Harris, Beyoncé rally a crowd of 30,000 in Houston as Trump returns to Michigan
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have held duelling rallies in Texas while also making time to record podcast episodes.
After a glowing introduction from superstar Beyoncé, a performance by Willie Nelson, and speakers talking about abortion care, Vice President Kamala Harris settled a screaming stadium crowd of some 30,000 people and urged them to not get distracted in the mission to defeat former president Donald Trump.
“You are ground zero in the fight for reproductive freedom,” Ms Harris said in Houston on Friday night.
She spoke of the conservative state’s abortion law, which bans nearly all abortions from conception, with no exceptions for rape or incest, the potential prison sentences for doctors, the state’s bounty hunter law to encourage people to report abortions and the counties that have banned travelling through them to access abortions in other states.
A video interspersed a cut of Mr Trump saying “On Roe v. Wade, I did a great thing,” with footage of women telling wrenching stories of being denied care for pregnancy complications.
Ms Harris urged the crowd to vote in a state the usually picks a Republican for president.
“You are making a difference and momentum is on our side” she said. “The people of America have voted for freedom every time it has been on the ballot.”
The Texas rally comes as Ms Harris is trying to push a message of support for women, 11 days before Election Day, in the tight presidential race.
While she didn’t perform, Beyoncé, speaking before a hometown crowd, urged them to “reimagine what leadership is” and back Ms Harris. Her hit song Freedom provided the event’s theme and rallying cry.
“Are y’all ready to add your voice to the new American song?” she asked.
Ms Harris also recorded a podcast interview with social scientist and researcher Brené Brown, and Mr Trump with commentator-turned-podcaster Joe Rogan.
Trump displays love of pro wrestling
At his own rally in Texas on Friday, Mr Trump said he would launch “the largest deportation program in American history” if he won the presidential election in November.
Running extremely late to a rally in Traverse City, Michigan, afterwards, Mr Trump walked on stage to the theme song of the Undertaker, displaying his love of professional wrestling.
Wearing a black overcoat and black Make America Great Again hat, the former president riffed that he was surprised the crowd was still packed given he arrived hours late after flying from Texas, where he recorded a three-hour interview with Rogan.
Rally goers in Traverse City who hoped to see Mr Trump on Friday night began to trickle out of the venue after learning that the former president was running almost three hours late.
Mr Trump, who was en route to Michigan from Texas, released a video from his plane that aired on the jumbo screen in Traverse City, explaining that his interview with podcaster Joe Rogan ran long.
He said he hoped people would understand, otherwise “I’ll be very upset with myself”’.
Mr Trump promised something “extra special” for those who waited.
He began with his speech and at one point he noted how well he is doing with male voters before noting how advisers have cautioned him over how he speaks about women.
“They said, ‘Sir, please don’t say you’re going to protect women.’ Why? ‘Because it doesn’t sound really well.’ I said, ‘I think it sounds fine.’ We want to protect. I mean, that’s our job. We have to protect. So I think I should override my experts.”
He asked the crowd, “Do you agree? We’re going to override them? If you don’t mind …”
Ms Harris has previously derided Mr Trump for saying he’d protect women. At a rally in September he said: “You will no longer be abandoned, lonely or scared. You will no longer be in danger. You will no longer have anxiety from all of the problems our country has today. You will be protected, and I will be your protector.”
Mr Trump’s rally on Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York will feature Elon Musk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dana White, Rudy Giuliani, Tucker Carlson and scores of other prominent conservatives.
The former president’s campaign announced the speaker line-up on Friday night. The rally is scheduled to begin at 2pm EST., and Mr Trump is set to take the stage at 5pm.
The Wall Street Journal
More Coverage
The ‘invisible wall’ amplifying China’s population doom loop
A two-tier system that has long made workers leave children behind in villages is cutting into birthrates with the left behind, now grown, rejecting the idea of having offspring.
Big companies funding Trump’s inauguration
The second Trump inaugural fund is on track to be the most lucrative yet. Find out which companies are flocking to support the billionaire businessman.