WATCH LIVE: Harris makes ‘closing arguments’ for his campaign in a speech at the Ellipse in Washington

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kamala Harris will pledge Tuesday to “put country above party and above self” in the closing argument of her presidential campaign, to be delivered from the same place where Donald Trump spurred the Capitol uprising, hoping that it offers a stark visualization of the choice facing voters.

Harris is scheduled to make his remarks at the Ellipse at 7:30 p.m. EDT. Watch in the player above.

A week out from Election Day, the vice president was to use her 7:30 p.m. ET address from the grassy Ellipse near the White House to promise Americans that she will work to improve their lives while arguing that her Republican opponent is only in it. for himself.

Trump “has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other: That’s who he is,” Harris will say, according to prepared remarks released by her campaign. “But America, I’m here tonight to say: That’s not who we are.”

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She hoped to sharpen that contrast by delivering her keynote speech from the spot where, on January 6, 2021, Trump spewed lies about the 2020 presidential election that inspired a crowd to march on the Capitol and unsuccessfully attempt to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

With time running out and the race close, Harris and Trump have both been looking for big moments to try to shift the momentum their way.

“It’s a place that we think certainly helps crystallize the election in this election,” Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said of the setting, calling it “a stark visualization of probably the most infamous example of Donald Trump and how he has used his power for evil.”

Campaign aides stressed that Harris will not deliver a thesis on democracy — a staple of President Joe Biden’s own attempts to contrast Trump — or spend too much time focusing directly on the shocking images of the day. Harris aides said the vice president aims to make a broader case for why voters should reject Trump and consider what she offers.

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“He has an enemy list of people he intends to prosecute,” Harris is said to have said. “He says one of his highest priorities is to free the violent extremists who attacked the law enforcement officers on January 6. Donald Trump intends to use the United States military against American citizens who simply disagree with him. People he calls ‘the enemy from within’. This is not a presidential candidate who thinks about how to make your life better.”

Her campaign hoped to draw a massive crowd to Washington for the event. But more critically, her campaign hopes the option will help capture the attention of battleground voters who remain on the fence about who to vote for — or whether to vote at all.

The address comes days after Harris traveled to Texas, a reliably Republican state, to perform alongside megastar Beyoncé and highlight the consequences for women after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. It was also a speech that had to register with voters far away in the battleground states.

The vice president’s latest speech has been in the works for weeks. But aides hoped her message would land with more impact after Trump’s rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York, where speakers hurled cruel and racist insults. Harris said the event “highlighted the point that I’ve been making throughout this campaign.”

“He is focused and actually fixated on his grievances, on himself and on dividing our country,” she said.

Harris was expected to use her speech to lay out a pragmatic and forward-looking plan for the country, including reminding voters of her economic proposals and promising to work for access to reproductive care, including abortion.

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“Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy,” Harris said. “He’ll put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at my table. And I promise to be president for all Americans. To always put country above party and above self.”

Also central to her message: positioning herself as a “new generation” of leaders after Trump and even her current boss, Biden. She will “talk about what her new generation of leadership really means and center it around the American people and what they care about,” O’Malley Dillon said.

As for Trump, Harris said Monday, “People are literally ready to turn the page. They’re sick of it.”

Ahead of Harris’ speech, Trump used remarks to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Tuesday morning to accuse Harris of ending with a message that doesn’t address the daily struggles and kitchen tables of everyday Americans. concerns.

He said Harris keeps “talking about Hitler and Nazis because her story is terrible,” a reference to Harris that reinforces warnings from his former chief of staff that Trump spoke admiringly of the Nazi leader while in the office.

Harris’ aides, many of whom also advised Biden’s campaign before he dropped out, still believe centering the race on who Trump is and how she is different will be their strongest message to voters.

“She’s already made her case, she’s presented the evidence. She’s offering a summation tonight, and she has faith in the wisdom of the jury,” campaign communications director Michael Tyler said.

Biden told reporters Tuesday that he will not attend Harris’ speech because the event is “for her,” but he planned to watch it on television.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said it was important for voters on the campaign trail to be reminded of the consequences of their choices this fall, and for Harris to “really drive home the stakes of this election and the stark contrast in the race.”

He said Harris had the strongest argument on economic policy, reproductive freedom and the issue of chaos vs. order, adding that she “has a vision that will bring more order and more hope and more joy.”

Ruth Chiari, 78, of Charlottesville, Virginia, attended the demonstration with her husband to “support democracy.”

“I think everyone understands what’s on the ballot,” she said as she waited in line near the Treasury building to enter the event. “We either want an autocrat or freedom.”

Harris spent the day leading up to her speech taping television interviews that aired in Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and Spanish-language radio in Pennsylvania, her campaign said.

Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in Palm Beach, Fla., Ayana Alexander in Baltimore and Fatima Hussein and Gary Fields in Washington contributed to this report.