Kamala Harris makes final push for votes in battleground Pennsylvania

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris spent the last day of the United States election campaign in Pennsylvania, the state that could make or break her historic bid for the White House.

Her message to supporters was blunt: Every vote is crucial in the state that holds 19 Electoral College votes, the most of all the seven swing states that will likely determine the outcome.

“We need everyone in Pennsylvania to vote,” she said to an exuberant afternoon crowd in Allentown. “You are going to make the difference in this election.”

The polls have Harris essentially tied in Pennsylvania with her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, who held one of his final rallies in Reading, Pennsylvania, only a few kilometres away from Harris.

Over the last few days, Harris has sought to further differentiate her campaign from Trump’s by not mentioning his name, and emphasising optimism and community.

“Momentum is on our side, momentum is on our side, can you feel it? We have momentum, right?” she said to cheers.

“Because our campaign has tapped into the ambitions and aspirations and the dreams of the American people, we are optimistic and excited about what we will do together.”

Harris, 60, could make US history as the first woman, the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office. Four years ago, she broke the same barriers in national office by becoming President Joe Biden’s second-in-command.

Harris’s last day was all about encouraging supporters to vote and think about the future.

“It’s 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,” she said.

‘No joke’

Harris’s Allentown rally was introduced by Grammy award-winning musician Fat Joe, who was raised by parents of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent. He wasted no time in taking aim at the racist remarks that featured at the recent Republican rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

“That was no joke ladies and gentlemen. That was no joke, filled with so much hate,” he said.

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who was part of Trump’s warm-up act at the New York rally,  created a firestorm of protests when he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage”.

Southeast Pennsylvania is home to thousands of Latinos, including a sizeable Puerto Rican population. Harris and her allies have repeatedly hit at Trump for those comments.

Fat Joe reminded the Allentown rally that people can make their feelings clear when they vote.

“My Latinos, where is your pride?” He asked.

“If I am speaking to undecided Puerto Ricans, especially in Pennsylvania, what more do they gotta do to show you who they are? If I tell you that Kamala Harris is with us, she’s with us.”

On Monday, Harris told supporters: “I stand here proud of my longstanding commitment to Puerto Rico and her people and I will be a president for all Americans.”

Harris also swung by Scranton – the birthplace of Biden.

“Are you ready to do this?” she yelled to supporters there, with a large handmade “VOTE FOR FREEDOM” sign behind her and a similar “VOTE” banner to her side.

‘We are not going back’

Throughout the whirlwind last day, Harris repeated one of the slogans of her campaign – “We Are Not Going Back”. It is designed, in part, to contrast her with Republicans who supported the US Supreme Court decision that overturned a national right to an abortion.

She repeated her promise to protect women’s reproductive rights.

“We are not going back because ours is the fight for the future, for freedom, like the fundamental freedom for a woman to make decisions over her own body and not have the government tell her what to do,” Harris said.

Harris will wrap up her Pennsylvania tour with a stop in Pittsburgh, and conclude her final day of campaigning with a late-night Philadelphia rally, which will include Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies