USA TODAY US Edition

Closing arguments from both parties

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Vote GOP: Keep our great American comeback alive Ronna McDaniel

As I travel across the country, I often meet with volunteers and voters and listen to their stories. Recently, I joined volunteers in Arizona to go door-todoor and talk about the midterm elections. As we went door-knocking, I met a dedicated volunteer named Renee Trapp. We discussed helping our communitie­s and making sure our parents receive quality health care. We shared our friends’ success stories, thanks to President Donald Trump and Republican policies that have made this country great again.

Renee spends 15 hours a week knocking doors, making phone calls, and encouragin­g her neighbors to vote because she does not want to wake up after Election Day with Democrats in power, wondering “what if.” What if she had made one more phone call, knocked on one more door, or spoken to one more voter?

Renee understand­s we are in the fight for our future. There is too much at stake, and we must do everything we can so we will not have to wonder “what if.” Think of how far our country has come under President Trump’s leadership: We have millions of new jobs, unemployme­nt at a 49-year low, the biggest tax cut in a generation and recordhigh small business optimism. People are getting back to work, launching businesses, and keeping more of their paychecks.

The Trump administra­tion and a Republican-led Congress are working to protect Medicare for our seniors. They expanded veterans’ access to quality care, and ramped up the fight against opioid abuse. They began to build a southern border wall, and they champion school choice for our children.

Democrats’ backwards agenda

Despite this good news, Democrats have sworn to undo the president’s progress. They embrace the socialist policies of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and their obstructio­nist colleagues, which would raise taxes, cripple our economy, undermine border security, and endanger our communitie­s.

Americans will reject the Democrats’ backwards agenda and stand with millions of people like Renee who are passionate about our country. We stand with Republican­s who will work with the president to get results. We stand for everyday issues like secure jobs, better education, affordable health care and safer neighborho­ods.

On Tuesday, voters have a choice: Keep our great American comeback alive by electing Republican­s, or go back to the obstructio­n and resistance of Democratic leaders and their radical policies.

Ronna McDaniel is the chair of the Republican National Committee.

Vote Democrat: Check Trump, defend families Tom Perez

This is the most important election of our lifetime. Voters face a choice between a Republican Party marching in lockstep behind President Donald Trump and a Democratic Party that will fight for affordable health care; protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security; stand up for working families; hold Trump accountabl­e; and restore sanity to our politics.

In the two years since Trump’s election, Republican­s have shown the American people what they truly stand for. They’ve worked to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which could strip health care away from millions of people, including those with pre-existing conditions. They passed a tax bill that rewards the wealthy instead of lifting up hardworkin­g families. They want to slash Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to pay for those tax cuts. And they have refused to speak out against Trump for inciting hatred with a toxic combinatio­n of outright lies and the most vicious, dishonest rhetoric in modern presidenti­al history.

Scandals, lies, rubber-stamp GOP

Despite scandal after scandal, despite the unpreceden­ted dishonesty of this president, and despite the fact that Trump’s own staff has questioned his fitness for office, the Republican Party remains a rubber stamp on his agenda.

And this degradatio­n of our democracy isn’t confined to Washington. Republican­s in state legislatur­es and governors’ mansions across the country have echoed Trump’s rhetoric and amplified his agenda, chipping away at women’s rights, workers’ rights, LGBTQ rights, voting rights and more.

That’s why we need Democratic leadership more than ever.

Democrats believe that health care is a right for all. We believe that the economy should work for everyone, not just those at the top. We believe in protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, not tearing holes in the safety net in order to enrich those already at the top. We believe our that diversity is our strength, and that there is no justificat­ion for the brutality of separating immigrant children from their parents. We believe that facts matter. We believe in holding the president accountabl­e when he lies.

And we believe in preserving the guardrails of our democracy, designed by our Founders to keep despots and demagogues from ruling like kings.

The Democratic Party’s candidates reflect the diversity of our nation. They’re passionate about people, not corporate profits. And when we win on Tuesday, they’ll work tirelessly to unite Americans under our shared hopes.

Tom Perez is chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

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