US Presidential Election: Beyoncé backs Kamala Harris at rally as Donald Trump fires back
US music superstar Beyoncé has introduced Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris to the stage at a rally in Houston, Texas, with a resounding speech.
Pop icon Beyoncé has made a long-awaited appearance on the campaign trail to call on Americans to “sing a new song” and elect Kamala Harris in next week’s US election.
The Vice President diverted from the battleground states for a rally in front of 30,000 people in Beyoncé’s home of Texas, highlighting the state’s abortion ban as she ramped up her bid to restore reproductive rights that she blamed Donald Trump for stripping away.
“We are fighting for freedom,” Ms Harris said.
“Though we are in Texas tonight, for anyone watching from another state … please know: No one is protected if there is a Trump national abortion ban.”
Beyoncé – who was joined by her mother Tina Knowles and fellow former Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland, as well as actor Jessica Alba and singer Willie Nelson – said the US was “at the precipice of an incredible shift, the brink of history”.
“I’m not here as a celebrity, I’m not here as a politician, I’m here as a mother – a mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in,” she said.
“It’s time for America to sing a new song.”
.@Beyonce’s full remarks in support of Vice President Harris pic.twitter.com/CPCaFKkO9o
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 26, 2024
The former president also diverted his campaign to Texas, where he blasted Ms Harris for deciding to “rub shoulders with woke celebrities” rather than meet “victims of migrant crime”.
Mr Trump was joined at a rally in Austin by Alexis Nungaray, whose 12-year-old daughter Jocelyn was killed by two illegal immigrants. She blamed the Biden-Harris administration for her death and criticised the Vice President for not offering a “sincere apology”.
A day earlier, Mr Trump called the US the “garbage can for the world” because of how the country had been inundated by illegal immigrants.
“Donald Trump is constantly demeaning and belittling who the American people are. America deserves better,” Ms Harris responded.
While she sought to shore up her advantage with female voters, Mr Trump doubled down on his lead among male voters by recording a three-hour podcast with Joe Rogan, who boasts tens of millions of listeners who are predominantly young men.
The stark gender divide put the candidates in a dead heat with a week and a half left in the race, with the latest New York Times poll finding they were tied on 48 per cent.
Democratic pollster Mark Penn cautioned Mr Trump had “real movement and momentum going into the close”, having wiped away the Vice President’s narrow advantage.
In other developments, Mr Trump issued an extraordinary new threat to special counsel Jack Smith, who is pressing criminal charges against the former president over his effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat and his mishandling of classified files.
After promising to fire Mr Smith “in two seconds”, Mr Trump ramped up his rhetoric by declaring he should be “thrown out of the country”.
He also unleashed a fiery social media post amplifying his claims of election fraud, saying: “WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, which will include long term prison sentences.”
In Pennsylvania, the most important battleground state up for grabs, election officials said they were probing an effort to register up to 2500 fraudulent voters, although they did not reveal who was to blame and said the effort did not appear tied to either party.
Amid rising foreign interference efforts, intelligence agencies confirmed Chinese government-linked hackers had targeted the phones of Mr Trump and his running mate JD Vance, as well as senior Biden administration officials.
A storm also erupted over The Washington Post’s refusal to endorse a candidate for the first time in decades, a decision the paper’s reporters blamed on its owner Jeff Bezo, the Amazon founder whose business interests have previously been threatened by Mr Trump.
A columnist resigned in protest and more than 1600 subscribers cancelled their accounts.
More Coverage
Unpredictable and dangerous times: Israel and Iran inch closer towards war
Israel has delivered its long-awaited retaliation against Iran by striking key military targets inside the country, but the attack appears calculated to embarrass Iran without immediately triggering an escalation into full scale war.
Israel expands war in Middle East as it strikes back at Iran
Israel limited its strikes to military facilities rather than energy or nuclear sites, giving Iran an excuse not to respond, now the two countries have attacked each other twice.