ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) 鈥� Vice President and former President made their final pitches to voters Monday in the same part of Pennsylvania at roughly the same time, spending the last full day of the presidential campaign in a state that could make or break their chances.
Focusing on Pennsylvania's southeast corner, Trump took the stage in Reading, about 30 miles from Allentown, where Harris held her own event about half an hour later.
鈥淚f we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole ball of wax,鈥� Trump said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 over.鈥�
Indeed, a Trump victory in Pennsylvania, flipping its 19 Electoral College votes, would puncture the Democrats' 鈥渂lue wall鈥� and make it harder for Harris to win the necessary 270 votes.
Harris, the Democratic nominee, spent all of Monday in Pennsylvania, the largest prize among the states expected to determine the Electoral College outcome, and offered a similarly blunt assessment.
鈥淲e need everyone in Pennsylvania to vote,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou are going to make the difference in this election.鈥�
In addition to Allentown, Harris visited Scranton 鈥� the birthplace of President Joe Biden 鈥� and Reading and had a stop planned in Pittsburgh before ending with a late-night Philadelphia rally that was to include and .
鈥淎re you ready to do this?鈥� Harris yelled Monday in Scranton, with a large handmade 鈥淰OTE FOR FREEDOM鈥� sign behind her and a similar 鈥淰OTE鈥� banner to her side.
Trump went first to North Carolina before visiting Reading. He then headed to Pittsburgh, at the opposite end of the state, before concluding in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he will hold his last campaign rally in the same place he concluded his 2016 and 2020 runs.
Southeast Pennsylvania is home to thousands of Latinos, including a sizable Puerto Rican population. Harris and her allies have repeatedly hit Trump for a comedian's dig at Puerto Rico during the former president's marquee Madison Square Garden event. The comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe,
鈥淚t was absurd,鈥� said German Vega, a Dominican American who lives in Reading and became a U.S. citizen in 2015. 鈥淚t bothered so many people 鈥� even many Republicans. It wasn鈥檛 right, and I feel that Trump should have apologized to Latinos.鈥�
But Emilio Feliciano, 43, waited outside Reading鈥檚 Santander Arena for a chance to take a photo of Trump鈥檚 motorcade. He dismissed the comments about Puerto Rico despite his family being Puerto Rican, saying he cares about the economy and that鈥檚 why he will vote for Trump.
鈥淚s the border going to be safe? Are you going to keep crime down? That鈥檚 what I care about,鈥� he said.
Harris told the crowd, 鈥淚 stand here proud of my long-standing commitment to Puerto Rico and her people."
鈥淎nd I will be a president for all Americans," she said, adding that 鈥渕omentum is on our side. Can you feel it?鈥�
Trump, meanwhile, stuck to talking about his proposed crackdown on immigration. He called to the stage Patty Morin, the mother of 37-year-old Rachel Morin, who was found dead a day after she went missing during a trip to go hiking. Officials say the suspect in her death, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, entered the U.S. illegally after allegedly killing a woman in his home country of El Salvador.
About 77 million Americans have . A victory by either side would be unprecedented.
Trump winning would make him the first incoming president to have been indicted and convicted of a felony, after his . He will gain the power to end other federal investigations pending against him. Trump would also become only the second president in history to win nonconsecutive White House terms, after Grover Cleveland .
Harris is vying to become the first woman, first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office 鈥� four years after she broke the same barriers in national office by becoming President Joe Biden鈥檚 second in command.
The vice president ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket after Biden鈥檚 disastrous performance in a June debate set into motion his 鈥� one of a series of convulsions that hit this year鈥檚 campaign.
Trump survived by millimeters an assassination attempt at a . His Secret Service detail , when a gunman had set up a rifle as Trump golfed at one of his courses in Florida.
Harris, 60, has pitched herself as a generational change from 81-year-old Biden and Trump, who is 78. She鈥檚 emphasized her support for abortion rights after the 2022 Supreme Court decision that ended the constitutional right to abortion services, and she has regularly noted the former president鈥檚 role in the .
Assembling a coalition ranging from progressives such as Rep. of New York to Republican former Vice President , Harris has called Trump a threat to democracy and late in the campaign even embraced the critique that Trump is accurately described as a 鈥� .鈥�
Heading into Monday, Harris has mostly stopped mentioning Trump by name, calling him instead 鈥渢he other guy.鈥� She is promising to solve problems and seek consensus.
Harris campaign chair Jen O鈥橫alley Dillon said on a call with reporters that not saying Trump鈥檚 name was deliberate because voters 鈥渨ant to see in their leader an optimistic, hopeful, patriotic vision for the future.鈥�
Harris also offered some insights into her personal formation as a politician that she doesn't often divulge. In Scranton, she talked about once being a longshot while running for San Francisco district attorney in 2002 and how she 鈥渦sed to campaign with my ironing board.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檇 walk to the front of the grocery store, outside, and I would stand up my ironing board because, you see, an ironing board makes a really great standing desk,鈥� the vice president said, recalling how she would tape her posters to the outside of the board, fill the top with flyers and 鈥渞equire people to talk to me as they walked in and out.鈥�
In Allentown, Harris rallied with rapper Fat Joe. She then made her own visit to Reading after Trump's rally had concluded, visiting Old San Juan Cafe, a Puerto Rican restaurant, with Ocasio-Cortez. Both Fat Joe, whose real name is Joseph Cartagena, and Ocasio-Cortez are of Puerto Rican heritage.
Supporters chanted 鈥淪铆 se puede鈥� and 鈥淜amala鈥� as the vice president鈥檚 motorcade pulled up. Once inside, Harris chatted with some diners, even mixing in 鈥淕racias鈥� and a few Spanish words. The vice president later ordered cassava, yellow rice and pork, saying, 鈥淚'm very hungry" as she noted that she's been too busy campaigning to find time for many meals.
Afterward, Harris did some of her own canvassing, stopping at two homes in Reading while flanked by campaign volunteers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the day before the election and I just wanted to come by and say I hope to earn your vote," she said at one house.
The woman replied, 鈥淵ou already got my vote" and said her husband would be casting his ballot the next day.
Standing in line for Harris鈥� Allentown rally, 54-year-old Ron Kessler, an Air Force veteran and Republican-turned-Democrat, said he planned to vote for just the second time in his life. Kessler said that, for a long time, he didn鈥檛 vote, thinking the country 鈥渨ould vote for the correct candidate.鈥�
But 鈥渘ow that I鈥檓 older and much more wiser, I believe it鈥檚 important, it鈥檚 my civic duty. And it鈥檚 important that I vote for myself and I vote for the democracy and the country.鈥�
As recently as Sunday, Trump renewed , mused about violence against journalists and said he 鈥� 鈥� dark turns that have overshadowed another anchor of his closing argument: 鈥淜amala broke it. I will fix it.鈥�
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Superville reported from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Barrow reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Zeke Miller, Will Weissert and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.
Jill Colvin, Darlene Superville And Bill Barrow, The Associated Press
