Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have kicked into high gear, making a last-ditch effort to sway voters in key U.S. swing states with only 48 hours left until Election Day.

This frantic push is crucial in a presidential election that’s been bitterly contested and historically close.

“The fate of our nation is in your hands. On Tuesday, you have to stand up,” Trump said at his first rally of the day in Pennsylvania, where he doubled down on unfounded claims of election rigging.

AFP reports that over 76 million people have cast early ballots ahead of Tuesday’s climax and the battle is down to the wire – with more states functionally tied in polls at this point than in any comparable election.

The closeness of the race is all the more remarkable given its dramatic twists and the fact that the candidates could hardly be further apart in their campaign styles and visions for the future.

A final New York Times/Siena poll on Sunday flagged some incremental changes in the key battleground states, but the results from all seven remained firmly within the margin of error.

Harris – desperate to shore up the Great Lakes states seen as essential to any Democratic ticket – was to spend the day in Michigan, beginning in Detroit before a stop in Pontiac and an evening rally at Michigan State University.

Trump’s Sunday timetable centred on Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, the three biggest prizes in the “Electoral College” system that awards states influence according to their population.

Trump is expected to reject the results if he loses, as he did four years ago.

On Sunday, he seized on isolated irregularities caught by election officials to amplify his claims of widespread “cheating.”

“They are fighting so hard to steal this damn thing,” he insisted at the rally.

Republicans are also scrambling to contain fallout in Pennsylvania – home to a large Puerto Rican community – after a speaker at Trump’s New York rally prompted outrage by describing the US territory as a “floating island of garbage.”

Like Pennsylvania, Michigan is among the seven closely watched battlegrounds.

Trump flipped the state, a former Democratic stronghold, on his way to defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016. Joe Biden returned it to the Democratic column in 2020, buoyed by unionised workers and a large Black community.

But this time, Harris risks losing the support of a 200,000-strong Arab-American community that has denounced Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Pollsters have noted an erosion in Black support for the Democratic ticket and Harris’s aides acknowledge that they still have work to do to turn out enough African American men to match Biden’s winning coalition in 2020.

But with reproductive rights emerging as a top voter concern, her campaign has taken some comfort from the large proportion of women turning out among the early voters.

Harris wrapped a day on the campaign trail Saturday with a surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” mocking her presidential election rival Donald Trump on the iconic sketch show.

“Keep Kamala and carry on-ala!” the vice president said in a well-received appearance alongside Maya Rudolph, the comedian who has been playing her as “America’s fun aunt” on the show.

Keen on as much TV exposure as possible, the Harris campaign has booked a two-minute spot to air during Sunday’s NFL football games, including the matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions, both from crucial swing states.

In the ad, Harris pledges to be “a president for all Americans” and promises to “build a brighter future for our nation.”

Her campaign said its own research shows the “last week has proven decisive in cementing the choice in this election with both undecided and lower-propensity voters,” particularly the contrast of two candidates’ closing argument rallies.

Harris, 60, got a boost Saturday in Iowa as the final Des Moines Register poll before Election Day — seen as a highly credible test of wider public sentiment — showed a stunning turnaround, with Harris ahead in a state won easily by Trump in 2016 and 2020.

At his morning rally in Pennsylvania, Trump dismissed the findings as a “fake poll.”

Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of Rivers, claims he was pressured into signing a peace agreement with allies of Nyesom Wike.

Fubara made this statement on Wednesday at a non-denominational thanksgiving service in Port Harcourt, held in remembrance of the failed impeachment attempt against him on October 30, 2023, by lawmakers aligned with Wike.

The governor and Wike, who is the minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), have clashed over control of Rivers state’s political structure. This ongoing conflict has triggered a political crisis, conflicting court orders, and divisions within the Rivers house of assembly.

In December 2023, Fubara and Wike signed an eight-point resolution to address their dispute. The agreement, brokered at the presidential villa in Abuja after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, included commitments to end all impeachment actions against the governor and to withdraw pending court cases.

However, despite the peace agreement, tensions in the state remain unresolved.

• ‘They Think They’re Smart’

Speaking during the thanksgiving service, the Rivers governor said Wike’s camp failed to abide by the conditions stipulated in the peace agreement initiated by the president.

Fubara said he signed the deal because of his desire to return peace to the state.

He added that after he withdrew the cases in court, Wike’s camp failed to withdraw theirs.

The Rivers governor explained that he was “ambushed” with the peace deal by Wike’s camp and not by the president who initiated the deal.

“Because we are people of peace, if there is any advantage that was taken over us, it is because of our genuine interest for peace,” Fubara said.

“The preacher said something about peace. I want to tell you that we went to Abuja and Mr President, knowing the importance of peace in Rivers state, brought out some conditions.

“We came back here to this state. First, we did everything that had to be done with those conditions.

“We went to court immediately, withdrew our matters, but they did not. And you call yourself honourable, when you cannot even obey simple instruction, and you blame it on Fubara.

“How is Fubara the problem? Fubara is not the problem! It was because we withdrew our matter, even the matter you filed, and we said we don’t want to continue: you took advantage of it, and went and got a judgment. Is it not fraud?

“I discovered that I was being ambushed, not by the person who initiated the peace, but by people who believed that they are smarter.

“But you know such smartness, no matter what you call yourself, it is still foolishness before God.

“That is why, as they said, those other things that they are looking for, to make them feel they are coming back to life, we will not do it. So, let me see how they will come to life when we don’t do it.”

He added that those who boasted that his administration would not last have failed.

“I can tell you, they said we are not going to last for one week, we are here, we have done one year plus,” he said.

“We are also doing one anniversary of their attack. They said those buccaneers will not leave as local government chairmen, today, we have the 23 local government chairmen sitting here with us.

“They said their commissioners should resign so that we will be crippled. Today, we have more than 23 commissioners.”

The Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has suspended former Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, citing “alleged anti-party activities.”

In a resolution submitted to the APC National Secretariat and addressed to National Chairman Dr. Umar Ganduje, the Osun APC accused Aregbesola of “creating divisions within the party by establishing a splinter faction.”

The state party chapter claimed that this move has “undermined cohesion and unity,” particularly during a critical period in Osun politics.

The party stated that Aregbesola’s actions have “fueled internal divisions.”

Aregbesola’s camp is yet to respond to the development.

More to come…