WASHINGTON:

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump begin the final weekend of the most tense US presidential campaign in modern times with a series of rallies in swing states that will test their stamina and ability to win over the nation’s remaining undecided voters .

Harris, who is trying to become the nation’s first female president, will use rallies in Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan to push her message that Trump is a threat to American democracy.

Trump – who is seeking a sensational return to the White House after losing in 2020 and then becoming the first presidential candidate to be convicted of crimes – is promising a radical transformation of government from the right and aggressive trade wars to promote his policy of “America First.”

In an interview with Fox News Saturday morning, Trump criticized the state of the economy under the Biden-Harris administration, calling the disappointing jobs numbers released Friday a “gift to me.”

The candidates’ hectic schedules will continue through Monday, culminating with late-night rallies — in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Trump and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for Harris.

Election Day is Tuesday, but Americans have been voting early for weeks, with more than 72 million ballots already cast, including a record four million in Georgia, where Democrats are seeking to do everything they can to maintain statehood in their column.

Opinion polls continue to show a tied race, particularly in the seven battleground states likely to determine the outcome of the U.S. Electoral College system, leaving the Republican businessman and his Democratic rival at 60 fighting hard to remove even a fragment of support from each other’s camps.

Harris, currently President Joe Biden’s running mate, is doing this by appealing to centrist voters and propelling her base to the polls through robust ground play and get-out-the-vote efforts.

Thousands of women were expected to demonstrate Saturday, under the theme “We will not come back,” in cities across the country in support of Harris and abortion rights.

But as she worked to appeal to female voters of all parties, using issues such as abortion and health care, Trump attacked a Democratic television ad featuring his supporters’ wives secretly voting for Harris.