On the last day of a brutal, wild and tightly contested campaign, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris blitzed voters Monday with their final pleas for turnout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the race tied at 49% nationally in a<\/a>n<\/a>\u2002NBC News poll<\/a>\u2002Sunday<\/a> and battleground surveys showing all of the decisive states within margins of error, millions of Americans will cast their ballots Tuesday. It\u2019s not yet clear how long it will take for those votes to be counted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last two elections were decided by historically narrow spreads, with Trump defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton by roughly 77,000 votes across three states in 2016 and Joe Biden beating Trump by about 44,000 spread across the same number of states in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, the final pitches could be decisive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harris sees herself as a candidate on the upswing at the crucial moment. She held her last rally in Philadelphia late Tuesday night, standing on the steps of the city’s art museum made famous by the “Rocky” movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It\u2019s good to be back in the City of Brotherly Love, where the foundation of our democracy was forged,” Harris said. “And here, at these famous steps, a tribute to those who start as the underdog and climb to victory.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe momentum is on our side,\u201d she added at her rally, which featured celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga and Will.i.am. \u201cOur campaign has tapped into the ambitions and the aspirations and the dreams of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump told supporters in Raleigh, North Carolina, that he’s ahead and just needs their votes to seal his return to the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Hopefully everything will work out well; we\u2019re way leading. All we have to do is close, we have to close it,” he said. “I hate the expression, actually, but it\u2019s ours to lose. Does that make sense to you? It\u2019s ours to lose. If we, if we get everybody out and vote, there\u2019s not a thing they can do.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump’s final rally was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the same city where he closed out his past two campaigns. As usual, the former president was running late, and he didn’t take the stage until after midnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump projected confidence that he would win \u2014 saying there was a 95% chance of it \u2014 boasted about the size of his crowds and went after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “She’s an evil, sick, crazy, b \u2014 Oh no,” he said, silently mouthing the derogatory term. “It starts with a ‘b’ but I won’t say it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I want to say it,” he added, with the crowd urging him to say it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were signs, though, that Make America Great Again voters were more exhausted than their candidate. Trump spoke to partially full venues<\/a> in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and people began leaving in droves before he wrapped up his Pittsburgh remarks after 9 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rally was likely Trump’s last one ever<\/a>, an end he’s acknowledged on the campaign trail with some sentimentality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This will be my last rally. Can you believe it?” he said to the crowd in Grand Rapids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harris and Trump both put their emphasis Monday on Pennsylvania, suggesting they still believe “Keystone State” is more than just a nickname. Its 19 electoral votes went for Trump in 2016 and Biden, who abandoned his re-election bid this summer, in 2020. Most political analysts say neither side can afford to lose the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This is all about a final attempt at voter mobilization and persuasion, and that so much time is being spent in Pennsylvania by both Harris and Trump tells you how both campaigns see it: Whomever wins the state likely wins the presidency,” Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n