Just five days remain until millions of Americans across the country head to the polls to vote in the 2024 presidential election, and candidates are hitting the campaign trail hard as they make their final attempts to court voters in key battleground states.
Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump held campaign events Thursday in Nevada and Arizona, with Trump also making a rare stop in the Democratic stronghold of New Mexico where he remained focused on the issues of immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border.
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"Hispanics love Trump," he said during a rally in Albequerque. "They do. True. I like them. They're smart. You're a lot smarter than the person running for president on the Democrat side."
With its five electoral votes, New Mexico is not considered a battleground state. The state has gone for Democratic presidential candidates since 2004.
However, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanic residents in the country, and the Trump campaign has claimed that it has made inroads with the voting bloc, which traditionally favors Democrats. New Mexico is also a border state, which allows Trump to focus on his strict immigration policies.
Most political experts, however, do not believe Trump will be able to flip New Mexico. The most recent poll from the Albuquerque Journal shows Harris with a nine point advantage in the state.
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Harris, meanwhile, kept her priorities Thursday on the key swing states of Arizona and Nevada, where she attempted to remind voters — particularly Latinos — about racially charged rhetoric coming from Trump and his supporters.
"As president, I pledge to you to seek common ground and common sense solutions to the challenges you face," Harris said at a rally in Reno, Nevada. "I am not looking to score political points. I am looking to make progress."
Thursday will likely be the last time Harris and Trump will travel to the West before Election Day as the focus on the bigger electoral prizes on the East Coast.
Depending on what happens in places like Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, a candidate could either secure the race or have to wait for votes to be counted in places like Arizona and Nevada.
