Kamala Harris will promise Tuesday to “put country above party and above herself” in her presidential campaign’s closing argument, to be delivered from the same site where Donald Trump fomented the Capitol insurrection, hoping to offer a brutal visualization of the situation. choice faced by voters.

With a week until Election Day, the 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 her Republican opponent does not is that there. 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 sharpen that contrast by delivering her closing speech from the spot where Trump, on Jan. 6, 2021, spewed lies about the 2020 presidential election that incited a mob to march to the Capitol and unsuccessfully attempt to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden. victory.

What time is Kamala Harris speaking today?

Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver her campaign speech from the Ellipse near the White House on Tuesday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Where is Kamala Harris speaking tonight?

Kamala Harris will speak Tuesday evening from the Ellipse, a grassy area across from the South Lawn of the White House on Constitution Ave.

Melania Trump made a rare appearance at her husband Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday, October 27, and she even delivered brief remarks.

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 setting, 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 draw a contrast with Trump — and would not spend too much time focusing directly on the shocking images of this 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 a list of enemies and people he intends to sue,” Harris said. “He says one of his highest priorities is freeing violent extremists who attacked law enforcement on January 6. Donald Trump intends to use the U.S. military against U.S. citizens who do not They just don’t agree with him. 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. 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 traveled to Texas, a reliably Republican state, to appear 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 aides hoped his message would have more impact after Trump’s rally Sunday at New York’s Madison Square Garden, 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 jail. I will give them a seat at my table. And I pledge to be a president for all Americans. To always put country above party and self.”

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 means 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 have had enough. »

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’s presenting a summary tonight and she has confidence in the wisdom of the jury,” campaign communications director Michael Tyler said.

Biden told reporters Tuesday that he would not attend Harris’ speech because the event was “for her,” but he planned to watch it on television.

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.

Ruth Chiari, 78, of Charlottesville, Virginia, attended the rally with her husband to “support democracy.”

“I think everyone understands what’s on the ballot,” she said as she waited in line near the Treasury building to enter the event. “Either we will have an autocrat or we will have freedom.”

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.

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