(NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris were in North Carolina and Wisconsin Wednesday to share their final arguments with voters during dueling rallies ahead of the 2024 election.
Trump in Wisconsin was joined by former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.
During his visit to the battleground state, the former president focused on inflation and rising prices under the Biden administration, as Republicans push to flip the “blue wall” state back to red, according to the campaign.
The event also comes as Trump’s team attempts to distance the GOP nominee from controversial remarks a comedian made about Puerto Rico at his recent rally.
The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s aggregate of polls shows Trump and Vice President Harris neck and neck in the Badger State — with Trump garnering 48.8 percent support to Harris’s 48.2 percent.
The vice president also campaigned in Wisconsin Wednesday evening.
Trump rides in garbage truck to seize on Biden comment
Trump climbed into a Trump-themed garbage truck in his motorcade in Wisconsin to draw attention to comments from President Joe Biden where he seemingly called Trump supporters “garbage.”
“How do you like my garbage truck? This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden,” Trump said from the passenger seat of the truck, which was adorned with a Trump campaign sticker and Trump flag.
Trump campaign staff widely shared photos of the truck and the former president in the passenger seat as photographers snapped pictures. The campaign has tried to capitalize on outrage among Trump supporters over Biden’s remark, even as Vice President Harris has distanced herself from the comment.
“First of all, he clarified his comments but let me be clear: I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” Harris told reporters earlier Wednesday.
Biden sparked backlash Tuesday night when he appeared to compare Trump’s supporters to garbage while commenting on a racist joke a comedian made at a Trump rally days earlier likening Puerto Rico to an “island of garbage.”
The White House, in a statement, argued that the president was being misinterpreted and had been referring to the rhetoric at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally Sunday as “garbage,” not the Republican’s supporters.
Harris and Trump in North Carolina
Harris held her event at the Walnut Creek Amphitheater in Raleigh. Her campaign said over 8,000 people attended it.
The Democratic nominee focused her remarks on reproductive rights and highlighted her plans for an opportunity economy including lowering the prices of groceries and housing.
“Donald Trump, who has been trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other. We know that is who he is, but North Carolina that is not who we are,” Harris said. “And it is time for a new chapter where we stop with the pointing fingers at each other, and instead let us lock arms with one another, knowing we have so much more in common than what separates us.”
Speaking to an audience in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Trump talked about the border, inflation, and Hurricane Helene recovery.
Trump also addressed comments made earlier by current President Joe Biden, who was reacting to the Republican presidential nominee’s weekend rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, where a comedian at the event called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.”
“Well, let me tell you something, I don’t, I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know, the Puerto Rico where I’m fr — in my home state of Delaware — they’re good, decent honorable people,” Biden said during a call with the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”
Biden later said on X that he meant to refer to the rhetoric as garbage.
Trump said Wednesday that Biden “finally said what he and Kamala really think of our supporters.”
“He called them garbage. And they mean it, even though without question my supporters are far higher quality than Crooked Joe or Lyin’ Kamala,” Trump said. “My response to Joe and Kamala is very simple: you can’t lead America if you don’t love Americans.”
Harris, for her part, said she “strongly disagrees” with criticizing people based on who they vote.
Trump, Harris still close in polls
As of Wednesday morning, the race between Trump and Harris remained a toss-up with the former president leading Harris by just 1.4 points, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ polling.
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Democrats have a chance to flip the Republican-leaning state blue even though North Carolina has voted red in 10 of the last 11 races. Former President Barack Obama won the Tar Heel State in 2008 and was the first Democrat to do so in nearly three decades.
Dead-even presidential race in NC
A dead-heat race and an opportunity for Democrats is leading to dueling rallies on Wednesday as Harris is also expected to stump in North Carolina. The two rallies are scheduled at roughly the same time, just located about an hour from each other.
The Harris campaign said it believes it has the enthusiasm on its side, while Trump’s team said it’s looking to cut through that and solidify Trump’s lead in the battleground state.
North Carolina is one of seven swing states that could sway this year’s election. It’s another state that has seen another record turnout from early voting. Preliminary data reveals about 3.2 million people in the state have already voted, which is over one-third of the state’s registered voters.
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Helene influencing election turnout
A new survey found that Hurricane Helene is also playing a role for some voters as they head to the ballot box. The survey released this week by Elon University found that Helene galvanized them, and many voters were motivated to get out to polling sites in part by the federal response to the state’s widespread damage.
Trump and some Republicans have looked to sow frustration with the response, falsely claiming that nobody from the federal government was helping residents after the storm.
FEMA and the White House pushed back on those comments, reassuring there were boots on the ground helping those affected by Helene.
Still, the poll found that 20% of voters said they were more likely to vote because of Helene.
NewsNation partner The Hill and The Associated Press contributed to this report.