By Stephanie Kelly
(Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver her presidential campaign’s closing argument on Tuesday in Washington at the same spot where then-President Donald Trump gave a speech on Jan. 6, 2021, to supporters who then attacked the U.S. Capitol.
A Democrat, Harris will seek to draw a contrast with the Republican Trump a week before the Nov. 5 election in a race that opinion polls show remains tight.
The evening event is expected to draw thousands of people to the Ellipse, a park near the White House where, after losing in 2020, Trump told supporters to “fight like hell” and march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol where Congress was meeting to ratify the election result.
During the speech, Harris will call on Americans to “turn the page” on Trump while stressing her plans to lower costs and make the economy work for middle-class Americans, said a senior Harris campaign official.
The rally venue, with the White House in the background, is both symbolic of the good a president can do to bring the country together and get things done and a time when a president, focused only on himself, incited a violent mob to try to put himself above the country, the official said.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll published last week, Harris held a marginal 46% to 43% lead over Trump.
Throughout her campaign, Harris has tried to paint Trump as a threat to democracy who will infringe on the rights of Americans, including on the reproductive rights of women.
For his part, Trump has sought to tie Harris to President Joe Biden’s handling of immigration and the economy.
The economy has outperformed the rest of the developed world since the COVID-19 crisis, and stock markets hit record highs this year. But high prices of food, utilities and housing have roiled voters, who believe the economy is headed in the wrong direction.
At 10 a.m. (1400 GMT) on Tuesday, Trump will launch the final week of his campaign in remarks at his Mar-a-Lago home that an adviser characterized as a prebuttal to her speech.
He later visits a heavily Hispanic city in Pennsylvania, two days after his rally at Madison Square Garden in New York was criticized because of an ally’s vulgar and racist remarks about Latinos and Puerto Ricans.
In a speech at Sunday’s rally, Trump spoke repeatedly about his plans, if reelected, to halt illegal immigration and deport migrants he described as “vicious and bloodthirsty criminals.”
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who opened for Trump in addition to U.S. billionaire Elon Musk and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, called the Caribbean U.S. territory of Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and disparaged Black Americans, Jewish people and Latinos.
Harris has spent the last week appearing with high-profile celebrities to try to draw voters to the polls. She held a rally with Bruce Springsteen in Atlanta on Thursday and with Beyonce in Houston on Friday.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly and Steve Holland; Editing by Howard Goller)
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