Kamala Harris appeals to voters on Election Day: “It’s time to turn the page” usa elections

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is racing until the last minute to grab any possible votes. Throughout the day of the election, and in a country where there is no day of reflection, the US Vice President took part in a series of radio interviews to encourage citizens to go to the polls. He also visited Democratic Party headquarters to greet his campaign volunteers awaiting investigation. Waiting to find out if, after the most unusual campaign her country has ever undertaken, she would become a figure in history: the first woman and black president of the United States.

His final message before voting closed was one of optimism he wanted to emphasize during his 100-day campaign after suddenly replacing 81-year-old President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee in July. “We see our fellow Americans as neighbors, not enemies. We believe in each other and our country… together we will write the next chapter of the most extraordinary story ever told. It is time to turn the page and leave behind drama, conflict, fear and division. And it is time for a new generation of leadership in America,” he wrote in his final email to supporters.

During her visit to Democratic headquarters, Harris took the opportunity to participate in the final phone calls of volunteers to mobilize voters. “Have you voted yet?” he asked the person sitting at the other end of the line. “Yes? Thank you very much!” In another call, a child replied: “Hello, I’m Kamala Harris. I look forward to you growing another ten years!”

The 60-year-old vice president has based his campaign on the support of liberal Democrats, women, African-American and Latino minorities and even Republicans who are repulsed by the personality or combative messages of that party’s nominee, Donald Trump. His message emphasized a call for unity across the country in favor of the middle class and to protect democracy and rights, especially the right to abortion, which was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022.

On the other hand, Harris has faced the wrath of pro-Palestinian voters, who criticize her for not distancing herself from the Biden administration’s support for economic and military aid to Israel in the war in Gaza. The Vice President promised to do everything in his power to end the conflict.

The candidate arrived on election day with good news from her side. Early voting days – in some states votes could be submitted as early as mid-September – gave him an advantage of about eight points in the polls. Something that, in itself, is not helpful in predicting what the final outcome will be, but it does give a measure of his voter enthusiasm, which polls such as those conducted by Gallup are indicating to be higher than supporters. Were. Of his rival Donald Trump.

The most reputable survey aggregators awarded him a modest gain, minimal, but a greater distance than a week earlier, and which confirmed that the final days of the campaign had changed the trend. The big surprise that changed the tone came last Saturday: The poll by expert Ann Selzer in Iowa, considered the most prestigious in the entire United States, gave Democrats a three percentage point advantage in that state, until then. Was considered a safe area for Republicans. Over the past 20 years, Selzer has consistently defeated winners in his state.

If in mid-October the one who had the wind in his wings was Trump, now it is Harris who has enjoyed the last lead, in a campaign that could not be more similar and in which both candidates, like the best parties in tennis, They have been taking turns winning the sets. This Tuesday, with the match ball at stake, distinguished polling analyst Nate Silver declared him the favorite, although by the absolute minimum: an advantage of only 17 simulations over Trump out of a total of 80,000 in that forecasting model.

The Republicans’ disastrously massive rally at Madison Square Garden ten days earlier contributed to this, with their opening act multiplying the insult. About: “There’s a floating island of shit in the Atlantic. Tony Hinchcliffe’s call it Puerto Rico” may have cost the former president crucial Latino votes. Or the comments of Trump, who declared himself “a defender of women, whether they like it or not.”

But also the Democrats’ own campaign decisions. At Trump’s response rally, two days later, 75,000 people came together on the Esplanade Ellipse in front of the White House, where the former president clashed with his supporters just before the mob stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. That speech, with the White House in the background, allowed him to convey the president’s image to those who had doubts about his suitability to occupy the Oval Office. And it also served to remind the citizens of the events of that day of the rebellion.

Seeking to take advantage of the Republicans’ defeat at Madison Square Garden, Harris concluded the week with a series of campaign events dedicated to cultivating the Latino vote. He spent the last day of the campaign in Pennsylvania, the key state for the Democrats with 19 electoral votes (the other key states are Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina). There, two of his three appearances took place in Allentown and Reading, cities with large Latino majorities, especially Puerto Ricans.

“He motion (The momentum) is on our side,” the vice president told thousands of supporters gathered around midnight Monday night in Philadelphia. “You are the people who are going to decide the outcome of these elections,” he told Pennsylvania residents. This is the state the Vice President has been visiting almost every week since he became its candidate.

Harris will hold her election party tonight at Howard University in the US capital. A symbolic place for many reasons. it’s yours Alma materWhere he studied before becoming a lawyer and starting his career as a prosecutor in California. There he became Attorney General. And Howard is one of the universities historically dedicated to the African-American community, to which he belongs and which is one of the pillars of the American Democratic vote. If the Vice President wins, she will give a major portion of her victory to this voter.

What would have been left behind was an unprecedented campaign, developed in a short time frame and marked by historic milestones. On the one hand, two abortive assassination attempts were made against the Republican candidate, in July in Butler (Pennsylvania) and in September at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

On the other hand, and above all, there was the disastrous debate between Biden and Trump in June, which resulted in the president resigning from re-election a month later, under very strong pressure from his party. Harris inherited a divided party and demoralized militants. Polls indicated that Republicans would win by a landslide in November.

His candidacy changed the situation. Enthusiasm among Democratic voters returned again. And polls consistently went from predicting defeat to indicating a tie or even a slight advantage for the Vice President. He was gone. And remained till the last moment.