2020 election: Was Biden's final day of campaigning across Pennsylvania enough to secure him the White House?

On the last full day of campaigning before Election Day, Joe Biden and senator Kamala Harris crisscrossed Pennsylvania, hitting all four corners of a state that could decide the outcome of the presidential race. 

Though Pennsylvania almost certainly will not have definitive results on election night, both Biden and President Donald Trump consider its 20 electoral college votes to be pivotal in their possible paths to victory. 

Speaking on a chilly night at Heinz Field on Monday, Biden noted that he was coming full circle. His first campaign stop after he announced his candidacy a year and a half ago had been in western Pennsylvania. 

"Now it's my last stop before Election Day — because you represent the backbone of this country, " Biden, 77, told the crowd at his final event of the day, a car rally in Pittsburgh with the pop star Lady Gaga. "Hard-working families who are asking for nothing but a fair shot and an even chance. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things." 

The Biden campaign's barnstorm of the Keystone State was an effort to leave no geographical area or demographic unturned in a battleground where both candidates have spent significant time and resources in recent weeks. 

Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, visited western Pennsylvania with events that targeted union workers, labour leaders, African Americans, suburban women and rural voters. 

Meanwhile, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, focused on the eastern part of the state, with events geared toward Latino voters, veterans, students and farmers. 

Throughout the day, Biden unleashed an extra dose of tough talk against the president, at one point calling Trump a "loser" who looked down on military families and who has "refused to do the work" to help working-class Americans. 

He also called Trump a "flat disgrace" for falsely claiming that doctors have made more money off coronavirus patients. "It's time for Donald Trump to pack his bags and go home!" Biden said to open his Pittsburgh rally. "We're done with the chaos. We're done with the racism and we're done with the tweets, the anger, the failure, the irresponsibility." 

The Democratic presidential nominee criticised Trump for reportedly paying more taxes in China than he had in the United States, and threatening to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. 

Biden also declared that it was time for racial justice in the United States and brought up Trump's claims that he had done more for Black Americans than any president since Abraham Lincoln. 

"Honk if you think it's a bunch of malarkey! He's lying!" Biden shouted, as honks reverberated across the parking lot at Heinz Field. 

Eileen Elicker, 67, drove with four friends to the Pittsburgh rally from Westmoreland County. None of them expected Biden to win their county — "we live in a very Trump area, " Elicker said — but said they were sure the Democrat would be rewarded with more votes than Hillary Clinton. 

"There so many more people who are for him than ever were for Hillary, " said Kathy Breen, 61, a retired nurse. "It's been too much, " 

Andrea Heinle, 69, said of Trump's rhetoric. "It's divided families. The anxiety of this election. We just want it over." 

The crowd, particularly hundreds of students and local residents, whooped in support as Lady Gaga appealed for a big get-out-the-vote effort. Some whirled "Terrible Towels", a particular sort of Pittsburgh Steelers gear; drivers, in cars draped in Biden signs and even a colloquial "Yinzer for Biden" banner, blared their horns in appreciation. 

"We all know this thing might come down to Pennsylvania, " the entertainer said. "Vote like your life depended on it. Vote like your children's lives depend on it." 

She ended the night with a performance of "Shallow" and "You and I, " removing her gloves as she sat down at the piano. 

"Gloves off, because this is a fight! It's a fight for what you believe in. This is a fight for what you stand for, and you know what? This is not political. This is not red or blue. This is about people. This is about heart." 

Sanzia Pearman and Marguerite Reed, both 18-year-old musical-theatre students at Point Park University in downtown Pittsburgh, said they had already voted by mail but were hoping to drum up support by rallying for Biden. 

The coronavirus pandemic, racial justice and so many other issues are at stake in this election, Pearman said. 

"The anxiety levels are so high. Not just here, but all over the world. My family is from Bermuda. This election is much bigger than just America, " she said. 

Shauna Stack, 41, drove with daughter Brenna Firmi from Johnston, Ohio, to stand in the cold to hear one of Biden's last campaign speeches. 

"I feel it in my heart. Our country can't survive another four years, " Stack said. "I keep asking: How did we get here? How did we get here?" 

Biden's first stop on Monday was a canvass kickoff in Beaver County, just outside Pittsburgh, where he addressed supporters from unions representing plumbers, steelworkers, carpenters and firefighters. 

"The stakes in this election remind me of something my dad used to say: 'Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about dignity. Respect. Your place in the community. It's about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, "Honey, it's going to be okay," Biden told the crowd in Monaca. 

"That's a lesson I've never forgotten — growing up with hard-working families over in Scranton. But it's a lesson Donald Trump never learned because he can only see the world from Park Avenue." 

As he has for months, Biden hewed to his message that Trump has mismanaged the United States' response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed at least 230,000 Americans and devastated the economy since February. 

Biden also touted himself as the only candidate who could help unify the country after years of divisive rhetoric from Trump. And in a message he has emphasised repeatedly on recent trips to Pennsylvania, Biden promised he would not ban fracking, as Trump has tried to mount a last-minute, pro-fracking push in the state. 

