Harris and Trump make final pushes in Pittsburgh stops

The next American president rallied Pittsburgh-area voters Monday as a contentious campaign comes to a close.

Both candidates — Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic heir to President Joe Biden, and former President Donald Trump, who has transformed the Republican Party with his bombastic, populist rhetoric — visited the region on the eve of Election Day.

Trump rallied in front of around 12,000 people at PPG Paints Arena, repeatedly complaining about the 2020 election, attacking what he calls the “fake news” media, touting celebrity endorsements, and reflecting on what he said will be his last rally in Pittsburgh.

“We have been doing this for nine years. They are wonderful,” Trump said of his rallies. He estimated he has done over 800 since first running for office. “This is the last rally I am going to have here (in Pittsburgh). … This is never going to happen again.”

Harris’ visit, her fourth of five stops in Pennsylvania on the eve of an election, was succinct.

In a short speech to an estimated crowd of about 15,000, she told her supporters at Carrie Blast Furnaces in Rankin to get out and vote and urge everyone they know to cast their ballots.

“We know it’s time for a new generation of leadership in America, and I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States,” Harris said.

Here’s a recap of both events.

Donald Trump at PPG Paints

It was Trump’s penultimate rally before Election Day and it started with energy and chanting crowds. Trump said the MAGA movement is strong and the assassination attempt that occurred nearby in Butler County has only made it stronger.

“That brush with death did not stop us, it only made us more determined to finish the job,” he said as the crowd roared.

But about halfway through his 1 hour and 45 minute speech, hundreds of people started leaving. The crowd had noticeably thinned out by the end of his speech, as about a quarter of attendees left.

Afterward, Trump flew to Grand Rapids, Mich., for his final rally before Election Day.

During the speech, which weaved across a range of familiar topics, Trump complained again and again about the 2020 election, which he lost to President Joe Biden, and said his strong showing in that race was why he was determined to run this cycle.

Trump said he has been waiting four years for a chance to reclaim the White House, and, if he were still president, nothing bad in America and around the world would have happened.

“We had all of those things that wouldn’t have happened today,” he said, claiming that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine in a war and that gas prices never would have increased.

He hit on many of his usual talking points, including decrying illegal immigration and boosting tariffs. He attacked his political rivals. He repeatedly railed against the media, calling journalists “fake news” and saying “some are actually good, and some are absolutely terrible.”

He also criticized the press for reporting the polls that show a neck-and-neck race between him Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump gave himself a “96.2% chance of winning” the election tomorrow.

He also made a direct comparison to Harris, who was hosting a rally at Carrie Blast Furnaces just 9 miles away.

The competing rallies ended up having similar crowd sizes.

Trump did not fill the entire arena, as the upper deck was curtained off, but the lower bowl and the floor of PPG Paints was mostly filled, with just a couple hundred empty seats. An estimated 10,000 to 12,000 attended Trump’s rally.

The Harris campaign said that 15,000 people attended her rally at Carrie Blast Furnaces, which included performances by musicians Katy Perry, D-Nice and Andra Day.

Trump said that unlike Harris, his rally didn’t need a star because he has great policy on his side.

Later in the rally, he touted multiple celebrity endorsements, including conservative radio personality and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly and comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan.

Trump also brought on stage Roberto Clemente Jr., the son of the legendary Pirates outfielder.

“The name Clemente means goodwill and unity. And I believe everything that (Trump) stands for,” Clemente Jr. said.

Trump thanked Clemente and praised Puerto Rico, where the Pirates legend is from. The Trump campaign has been in hot water this week after a comedian at a Trump rally in New York City called Puerto Rico, an “island of garbage.”

Kelly also joined Trump on stage, in a late pitch to try to increase the former president’s appeal to more women voters. Polls have shown that Trump is lagging among women compared to Harris, who would become the nation’s first women president if elected.

The former Fox News host said she was at the rally because she wanted to show Pittsburgh that Trump does surround himself with “strong, intelligent women,” referencing comments that Mt. Lebanon native and billionaire Mark Cuban had made. She said a big reason why she is voting for Trump is because she opposes transgender women playing in women’s sports.

“He will be a protector of women, and that is why I am voting for him,” Kelly said.

Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s election, Trump looked to sow doubt in the results, especially if the race is not announced quickly.

He complained that some states might take 12 days to count their votes, and he implied without evidence that large-scale voter fraud could take place.

