Trump, Biden seek to flip critical states to win column
LAS VEGAS — President Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden went on offense Sunday, with each campaigning in states they are trying to flip during the Nov. 3 election that is just over two weeks away.
Trump began his day in Las Vegas, making a rare visit to church before a fundraiser in Newport Beach ( Orange County) and an evening rally in Nevada’s capital of Carson City. Once considered a battleground, Nevada has not swung for a Republican presidential contender since 2004.
The rally drew thousands of supporters who sat elbow to elbow, cheering Trump and booing Biden and the press. The vast majority wore no masks to guard against the coronavirus. The president, as he often does, warned that a Biden election would lead to further shutdowns and at one point appeared to mock Biden for saying he would listen to scientists.
“If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression,” Trump said.
Biden, a Catholic, attended Mass in Delaware before campaigning in North Carolina, where a Democrat has not won in a presidential race since
Barack Obama in 2008.
Both candidates are trying to make inroads in states that could help secure a path to victory, but the dynamics of the race are remarkably stable. Biden enjoys a significant advantage in national polls, while carrying a smaller edge in battleground surveys.
With Trump seated in the front row at the nondenominational International Church of Las Vegas, the senior associate pastor, Denise Goulet, said God told her the president is the apple of his eye and would secure a second term.
“At 4: 30, the Lord said to me, ‘ I am going to give your president a second win,’ ” she said, telling Trump, “you will be the president again.”
Trump offered brief remarks, saying he loved going to churches and that it was an honor to attend the service. He dropped a wad of $ 20 bills in the collection plate before leaving.
Biden, at a drivein rally in Durham, N. C., focused heavily on promoting criminal justice changes to combat institutional racism and promised to help build wealth in the Black community.
He noted that Trump had said at one of his rallies that the country had turned the corner on the pandemic.
“As my grandfather would say, this guy’s gone around the bend if he thinks we’ve turned the corner. Turning the corner? Things are getting worse,” Biden said.
Trump’s visit to Nevada is part of an aggressive schedule of campaign events, where he has turned heavily to fear tactics. He has sought to paint Democrats as “antiAmerican radicals” on a “crusade against American history.”