Showdown in 2024: Harris and Trump hold dueling Texas rallies to confront these important issues

HOUSTON, Texas – With 11 days until Election Day and two major national polls showing a stalemate in the race for the White House between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, major party candidates will hold an election event in Texas. As I deliver my closing argument, I will address two highly combustible issues.

Harris, who has long been committed to reproductive rights issues, is expected to criticize President Trump for Texas' highly restrictive abortion laws as she holds what is expected to be a large rally in Houston.

Trump, who has spotlighted illegal immigration since he first ran for the White House nine years ago, was in Austin to comment on border security.

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Texas is not one of the seven key battleground states that narrowly decided President Biden's victory over President Trump in 2020, but it could decide whether Harris or the former president wins the 2024 election. It is home to a high but important Senate race, with a handful of lawmakers deciding whether Republicans regain a majority in Congress.

Conservative advocate Sen. Ted Cruz will join President Trump at an afternoon event in Austin, and Democratic challenger Rep. Colin Allred is scheduled to speak at the Harris rally hours later.

Harris' stop in Houston marks the first time in decades that a Democratic standard-bearer has held a major campaign event in Texas ahead of Election Day.

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The visit does not mean the Harris campaign believes Texas is involved in the White House race. Harris' senior advisers have no illusions that she will flip the state, even though Biden narrowed that gap to 5.5 percentage points in the 2020 presidential election.

Instead, this trip is about pro-abortion advocacy. Abortion has been a winning issue for Democrats since the Supreme Court's conservative majority in summer 2022 overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion for decades.

Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at James R. Hallford Stadium on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 in Clarkston, Georgia (AP Photo/Julia Demarie Nikinson) (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nickinson)

Harris said President Trump, who appointed three conservative judges to the high court during his four years in the White House, is responsible for Texas' abortion law, which prohibits abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. We plan to announce it again.

Ahead of the rally, the Harris campaign released a new ad featuring a clip of President Trump praising his role in the Supreme Court's blockbuster abortion decision, and a Texas couple directly affected by the state's ban. announced another commercial featuring the show.

While in Texas, Harris will talk about the importance of reproductive rights in the 2024 election in an interview with Brene Brown, a popular podcaster with a predominantly female audience.

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The Harris campaign said many people will attend the vice president's rally to share their stories about the effects of Texas' abortion ban.

The gathering is expected to feature performances by legendary singer, songwriter and guitarist Willie Nelson and entertainment superstar Beyoncé, who is considered a cultural icon. Beyoncé's hit song “Freedom” has been chosen as the vice president's campaign anthem.

At an event in Austin, President Trump claimed that Harris “picked the wrong place” to visit when she hinted that she would stop in Houston.

“Today she's coming to Texas to rub shoulders with woke celebrities,” he claimed.

Speaking to reporters in Houston on Friday afternoon, Harris denounced President Trump's comments, insisting that “this is just another example of how he really disrespects our country.”

Two new national polls released Friday show former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in a heated battle ahead of Election Day. (AP/Alex Brandon/Mike Stewart)

Immigration and border security have become winning issues for President Trump and the Republican Party, after spending three and a half years blaming Presidents Biden and Harris for the influx of migrants crossing the southern border.

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Trump, who has repeatedly pledged to carry out mass deportations if he regains the White House, said at a campaign event in Arizona on Thursday that the Biden administration's immigration policies have left the United States “a trash can for the world.” He accused them of becoming a “thing”.

While in Texas, President Trump will also sit in on a recorded interview with Joe Rogan, a highly popular podcaster nationwide.

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