By ZEKE MILLER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kamala Harris will promise Tuesday to “place the country above the party and above itself” final argument of his presidential campaign, which will be delivered from the same site where Donald Trump fomented THE Capitol Insurrectionin the hope that it provides a clear visualization of the choice voters face.

One week from Election DayThe vice president was expected to use her 7:30 p.m. ET speech from the grassy Ellipse near the White House to promise Americans she would work to improve their lives while arguing that his Republican opponent is there only for himself.

Trump “spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other: that’s what he is,” Harris will say, according to remarks prepared and released by his campaign. “But America, I’m here tonight to say: That’s not who we are.”

She hoped to accentuate this contrast by delivering her closing speech the place where Trump on January 6, 2021spewed lies about the 2020 presidential election that incited a mob to march to the Capitol and attempt, unsuccessfully, to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

With time running out and the race tight, both Harris and Trump have looked for important moments to try to shift momentum.

“It’s a place that we think helps crystallize choice in this election,” Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said of the context, calling it a “brutal visualization of probably the most infamous example of Donald Trump and how he used his power.” power for evil.

Campaign aides stressed that Harris would not deliver a treatise on democracy — a key part of President Joe Biden’s own attempts to craft a treatise on democracy. contrast with Trump – or spend too much time focusing directly on the shocking images of that day. Harris aides said the vice president aimed to make a broader case for why voters should reject Trump and consider what she proposes.

“He has an enemies list of people he intends to sue,” Harris is expected to say. “He says one of his highest priorities is freeing the violent extremists who attacked law enforcement on January 6. Donald Trump intends to use the US military against US citizens who simply disagree with him. People he calls “the enemy from within”. He’s not a presidential candidate thinking about how to improve his life.

His campaign hoped to draw a massive crowd to Washington for the event, with a line waiting to enter the venue surrounding Lafayette Park, on the other side of the White House. But, more importantly, his campaign hopes this framework will help capture the attention of voters in battleground states who still aren’t sure who to vote for — or whether they should vote at all.

The speech comes days after Harris visited Texas, a reliably Republican state, to appearing with megastar Beyoncé and highlight the consequences for women after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. It was also a speech intended to register with voters far away, in battleground states.

The vice president’s final speech has been weeks in the making. But his collaborators hoped his message would have more impact after Trump’s rally on Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York, where speakers hurled cruel and racist insults. Harris said the event “highlighted the point I’ve been making throughout this campaign.”

“He is focused and obsessed with his grievances, with himself and with the division of our country,” she said.

Harris was expected to use her speech to lay out a pragmatic, forward-looking plan for the country, including reminding voters of her economic proposals and pledging to work for access to reproductive care, including abortion.

“Unlike Donald Trump, I do not believe that those who disagree with me are enemies,” Harris must say. “He wants to put them in prison. I’ll give them a place at my table. And I am committed to being a president for all Americans. Always put the country above the party and above yourself.

Also at the center of his message: positioning himself as a “new generation” of leader after Trump and even his current boss, Biden. She’s going to “talk about what her next generation of leaders really mean and center that on the American people and what they care about,” O’Malley Dillon said.

As for Trump, Harris said Monday: “People are literally ready to move on. They are fed up. »

Ahead of Harris’ speech, Trump used his remarks to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Tuesday morning to accuse Harris of concluding with a message that does not address Americans’ daily and kitchen table struggles ordinary. concerns.

He said Harris continues to “talk about Hitler and the Nazis because her record is horrible,” a reference to Harris amplifying her former chief of staff’s warnings that Trump spoke admiringly of the Nazi leader during his time in office.

Harris aides, many of whom also advised Biden’s campaign before he dropped out, still believe that centering the race on who Trump is and how he is different will be their strongest message to voters.

“She’s already made her case, she’s presented the evidence. She offers a summary tonight and she has confidence in the wisdom of the jury,” said campaign communications director Michael Tyler.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said it was important for battleground voters to remember the consequences of their choice this fall and for Harris to “really drive home what’s at stake in this election and the obvious contrast of the race.”

He said Harris had the strongest argument on economic policies, reproductive freedom and the issue of chaos versus order, adding that she “has a vision that is going to bring more order, more hope and more joy.

Harris spent the day before her speech taping television interviews that aired in Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, as well as on Spanish-language radio in Pennsylvania, her campaign said.

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Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in Palm Beach, Fla., and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.

Originally published: October 29, 2024 at 3:03 a.m. MDT