The Japan Times - Harris and Trump push for Latino vote with just 14 days to go

Democratic candidate Harris was set to tape an interview with Spanish-language TV network Telemundo while Republican nominee Trump held a roundtable event with Latino leaders in Florida, where he called the border the "biggest issue" facing the nation.

Both campaigns are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into a last push for undecided voters who could tilt the balance in their favor, with polls showing the candidates in a dead heat ahead of Election Day.

About 18 million Americans have already voted by mail or in person -- representing more than 10 percent of the total in 2020.

Whatever the result, Americans will make history on November 5: they will either elect the first woman president in the world's leading superpower -- or they will put the first convicted felon into the White House.

At Trump's event, one speaker falsely claimed Vice President Harris and outgoing President Joe Biden were "human traffickers" while pushing baseless claims that Trump won the 2020 election.

The former president still refuses to accept his defeat at the polls four years ago and is expected to reject the result in November if he loses again -- potentially pitching the United States into chaos.

Some polls appear to be giving the Republican, who at 78 is the oldest nominee from a major party in US history, a slight edge recently -- but all within the margin of error.

- Early voters -

Trump, speaking to Latino leaders, falsely claimed the Biden administration was flying in "hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants."

Harris, who will give an interview to NBC on Tuesday evening, has been honing in on abortion.

Her campaign announced she would on Friday travel to Texas -- "ground zero of Trump's extreme abortion bans" since a 2022 Supreme Court decision ended the national right to the procedure.

In Madison, Wisconsin, a long line for early voting snaked through a library branch, and resident Dawn Lauderdale said she would have to come back another day to cast her ballot.

"There is no reason any politician, male or female, should be in that room," the Harris supporter said, referring to abortion procedures.

Harris, 60, is also deploying two of her party's most popular emissaries onto the campaign trail: Barack and Michelle Obama.

The former president, speaking at a rally in Madison, rolled back the years with fiery attacks on Trump.

"Don't boo, vote!" he implored people after each jibe.

Upping the star factor, rapper Eminem will introduce Obama at a major Harris campaign event in Detroit on Tuesday, according to US media.

After his Florida appearance, Trump was set to fly to North Carolina, for an event that is supposed to be devoted to the economy.

He rarely sticks to the topic at his rallies, however -- instead, recent weeks have featured rambling monologues and threats about weaponizing the military against Democrats, whom he calls "the enemy from within."

One televised town hall veered into an impromptu music session as Trump abandoned discussion of the election to play his favorite hits while swaying on stage.

The Harris campaign has begun to hammer at his mental and physical fitness to occupy the Oval Office.

But a tide of MAGA-capped supporters continue to flock to his events, convinced that he is the victim of political persecution, or that Democrats are instigating threats against him.

Democrats are also seeking to woo moderate Republicans turned off by Trump's ominous rhetoric and scandals.

Harris has sought to frame herself as a "joyful warrior" seeking to turn the page on Trump's years of outrage and move into a new generation of American political leadership.

M.Fujitav--JT