In an attempt to create a memorable political split screen seven days before the polls closed, Harris spoke to a large crowd of people at the Ellipse against a backdrop of White House. Harris, describing Trump as “unstable,” “obsessed with revenge,” “consumed by grievances” and “seeking unchecked power,” asked voters for their support despite the sound of sirens and protesters in and at outside the park.

LIVE UPDATES FROM ELECTIONS 2024: LATEST NEWS ON THE TRUMP-HARRIS PRESIDENTIAL RACE

“Nearly 250 years ago, America was born when we wrested our freedom from a petty tyrant,” Harris told the crowd Tuesday. “Over the generations, Americans have preserved this freedom, expanded it, and in doing so, proven to the world that a government of the people, by and for the people is strong and can endure. »

“They did not fight and sacrifice and give their lives, only to see us surrender our basic freedoms, only to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant,” she said.

Harris argued that Trump’s priorities for a second administration included prosecuting people on his “enemies list” and “freeing the violent extremists who attacked law enforcement officers on January 6,” using “the military against American citizens who simply don’t agree with him” or, in his words, “the enemy within.”

“Donald Trump spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. It’s who he is,” she said. “America, I am here tonight to say: This is not who we are.”

The Harris campaign chose the Ellipse to highlight the choice presented to voters regarding the building’s next occupant. Oval Office where Trump spoke to his supporters before some of them marched to the Capitol to stop the certification of Electoral College results on January 62021.

It also provided an opportunity for the vice president to have a viral moment and troll Trump because of the size of his crowd. The campaign said 75,000 people were at the Ellipse and nearby National Mall on Tuesday, compared to 53,000 people who were there for Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally four years ago.

Neither the National Park Service nor the Metropolitan Police Department keeps official counts of crowd sizes.

Confessing that she still runs for many voters, Harris told the crowd that she would “look for common ground and common-sense solutions to improve your life,” in hopes of making “progress.” and not to score “political points”.

“I am committed to listening to the experts,” the vice president said. “To those who will be affected by the decisions I make. And to people who disagree with me. Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that those who disagree with me are enemies. He wants to put them in prison. I’ll give them a place at my table.

“I am committed to being a president for all Americans,” she continued. “Always put country above party and above yourself.”

THE PATHS TO VICTORY FOR HARRIS AND TRUMP IN 2024

The Harris campaign framed the vice president’s Ellipse speech as an appeal to undecided voters, many of whom have been described as low-information voters who need to be persuaded to mobilize, including suburban voters. women, independentand centrist Republicans.

The vice president did so on Tuesday while discussing her proposals for the middle classlike his plan for the economy, health care, immigration and foreign policy, criticizing Trump for his abortion and tax, and encourage voters to turn the page for a new generation of leaders.

People in the crowd, from the Washington, D.C. area to Florida, waved flags and “freedom” signs, some wearing Harris-Walz camouflage baseball caps and others donning cat hats. ** demonstrations against Trump’s victory in 2016. One volunteer had a comma and a “La” painted on his cheek, to remind how to pronounce the vice-president’s name.

Carol T., 57, a registered nurse from Maryland, wasn’t “nervous” about next week’s election but admitted it would be a “step backwards” if Harris, potentially the first woman in a minority, did not win.

“They did it in 2016 with Hillary Clinton,” she told the news show. Washington Examiner. ” Come on. What is happening? Women are more qualified than men who have won since they started running. So what is it? It’s no longer a man’s world. It’s 2024.”

Melissa Schutte, 56, a government consultant in Washington, D.C., was “full of energy” and “very, very hopeful,” despite conversations she had with people considering “staying away because they are disenchanted” on issues including the Gaza war.

“I’m frustrated that people say they don’t understand his politics. She has a policy. Go to his website. Listen to his campaign speeches,” Schutte told the Washington Examiner. “At the end of the day, what kind of country do you want to live in? If you don’t vote and he wins, you yourself are responsible for the backwardness our country could sink into.”

Trump counterscheduled Harris’ Ellipse speech with press conference at his Mar-a-Lago private resort in Palm Beach, FloridaTuesday morning and his own rally in Allentown, PennsylvaniaTuesday evening.

During his press conference, Trump announced that his administration would seize the assets of criminal gangs and drug cartels for a compensation fund for victims of illegal immigrant crime. His rally in Allentown, a majority-minority city, comes after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe joked at his event at Madison Square Garden in New York City Sunday that Puerto Rico is a “floating island of trash”.

Puerto Rico’s shadow senator, Zoraida Buxo, endorsed him at Tuesday’s rally. Demographics matter in Pennsylvania as there are approximately 472,000 Puerto Ricans in the Commonwealth that President Joe Biden won in 2020 by 81,000 votes.

“I stand for a plan to save America,” Trump said Tuesday in Florida. “This will save him from the incredible destruction caused by Crooked Joe Biden and Kamala. It is waging a campaign of demoralization, destruction and hatred.

Three months into Harris’ historically short campaign, the vice president has been asked repeatedly how she would be different from Biden if elected president next week. Biden was behind her during her speech, not on stage but at the White House, after spending the day promoting his Investing in America agenda in Baltimore.

Biden will be in Philadelphia on Friday for a battleground event highlighting his support for unions that was not coordinated with Harris’ campaign as reports circulate of a deteriorating relationship between the White House and what was once the presidential campaign.

On Tuesday, Harris said she was honored to serve as Biden’s vice president, but would bring her own experiences and ideas to his administration.

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“My presidency will be different because the challenges we face are different,” she said. “Four years ago, our top priority as a nation was ending the pandemic and saving the economy. Today, our biggest challenge is to reduce costs, which were already increasing before the pandemic and which are still too high. I understand.”

After her Ellipse speech, Harris is expected to campaign in North CarolinaPennsylvania and Wisconsin Wednesday, and Arizona And Nevada Thursday, as more than 50 million people have already voted ahead of the Nov. 5 election, including a growing number of Republicans, who tended not to vote early in the past.