Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrives for a campaign rally at the Carrie Furnace on November 04, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With one day to go until election day, Vice President Kamala Harris is campaigning across Pennsylvania. | Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
Vice President Kamala Harris spent the last full day of the 2024 campaign in Pennsylvania, the state that will likely determine the outcome of the election with its 19 electoral votes.
Harris started the day at a canvass kickoff event and a rally at Montage Mountain Resort in Scranton, per pool reports. “This whole era of this other guy … it makes people feel alone. It makes people feel like there is nobody standing with them,” Harris told the audience, per pool reports.. “As we are getting out the vote let’s be intentional about building community, about reminding people we have so much more in common than what separates us.”
Her next stop was an afternoon rally at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, where she spoke following a performance by singer Frankie Negron and remarks by rapper Fat Joe, both of whom are of Puerto Rican heritage. The Harris campaign and GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump’s campaign, have tried to court Latino voters, and Allentown is Pennsylvania’s largest city with a majority Latino population. Trump held rallies in Pennsylvania on Monday, in Reading and Pittsburgh.
The Trump campaign is still feeling the backlash after a comedian told racist jokes about Puerto Rico at his Oct. 28 rally at Madison Square Garden. Fat Joe spoke about the contrast between Trump and Harris in their support for Puerto Ricans, recalling Trump’s gaffe delivering aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
“The man went over there and threw tissue at the people of Puerto Rico,” Fat Joe said, adding that the performance by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe “was no joke, and it was filled with so much hate.”
“If I’m speaking to some undecided Puerto Ricans, especially in Pennsylvania, what more do they gotta do to show you who they are?” he asked.
While campaign surrogates, including second gentleman Doug Emhoff, have campaigned in Allentown, Monday was Harris’ first campaign stop there this cycle.
In her remarks before a crowd of nearly 4,000, Harris implored her supporters to keep working to get out the vote.
”To all the leaders here, I ask you to please continue to talk to your friends and your family and your neighbors and let them know, like you decided to take time out of your busy lives to be here right now … their voices must be heard,” Harris said. “We need everyone in Pennsylvania to vote because you are going to make the difference in this election.”
By noon on Monday a line of Harris-Walz supporters stretched from Muhlenberg’s Memorial Hall around the college’s football stadium and several blocks across campus. As people filtered into the basketball arena where Harris was scheduled to speak, students led the crowd in chants of “when we fight, we win.”
Community leaders and elected officials including Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds, Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk and state lawmakers filled the VIP section immediately in front of the rostrum.
Student Kailee Joseph from Montclair, N.J. described the final days of the campaign as “surreal” as a young woman of color.
“This is my first time voting ever, so just to see a Black woman president running … this is something that, like, I’ve never thought I would see in a million years,” Joseph said.
Joseph said Harris’ candidacy builds on former President Barack Obama’s legacy and makes even more clear that Black people, especially women, have the opportunity to “do something big, like this.”
“I come from a line of hard working Black women,” said Joseph, whose mother and father immigrated from Jamaica and Guyana, respectively, as children.
“Just to see another Black woman on stage is something that’s like, wow … you can do it. And I think it’s showing that we are progressing as a country. It may be very, very slow, but we are progressing in some way,” Joseph said.
Gov. Josh Shapiro told the crowd the choice centered on two questions: “Who’s going to deliver for us, get stuff done for us, and who’s going to look out for our fundamental freedoms? And the choice could not be more clear.”
“I want a president who wants to lift all of us up,” Shapiro said. “I want a president who’s got a big heart like Harris, folks. This is a moment where we have an opportunity to elect a good and honorable and decent soul, someone I’ve known for two decades, I know what’s in her heart, and I know what she’s capable of, and she will deliver for us here in Pennsylvania.”
The Lehigh Valley, which Shapiro described as the “swingiest region in the swingiest state” has been a bellwether for presidential politics in recent years, with three deep blue cities and rural and suburban red areas.
“You’ve got immense responsibility here, not just to elect Kamala Harris, not just to elect [U.S. Sen.] Bob Casey, not just to elect [U.S. Rep.] Susan Wild, but I think you’ve got a real responsibility here to help us write this next chapter in our American story, one that we can be proud to pass on to our children and our grandchildren,” Shapiro said.
Without mentioning Trump by name, Harris said she would put the dark era of his influence in American politics in the past.
“We have the opportunity in this election to finally turn the page on a decade of policies that have been driven by fear and division, we’re done with that,” she said. “America is ready for a fresh start, and America is ready for a new way forward, where we see our fellow American not as an enemy, but as a neighbor.”
Repeating her campaign’s promises to improve the lot of working and middle class Americans, Harris spoke about her goals of reducing the cost of living, making housing and child care affordable and cutting taxes.
“My pledge to you is that when I walk in the White House, instead of stewing over an enemies list, I will spend every day working on my to do list,” Harris said.
