Out of the 20 state permutations that would allow Kamala Harris to win the election, 19 require a victory for the vice president in Pennsylvania. Of the 21 that would give Donald Trump the keys to the White House, 19 also depend on winning Pennsylvania. This state has thus become the key to deciding who will be the most powerful person in the world for the next four years.
For this reason, both candidates have gone all out in Pennsylvania. The 90,000 square kilometers of this state have turned into a kind of gigantic sports arena, where Trump's rallies (who held two in Pennsylvania yesterday) and Harris's (who surpassed him with three) have proliferated. However, analyzing the entire campaign makes it clear that Harris has put in the most effort by far. The Democratic candidate has spent $123 million on ads in the state, compared to the $42 million spent by the Republican candidate. And the vice president ended her campaign yesterday in Pennsylvania's largest city, Philadelphia, at a massive event similar to Donald Trump's at Madison Square Garden ten days ago.
It was five hours of speeches and music that stoically endured over 70,000 faithful Democrats, mostly young people, with a presence of women and African Americans that undoubtedly pleased the president's team, who need these three segments of the electorate to remove the "vice" from her title on January 20.
The female vote is significant, which is excellent news for the Democrats. However, available information indicates a lower mobilization of young people, Hispanics, and African Americans compared to 2020. Hence the importance of last night's rally in Philadelphia. This is a city where Harris is going to dominate, as in all urban centers in the country. But what the vice president needs is for as many people as possible to vote to offset Trump's supporters in the rural areas of the state.
When Harris finished, there were barely five minutes left until midnight, and it was quite cold. The crowd endured the ten-degree temperature and a program that, although filled with big names, did not have the fast-paced rhythm of the Democratic convention, where the candidate was "crowned" as the White House nominee, nor that of Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden, which, despite ending up making headlines due to insults to Puerto Rico, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic Party, was an example of organization.
In fact, the attendees showed an enthusiasm akin to an atomic bomb. First, they had to wait in line for over two hours to enter, and in fact, several thousand people were left outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art esplanade. Then, they had to endure a slow and disjointed start to the night. The first three hours of the celebration were marked by local politicians and second-tier figures, whose speeches were not connected by music, giving a truly anticlimactic feeling to the night.
Only from eight o'clock did things start to liven up minimally when a local DJ addressed the audience with a "are we Americans?" and started playing versions of 'Public Service Announcement (Interlude)' by Jay-Z and 'What We Do' by Beanie, in which Beyoncé's husband also sings. Many were hoping for the singer to appear, but that was not the case. Instead, Lady Gaga was there, singing the U.S. anthem on the piano to introduce Harris and bidding farewell to the audience with a piano rendition of Beyoncé's 'Freedom'.
Other celebrities who performed and spoke were Katy Perry and Oprah Winfrey. All of them are part of the usual entourage of celebrities surrounding Democratic candidates. The biggest surprise this time was Ricky Martin with his 'Livin' la vida loca', who possibly joined the campaign after seeing his birthplace, Puerto Rico, being called a "garbage island" at Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden in New York ten days ago.
With so many famous faces, the political message was somewhat diluted. Harris, as befitting the occasion, delivered an optimistic message, in line with the one that marked her early weeks as a candidate and positioned her ahead of Donald Trump. "From the beginning, ours has been a fight, not against something, but for something. A fight for a future with freedom, opportunity, and dignity for all Americans," she said.
It is a phrase that could have been signed by the right-wing saint of American Trumpism, Ronald Reagan, and sharply contrasts with the apocalyptic tone - when not directly vengeful and threatening - of Donald Trump and also with the gloomy messages that Harris herself has launched in recent weeks as she saw her lead fade and fall behind in the polls.
That was not the situation last night in Philadelphia. It was a campaign closure marked by optimism. An optimism that came from both the artists and the vice president's campaign, which has received a boost of optimism in the last week with early voting data. Nevertheless, the election is going to be very close.
Just as Harris finished, the village of Dixville Notch in the state of New Hampshire was celebrating its tradition of voting at midnight on election day and immediately counting the votes. Harris and Trump tied with three votes each. Perhaps it is a premonition of what will happen today.