Both tell supporters to get voters to the polls in tossup race to be won by the party that leaves no favorable ballot un-cast.
LAS VEGASâPresidential candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump took to the desert on Oct. 31 to make their last pitch to voters in the battleground state of Nevada.
In an afternoon rally in Henderson, Trump called on the battleground stateâs voters to reject Harris, calling her a âradical left Marxist,â and hinted that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could be appointed to âwork on womenâs healthâ in a second Trump administration.
In an evening address in North Las Vegas, Harris asked Nevadans to âturn the page on a decade of Donald Trump,â claiming he âwould get rid ofâ the Affordable Care Act, approve a federal law banning abortion, and target immigrants including Latinosâ20 percent of the stateâs electorate. She urged them to vote the Democratic ticket in what she called âthe most consequential elections in our lifetime.â
With five days before the Nov. 5 election and the Oct. 19âNov. 1 early in-person concluding on Friday, the smallest of the seven swing states pundits say will decide the 2024 election is up for grabs.
Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas, is the key: 71 percent of the stateâs 3.2 million residents live in the Las Vegas Valley, where three of Nevadaâs four Congressional districtsâall occupied by Democrat incumbentsâhave been ripe but elusive GOP targets for the past three election cycles.
Trump thanked supporters for their robust early voting turnout in his last pitch before about 6,000 at Leeâs Family Forum in an ice rink that seats 5,670 for Henderson Silver Hawk minor league hockey games.
It was his eighth time campaigning in Nevada since 2023, including a stump last week at the University of NevadaâLas Vegasâs Thomas & Mack Center.
Harris implored supporters to find eligible voters and get them to the polls during her address in the packed 8,000-seat Craig Ranch Regional Park Amphitheater, where crowds swelled onto the grassy slopes above the venue.
It was her 10th visit to Nevada as vice president and third since she succeeded Biden in July as the Democratsâ presidential candidate. She hosted a town hall in Las Vegas earlier in October.
Trump and Harris are not likely to return to Nevada before Nov. 5, but the triple-tier battleground state remains very much within their campaignsâ focus.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) both announced on Oct. 31 that they will be stumping in Nevada on Saturday.
Trump Takeaways
Trumpâs Henderson rally followed a stump in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and proceeded a campaign event in Phoenix, another of the seven battleground states.
He was proceeded by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Nevada Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony, Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown, Gov. Joe Lombardoâthe first time heâs joined Trump in a campaign rallyâSen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), and Nevada Republican Party Chair Michael McDonald.
The former president opened his 90-minute address by asking, âAre you better now than you were four years ago?â and received a rousing ânoâ from supporters, before reciting platform pledges to âban taxes on tips, Social Security, and overtime payâ and vowing to ârebuild our cities, including our capital in Washington, D.C., and make them safe, clean and beautiful again.â
He said he is considering an appointment for Kennedy, who dropped out of the race in August and endorsed Trump, to âwork on health and womenâs health and all of the different reasons, because weâre not really a wealthy or a healthy country.â
He invited the family of Nicholas Quets, a Marine veteran murdered on Oct. 18 in Mexico allegedly by a Mexican drug cartel. The victimâs father, Warren Quets, said that âtwo weeks ago,â he âwas completely apolitical,â but that all that has changed and that the response from Trump and Vance, rather than his elected state and federal officials, convinced him to get political.
Trump is âa decent man; that is not reported in the news,â he said, noting an immigration/border solution âcan be bipartisan … but we need a leader who will act.â
He supports legal immigration and backs efforts to make the process less onerous for those who want to enter the country legally. But those who donât will be deported and, if found in the country again, will serve 10 years in prison before being booted out again, he said.
âOn Tuesday,â Trump told the crowd, âyou have to stand up and tell Kamala sheâs horribleâthere has never been anybody worse on the border; the most egregious betrayal any leader has ever afflicted on our peopleâand say, âKamala, youâre fired.’â
He repeatedly paused for âUSA, USA, USAâ and âfight, fight, fightâ chants.
Harris Takeaways
Harrisâs North Las Vegas rally followed same-day stumps in Phoenix and Reno, Nevada, her first visit to Washoe County, the stateâs second-most populated area.
She was preceded by a slate of speakers that included Reps. Dina Titus, Steven Horsford, and Susie Leeâthe Las Vegas areaâs three Democrat House incumbents; notably their GOP challengers did not get onto Trumpâs stageâand Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada), who is defending her seat against Brown.
Mexican pop rock band ManĂĄ, considered the most successful Latin American band of all time, played a five-song set before singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, a New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, delivered a passionate speech criticizing Trumpâs immigration policy platform.
