Read the latest election and political headlines on the Vote 2024 page. See the full ballot here and information on where to vote here.
Two Texas cities hosted presidential nominees Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on Friday as the candidates continue to close out their campaigns in the Nov. 5 election.
Recommended Videos
In Houston on Friday evening, Harris held a rally with U.S. Rep Colin Allred, who is running against Ted Cruz for the U.S. Senator seat.
Earlier Friday, Trump held a campaign rally in Austin, where he focused on border security. He also conducted an interview with Joe Rogan, the most listened-to podcast host in the U.S.
>> Races to watch around San Antonio in the Nov. 5 presidential election
Here’s what to know about the Trump and Harris campaign stops in Texas.
Harris highlighted abortion ban consequences; Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland appeared at rally
Her campaign said Harris visited Houston for an event Friday with women who have been affected by the state’s restrictive abortion laws, which took effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Harris visited Texas after spending time in Georgia, another state with a restrictive law.
Since that 2022 high court decision, most Republican-controlled states have new abortion restrictions in effect, including 14 that ban the procedure at every stage of pregnancy. Harris has argued that Trump — who nominated three conservative justices to the Supreme Court who later voted to overturn Roe v. Wade — is responsible for worsening medical care for women and that he would seek further restrictions.
Campaign officials cast Harris’ plan to visit Texas as a nontraditional way to capture the attention of voters in battleground states who are inundated with campaign ads and run-of-the-mill campaign events.
Beyoncé appeared alongside Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland at Harris’ rally. Beyoncé was introduced to the crowd by her mother, Tina Knowles.
Harris’ presidential campaign has taken on Beyonce’s 2016 track “Freedom” as its anthem, and the singer’s planned appearance brings a high level of star power to what’s become a key theme of the Democratic nominee’s bid: freedom.
Trump talks immigration, interviews with Joe Rogan
Trump traveled to Austin to make remarks focused on border security and migrant crime. His rally was held at a private jet terminal in east Austin.
Hours before the vice president was scheduled to appear with superstar Beyoncé, Trump accused Harris of hanging out with “woke celebrities” but not with the families of people who have been killed by migrants.
“We’re like a garbage can for the rest of the world to dump the people that they don’t want,” Trump told supporters Friday. Trump has continued to push the unfounded idea that foreign governments actively send criminals to the U.S.
Throughout the campaign, Trump has routinely appeared with grieving relatives of people who were hurt or killed by people living in the country illegally. On Friday, he ceded the microphone to the mother of a 12-year-old Texas girl, Jocelyn Nungaray, whose body was found in June. Prosecutors have charged two Venezuelan men in the U.S. illegally with capital murder.
The Republican presidential nominee was expected to conduct an interview with Rogan for his popular podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” for the first time, according to the Associated Press and Texas Tribune.
That interview is expected to be released on Saturday.
Trump and Rogan — who has 19 million followers on Instagram and lives in Austin — have a complicated history. While the two shook hands and spoke briefly at a UFC fight, Trump criticized Rogan after he said that then-candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. was the only one running who made sense to him.
“It will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC Ring??? MAGA2024,” Trump wrote on his social media site in August.
Rogan later clarified that his comments weren’t an endorsement of Kennedy. Kennedy ended up suspending his bid and endorsing Trump.
This was Trump’s first trip to the Texas capital since 2022.
Vote 2024 coverage: