Democratic candidate Kamala Harris added a surprising twist to the final days of the U.S. presidential race with an appearance on “Saturday Night Live” alongside comedian Maya Rudolph, who portrays her on the show. Together, they encouraged viewers to “Keep Calm-ala and carry on-ala,” just three days before her face-off with Republican Donald Trump.
It was Harris’s first appearance on the show, which has featured other presidential candidates over the years. Trump himself appeared in 2015 during his first presidential run, humorously poking fun at his tendency to exaggerate.
Earlier on Saturday, both candidates’ planes were spotted on the same tarmac in Charlotte, North Carolina, as they held back-to-back rallies in this key battleground state. It marked the fourth consecutive day they campaigned in the same state as they targeted the handful of regions likely to decide the election. Recent polling has shown Harris with a narrow lead in Iowa, a state Trump won comfortably in the past two elections.
Campaigning in Atlanta, Harris criticized Trump, claiming he is “obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and out for unchecked power.” Trump, meanwhile, warned that under a Harris administration, “Every town in America would be turned into a squalid, dangerous refugee camp.”
More than 75 million Americans have already cast their ballots, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, signaling record-breaking voter enthusiasm.
In a rally in Salem, Virginia, Trump defended his decision to run, claiming he entered politics to “rescue the economy from obliteration,” despite the easier option of relaxing at his resorts. “I didn’t need to be here today,” he told the crowd, quipping about his “beautiful white skin” and joking about being “smacked in the face by a wave loaded up with salt water.”
Harris’s polling momentum in Iowa has largely been attributed to a shift among women voters, particularly older and independent women, according to the Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll. Harris now leads Trump 47%-44% in the state, within the 3.4% margin of error but a turnaround from a September poll where Trump had a 4-point lead. Trump adviser Jason Miller dismissed the poll, calling it “idiotic” and lacking credibility.
