Harris and Trump to rally in Arizona and Nevada as clock ticks to win over voters: NPR

This combination of file photos shows Vice President Harris speaking at a campaign rally in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Oct. 26, and former President Donald Trump at a rally on Oct. 22 in Greensboro, N.C.

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The presidential campaign heads west on Thursday as Vice President Harris and former President Donald Trump make their closing arguments to voters in the critical swing states of Arizona and Nevada.

With five days until polls close on Election Day, the candidates are expected to make a pitch to Latino voters in the two states — and talk about border security, one of the biggest issues of the campaign.

In Arizona, Trump will be in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale speaking at an event with Tucker Carlsonthe conservative commentator known for stirring up controversy. Harris will speak at a convention in Phoenix where Los Tigres del Norte, a famous Mexican norteño band based in California, will perform.

Arizona — which Trump lost by less than 11,000 votes in 2020 — remains one of the most contested states in this year’s election. Republicans hope a ballot measure that would make illegal border crossings a state crime will help motivate support for Trump, while Democrats have tried to mobilize voters around a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

With their stop in Nevada, home to a large population of service industry workers, both candidates will return to a state where they have touted plans to eliminate tip taxes for hourly workers.

Trump will be in the town of Henderson, just outside of Las Vegas. Harris will be in Reno and Las Vegas, where she will perform with pop icon Jennifer Lopez and Maná, a Mexican pop rock band.

In Arizona, Latinos make up 25% of the voting population, while in Nevada they represent just over one in five eligible voters, according to Pew Research Center. Democrats have traditionally won significant shares of the demographic, but vote have shown that the Republican nominee cut that advantage.

The Sun Belt comes as both candidates continue to navigate the fallout from a comedian’s crude joke referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York last weekend.

The remark initially brought a wave of backlash against Trump, but on Wednesday, Harris was clearing up comments made by President Biden during a video call in which he sounded like he was calling Trump supporters “garbage.” Trump responded in Wisconsin Wednesday by speaking to the press from inside a garbage truck.

Trump is also making an unusual campaign stop in New Mexico on Thursday, a state that has not elected a Republican to the White House since 2004. The meeting in Albuquerque will mark his first time in the reliably democratic state since his candidacy for the White House in 2020.