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Days before Election Day, Trump and Harris cross paths on the campaign trail: NPR

Days before Election Day, Trump and Harris cross paths on the campaign trail: NPR

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania, Sunday, November 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally in Lititz, Pennsylvania, Sunday, November 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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Evan Vucci/AP/AP

Americans have two days left to choose their new leader in a head-to-head presidential election that will likely be decided by tens of thousands of votes in a handful of swing states.

Former President Donald Trump began his campaign on Sunday in Lititz, Pennsylvania – a key swing state with 19 electoral votes. The commonwealth is widely seen as a must-win for the Trump-Harris campaign.

During his speech at Lancaster Airport, Trump told his supporters that this election was being stolen – a false claim he also made in the run-up to the 2020 election.

“We have a lot of corrupt people out there – we fight like a son of a gun,” Trump said, pointing to the press. “We fight. They fight so hard to steal this damn thing. Look at what's going on. Check out what's going on in your state every day. They’re talking about extending working hours and stuff like that.”

The former president offered no hard evidence that the election was stolen, but cast doubt on the voting machines and pointed to tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has supported Trump and used his ownership of X, the online platform formerly known as Twitter to spread misinformation about the electoral process.

He also took a swipe in a Saturday poll by J Ann Selzer, the widely respected Iowa pollster. This shows that Trump is three points behind Harris in Iowa – a state that Trump easily won in 2016 and 2020.

“The polls are just as corrupt as some of the writers there,” Trump said. “You can make these polls sing. They brag about it. I have a poll – I'm up 10 points in Iowa. One of my enemies just released a poll – I’m three points lower.”

Trump also spoke about what he described as the failing U.S. economy and border, while also leveling personal criticism at Harris, calling her a “low IQ.”

“Kamala broke it, and we’re going to fix it, and we’re going to fix it fast,” Trump said after arriving at his event more than an hour late. “America will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer and stronger than ever before.”

Trump plans to travel to Kinston, North Carolina, for another rally on Sunday afternoon. He will then hold a third rally in Macon, Georgia – just two hours north of Kinston. The former president is scheduled to campaign in the Tar Heel State every day until the end of the election. Trump won North Carolina's electoral votes in 2016 and 2020, but polls show the race is getting tighter.

Meanwhile, Harris returns to “Blue Wall” Michigan after campaigning in North Carolina and making a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live in New York City.

For the fourth Sunday in a row, Harris is giving a speech at a black church in a swing state – this time in Detroit. She plans to then stop at a restaurant in the Livernois neighborhood, an area with many Black-owned small businesses, and then campaign at a hair salon in Pontiac. She will hold a rally Sunday evening in East Lansing, home of Michigan State University.

Black voters and college students are key to the coalition Harris needs on the campaign trail to get over the finish line in states like Michigan, where the race is hotly contested.

NPR's Tamara Keith and Deepa Shivaram contributed to this story.

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