WASHINGTON—Both major presidential candidates are making appearances Thursday meant to fire up their core supporters, with Vice President Kamala Harris participating in a livestream with Oprah Winfrey and former President Donald Trump attending an event with prominent Jewish donors before addressing a gathering of the Israeli-American Council.
Winfrey, who has endorsed Harris and spoke at the Democratic convention in August, is set to host a two-hour “Unite for America” nighttime streaming session in Michigan with Harris that organizers say aims to highlight dozens of grassroots groups backing the vice president.
Trump will be in Washington to address a “Fighting Anti-Semitism in America” evening event with Miriam Adelson, a co-owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and widow of billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who founded the Las Vegas Sands casino and was one of the Republican Party’s largest donors.
Trump will also speak before the Israeli-American Council, a nonprofit long backed by Sheldon Adelson as well as Haim Saban, a major donor to President Joe Biden and Democratic causes. The council is holding its national convention in the weeks before the first anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
On Friday, Harris has campaign stops planned in swing states Wisconsin and Georgia.
Trump has a Saturday rally set in battleground North Carolina.
Thursday’s campaign stops follow the Federal Reserve cutting its benchmark interest rate by an unusually large half-point. That marked a dramatic shift after more than two years of high rates that helped tame inflation but also made borrowing painfully expensive for American consumers.
With the presidential election less than seven weeks away, the move has the potential to scramble the economic landscape just as Americans prepare to vote.
Asked about potential political influence of a rate cut so close to Election Day, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration has been “very clear about this and very respectful of the independence of the Federal Reserve.”
By Will Weissert