Harris picks Washington, Trump New York to deliver campaign closing remarks

By Anjali Sharma

WASHINGTON – Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday has chosen the Ellipse in Washington DC as the venue for her campaign’s closing argument as former President Donald Trump returned to New York, his former hometown, for his final pitch.

Harris’s choice of the Ellipse on the ground of the US Capitol, which is home to the US Congress, is intended to serve as a reminder to American voters of a rally Trump addressed there on January 6, 2021.

The campaign said in a coverage guidance for media “On Tuesday, October 29, with just one week until election day, Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver a major closing argument address in Washington on the Ellipse”.

Harris will use the venue to reinforce one of her campaign’s key issues, that the former president presents a threat to democracy and the constitution.

She called him a “fascist” in a recent town hall hosted by CNN.

Trump has bristled at being called a threat to democracy and has blamed these allegations as the reason for the two assassination attempts on him.

“They’re saying I’m a threat to democracy,” he has said.

“They would say that as it is the standard line, just keep saying it, and you know that can get assassins or potential assassins going. That’s a terrible thing … Maybe that bullet is because of their rhetoric.”

Trump’s own closing argument later Sunday is likely to reinforce key issues of his campaign economy and immigration. But the choice of venue is interesting Madison Square Garden, the stadium that is known to host major sporting events, concerts and in 2014 a rally addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“This epic event, in the heart of President Trump’s home city, will be a showcase of the historic political movement that President Trump has built in the final days of the campaign,” the Trump campaign said in an announcement.

Trump was born and raised in New York City and lived and thrived there until he moved to Washington DC after his election in 2016.

He has lived in his Mar-a-Lago club resort in Palm Beach, Florida after leaving the White House in January 2021.