Trump, Melania take separate paths as election battle heats up
US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have left the White House for a long day of campaigning in separate battleground states while Joe Biden is targeting a state Democrats haven’t won in nearly three decades.
US President Donald Trump and First lady Melania Trump will hit different states on the campaign trail today. Picture: Chris Kleponis / EPA
The first lady is headed to Pennsylvania for her first solo campaign event this year while the president will be in Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
Trump is expected to easily win Nebraska but it’s possible that Democratic presidential nominee Biden could pick up one electoral vote by winning the Omaha-based congressional district.
Nebraska and Maine each award some of their Electoral College votes by congressional district, unlike all other states that give them with a winner-take-all system.
Trump also notes that the Omaha visit could help him make his case to some voters in the battleground state of Iowa.
In a close race, just one electoral vote could make the difference.
Biden is making a late push to flip Georgia, a state Democrats haven’t won at the presidential level since 1992.
Biden is visiting Warm Springs, Georgia, on Tuesday to deliver a speech that aides have said will drive his closing argument, focused on the need for the country to unify to confront its major challenges.
Later in the day, he’s speaking at a drive-in rally in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, billionaire Michael Bloomberg is planning to spend around $US15 million ($A21 million) to help Biden defeat Trump in Texas and Ohio during the final week of the campaign, the New York Times reports.
Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor who lost to Biden in a crowded field for the Democratic nomination, has vowed to spend up to $US100 million of his personal fortune to support Biden’s campaign for the November 3 election.
Bloomberg has been targeting Florida as a state he could push into the Biden column and on Monday he agreed to add Texas and Ohio for a late television advertising blitz, after his team presented polling data showing them as competitive, the Times said.
He will also increase pro-Biden advertising in Florida, the report said.