US musician Stevie Wonder (R) performs during a campaign event with US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris at Divine Faith Ministries International in Jonesboro, Georgia, October 20, 2024. (Photo by CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA / AFP)
LANCASTER, United States — Kamala Harris turned 60 on Sunday in the final stretch of a knife-edge US election, making campaign stops at Black churches in Georgia as her 78-year-old opponent Donald Trump served fries at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s in a bid to appeal to blue-collar voters.
Music legend Stevie Wonder accompanied Democrat Harris at one of her appearances in a suburb of Atlanta, singing the vice president his rendition of “Happy Birthday” while urging voters to “think about more than yourself when you vote.”
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In brief remarks Harris echoed that sentiment, saying, “Ours is a country that is about doing things that are focused on the best interest of our children, our families, giving people the resources they need around assistance, helping people pull out of poverty.”
Earlier, speaking at a Baptist megachurch near Atlanta, she had urged a Black congregation to embrace compassionate values while others “spread hate, sow fear and cause chaos.”
Harris did not mention Trump by name but the crowd nodded knowingly to her allusions to her Republican rival.
Georgia is one of the key states that are expected to decide the November 5 election. Both candidates also planned events later Sunday in Pennsylvania, which both sides see as a must-win.
Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump works behind the counter during a visit to McDonald’s restaurant on October 20, 2024 in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania. | Photo by POOL / Getty Images via AFP
McDonald’s center stage
With just over two weeks before Election Day, the Democratic vice president and the Republican billionaire are in a fierce race.
Harris, addressing the enthusiastic Black churchgoers — normally a strongly Democratic demographic — delivered a temperate speech, telling the tale of the Good Samaritan but also using it to exhort the crowd to vote and “shine the light in moments of darkness.”
Indeed, Trump is using increasingly angry and dark language in the campaign.
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He has likened undocumented migrants to animals, threatened revenge against his perceived enemies, praised autocrats like Vladimir Putin of Russia and described America as a ruined nation only he can fix.
But on Sunday he was all smiles as he scooped french fries at a McDonald’s franchise outside of Philadelphia, donning a black-and-yellow apron over his white shirt and red tie.
The campaign stop was intended as a jab at Harris, who has talked about working at the fast-food chain in her youth.
Trump has repeatedly said, without offering evidence, that Harris never worked at a McDonald’s.
A friend of Harris’s told The New York Times she recalled her having worked there.
– ‘I love salt!’ –
“I don’t mind this job,” said Trump during his brief stint as a server, at one point asking if customers ever ask for more salt.
“I love salt!” he exclaimed, also throwing some over his shoulder onto the floor, explaining that he is “superstitious.”
Told by reporters that Sunday was also Harris’s birthday, Trump wished her well.
“I think I’ll get her some flowers,” he quipped. “Maybe I’ll get her some fries.”
In the lead-up to her birthday Harris has increasingly raised questions about Trump’s own fitness to be president.
“He’s ducking debates and canceling interviews because of exhaustion,” Harris told an Atlanta rally Saturday, mocking his rambling, off-script speeches.
The former president has surprised attendees at his rallies with sometimes bizarre references, including a ribald reference Saturday to the anatomy of a famous golfer.
But Trump’s age and spontaneous remarks have not appeared to be a deal-breaker for voters, as polls show a close battle ahead.
A question of fitness
Harris had also sought to goad Trump with a report on October 12 that described her “excellent health,” but the ex-president’s campaign insisted that he, too, is “in perfect and excellent health to be commander-in-chief.”
The Republican running for a second go in the White House countered Harris’s accusations with a marathon speech in Pennsylvania on Saturday, a day after saying that his rival “doesn’t have the energy of a rabbit.”
Both candidates are spending their final campaign days in pivotal states, but so are their surrogates.
Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk has been stumping for Trump, as Harris taps pop-star power, with singers Lizzo and Usher making Saturday appearances for her.
Lizzo drew cheers when telling a Detroit rally that America was more than ready for its first woman president, dropping a reference to her own hit song: “It’s about damn time!”