“Bad things happen when that happens,” he said. “There is no computer in the world that can’t be broken into.”

Experts across the country, including Pennsylvania’s Republican Secretary of State Al Schmidt, have said widespread voter fraud has not occurred in American elections, and that the final results of Tuesday’s race could take days to count, not hours.

Kamala Harris in Rankin

Harris’ event included performances from Katy Perry and Andra Day. It was Harris’ penultimate stop of the night.

She left Rankin for Philadelphia, where attendees were to include Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, DJ Cassidy, Fat Joe, Freeway and Just Blaze, DJ Jazzy Jeff, The Roots, Jazmine Sullivan and Adam Blackstone.

Harris took the stage just after 9 p.m. to enthusiastic cheers of “Kamala” and supporters waving signs bearing her name, “USA” and “Vote for Freedom.”

Harris promised to work to improve the lives of her supporters and to listen to the citizens whose lives will be impacted by the decisions she makes in the White House.

“As president, I pledge to seek common ground and commonsense solutions to the challenges you face,” Harris said. She said she also would offer a seat at the table to people whose views differ from her own.

She said that if Congress passes legislation to protect abortion rights, she would sign it.

“It’s a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom — like the fundamental right of a woman to make decisions about her own body,” Harris said.

She continued: “Pittsburgh, listen: We’ve got one day left to get this done. Now we work to get out the vote. Let’s reach out in the next 24 hours to family and friends and classmates and neighbors and coworkers.”

Harris spent about 10 minutes on stage in Rankin before ending her speech: “God bless you and God bless the United States of America.”

Pop singer Perry followed Harris onstage. She said she has known Harris since before she was a senator.

“I have always known her to fight for the most vulnerable,” she said, adding that Harris would fight for women’s right to abortion.

Local Democratic leaders urged supporters to get out the vote for Harris and their party’s candidates down the ballot.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey led a “Don’t go back” chant with the crowd before reminding people the outcome of Tuesday’s election is up to the voters.

“Destiny is in our hands,” he said.

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis touted Harris as “a president for each and every one of us” who would represent everyone, regardless of their background or whether they voted for her.

“The contrast could not be clearer,” he said. He painted Trump as someone “dialing up the hate” and Harris as a candidate “talking about what she’ll do by creating an opportunity economy that will help Americans not just get by, but get ahead.”

“Pennsylvania is going to decide this election,” Davis said. “It’s going to be close, but we’re going to win for Vice President Harris.”

With 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is the largest swing state in the country. Both campaigns have focused heavily on the Keystone State, with former President Donald Trump rallying his supporters Monday less than 10 miles away from the Harris event at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

Video feeds connected Harris’s Rankin rally with similar events in other key swing states.

Her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appeared via video from a rally in Milwaukee, where he told voters there that Harris would support abortion access and chart a new path forward for the nation.

“We get an opportunity tomorrow to shape the future for generations to come,” Walz said from Wisconsin. “We get the chance to elect a new generation of leadership and have Kamala Harris lead us in a new way forward. We’re running like everything’s on the line because it is.”

Kara Murthy, 40, of Delmont brought her 11-year-old daughter Madeline to the Harris rally in Rankin. Madeline said she was excited to see the pop star – but even more excited to see the vice president.

“We’re really hoping that Kamala wins,” Kara Murthy said. “I wanted her [Madeline] to see hopefully the first female president speak before she’s elected.”

Harris supporters young and old flocked to the historic Rankin site for the rally, many wearing Harris attire.

Myra Freeman, 81, of Homestead wore a shirt with a comma and the letters “la,” a reference to the pronunciation of the vice president’s first name.

“I have been supporting Kamala ever since she decided she was going to run,” said Freeman, who’s been voting consistently since she turned 18. “I love everything she stands for.”

Alexis Walker, 27, said she interned on Capitol Hill six years ago when Harris was a senator. Ahead of Harris’s rally Monday, she said she felt optimistic about her candidate’s chances on Election Day.

“As a young Black woman, I am so happy to see this moment,” she said. “It’s a fulfilling feeling to see someone who looks like me. I’m taking in this historical moment.”

Ryan Deto is a TribLive staff writer. He can be reached at rdeto@triblive.com. Julia Burdelski is a TribLive staff writer. She can be reached at jburdelski@triblive.com.

Rich Cholodofsky, Megan Swift, Quincey Reese, Jack Troy and Shaylah Brown also contributed to this story.