Harris rallies with Beyoncé in Texas as Trump sits for hours with Joe Rogan : NPR

HOUSTON — The stands had been vibrating underneath the stomping toes of the gang at Shell Stadium in Houston Friday evening.

However Beyoncé hadn’t even come out but.

The group was chanting “Beat Ted Cruz,” as Cruz’s senate challenger, Democratic Congressman Colin Allred, raised his fist behind the rostrum on stage, cheering the gang of 30,000 attendees on.

Vice President Harris’ go to to Houston within the closing stretch to Election Day was partly to rally help for Allred. However the focus was primarily to convey the highlight again on reproductive rights — within the place Harris has known as “floor zero” within the combat to limit abortion rights within the nation.

The Lonestar State could seem to be an uncommon cease with lower than two weeks till voting closes — it’s not a swing state and former President Donald Trump is all however sure to hold it. However Trump and Harris each campaigned there on Friday, and the messages they every dropped at the state spotlight the urgency of their closing messages.

“I do know generally in Texas, people are like, ‘Is it value it? Does not make a distinction,'” Harris stated, nodding to the truth that she is unlikely to take this purple state. “You’re making a distinction. And momentum is on our aspect,” she stated.

Harris targeted on Texas’ strict abortion ban at her rally in Houston, as Democrats have spent years hammering Republicans over unpopular crackdowns on reproductive rights — to nice success on the poll field.

The rally featured dozens of OB-GYNs in white coats and ladies who informed their private tales about how their lives had been endangered by abortion bans — and blaming Trump for the trauma.

“This isn’t just a few theoretical idea. Actual hurt has occurred in our nation, an actual struggling has occurred,” Harris informed reporters touring along with her on Friday. Harris underscored that the sorts of restrictions seen in Texas may occur in any state if Republicans had been to go a nationwide abortion ban. Trump stated this month that he would veto such a ban.

Harris was launched by hometown celebrity Beyoncé, whose music “Freedom” has been Harris’ marketing campaign anthem, and Kelly Rowland, who rose to fame with Beyoncé as a part of the group Future’s Youngster.

“I’m not right here as a politician. I’m right here as a mom. A mom who cares deeply in regards to the world my kids and all of our kids stay in,” Beyoncé stated.

“It’s time to sing a brand new music, a music that started 248 years in the past,” she stated. “The outdated notes of downfall, discord, despair not resonate.”

“We right here perceive we now have a chance earlier than us to show the web page on the concern and divisiveness which have characterised our politics for a decade due to Donald Trump,” Harris stated Thursday. “We now have the chance to show the web page and chart a brand new means and a joyful means ahead.”

Trump joined Joe Rogan for a three-hour interview

Trump began his Texas pit cease in Austin, the place he largely targeted on immigration, baselessly blaming Harris for crimes dedicated by undocumented migrants. “Kamala refuses to cease importing these killers into our nation. Every single day she brings in additional,” Trump stated. “She’s received no regret in any respect for the harmless blood that is on her arms.”

At one level, he invited Alexis Nungaray, to talk. Nungary is the mom of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was allegedly killed by two males accused of coming into the nation illegally earlier this 12 months.

Trump additionally repeated inflammatory assaults in opposition to immigrants, calling America a “rubbish can for the remainder of the world to dump the folks that they do not need.”

Trump additionally criticized a federal decide’s determination Friday to revive the voting rights of greater than 1,600 individuals who had been purged from the state’s rolls, calling the ruling “un-American” and “election interference.”

Whereas in Texas, a state he’s all however sure to win, Trump taped a podcast with Joe Rogan, who has thousands and thousands of followers and an viewers overwhelmingly youthful and extra male — a key constituency for the previous president. The interview lasted three hours, making Trump three hours late for a rally in Traverse Metropolis, Michigan.

Trump’s media technique this election cycle has relied closely on these social media-friendly, male-heavy podcasts and influencers that largely eschew probing coverage questions and paint the previous president as a pleasant, accessible determine.

The 2 appearances in Texas additionally underscore what may probably be the most important gender hole in a latest presidential election, with Trump rising help amongst males and Harris amongst ladies.

That gender cut up is mirrored within the audiences every candidate might be reaching by means of interviews they held Friday. Whereas Trump had Joe Rogan, Harris spoke with Brené Brown’s Unlocking Us, a podcast widespread with ladies.