In closing message, Harris presents herself as a unifier, offering a ‘new generation of leadership’

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers closing arguments for U.S. Presidency, contrasting her vision with Donald Trump's chaos and division.

With one week to go for the U.S. elections, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Presidency, Vice President Kamala Harris, presented her “closing arguments” on Tuesday (October 29, 2024) night, for why she - and not her Republican opponent Donald Trump - should run the country.

Speaking on the Ellipse, a park between the White House and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC,  Ms. Harris presented two contrasting visions of America – hers and Mr. Trump’s, as she addressed a crowd of tens of thousands. The location was part of the message. Mr. Trump delivered a speech from the Ellipse on January 6, 2021, which roused a mob of his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol.

In her speech, Ms. Harris adopted a new, tougher, tone on illegal migration, spoke about her economic plans and drew a line between herself and the Biden administration.

She also presented herself as the unifying candidate, as opposed to Mr. Trump, whom she linked to conflict and drama.

“He is the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election that he knew he lost,” Ms. Harris said, telling supporters this was probably the “most important vote” they would ever cast, a choice between “freedom” and  “chaos and division”.

“This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and out for unchecked power,” she said, referring to Mr. Trump’s suggestion that he would use the U.S. military against “the enemy within”.

“It is time to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms,” she said, offering a  “new generation of leadership”, a phrase she has used before to differentiate herself from U.S. President Joe Biden as well as Mr. Trump, both of whom are significantly older than her.