2024 race ends with swing state barnstorming
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump held rallies in battlegrounds over the weekend


What happened
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump spent the final weekend of the 2024 campaign holding rallies in mostly battleground states, though Trump visited Democratic-leaning Virginia and New Mexico while Harris stopped in New York City to appear on "Saturday Night Live." More than 77 million people have already voted.
Who said what
Trump and Harris have both been "racing through rallies and impromptu appearances in the battleground states," The New York Times said, but "in message and demeanor" their closing events "could not have been more different." Trump, 78, "appeared particularly tired" Sunday morning, and "his voice was hoarse and his pace was slow as he delivered remarks marked by grievances and the occasional vulgarity," saying at one point that things were so great at the end of his term, "I shouldn't have left, I mean, honestly."
Harris, 60, "has mostly stopped mentioning Trump," The Associated Press said. "She is promising to solve problems and seek consensus, while sounding an almost exclusively optimistic tone reminiscent of her campaign's opening days" in July. "We have momentum. It is on our side," she said at a rally in East Lansing, Michigan, last night. "Can you feel it?"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Watching the two candidates yesterday, "it could feel at times" like "the bottom is falling out" for Trump, Adam Wren said at Politico. But the fact that he's "still in a margin-of-error election" after his "week of unadulterated indulgences on the trail" shows his remarkable political "durability."
What next?
Harris holds events today in Pittsburgh and Allentown before ending the campaign with a late-night Philadelphia rally featuring Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey. Trump will visit North Carolina and Pennsylvania before closing the campaign in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Most polls continue to show the race a dead heat, though some outliers — like a well-regarded Des Moines Register poll that found Harris leading by 3 percentage points in Iowa — suggested the possibility that most polls may be weighing their samples wrong in either direction or missing some other dynamic.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
5 costly cartoons about the national debt
Cartoons Political cartoonists take on the USA's financial hole, rare bipartisan agreement, and Donald Trump and Mike Johnson.
-
Green goddess salad recipe
The Week Recommends Avocado can be the creamy star of the show in this fresh, sharp salad
-
The Biden cover-up: a 'near-treasonous' conspiracy
Talking Point Using 'Trumpian' tactics, the former president's inner circle maintained a conspiracy of silence around his cognitive and physical decline
-
White House tackles fake citations in MAHA report
speed read A federal government public health report spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was rife with false citations
-
Judge blocks push to bar Harvard foreign students
speed read Judge Allison Burroughs sided with Harvard against the Trump administration's attempt to block the admittance of international students
-
Trump's trade war whipsawed by court rulings
Speed Read A series of court rulings over Trump's tariffs renders the future of US trade policy uncertain
-
What's next for Elon Musk?
Today's Big Question The world's richest man has become 'disillusioned' with politics – but returning to his tech empire presents its own challenges
-
Trump's super-charged pardon push raises eyebrows and concerns
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Never shy about using his pardon ability for political leverage, Trump's spate of amnesty announcements suggests the White House is taking things to a new level
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
speed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies
-
Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals court
speed read The president has nominated Emil Bove, his former criminal defense lawyer, to be a federal judge
-
US trade court nullifies Trump's biggest tariffs
speed read The US Court of International Trade says Trump exceeded his authority in imposing global tariffs