The US will on Tuesday vote to elect its 47th President in a fierce race between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic leader Kamala Harris that is set to go down in history as one of the tightest fights for the White House in decades.
As the countdown for election day began, Former President Trump raked up the bitter memories of the 2020 election as said he “shouldn’t have left” the White House, triggering apprehensions that he was preparing the ground to not accept the outcome of the November 5 voting if he loses the contest.
“I shouldn’t have left. I mean, honestly, because...we did so well,” the former President said at a rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania.
Following the election that brought Joe Biden to power, Trump alleged fraud in the voting process and challenged the outcome in courts which rejected his claims.
In her closing remarks in the key battleground state of Michigan, Harris said she would be a president for all Americans and spoke about the need to turn the page on “hate and division” while Trump continued his tirade against his Democratic rival.
“It is going to be one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime and we have momentum on our side, can you feel it,” Vice President Harris said in her rally in Michigan.
Harris also touched upon the war in Gaza in comments seen as an attempt to reach out to the Arab American voters in the state.
“This year has been difficult, given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon,” she said, adding “It is devastating.”
More than 75 million Americans have already cast their votes as of Sunday, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab which tracks early and mail-in voting across the US.
In the overall campaign, Harris has been projecting the election as the one to protect the country’s fundamental freedoms, safeguard constitutional values and ensure women’s rights, while Trump has been promising to rebuild the economy and rid the US of illegal immigrants.
In some disappointment for Trump, a new poll in Iowa said Harris is leading with 47 per cent as against Trump’s 44 per cent which signalled a positive momentum for the Vice President.
Trump has swiftly rejected the poll calling it skewed to favour the Democratic Party.
In his address in Lititz, Trump also questioned the immigration policy of the Biden-Harris administration and highlighted how the country’s borders were safe till he was at the White House.
At the rally, Trump, who faced two assassination attempts, suggested that he would be OK if a gunman, targeting him, takes shot at peddlers of ‘fake news’.
“I have this piece of glass here. But all we have really over here is the fake news, right? And to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news,” Trump said.
“And I don’t mind that so much. I don’t mind,” he said
Trump also targeted Harris and accused the Democratic Party of being a “corrupt machine”.
“It’s all corrupt. She is corrupt. She is a corrupt person. I am running against a totally corrupt person,” he alleged.
“I am really not running against her. I am running against a corrupt machine called the Democrat Party.”
Pennsylvania has emerged as the most crucial of the seven battleground states having 19 electoral college votes followed by 16 each in North Carolina and Georgia, 15 in Michigan and 11 in Arizona. In other battleground states, Wisconsin has 10 and Nevada has six.
In the rally in Pennsylvania, Trump promised to usher in “a new golden age” in the US if he becomes the president and that he will “fix” the misdeeds of the Biden-Harris administration.
Trump is also holding rallies in North Carolina and Georgia while Harris is touring Michigan.
In her address at an event in Detroit, Harris said it is incumbent on the American people to decide the future course the United States takes, suggesting that Trump would be detrimental to the country.
Election Day offers voters the chance to reject “chaos, fear and hate”, she said.
“In two days, we have the power to decide the fate of our nation for generations to come,” she said.
“I see a nation determined to turn the page on hate and division and chart a new way forward. As I travel, I see Americans from so-called red states and so-called blue states who are ready to bend the arc of history toward justice,” Harris added.
The Democratic Party leader also invoked God and said his plan was to “heal us and bring us together as one nation,” but that it was not enough, adding that “we must act” to realise the plan.
