Kamala Harris to remind voters of Jan. 6 attack in 'closing argument' at Ellipse

WASHINGTON – With the White House as her backdrop, Vice President Kamala Harris will remind Americans on Tuesday that the last time Donald Trump held office, thousands of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn his election loss.

Harris will deliver her speech in the same location Tuesday evening that Trump spoke at just before the Jan. 6 insurrection – at the Ellipse, a park that separates the White House from the National Mall.

"It's a place that certainly we believe helps crystallize the choice in this election between a candidate seeking unchecked power in Donald Trump and another that's really offering real solutions to chart a new way forward," Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told reporters in a preview of Harris' remarks.

O’Malley Dillon said the setting will provide a "stark visualization of probably the most infamous example of Donald Trump, and how he's used his power for bad, really focusing on himself and spreading division and chaos and inciting a mob to try to maintain his own power and put himself over the country."

With exactly one week until the election, the race is a statistical tie and has taken on a darker tone in its final days. The candidates are in a dead heat in nearly every swing state, and both campaigns have tried to break through to voters by holding large splashy events.

Harris campaigned over the weekend Michelle Obama, who launched into a searing critique of the former president. Trump is reeling from blowback to his own “closing argument” at Madison Square Garden on Sunday that was overshadowed by racist tropes ? including bipartisan condemnation of a comment about Puerto Rico by a comedian opening the rally.

In what the campaign is describing as her closing argument, Harris will tell voters they have two paths on Election Day: one focused on delivering for the American people and another steeped in grievances and retribution, officials said.

They are expecting as many as 20,000 people at the address, in which Harris will renew her pledge to voters that she would put the country above the Democratic Party, and herself, while arguing that Trump would compile an “enemies list” of anybody who opposes him.

She will also talks about her plans to the lower costs of housing, groceries and health care, campaign officials said.

After she was catapulted to the top of the Democratic ticket over the summer, Harris spent much of her time reintroducing herself to voters and releasing policy proposals that she will outline again during her speech.

She’s also made the case that Trump would restrict access to reproductive rights. Women’s health was the topic of a Friday evening rally she held in Houston with Beyonce. That speech was her largest yet; her campaign says it drew 30,000 people.

Harris was in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Monday, and is preparing to blitz all the key battleground states this week.

She has in recent weeks leaned into characterizing Trump a “fascist” who’d be a danger to the nation after his ex-White House chief of staff John Kelly said Trump "falls into the general definition" of one. During a town hall on CNN, Harris agreed with that assessment.

More: Trump vows to go after his enemies if elected. Meet two enforcers ready to carry that out

Trump during a rally in Atlanta on Monday said that Harris' comments are "so disgusting, just horrible" and called Harris a fascist.

"This is the kind of outrageous rhetoric that has resulted in two assassination attempts in the last three months," Trump said.

Harris targeting anti-Trump Republicans

Some of Harris’ surrogates have declined to label Trump a fascist and have instead focused in the final days of the campaign on abortion rights and the economy. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker stressed both issues at a canvass launch in Waukesha, Wisconsin, over the weekend as Harris volunteers prepared to knock on voters’ doors.

“Let me start by saying that everything we care about is under siege by a racist, misogynist, homophobic, xenophobic former president who wants to be in the White House again," Pritzker said.

He told them minutes later, “I think – this is just my view – talking about democracy is not something that most people really are thinking about in this election.” He added, “I think what most people are thinking about is what is this going to do for my pocketbook, for my future, for my ability to pay the bills, for my ability to get a better job.”

Waukesha is one of several, deep red counties near Milwaukee where the Harris campaign is desperately trying to activate anti-Trump Republicans. Harris campaigned there with former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney last week. Walz held an event there on Monday with the city's mayor, Shawn Reilly, a lifelong Republican who became an independent after Jan. 6 and recently threw his support behind Harris.

Nearly 60% of the county voted for Trump in 2020, compared to 39% for Biden.

Harris' campaign is betting it can cut into Trump's margins there, and in other suburban areas across the battlegrounds, with persistent messaging about the support he's lost from members of his own administration and the role he played in appointing justices to the Supreme Court who voted in favor of reversing of Roe v. Wade.

Suburban women, independents and moderate Republicans are among the people Harris will target in the speech, O'Malley Dillon said. She said those voters moved away from the GOP in the 2022 midterms for the first time over the abortion issue.

"They are people that are probably more heavy influenced, paying attention to what's happening, and they're just sort of weighing information," O'Malley Dillon said. "And I think that these are very much the people we've been talking to all along."

O'Malley Dillon said Harris will also appeal to undecided voters, some of whom may be open to supporting a new candidate after Trump's closing rally in Madison Square Garden that was marked by racists comments. She also said there's a whole cohort of younger people who haven't been paying attention to the election until now.

Protect democracy, 'then we can tackle the other issues'

Some voters across the country are becoming increasingly worried about the state of democracy, and are now seeing it among their top issues just one week from the Nov. 5 election.

Colleen Schulz, the vice chair of the Waukesha County Democratic Party, said that protecting our democracy and standing up for the Constitution has become her top priority in the election.

The 61-year-old said access to abortion and women’s health care, as well as the environment, were her top issues, but they are now taking a back seat to standing up for democracy.

“We have to protect our democracy and the Constitution first, and then we can tackle the other issues,” said Schulz, a former teacher, who attended an event with Minn. Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, in Waukesha. “The first fire that needs to be put out is standing up for our constitution.”

While the economy remains the top issue for voters, a Gallup poll found that 49% of voters said democracy in the United States is “extremely” important and another 36% said it was “very” important on how it will influence who they will vote for in the election.

Angela Mercadel, who stood for more than three hours to see Harris in Houston, Texas, said she’s really alarmed by Trump’s message about the "enemy within" and that he will go after his political opponents.

“We need someone who is going to bring this country together,” she said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harris to remind voters of Jan. 6 attack in 'closing argument'