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Eight rallies and three key states. US Vice President and Democratic White House candidate Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump (2017-2021) wrapped up a very busy campaign this Monday with a marathon day of campaign events.

Trump held rallies in North Carolina (Raleigh), Pennsylvania (Reading and Pittsburgh) and Michigan. In this last He chose the city of Grand Rapids as the location. the same one in which he ended his two previous presidential races: in 2016, when he defeated Hillary Clinton, and in 2020, when he lost to Joe Biden.

Harris, on the other hand, focused her efforts on one state, Pennsylvania, with events in Scranton, Allentown, Pittsburgh and finally Philadelphia.where in the background was the Art Museum, whose staircase was popularized by Sylvester Stallone in the film Rocky (1976).

Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin or host Oprah Winfreyamong other things, accompanied the candidate to her last rally, while the profile of Trump’s opening remarks was unknown and remained largely in the hands of local politicians. The pageantry of the Democrats’ stage also contrasted with the modesty of Van Andel Arena, where the Republicans located their stadium.

Two candidates They need the votes of 270 of the 538 delegates. The Electoral College will declare the winner on November 5 this year, but the actual dispute is being played out in seven states: Pennsylvania (19 delegates), North Carolina (16), Georgia (16), Michigan (15), Arizona (11). , Wisconsin (10) and Nevada (6).

Harris appears to have secured the support of 226 people. so you only need 44, and Trump starts at 219 according to CNN forecasts.

It is no coincidence that the efforts of the last segmentand are concentrated in the so-called hinge states, with Harris speaking at 11:30 p.m. local time and Trump starting after midnight.

“Our campaign was not against something, but for something. It was a fight for a future of freedom, opportunity and dignity. (…) We the people have the right to shape our future,” Harris said, emphasizing her intention to turn the page on “decades of politics based on fear and division.”

Trump, in turn, promised to fix the country after four years of democracy: “We don’t have to live like this. We don’t live very well. With your vote we will fix any problem. (…) It’s in our hands,” he said.

In Pennsylvania, the only state where they met, they visited two cities with a Hispanic majority, Allentown for Harris and Reading for Trump, in the latest effort to find Latino votes that could tip the scales.

“The United States is ready for a new path in which we see our fellow citizens not as an enemy, but as a neighbor,” the vice president said there. A week ago at a Trump rally in New York, a comedian called out Puerto Rico. “floating island of garbage” and caused controversy that continues to this day.

Harris’ message contrasted with that of the New York tycoon, who repeated his proposal to carry out the largest deportation of illegal immigrants in history. threatened Mexico with 100% tariffs if it doesn’t stop immigration at their shared border.

The Democratic Party’s campaign predicts “incredibly close” election and asked to remain calm before the counting of votes.

The average of surveys conducted by the website FiveThirtyEight gives Harris has a 1.2-point lead with 48% vote intention. but in key points this difference casts doubt on this hypothetical victory. They’re tied in Pennsylvania, but Trump leads by one point in North Carolina.

The possibility of violent episodes has forced the country to protect more than just its voting centers and symbolic buildings such as the White House. Some businesses and restaurants have boarded up their entrances.

Republican leadership still does not accept the results of 2020 and in this cycle it once again encourages the specter of fraud. This Monday, the Republican National Committee, for example, sued the Milwaukee Board of Elections over the city’s plan to reduce the presence of observers.

About 244 million Americans are called to the polls. Of those, 80 million exercised their right to vote early, according to the University of Florida.

It caps an unprecedented campaign in which Biden’s resignation after winning re-election in July was joined by two assassination attempts on Trump, who in turn made history with lawsuits against him, two of them in Washington and Georgia, for trying to reverse the 2020 results and another one in New York, where it was found guilty of falsifying business records.

(EFE)