PHILADELPHIA — It was always going to come down to Pennsylvania.

The presidential campaign that’s made the word “unprecedented” seem to lose its meaning came to a close Monday in Pennsylvania, as both candidates presented their starkly different visions for the country’s future in dueling rallies across the crucial battleground state.

In Reading on Monday afternoon, Republican former President Donald Trump framed his candidacy as one that would “save America.”

“November 5th will be the most important day in the history of our country,” he said. “We’re gonna turn it around.”

Just 37 miles away in Allentown, Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, said the country was ready to turn the page on a decade of politics that have been driven by division.

“We are fighting for a democracy,” she said.

All told, the candidates are hosting a combined half-dozen events in Pennsylvania on Election eve, with Harris appearing four times and Trump twice. Republican vice presidential nominee and U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, is also rallying in Bucks County Monday evening.

Harris is capping her campaign with a star-studded concert and rally on Philadelphia’s iconic Benjamin Franklin Parkway Monday night. Trump will finish in Grand Rapids, Michigan, another critical battleground state where he ended his two previous presidential campaigns.

The laser focus on the Keystone State underscores how the race for the White House could hinge on Pennsylvania — a narrowly divided state where Trump prevailed in 2016, but lost four years later to President Joe Biden. Surveys have for months showed the race here is a dead heat, with a new Philadelphia Inquirer/New York Times/Siena College poll released this week showing Trump and Harris tied at 48% each.

Harris, who replaced Biden on the ticket in July after he bowed out of the race following a disastrous debate performance, is attempting to reconstruct the anti-Trump coalition that lifted Biden to victory in 2020. The vice president, who would be the first female president in American history, is focused on supercharging turnout among women and is trying to appeal to independent or Republican-leaning voters turned off by Trump.

Trump, on the other hand, has made much of his campaign about reaching men and growing his support particularly among men of color, a group that has traditionally voted for Democrats.

He has leaned into projecting strength, particularly after he survived a July assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., escaping with a wounded ear and embracing the phrase “fight, fight, fight” as his mantra. And he has called for his enemies to face criminal investigation or military tribunals.

In Reading, Trump doubles down on anti-immigrant message

Perhaps doubling down on his campaign’s macho overtones, Trump on Monday repeatedly used sports metaphors during his remarks, and he suggested that members of the Penn State wrestling team could fight undocumented immigrants entering the United States.

”They had more muscle than I ever saw in a human being,” Trump said of the team, who he brought on stage at a State College rally last month. “And I look at them, I said, ‘you know, fellas you may be the only ones in this room, in this country, that could take the migrants in a fight.’”

Trump spent much of his remarks on immigration, referring to migrants as “savages” and “animals.” He called for the death penalty for any migrant who kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer, and reaffirmed his desire to ban sanctuary cities, where local officials do not comply with warrant-less federal detainer requests for immigrants. Philadelphia has been a sanctuary city since 2016.

The former president also struck a reflective tone Monday, calling members of his family onto the stage and saying: ”I want to thank you very specially.”

“You know, these (rallies today) are our last time now, for forever,” he said.

Supporters who attended said they were hopeful about the Republican’s chances. Downingtown resident Bob O’Mara, 63, said he voted by mail for Trump based on his positions on immigration, “and tied to that is the economy.”

“He’s practical,” O’Mara said. “He just came into it not as a politician, as a businessperson.”

When O’Mara spoke, the arena was less than half-full, despite the former president having been scheduled to start speaking 30 minutes earlier. O’Mara noted the rally was taking place during a work day, and said the intensity of the campaign may be another reason some stayed home: ”Everybody’s getting tired of all of it.”

Carla Guss and Emily Bundy, who live in rural Berks County, said they came for one reason: to pray.

”We came out to pray God’s will be done,” said Guss, 50, adding that her top issue is ending abortion. Bundy, 43, said she’s hopeful that, if elected, Trump will follow through on a “pro-life” agenda, despite him saying he would not sign a nationwide ban on abortion.

This is the first presidential election since the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that allowed states to ban and restrict abortion. Republicans have been on the defensive on the issue since, and Harris has made access to abortion a cornerstone of her campaign.

In Allentown, Harris courts young voters and Latinos

On Monday afternoon, the vice president opened her remarks in Allentown by listing off the people in whom she sees “the promise of America,” naming women who fight for reproductive rights and the Republicans voting for her.

“And I see the promise of America in all the young leaders who are voting for the first time. I love Gen Z,” she told the crowd at Muhlenberg College. “You are rightly impatient for change.”

Attendees said they support Harris’ positions on reproductive rights, LGBTQ issues, and climate change. Lindsey Biggs, 21, got in line with eight friends at around 9 a.m., taking advantage of the fact that most Muhlenberg professors canceled classes ahead of the rally.

”Our school is so small, we never get events like these, especially in Lehigh County,” she said, showing off a camouflage cap emblazoned with Harris’ campaign logo. Jo Pitera, 20, said they were inspired by the sense of “community.”

”Just seeing the hundreds of people that have gathered here who believe in the same thing,” Pitera said.

Allentown is also of significance because of its Latino population, including about 34,000 Puerto Ricans. The Harris campaign has heavily courted the group after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe referred to the territory as “a floating island of garbage” during a controversial Trump rally in Madison Square Garden.

Famed salsero Frankie Negrón and rapper Fat Joe — both of Puerto Rican descent — joined Harris in Allentown. After the rally, the vice president joined U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., also of Puerto Rican descent, at a Puerto Rican restaurant in Reading.

Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, the city’s first Latino mayor, spoke during the rally, blending in and out of Spanish. He referenced Hinchcliffe’s remark as supporters held a large Puerto Rican flag in the gym’s risers.

”Puerto Rico se respeta! Allentown se respeta!” he said, meaning: “You respect Puerto Rico! You respect Allentown!”

Harris thanked the Puerto Rican community in Allentown, citing her “long-standing commitment” to the island.

”I will be a president for all,” she said.

_____

©2024 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Visit at inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.