TIGHT CAMPAIGN: Although Harris got a boost from an Iowa poll, neither candidate had a margin greater than three points in any of the US’ seven battleground states
AP and AFP,NEW YORK and Detroit, Michigan
US Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the final days before the election, as she and former US president and Republican presidential nominees make a frantic last push to win over voters in a historically close campaign.
The first lines Harris spoke as she sat across from Maya Rudolph, their outfits identical, was drowned out by cheers from the audience.
“It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph with a broad grin she kept throughout the sketch. “And I’m just here to remind you, you got this.”
Democratic presidential nominee US Vice President Kamala Harris, right, appears on NBC’s Saturday Night Live with Maya Rudolph in New York on Saturday.
Photo: AP
In sync, the two said supporters need to “keep Kamala and carry-on-ala,” declared that they share each other’s “belief in the promise of America” and delivered the show’s signature “live from New York it’s Saturday night” opening line.
Harris made the surprise trip to New York City with tomorrow’s election looming, briefly stepping away from the battleground states where she has been furiously campaigning in favor of NBC’s iconic sketch comedy show, where she was hoping to generate buzz and appeal to a nationwide audience.
Rudolph first played Harris on the show in 2019 and has reprised her role this season.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, expressed surprise that Harris would appear on SNL given what he characterized as her unflattering portrayal on the show.
Asked if Trump had been invited to appear, he said: “I don’t know. Probably not.”
Seventy-five million people have cast early ballots ahead of tomorrow’s climax and the race is down to the wire — with more states functionally tied in polls at this point than in any comparable election.
As of Saturday evening, neither candidate had a margin greater than three points in any of the seven battleground states set to determine the presidency, polling averages maintained by RealClearPolitics showed.
Harris — desperate to shore up the Great Lakes states seen as essential to any Democratic ticket — was yesterday to spend the day in Michigan, beginning in Detroit before a stop in Pontiac and an evening rally at Michigan State University.
Trump was to focus on Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, the three biggest prizes in the Electoral College system that awards states influence according to their size.
The 78-year-old has been scrambling to distract from the now week-long scandal around his rally at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden in which warm-up speakers alienated Hispanics and women with racist and sexist language.
Harris, 60, got a boost on Saturday as the final Des Moines Register poll before election day — seen as a highly credible test of wider public sentiment — showed a stunning turnaround, with Harris ahead in Iowa, which was easily won by Trump in 2016 and 2020.
She leads by three points in a poll that showed her trailing Trump by four points in September.
