A look at campaign schedule
(This story was updated to add new information.)
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump head to North Carolina on Saturday to try to clinch support in the southeastern battleground state just three days before Tuesday’s general election on Nov. 5.
It will be the fourth day in a row that the two presidential candidates visit the same state on the same day, underlining the critical importance of the seven states likely to decide the race, which opinion polls show to be on a knife’s edge.
More than 70 million people have already voted through in-person early voting and mail-in ballots, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab on Saturday.
More:Election 2024 live updates: Trump, Harris make each make a southern swing in final weekend
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Saturday also marks the last day of early voting in North Carolina, where over 3.8 million votes have been cast, while the state’s western reaches are still recovering from Hurricane Helene’s deadly flooding.
Harris plans appearances with rock star Jon Bon Jovi in Charlotte, the biggest city in North Carolina, which is tied with Georgia for the second-biggest prize of the swing states. Each has 16 votes in the Electoral College, where 270 are needed to secure the presidency.
North Carolina backed Trump in 2020 but elected a Democratic governor on the same day, giving hope to both parties.
Trump will hold a rally in Gastonia, west of Charlotte, before returning to the state in the evening, where he is due to speak at the 22,000-seat First Horizon Coliseum arena in Greensboro.
Harris will also be in the swing state of Georgia on Saturday, where film director Spike Lee and singer Victoria Monet are due to speak at a rally with performances by 2 Chainz, Big Tigger, Monica, and Pastor Troy.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, will head to the Southwest on Saturday, starting in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will be joined by Eva Longoria. He will later travel to Flagstaff and Tucson, Arizona.
In the final 48 hours of the campaign, the vice president will visit Michigan State in East Lansing on Sunday and close out the election in Pennsylvania on Monday with rallies in Allentown, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh before returning to Washington, D.C.
Walz and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will team up in Georgia on Sunday on behalf of the Democratic ticket. The governor will later travel to North Carolina for a rally.
Heading into the final stretch on Monday, the Harris campaign plans to hold simultaneous interconnected organizing events across all seven battleground states to mobilize voters, according to a senior campaign official.
Walz and his wife, Gwen, will campaign in Wisconsin and Michigan. On Tuesday, they will campaign in Pennsylvania before heading to Washington, D.C.
On Tuesday, the Harris-Walz campaign will host its election night event at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Harris’ alma mater. Trump’s campaign will host an election night watch party at a convention center in West Palm Beach, Florida, but has not announced the former president’s election night plans, according to the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida network.
Contributors: Francesca Chambers, Joey Garrison, David Jackson, Kinsey Crowley, Antonio Fins; USA TODAY Networks and Reuters
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