Election 2024 Latest: Trump and Harris lean into the campaign’s last leg with less than a week left

By The Associated Press

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will crisscross several swing states on Wednesday, passing each other in Wisconsin, where the former president is scheduled to appear in Green Bay with a one-time local icon, retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre.

Mumford & Sons, Gracie Abrams, Remi Wolf and members of the band The National are expected to appear at Harris' rally Wednesday night in Madison.

Harris on Tuesday sought to remind Americans what life was like under Trump and then offered voters a different path forward if they send her to the White House, in a speech billed as her campaign’s closing argument.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here’s the latest:

Democrats are leaning on celebrity star power. Will it matter?

WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris has Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. Donald Trump has Kid Rock, Waka Flocka Flame and Hulk Hogan.

As the 2024 campaign whirls into its final week, Democrats are noticeably leaning on their star power advantage, calling on a diverse range of celebrities to endorse Harris, invigorate audiences and, they hope, spur people to the ballot box.

Democrats have long enjoyed a celebrity advantage and used it to close out presidential campaigns when attention and energy are critical. That upper hand has grown during Trump’s rise, a period that saw scores of celebrities, even apolitical stars, break their silence and speak out against the Republican leader. The advantage often means raucous, fiery events in the closing days of a race, but history — namely Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign — highlights how the energy at those events can sometimes paper over broader issues with a candidate.

▶ Read more on the impact of celebrity involvement in campaigning

‘I will represent all Americans, including those who don’t vote for me’

Harris said she spoke with Biden Tuesday night after her speech, but his comments in the campaign call didn’t come up.

She said: “I will represent all Americans, including those who don’t vote for me.”

The flap over the president’s comments allowed Harris to make her sharpest break yet with Biden during her three-month campaign for the White House. She’s come under fire for not differentiating herself enough from the unpopular Democratic incumbent.

Harris says she disagrees ‘with any criticism of people based on who they vote for’

The vice president was responding on Wednesday to comments made by President Joe Biden on Tuesday night.

Biden was on a campaign call Tuesday evening reacting to a comic who called Puerto Rico garbage during a Trump rally last weekend. The president said, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”

Biden’s remarks were quickly seized on by Republicans who said he was denigrating Trump supporters, a distraction for Harris when she is trying to reach out to GOP voters.

He quickly sent a social media post seeking to clarify his remarks.

“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable,” Biden said of Trump. “That’s all I meant to say.”

Harris noted that Biden later clarified his comments.

Walz says Biden calling Trump supporters ‘garbage’ doesn’t undermine Harris’ unity message.

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz says Kamala Harris’s unity message wasn’t undermined by President Joe Biden calling Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage.”

Walz said Wednesday on “CBS Mornings” that Biden “was very clear that he’s speaking about the rhetoric we heard, so it doesn’t undermine it.”

Harris argued the case for her candidacy in a speech Tuesday night in Washington in which she promised to be an inclusive president.

During a call Tuesday organized by a Hispanic advocacy group, Biden said the “only garbage” he sees floating out there are Trump supporters. He was responding to a comic at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday who said Puerto Rico is a “floating island of garbage.”

Biden later clarified his remarks, saying in a post on the social platform X that he was referring to “hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter” at the rally.

Walz was also asked about Biden’s comments when he appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and said the president had issued a clarification.

“Let’s be very clear, the vice president and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone as a part of this. Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric is what needs to end,“ Walz said.

Trump to campaign with former NHL quarterback

Donald Trump will be campaigning with former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre in Wisconsin on Wednesday night at the same time that popular musicians will be rallying with Vice President Kamala Harris about two hours away in the swing state’s capital city.

Mumford & Sons, Gracie Abrams, Remi Wolf and members of the band The National were slated to appear at the Harris rally Wednesday night in Madison.

At the same time, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northeast of there, Trump was to hold a rally not far from Lambeau Field with Favre.

Both Harris and Trump will again be in Wisconsin for dueling events on Friday. Trump is holding a rally Friday night in Milwaukee at the Fiserv Center, which was the site of the Republican National Convention. Harris is planning multiple stops in the state but has not said where yet. Wisconsin is one of seven battleground states that’s seen multiple visits from Trump, Harris, their running mates and other surrogates.

Two closing arguments show the stark choice between Trump and Harris

NEW YORK — In the shadow of the White House, seven days before the final votes of the 2024 election are cast, Kamala Harris vowed to put country over party and warned that Donald Trump is obsessed with revenge and his own personal interests.

Less than 48 hours earlier inside Madison Square Garden, Trump called his Democratic opponent “a trainwreck who has destroyed everything in her path.” His allies on stage labeled Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and made a baseless claim that Harris, a former prosecutor and senator who is trying to become the first woman to be elected president, had begun her career as a prostitute.

Two nights and 200 miles apart, the dueling closing arguments outlined in stark terms the choice U.S. voters face on Nov. 5 when they will weigh two very different visions of leadership and America’s future.

Read more about what Trump and Harris are presenting to voters