1 of 2 | Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris (L) embraces singer Beyonce during a campaign rally Friday at the Shell Energy Stadium in Houston. Photo by Carlos Ramirez/EPA-EFE
Oct. 26 (UPI) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump took their presidential campaigns to Texas on Friday, with recording stars stumping for Harris while Trump promised “liberation day.”
Houston native Beyonce made a campaign appearance for Harris during a visit to Houston but did not perform for the audience.
Beyonce introduced Harris for the Houston rally at the Shell Energy Stadium while Trump promised the Nov. 5 general election would be “liberation day in America” for U.S. voters during his campaign stop at an airport hangar in Austin.
Beyonce said she was at Harris’ Houston campaign event as a mother and cited concerns about the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.
“Imagine our daughters growing up, seeing what’s possible, with no ceilings, no limitations,” Beyonce told the audience of about 30,000.
The 32-time Grammy-winning singer said she wanted her “children and all children” to “have the freedom to control our bodies” while living in a world where they are not divided.
When Harris took the stage, she blamed Trump for appointing three justices to the Supreme Court and the subsequent 2022 Dobbs decision that said the federal government has no say in abortion and remanded the matter to the states.
Harris said voters must send Trump a “message” for the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Texas country musician Willie Nelson also attended Harris’ Houston rally.
In Austin, Trump spoke with podcaster Joe Rogans for three hours.
He held a private rally for supporters at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. He was joined by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Trump focused on Harris and the millions of immigrants who have entered Texas and other states while Harris was in charge of the border.
Trump called Texas the “largest ground zero” for what he called a “border invasion” and said Harris would spend Friday in Texas “rubbing shoulders with woke celebrities” instead of meeting with Texans affected by migrant crime.
Alexis Nungaray, whose 12-year-old daughter, Jocelyn, was raped and murdered by two undocumented migrants from Venezuela, spoke briefly during Trump’s event.
She said Harris only reached out to her recently and gave her an insincere apology that Nungaray called “convenient” for Harris’ campaign.
National Border Patrol Council Local 3307 President Paul Perez also spoke at Trump’s rally and said Harris was in Texas to “party like a fool on stage with celebrities” instead of addressing the border.
He said Trump “strikes fears in the enemies of America”and would fix matters related to undocumented migrants.
Trump said he would end the current administration’s open border policies and undertake the “largest deportation program in American history” starting on his first day in office.
Trump flew to Michigan for a campaign rally at the airport in Traverse City, Mich. His plane was delayed three hours and he didn’t start speaking until 10:30 p.m. Some supporters left early and others waited in weather in the 50s.
