Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will showcase sharply contrasting celebrity endorsements this weekend in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania and Michigan, as both work to secure voters in the tight US presidential race.
In Detroit, pop star Lizzo will back Harris at a campaign event, while in Pennsylvania, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, will campaign for Trump. Harris will also be joined by R&B star Usher at a get-out-the-vote rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday.
With less than three weeks to Election Day, polls indicate a close contest between the candidates. Musk, who publicly endorsed Trump in July, has become a vocal critic of the Biden administration. Since taking over Twitter (now called X), Musk has taken on a more prominent role in US politics, including donating nearly $75 million to Trump’s political organization, America PAC.
Harris has deployed high-wattage surrogates, from ex-president Barack Obama to Megan Thee Stallion since replacing Biden as the Democratic nominee in July. – Early voting underway –
Seeking to shift the polls in a desperately tight White House race, Harris has ramped up attacks on the mental fitness of the 78-year-old, who is the oldest presidential candidate in US history.
She questioned his ability to be president after Trump faced speculation that he is “exhausted” after backing out of a spate of interviews.
Politico reported that a Trump aide had told producers at a website negotiating an interview that the ex-president was “exhausted” and refusing some appearances — a claim described by his campaign as “detached from reality.”
Beyond the accusations, both candidates are spending their final campaign days in pivotal battleground states where early voting is already underway.
With less than three weeks to go, Harris has seen encouraging signs in her push for supporters to vote as soon as possible, as a bulwark against the traditional Republican edge among Election Day voters.
Almost 12 million votes had been cast by Friday evening — around a third of them in the seven swing states expected to decide the election — according to data tracked by the University of Florida Election Lab.
Georgia has been smashing records, while North Carolina reported a first day of voting Thursday that beat 2020, when there was a pandemic-linked surge in early ballots.
Where party breakdowns were available, registered Democrats accounted for roughly half of the total, while Republicans — who have spent much of the Trump era casting aspersions over drop boxes and mailed ballots — were responsible for around a third.
