up his remarks in Pittsburgh after 9 p.m.
The meeting was likely Trump’s last ever, an ending he acknowledged with some sentimentality during his campaign.
‘This will be my last meeting. Can you believe it?’ he told the crowd in Grand Rapids.
Harris and Trump both emphasized Pennsylvania on Monday, suggesting they still believe the “Keystone State” is more than just a nickname. The 19 electoral votes went to Trump in 2016 and Biden, who dropped his 2020 re-election bid this summer. Most political analysts say neither party can afford to lose the state.
“This is all about a last-ditch effort at voter mobilization and persuasion, and the fact that so much time is spent in Pennsylvania by both Harris and Trump tells you how both campaigns see it: whoever wins the state probably wins the presidency,” he said. Democratic Strategist Chris. said Kofinis.
Harris focused mainly on Pennsylvania, storming the state with all four of her final day rallies. The vice president also surprised some voters in Reading by knocking on doors at the last minute to get the vote out.
Trump held two rallies in the state — in Reading and Pittsburgh, as did Harris — after the stop in Raleigh and before wrapping up his tour in Grand Rapids, Michigan, late in the evening. A person close to Trump said Democrats were choosing to make a last stand in the state — and predicted it would not end well for Harris.
“There is clearly a desperation in their campaign,” the person said. “This is their Alamo.”
But Harris’ top aide, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, told reporters Monday that camping in Pennsylvania was all about numbers.
“We feel really good about Pennsylvania and the work we’ve done,” she said. “Pennsylvania is obviously a state where 75% of the voters will vote on Election Day, so that’s been a big focus now that we’ve been shut down, to drive our organization into Pennsylvania, uniquely, because of the way people vote. there.”
At the same time, Trump signaled urgency with last-minute endorsements from conservative host Megyn Kelly, whom he famously trashed for her performance as moderator of a 2016 Republican Party primary debate, and podcaster Joe Rogan. Trump also posted a video to his Truth Social account on Monday of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who dropped his independent bid for the presidency this year and is still trying to get his supporters to support Trump.
“By 2028 it will be too late,” Kennedy said, speaking directly into the camera, in the video. “Once we are in the grip of totalitarianism, we cannot vote out of it. This is our last chance to stop them.”
His hectic last day on the trail included the unveiling of a new policy proposal. Trump said that if Mexico does not stop undocumented immigrants from crossing the U.S. border, he will impose a 25% tariff on Mexican goods.
In addition to Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Michigan, both campaigns have also identified Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin and Nevada as key swing states. Most of the rest of the country is considered safe territory for both Harris and Trump.
One way to look at the 270 electoral votes — the number needed to become president — is through the lens of which states each candidate must win to reach that minimum if no state outside the key battlegrounds moves from one party to the other. other passes.
Harris would achieve her goal by winning Pennsylvania’s 2nd Congressional District, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska, which provides its own electoral vote. For Trump, wins in Georgia, North Carolina – which he won in 2020 – and Pennsylvania would put him at 270.
Both campaigns were closely monitoring state decisions that affected voting integrity in recent hours. In Georgia, the state Supreme Court ruled that Cobb County, a Democratic-leaning network of Atlanta suburbs with three-quarters of a million residents, cannot count ballots received after 7 p.m. Tuesday.
In Pennsylvania, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner warned in highly charged terms on Monday that he would not tolerate any attempt to intimidate voters.
“We’re not playing,” he said before suggesting there would be consequences for bullying at the ballot box. “F around and find out.”
Fears that the election would be free and fair and that there would be no false allegations of fraud were high throughout the campaign after Trump attempted to overturn his 2020 loss in an effort that culminated in the storming of the US Capitol and federal charges on January 6, 2021. that he acted unlawfully.
But with the final rallies of the season signaling the end of a long and winding campaign — one that has included a change of Democratic candidates, a failed assassin shot in Trump’s ear and tight polls — the candidates must now wait. the judgment of the voters.
“Getting the vote out is the last critical step that could make a difference,” said Republican strategist Matthew Bartlett. “Exhausted candidates and campaigns will wonder what they could have done differently and wonder what will happen tomorrow.”
The only real question for each side, he said, is: “Will the road go up to meet them, or will the car go off a cliff?”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
