Americas

Americas

Harris, Trump nearly cross paths in North Carolina in final days of U.S. election campaign

03 November 2024 05:26 (UTC +04:00)

Democrat Kamala Harris was greeted by an unusual sight as she arrived in North Carolina on Saturday: the red-white-and-blue airplane of Donald Trump, her Republican rival for the presidency, APA reports citing Reuters.

As Harris descended from the vice-presidential airplane Air Force Two at the Charlotte airport, Trump's private Boeing 757 was parked on the tarmac nearby.

The close encounter was a dramatic illustration of how the two candidates are focusing on a handful of states where Tuesday's U.S. presidential election will be won or lost.

It was the fourth day in a row that the candidates were campaigning in the same state. Only seven states, North Carolina among them, are seen as truly competitive.

Harris was arriving for a rally with rock star Bon Jovi. Trump had campaigned in suburban Gastonia a few hours earlier, and it was not clear whether he was on his plane when Harris arrived.

With the election just three days away, Trump and Harris stuck to familiar themes at their appearances.

Trump said he would deport millions of immigrants if elected and warned that if Harris were to win, "every town in America would be turned into a squalid, dangerous refugee camp."

Campaigning in Atlanta, Harris said Trump would abuse his power if he returns to the White House.

“This is someone who is increasingly unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and the man is out for unchecked power," she said.

More than 72 million Americans have already cast ballots, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida, short of 2020's record early-voting pace during COVID-19, but still indicating a high level of voter enthusiasm.

Some 4 million votes have already been cast in North Carolina, and the western counties that have been devastated by Hurricane Helene appeared to be voting at roughly the same rate as the rest of the state, according to Catawba College political science professor Michael Bitzer.

Trump criticized the federal government's response to the disaster and repeated his false claim that aid had been diverted from the state to help immigrants entering the country.