Amid the boisterous crowd, an angry voice carried over the rest about 10 minutes into Harris’ remarks. A woman wearing a hijab was led from the student section of the stands and could be heard protesting the Israeli war against Hamas that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.
“Democracy can be a bit complicated sometimes, but that’s okay,” Harris said as the disruption passed. “We are fighting for a democracy, which is why I say that I am not going to be a leader who thinks that people who disagree with me should be put in jail.”
“I’ll give them a seat at the table, that’s what real leaders do. That’s what strong leaders do,” Harris said.
In Harrisburg on Monday, Shapiro and actors Robert DeNiro and Sam Waterston held a get out the vote rally.
Thousands gather in Pittsburgh
After Allentown, Harris headed to Pittsburgh for a rally at the Carrie Furnaces, a national historic site. She took the stage just after 9 p.m. and spoke for just under 10 minutes to the crowd of about 15,000 people.
Harris criticized Trump without saying his name. “Instead of stewing over an enemies list, I will spend every day working on my to-do list,” she said. “I pledge to always put country above party and self, and to be a president for all Americans.”
Her remarks were bookended by performances by singers Andra Day and Katy Perry.
The audience began gathering at the site in the early afternoon. Ashley Zur of Ohio, a former swing state that has gone red the past several elections, said Harris’ plans for small businesses were appealing to her as a small business owner, as well as protection fo LGBTQ+ rights.
“It’s rough for a lot of trans friends,” Zur said, while expressing optimism that the state was showing sings of leaning blue again, with a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights and voters approving recreational marijuana. “So there’s hope,” she said.
Hailey Minkler, 11, who said she spends summers in Pennsylvania said she was excited to hear the vice president speak, and had a hand-drawn sign with Harris’ name on it. The most important issue to her, she said, was to make sure LGBTQ people are more accepted.
“It’s important to be here even if I can’t vote, because I care about the future of America,” she said.
‘You will decide the outcome of this election, Pennsylvania’
Just a few miles away from where the Declaration of Independence was written, Harris closed out her final event before Election Day to a crowd of thousands of people in Philadelphia, out
“It’s good to be back in the city of Brotherly Love,” Harris said in front of the “Rocky steps” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
“Where the foundation of our democracy was forged and here at these famous steps, a tribute to those who start as the underdog and climb to victory.”
Harris took the stage at 11:34 p.m. to deliver an address for just under 20 minutes focused on unity and encouraging voters to head to the polls. She also emphasized the role Pennsylvania will play in in determining the outcome of the race.
“I also ask you please talk with your friends and your family and your neighbors,” Harris said. “Share your perspective of why you took the time to be here this evening and why this election is important to you. Encourage folks to make their voices heard because we need everyone to vote in Pennsylvania. And you will decide the outcome of this election, Pennsylvania.”
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, the city’s 100th mayor and the first Black woman elected to lead the city, and Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton, the first Black woman to hold that role in the state’s General Assembly, both stressed the importance of southeast Pennsylvania turning out for Harris at the polls on Tuesday.
“And Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, southeastern Pennsylvania, if we do what we are supposed to do, we will make sure that she becomes the 47th president of the United States of America,” Parker said to applause.
For Harris to capture Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes, she’ll need to run up big margins in Philadelphia and its collar counties, which have become the backbone of the Democratic Party in statewide elections.
Harris called Parker “one of us” and referenced a Langston Hughes, a Lincoln University alum, quote about life for her “ain’t been no crystal stair.”
“She had to earn her place and space at every table,” Parker said. “She has been fortunate to have a seat at and every time she’s done it, she hasn’t done it simply for herself, she’s done it to deliver on behalf of the people.”
Parker also criticized Trump for questioning the integrity of the election in Pennsylvania and specifically the southeast.
“I want you to know that we have all watched in live and living color this guy try to stoke dissension and cause chaos by questioning the very integrity of the election process here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, my city of Philadelphia and southeastern Pennsylvania, to be specific,” Parker said. “We know in the birthplace of democracy we will have nothing less than a free, fair, and transparent election process.”
McClinton echoed a campaign line made famous during former President Barack Obama’s previous campaign saying she was “fired up and ready to go” to elect Harris. She said Harris and Walz have a plan to move the nation forward and asked the crowd if they were tired of the past.
“How many of us know that our former president doesn’t care about any one of us,” McClinton asked. “That he has never fought for a hard-working middle class family one day in his life. That he has never stood in the gap on behalf of people that have needed solutions to everyday problems.”
“All he has done is brought hatred, division, and a long list of so-called enemies,” McClinton added. “Is he talking about us fellow Americans? Are we enemies? I don’t think so.”
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) also encouraged those in attendance to elect Harris and Democrats up and down the ballot.
“Women’s rights are on the line, worker’s rights, and voting rights all on the line in this race,” Casey said. “And Kamala Harris is ready for this moment.”
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.