Star Metro - Harris, Trump head west in US election race countdown

Pop icon Jennifer Lopez will bring her star power to the stage for Harris in Las Vegas, as the candidates chase one another through the seven swing states expected to decide the next president.

Trump has scheduled an interview in Arizona with ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson and a rally in neighboring Nevada.

Both campaigns have been sidetracked in recent days after controversies stemming from a remark by a warm-up speaker at a Trump rally, which initially blew back against Republicans before a damaging gaffe from President Joe Biden.

Harris made political hay from the comedian calling the US territory of Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage."

Her campaign won the backing of Puerto Rican celebrity Lopez, rapper Bad Bunny and singer Ricky Martin, and released a Spanish-language ad with the voice-over concluding: "On November 5, Trump will find out that one person's trash is another's treasure."

But Harris found herself on the defensive after Biden appeared to call Trump supporters "garbage" -- prompting the Democratic candidate to state that she disagreed with criticism of people based on who they vote for.

Trump, who himself has branded Harris's allies "garbage" and "scum," was quick to pounce on the misstep with a publicity stunt as he climbed into a garbage truck.

On Wednesday, new remarks by Trump on another hot-button issue, abortion rights, raised eyebrows when he told a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin: "I want to protect the women of our country... whether the women like it or not."

The 78-year-old will also visit New Mexico on Thursday, and Virginia on Saturday -- surprising calls given that polls suggest the two states will go to Harris.

More than 60 million Americans have cast their ballots via early or mail-in voting so far, over a third of the 2020 total.

- 'Locking arms' -

Campaigning out west, the two candidates are hoping to entice Hispanic voters and earn credit on the crucial election issue of migration.

Trump is betting that frustrations over the Biden-Harris administration's immigration policy will swing Arizona, which shares a border with Mexico, back in his favor.

Biden beat Trump in Arizona in 2020, becoming the first Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1996 to win the state's electoral college votes.

Latinos have traditionally voted more in favor of Democrats, but recent polling shows a noticeable trend toward Republicans.

The latest New York Times/Siena poll showed Harris with 52 percent of support among Hispanic voters to Trump's 42 percent.

Both candidates will be in North Carolina on the weekend as part of a blitz of battleground states, with Harris also visiting Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania before Election Day.

Speaking in Wisconsin on Wednesday, the vice president pushed a message of unity that followed her "closing argument" speech the night before at a huge rally in the capital Washington.

"Folks are exhausted and want it to stop, the pointing fingers. It is time that we start locking arms together as a people who rise and fall together," she said.

Trump -- who has 34 felony convictions for crimes connected to the 2016 election -- is expected to reject Tuesday's election result if he loses.

The Republican is already seizing on commonplace verification processes by election officials to amplify his claims of widespread "cheating."

In Georgia, where Trump faces charges he sought to interfere in the election, early voting is shattering records, said the state's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger.

He told CNN all early votes will be counted within an hour of polls closing, with the vast majority of all results from the state's counties reported "before the end of the night" Tuesday.

"When you have an efficient organization with great people up and down the line, counties are doing good work, then those are results you can trust," he said. "And I think trust is the new gold standard."

P.Graham--SMC