HOUSTON, Texas—As the 2024 presidential election enters its final stretch, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will hold dueling campaign events in Texas, a Republican stronghold, on Friday, focusing on their core messages.
Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, will be in Houston to discuss abortion rights at a campaign rally, where superstar singer Beyoncé, a Houston native, is expected to take the stage.
Trump, the Republican nominee, will travel to Austin, Texas, where he will hold a press conference at 12:30 p.m. local time at a private jet terminal to discuss border security and illegal immigrant crime.
Trump’s decision to hold a press conference in Austin came after the Harris campaign’s unexpected move to hold a rally in the deep red state.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will accompany Trump during the event.
Willie Nelson, a country legend from Abbott, Texas, is also expected to attend Harris’s event in Houston.
The abortion issue is central to Harris’s platform and she chose Texas due to the state’s restrictive laws. The event is expected to feature women who have been impacted by these restrictions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“I think we need to take a look at the filibuster, to be honest with you,” Harris said, suggesting eliminating the 60-vote threshold rule in the Senate.
“This is probably one of the most fundamental freedoms that we as Americans could imagine, which is the freedom to literally make decisions about your own body,” Harris said.
Beyoncé was expected to attend the Democratic National Convention in August, where she was rumored to perform ahead of Harris’s nomination acceptance speech. She did not show up. Nevertheless, the Grammy-winning singer granted the vice president permission to use her song “Freedom.” Harris has been using the song at her campaign rallies.
On Thursday, Harris campaigned in the crucial battleground state of Georgia, sharing the stage for the first time with former President Barack Obama. Singer Bruce Springsteen performed during the event.
In Georgia, Trump is 2.2 percentage points ahead. He also has a 1.5-point lead in Arizona and a thin lead in other battleground states, including North Carolina (0.8 points), Nevada (0.7 points), Pennsylvania (0.6 percent points), Wisconsin (0.2 points), and Michigan (0.2 points).