"No matter how many times Trump tries to lie, I will not ban fracking. I never said I would, " Biden said in Monaca. Biden's words on fracking had been distorted by Trump, said Ed Begovic, a retired coal miner who drove an hour and a half to see Biden in Pittsburgh on Monday night. 

Biden has said he would support an end to additional permits for drilling on federal lands but does not support a national fracking ban. 

"I worked in coal all my life. Coal is not coming back, " said Begovic, 69, waiting for the rally to start in the cold crisp night. Begovic said he and his wife, Shirley, blamed Trump for the coronavirus crisis. Begovic has lost a cousin and three friends to the virus — and has had many friends who have been ill. 

"It's terrible, " Shirley Begovic said, adding both of them plan to vote in person on Tuesday. "We want our votes to count." 

Biden on Monday morning also tacked on a last-minute trip to Cleveland in next-door Ohio, where polls have showed him slightly trailing Trump. 

Nevertheless, the Biden campaign believes the Buckeye State could be within reach. 

There, Biden spoke at a drive-in rally, an event that has come to symbolise his pandemic-era campaign, at Burke Lakefront Airport. 

He criticised Trump as "weak and chaotic with China on trade", and as someone who not only had given up on trying to get the pandemic under control but also was newly threatening to fire Anthony Fauci, the country's leading infectious-disease expert, as soon as the election was over. 

"Elect me, and I'm going to hire Dr. Fauci! And I'm going to fire Donald Trump!" Biden said. "... I'm never going to wave the white flag of surrender. We're going to beat this virus and get it under control, I promise you. Look, the first step to beating the virus is beating Donald Trump." 

Harris said on Monday morning she would be spending her day focusing on Biden, barely mentioning Trump by name at her first stop in Luzerne, Pa. 

"On the eve of the election, I'm just going to talk about Joe, " Harris said. "I'm not even going to talk about the other guy. I don't feel like talking about the other guy." 

Other than a few references to “you-know-who”, Harris excised the president from her remarks. Instead, she used Biden's life experiences to explain why he holds his policy positions instead of why those positions are different from Trump's. 

"Pennsylvania knows his story more than most. Joe has seen suffering. Joe has spent far too much time in the hospital with people he loves, " Harris told a crowd, talking about the pandemic and the importance of leaders taking it seriously. 

"Joe understands the significance and responsibility of our government in one of its core functions, which is to concern itself with the public health and well-being of the American people. That's why he and President Obama pushed for the Affordable Care Act." 

The stop was the first of several scheduled for Harris on Monday as the Democratic ticket covered Pennsylvania. She also addressed a mobilisation event aimed at Latino voters in Bethlehem. 

Trump supporters greeted Harris when she arrived there, some standing and holding signs, others in their vehicles honking horns. 

At both events, she avoided mentioning Trump by name, or even by title, lapsing only into an occasional "the other guy". 

"You know Joe. Joe has seen more hardship than most should have to experience. Joe has suffered more loss than anybody should really have to suffer," Harris said. "In the midst of any crisis he has faced, he sees always a moment where hard work, determination and faith can see you through to see the opportunity of the moment. On all of these issues, that's where he's at." 

Harris and Emhoff closed out Monday with a drive-in rally in Philadelphia with the singer John Legend and Patti LaBelle, and a surprise appearance by the rapper Common. 

"The energy out there is real and it is inspiring, " Harris told the crowd at Citizens Bank Park. "We can see what can be unburdened by what has been." 

Meanwhile, Biden's campaign advisers sought to reassure supporters Monday afternoon that the Democrat had numerous pathways to victory — including one they described as the "easiest" — winning Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 

"We believe that we are well-positioned in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. We know those states in particular are coming in later, but we think we're going to win those states. That is our clearest path to victory, " campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a public briefing about what to expect on election night. 

Biden's last-minute trip to Ohio was an indication that the campaign thought the state could be in play if they simply pushed voter turnout, she added. 

O'Malley Dillon also warned that Trump would try to prematurely declare himself the winner on election night before all the votes were counted. Those declarations should be ignored, she said. 

"We are not distracted about whatever Donald Trump will try to throw out there, " she said. 

In the briefing, Biden campaign adviser Bob Bauer also urged people to call the campaign's hotline and notify law enforcement if they witnessed voter intimidation or suppression tactics from Trump's supporters on Election Day. 

"This will not be tolerated, " Bauer said. "And we will work with law enforcement to make sure our voters are protected and the process is protected." 

Seeking to make inroads in another battleground state the campaign thought could swing for Biden this year, former Presidentpresident Barack Obama held a drive-in rally in Atlanta on Monday afternoon. 

In a nearly 40-minute speech, Obama condemned Trump and the state's two Republican senators, invoked the late congressman John Lewis, D-Ga, and preached empowerment, telling voters it is up to them to deliver change. 

"I've got one word for you Atlanta: Tomorrow, " Obama told the crowd assembled outside the former Atlanta Braves stadium. "Tomorrow, after four years of failure, you have the power to change America." "But you're going to have to vote, " he added.

The Washington Post