Final push: How Harris and Trump are ending their US campaigns

In a final push before Americans head to the polls, US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris made a vigorous last appeal for victory on Monday, campaigning across key battleground states.  

With Pennsylvania emerging as a critical swing state, both candidates held lively events in Pittsburgh, offering starkly contrasting visions as they rallied support.  

With polls showing a tight race, Americans face a historic choice: electing the first female president or delivering Trump an unprecedented comeback. 

In Philadelphia, Harris held her closing rally at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where she urged supporters to turn out for what she described as one of the “closest races in history”. 

Harris projected optimism, declaring: “The momentum is on our side,” as stars like Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga, and Fat Joe took the stage to motivate the crowd.

In Pittsburgh, her rally featured popular performers, including Cedric the Entertainer, Katy Perry, and Andra Day. 

Trump, unimpressed with Harris’s celebrity endorsements, criticised her previous rally in Houston, where Beyoncé appeared with her former Destiny’s Child bandmate, Kelly Rowland.

“Beyoncé shows up, and everyone expects a show. But there was no happiness,” Trump said to a chorus of boos from his supporters.  

Trump also held events in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, concluding with a late-night rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as he had in both 2016 and 2020.  

“With your vote tomorrow, we can solve every problem our country faces and lead America—and the world—to new heights,” he proclaimed, firing up his supporters as the election day countdown began.

The campaign trail’s final days highlighted the candidates’ sharply divergent messages. 

In Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump painted a bleak picture of the United States in crisis, portraying the nation as besieged by issues, including a wave of undocumented immigration, which he described in harsh terms such as “savages” and “animals”.

His rhetoric underscored his narrative of decline, rallying his base with promises of a return to order and stability.

In contrast, Harris focused on her opposition to restrictive abortion laws championed by Trump and his allies—a central issue in her appeal to voters.

She presented herself as a defender of reproductive rights, framing the issue as essential to personal freedom and equality. 

Alongside this, Harris struck a hopeful, centrist tone, calling for a “fresh start” for the country after nearly a decade dominated by Trump’s polarising influence on American politics.

Her message was said to aim to bridge divides and offer a vision of unity and progress.

In Michigan, where Arab American and Muslim American voters hold significant influence, Trump and Harris have actively courted their support.  

At a rally, he praised his Muslim supporters, saying, “They want peace… They’re very smart.”

Trump, claiming his campaign has garnered “record-breaking” backing from these communities, argued they favour his message of peace and stability.  

He suggested that Harris’s policies could provoke more Middle Eastern conflict, a statement he reiterated on social media: “They know Kamala and her warmonger Cabinet will invade the Middle East, get millions of Muslims killed, and start World War III. VOTE TRUMP, AND BRING BACK PEACE!”

Harris also pledged to work toward peace in Gaza in her final rally in Michigan, addressing the concerns of Arab American and Muslim American voters. 

“It is devastating, and as president, I will do everything in my power to end the war in Gaza, to bring home the hostages, end the suffering in Gaza, ensure Israel is secure and ensure the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, security and self-determination,” she said at a rally in Detroit on Sunday. 

The Democrats have countered Trump’s outreach to third-party candidates like Jill Stein and Cornel West, both critical of US policy on Israel, through targeted ads encouraging undecided voters to avoid “throwing away their vote.”

According to FiveThirtyEight’s national presidential poll tracker, the latest polls show Harris slightly ahead, with 48.1 percent to Trump’s 46.8%, making the final hours critical as both candidates make their last pitch to the nation.