By Jeff Mason, Arlene Eiras and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democrat Kamala Harris warned tens of thousands of people gathered in Washington at her biggest-ever rally that her Republican opponent Donald Trump was seeking unchecked power as their race for the presidency entered its final week.
Harris spoke on Tuesday evening to an outdoor rally estimated by her campaign to number more than 75,000 people at the spot near the White House where on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump addressed his supporters before they attacked the U.S. Capitol.
“We know who Donald Trump is,” Harris said. She said the then-president sent an armed mob to the U.S. Capitol to try to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election.
“This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power,” Harris said during what her campaign called her closing argument before a tightly contested Nov. 5 election.
Harris was flanked by American flags on stage and surrounded by blue and white banners that said “FREEDOM” with a well-lit White House behind her.
The crowd included older people and college students, people from overseas, from New York and from nearby Virginia. Many women came in groups with other female friends.
“It’s important that we do not go back to the horrible past policies under President Trump,” said Saul Schwartz, a former federal worker from Alexandria, Virginia.
“She is everything that I always wanted in a president. She is joyous. She is real, she is powerful. And she is a woman,” said Danielle Hoffmann from Staten Island, New York. “It’s time for you guys, I’m sorry, to take a backseat because we’re driving right now,” she said, addressing men in general. Her husband, she noted, is a Trump supporter.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed that Harris’ lead had eroded to just 44% to 43% among registered voters.
Harris has led Trump in every Reuters/Ipsos poll since she entered the race in July, but her advantage has steadily shrunk since late September.
Trump and his allies have sought to play down the violence of Jan. 6.
Thousands of his supporters stormed the Capitol, sending lawmakers fleeing for their lives and chanting “Hang Mike Pence” the vice president, after Trump’s address on the Ellipse, where as president he told the crowd to “fight like hell” to prevent Pence and Congress from ratifying his loss.
Four people died in the ensuing riot at the Capitol, and one police officer who defended the Capitol died the following day. Trump has said that if reelected, he would pardon the more than 1,500 participants who have been charged with crimes.
“We have to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms,” Harris told the crowd and urged Americans to put divisive discourse behind them.
Wading into foreign policy, Harris sought to paint Trump as a threat to national security who cozies up to autocrats like Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and cannot be trusted by allies.
“World leaders think that Donald Trump is an easy mark, easy to manipulate with flattery or favor,” she said. “And you can believe that autocrats like Putin and Kim Jong Un are rooting for him in this election.”
In Florida earlier in the day, Trump’s campaign tried to move on from racist and other vulgar remarks made by allies at his New York rally on Sunday. Trump called the event “an absolute lovefest.” He said he was honored to be involved.
Trump did not comment on the rhetoric used by speakers at the event, where a comedian called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and disparaged Black Americans, Jewish people, Palestinians and Latinos.
COURTING HISPANIC VOTERS
As Harris spoke in Washington, Trump visited a heavily Hispanic city in Pennsylvania, two days after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s comments about Puerto Rico drew outrage at the New York rally.
Puerto Ricans are the largest Hispanic group in Pennsylvania, the most crucial battleground state to win as it holds the highest number of Electoral College votes of the seven battleground states, according to the Census Bureau.
“I’d like to begin with a very, very simple question: Are you better off now than you were four years ago? I’m here today with a message of hope for all Americans,” Trump said.
Some 51 million Americans have already voted in the election, according to Election Hub at the University of Florida, in a battle that will decide who runs the world’s richest and most powerful country for four years.
Harris, who would be the first female president, and Trump, seeking a return to office after his 2017-21 term, diverge on support for Ukraine and NATO, tariffs that could trigger trade wars, abortion rights, taxes and basic democratic principles.
The candidates are neck and neck in the seven battleground states that will decide the election.
Trump has said Harris would be too dangerous to serve as president, pointing to foreign wars and high levels of immigration during her tenure as vice president.
He said she had waged a campaign of destruction. “But really more than anything else it’s a campaign of hate,” he said.
Trump aims to capitalize on voters’ unhappiness with rising prices and immigration, while Harris has emphasized abortion rights and has described Trump as an aspiring dictator who would undermine U.S. democracy.