By james art 
PHILADELPHIA — Kamala Harris and Donald Trump ended this year’s presidential race in a tight battle for Pennsylvania on Monday, making their final pitch to voters in a state that could prove decisive in the campaign for the White House.
Harris ended his night in Philadelphia on the steps of the art museum made famous in the film Rockywhere she said “momentum is on our side.” She also rallied with supporters in Allentown, Scranton and Pittsburgh, and she swung through Reading to visit a Puerto Rican restaurant and do some door-knocking with campaign volunteers.
“It’s the day before the election and I just wanted to come and say I hope I get your vote,” Harris told one woman who said she had already voted for the Democratic candidate.
Trump started the day in North Carolina and ended it in Michigan, but in between spoke in Reading and Pittsburgh. The former president brought out stemwinders at every stop, mixing false claims of voter fraud with warnings about migrants committing crimes and promises to revive the United States.
“With your vote tomorrow, we can solve every single problem facing our country and take America, and indeed the world, to new heights of glory,” he said.
While Harris focused on optimism about the future and never mentioned Trump by name, the Republican nominee criticized his opponent at every turn. His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, followed Trump’s lead at his own rally in Atlanta, telling the crowd that “we’re going to take out the garbage in Washington, DC, and the name of the garbage is Kamala Harris.”
At his latest rally, Trump called former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who led the House when he was twice impeached, a “crazy, horrible human being” and barely refrained from using a sexist slur.
“She’s a deceitful person, she’s a bad person, evil,” Trump said. “She’s evil, sick, crazy – oh no. It starts with ab, but I won’t say it. I mean it.”
Harris became the Democratic running mate this summer when Biden was dropped from the running and forced to abandon his re-election bid after he stumbled badly in a debate with Trump.
One of the few constants in the campaign is how close he stayed. The election is expected to be decided by narrow margins, and the results may not be known for days.
Pennsylvania has the most Electoral College votes of any battleground state, making it the top prize of the campaign. A win there would clear the path to the White House for both candidates.
“You’re going to make the difference in this election,” Harris said in Allentown.
About 30 miles away in Reading, Trump told supporters that “if we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole ball of wax.”
“Over the past four years, Americans have suffered one catastrophic failure, betrayal and humiliation after another,” Trump said. He added that “we must not accept weakness, incompetence, decline and decay.”
The crowd erupted in cheers when Trump said the country should tell Harris, “You’re fired,” his catchphrase from The Apprenticethe reality TV show that made him a nationally recognized star.
Harris arrived in Pittsburgh during the Trump rally. By the time she finished her laconic remarks, he was still talking.
“We have to finish strong,” Harris said. “Make no mistake, we will win.”
The day was further evidence of the ripple effects of Trump’s event at Madison Square Garden, where comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash.” Southeastern Pennsylvania, which was visited by both candidates on Monday, is home to thousands of Latinos, including a sizable Puerto Rican population.
“It was absurd,” said German Vega, a Dominican-American who lives in Reading and became a U.S. citizen in 2015. “It bothered so many people — even a lot of Republicans. It was not right and I think Trump should have apologized to Latinos.
But Emilio Feliciano, 43, waited outside the Santander Arena in Reading for a chance to snap a picture of Trump’s motorcade. He pushed back on the comments about Puerto Rico, even though his family is from Puerto Rico, saying he cares about the economy and will vote for Trump.
“Will the border be safe? Will you reduce crime? That’s what I’m interested in,” he said.
While in Reading, Harris visited the Old San Juan Cafe with New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, who has Puerto Rican heritage.
Supporters chanted “It’s possible” and “Kamala” as the Vice President’s motorcade pulled up. Once inside, Harris chatted with some guests, even mixing in “gracias” and a few Spanish words. The vice president later ordered cassava, yellow rice and pork, saying, “I’m very hungry,” noting that she was too busy campaigning to find time for many meals.
“I stand here proud of my longstanding commitment to Puerto Rico and its people,” she told her crowd in Allentown. Harris promised to be “the president of all Americans.”
Meanwhile, Trump continued to talk about his proposed crackdown on immigration while speaking in Redding. He called to the stage Patty Morin, the mother of 37-year-old Rachel Morin, who was found dead a day after she went missing while traveling to go hiking. Officials say the suspect in her death, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, entered the U.S. illegally after allegedly killing a woman in his native El Salvador.
About 77 million Americans voted early. A victory for either side would be unprecedented.
A Trump victory would make him the first future president to be charged and convicted of a crime. He would be given the power to drop other federal investigations against him. Trump would also become only the second president in history to win non-consecutive terms in the White House, since Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century.
Harris is vying to become the first woman, the first black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to reach the Oval Office — four years after she broke the same barriers to national office by becoming Biden’s second-in-command.
As of Monday, Harris had all but stopped referring to Trump by name, calling him “the other guy” instead. She promises to solve problems and seek consensus.
Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told reporters that not mentioning Trump’s name was intentional because voters “want to see in their leader an optimistic, hopeful, patriotic vision of the future.”
On her final day of campaigning, Harris took a rare trip down memory lane, recounting her 2003 run for San Francisco district attorney, her first elected office.
“I would go to the front of the grocery store, outside, and I would stand up my ironing board, because, you see, an ironing board makes a really great standing desk,” the vice president said, recalling how he plastered posters on the outside of the board, fill the top with leaflets and “require people to talk to me as they come in and out”.
Trump also seemed nostalgic.
“It’s sad because we’ve been doing this for nine years,” he said in Pittsburgh after inviting family members to join him on stage.
He held his final rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he also ended his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. He savored the moment, pausing every few steps as he made his way to the stage, immersed in an explosion of applause. Several in the crowd waited nearly 6 hours, at times in the rain, for a rally that finally began after midnight.
“Unbelievable,” Trump said as he began to speak after being left speechless on his podium by a sustained ovation. “Think about it. That’s it. That’s the last thing we’re going to have to do.
{hour /}Superville reported from Scranton, PA. Barrow reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Macia Seminary in Raleigh, North Carolina; Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia; Luis Andres Enao in Reading, Pennsylvania; Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix; and Zeke Miller, Will Weissert, Michelle L. Price and Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.