Lopez said she has performed on stages around the world including many in Las Vegas but that âthis is the most important stageâ sheâs ever been on.
She said Trumpâs policies, such as separating illegal immigrant children from their families, speaks louder than his statement distancing himself from comedian Tony Hinchcliffeâs Oct. 27 Madison Square Garden remarks calling Puerto Rico an island of floating garbage.
âIt wasnât just Puerto Ricans who were offended that day,â Lopez said, her voice quivering in emotion. âIt was every Latino in this country, it was humanity, and anyone of decent character.â
During her 23-minute speech, Harris claimed that Trump would again target the Affordable Care Act (ACA), citing recent remarks by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) promising âmassive reformâ of the ACA during a second Trump administration.
âHealth care for all Americans is on the line in this election,â she said, claiming that Trump would also cut entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
If elected, Harris said, she would sign a bill to restore the Roe ruling on federal abortion access, make tips tax-free, and create tax credits for caregivers.
She vowed to work with Republicansânoting she had done so as a senatorâand be a âpresident for all Americans.â
âI am here to ask for your vote. It is time for a new generation of leadership in America and I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States of America,â she said.
She repeatedly paused for âWe wonât go backâ and âWhen we fight, we winâ chants.
Costumes and Characters
Trumpâs event was peopled with colorful consumed characters. Elvis, Lady Liberty, and Buddhist monks not dressed as Buddhist monks were there. Tien Tran, who said he is a Buddhist monk, was there dressed as a sanitation worker.
Heâd been at Trumpâs Madison Square Garden rally and was headed for his election watch in South Florida on Nov. 5.
âSince President Trump survived his assassination attempt, he has become more … religious,â Tran said. âGod has given him a blessing so he can turn the country around.â
Hendersonâs Stan Kurz was there dressed as The Doorsâ Jim Morrison. He suggested that the long-dead rocker would be a conservative Trump supporter âif he had lived long enough.â
Vietnam veteran Bob Owens flew in from Santa Monica for the rally. Immigration, economy, and security are his three big issues, which he said Trump would tend to better than Harris.
The nation doesnât need new laws, he said, adding that âenforcing the lawsâ is whatâs missing.
Margo Tucker, a Wyoming native who lives in Henderson, said sheâs supporting Trump based on the metric that past performance indicates future results.
âI keep thinking about what he has done before,â she said. âMy life was better when he was president than it has beenâ under the Biden administration, she added.
Mattie Johnson, a computer programmer for a casino she declined to name, was rocking to Mana at Craig Ranch Regional Park Amphitheater but paused long enough to say she supported Harris because âsheâs the smartest cookie in the roomâat least if sheâs in the room with Trump.â
Johnson said she liked Harrisâs pledge to stymie grocery chain mergers and âfight back against corporate landlords.â
Johnny Tapia of Las Vegas said Harris would give immigrants and Latinos are fair break that he doubts Trump would.
âI know a lot of friends who were thinking about voting for Trump, but not now, not after Madison Square,â he said.
Many streamed from the amphitheater after Manaâs set and Lopezâs introduction, Harrisâs speech filtering through the pine groves as they ambled in the dark toward their cars.
Jean Louis, an immigrant from France who lives in Pahrump, Nevada, said he didnât think there were any more undecided voters but feared Harris could lose votes because of Biden.
âShe needs to ask Biden to do nothing and say nothingâ until Election Day, he said.
Valeria Angon, a student from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and three friends were visiting Las Vegas when they decided to attend the Harris rally, but they never made it inside because they got caught in paralyzed traffic as the vice presidentâs motorcade arrived at Craig Ranch Regional Park.
âWe couldnât get inâthey said it was too crowded,â she said, but they stuck around anyway to listen to the music and hear the speeches.
Angon will be casting her first vote on Nov. 5 and sheâs proud it will be for a woman to be president, she said.
âI believe [Harris] has a lot of belief in me,â she said, and so she believes in her.
Kevin didnât make it to the amphitheater because he was at the Trump rally, a lone Harris supporter waving a flag and denouncing the former president at the entrance as people were beginning to leave Leeâs Family Forum.
âIâm going trick-or-treatingâ instead of the Harris rally, he said. âUnless she has candy for me.â
Kevin, who did not offer a last name, said heâs âa proud Democrat.â and was demonstrating because âTrump supporters have a cult mentalityâ and Democrats donât. If Biden acted like Trump âtheyâd dump him in 10 seconds,â he said.
Ryan Molldenhauer was among many milling about Kevin who vehemently disagreed. He lives nearby and walked over, but âthey stopped letting people in,â he said.
He was enjoying the carnival-like atmosphere with vendors selling Trump regalia, something you donât see at Harris rallies, Kevin interjected.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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