As we head into the final few days before the 2024 Presidential Election, tensions continue to rise. The stakes are high, and candidates on both sides of the political spectrum are using their final days to convince voters why they are the best people to hold the most powerful position in the world. So, what are some of these final closing arguments, and where do these candidates stand?
On Tuesday, October 29, both candidates gave vital speeches to their campaigns in hopes of swaying undecided voters. Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, gained a crowd of over 75,000 at the National Mall, giving her closing address to the nation prior to election day.
Harris spent some of her speech framing herself as a “unifier” arguing that her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, has done nothing but divide the country. Harris says, “I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,” referring to Trump’s comments about the “enemy from within,” which he has mentioned in multiple of his campaign speeches during October.
Harris also attempted to distance herself from her former running mate and current President, Joe Biden. She made a final push out to voters, saying, “I will bring my own experiences and ideas to the Oval Office. My presidency will be different because the challenges we face are different.” This follows after Biden dropped out of the race just 100 days before election day. Harris’ campaign has been far from normal.
Donald Trump held a rally in swing-state Pennsylvania on Tuesday, October 29. The 80-minute rally in Allentown, where more than 55% of the population is Hispanic, was a strategic move after controversial and racist comments were made about Puerto Rico at his Madison Square Garden rally when Tony Hinchcliffe, a comedian and speaker at the rally, called the island a “floating piece of garbage.”
Trump, in an interview with Fox News, said that he did not know who Tony Hinchcliffe was and had not known about the comments. However, when asked what he thought about the comments, given the opportunity to denounce them, Trump didn’t. Instead, he claimed again that he did not hear the comments.
The rally on Tuesday, however, was focused on his plan for immigration, a hot topic in this election cycle. “On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history,” He said at his Tuesday rally, “I am hereby calling for the death penalty for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.”
As both candidates reach to pull in more voters before next week, the time begins to tick down quickly. The race is extremely close. Swing-state Michigan, for example, has the candidates currently tied according to a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll.
It is still unclear when the results of next week’s election will be announced. As each state runs its elections differently, the more difficult it becomes to get a timely response. As of right now, many states such as Nevada and Pennsylvania are already planning to see major delays. The results of the election could be announced as late as mid-day Wednesday, November 7.
