Harris vows middle class help, Trump to rally in Butler
US Vice President Kamala Harris says helping the middle class would define her presidency in a speech in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where she was expected to propose new incentives to boost domestic manufacturing.
Speaking at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh before a crowd of about 400 people, the Democratic candidate in the November 5 presidential election was due to lay out policies to build on her platform of home-buyer subsidies, small business tax breaks and a federal ban on grocery price gouging.
“I have pledged that building a strong middle class will be the defining goal of my presidency,” Harris said, adding that she sees the election as a moment of choice between two “fundamentally different” visions of the US economy held by her and her Republican opponent Donald Trump.
In her speech, Harris highlighted her “middle-class” upbringing as a child raised by a single mother, in contrast with Trump, the wealthy son of a New York real estate developer.
Trump, she said, is “only interested in making life better for himself and people like himself, the wealthiest of Americans”.
Harris said she was committed to working with the private sector and entrepreneurs to help grow the middle class.
She told the audience that she is “a capitalist” who believes in “free and fair markets, and said her policies are pragmatic and not rooted in ideology.
The vice president and Trump are focusing their campaign messaging on the economy, which Reuters/Ipsos polling shows is voters’ top concern, as the election approaches.
Trump discussed his economic plan in North Carolina on Wednesday and took aim at Harris.
“Kamala goes to work every day in the White House. Families are suffering now. So if she has a plan, she should stop grandstanding and do it,” he said.
While Trump has proposed across-the-board tariffs on foreign-made goods – a proposal backed by a slim majority of voters – Harris is focusing on providing incentives for businesses to keep their operations in the US.
Trump’s campaign said he will hold a rally on October 5 in Butler, Pennsylvania – the town where he was shot in an assassination attempt.
“President Trump’s return to Butler will mark his first visit to the site of the attack since he was struck by an assassin’s bullet on July 13th – but was saved in what the world has recognised as an act of divine providence,” his campaign said in a statement.
Trump would honour the memory of Corey Comperatore – who was killed in the assassination attempt – at the rally, the campaign added.
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