MILWAUKEE (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former president donald trump will host demonstrations within 7 miles of each other Friday night in the Milwaukee area as part of a feverish final push for votes in Wisconsin’s largest county, the swing state.

Milwaukee is home to the most Democratic. votes in wisconsinBut its conservative suburbs are where most Republicans live and are a critical area for Trump as he tries to win back the state he narrowly won in 2016 and lost in 2020. One reason for his loss was a drop in support in those Milwaukee suburbs and an increase in Democratic votes in the city.

“Both candidates recognize that the path to the White House runs directly through Milwaukee County,” said Hilario Deleon, chairman of the county Republican Party.

The dueling rallies (Trump is in downtown Milwaukee and Harris is in a suburb) may be the candidates’ last appearances in Wisconsin before then. Election day. Both sides say the race for the state’s 10 electoral votes is once again very close. Four of the last six presidential elections in Wisconsin were decided by less than one point, or fewer than 23,000 votes.

Was Milwaukee absentee voteswhich are typically reported early in the morning after Election Day, which tipped Wisconsin for the presidency joe biden in 2020.

Democrats know they must turn out voters in Milwaukee, also home to the state’s largest black population, to counter Trump’s support in the suburbs and rural areas. Harris hopes to replicate and surpass 2020 turnout in the city, which voted 79% for Biden that year.

Trump is trying to reduce the Democrats’ margin. Deleon called it a “lose for less” mentality.

Before heading to Milwaukee, Harris campaigned in the southern Wisconsin city of Janesville, where she spoke of her support for organized labor in a speech at a facility of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

“No one understands better than a union member that, as Americans, we all rise or fall together,” Harris said. He promised to eliminate “unnecessary” degree requirements for federal jobs and pressure private sector employers to do the same.

He called Trump an “existential threat to the American labor movement.”

Harris called Trump “one of the biggest losers of manufacturing jobs in American history,” and latched onto the word “loser” while flanked by union workers in bright yellow T-shirts.

Trump, whose base includes working-class voters, has made sporadic efforts to reach out to rank-and-file union members, who have traditionally been central to the Democratic coalition.

Harris later attacked Trump on health care, telling hundreds of people packing a high school in Little Chute, Wisconsin, that the former president wants to undo the Affordable Care Act and take America back. to the days when insurers could deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

“Access to health care should be a right and not just a privilege for those who can afford it,” said the vice president. He also pushed his proposal to have Medicare pay for home health care to help the “sandwich generation” of people raising children while caring for aging parents.

Trump supporters waiting in line for his rally in Milwaukee said they are optimistic about his chances of winning next week.

“I think Democrats can only win if they cheat,” said Matt Kumorkiewicz, 55, a retired carpenter from nearby Oak Creek, echoing a common refrain from the former president.

He and several others in line wore yellow reflective safety vests in response to Biden’s comment apparently calling Trump supporters “trash.”

“We’re not trash,” he said.

Peter Schmidt, 66, said he bought a vest from a street vendor for $15. Others in the crowd carried garbage bags.

Trump spent the afternoon in the Detroit area, stopping at a restaurant in Dearborn, the country’s largest Arab-majority city, to meet with supporters. Many in the community remain distrustful after his first act in office in 2017 was signing an executive order that effectively banned travelers from predominantly Muslim countries.

In Milwaukee, many Democrats are “anxious and cautiously optimistic,” said Angela Lang, founder and executive director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities in Milwaukee.

“Especially given 2016, when there wasn’t the same amount of energy, I think it’s clear that Democrats learned lessons about the importance of Milwaukee and Wisconsin as a whole,” he said.

In another late outreach effort aimed at black voters, former President Bill Clinton campaigned with local faith leaders Thursday night at a center celebrating African-American music and arts in Milwaukee.

Hillary Clinton did not campaign in Wisconsin in 2016 after her primary loss, a mistake Harris does not repeat. Friday’s stop will be her ninth in the state as a presidential candidate and her fifth in Milwaukee or its suburbs. It will be Trump’s tenth stop in Wisconsin, not counting the Republican National Convention, which was held in Milwaukee, and his third visit to the Milwaukee area.

Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming said the fact that Harris has to return to the Democratic stronghold of Milwaukee shows that she is on the defensive while Trump is on the offensive.

The Milwaukee Election Commission estimated Thursday that it expects to receive more than 100,000 votes by Election Day. But that lags early voting results from conservative suburbs.

“The question no one knows the answer to is who those voters are voting for,” said Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler. “My feeling is that there may be some nice surprises for Harris.”

Lang, the Milwaukee organizer, said it’s a tradition for many voters her group contacts to cast their ballots on Election Day. What if they don’t?

“So we’re in a world of trouble,” said Mandela Barnes, former lieutenant governor and president of Power to the Polls, a group that has been working to increase turnout.

Trump’s rally will take place on the same stage where the Republican convention took place three months ago. Harris’ rally, to be held at the State Fair Park in West Allis, will include all-speaking rapper Cardi B and performances by GloRilla, Flo Milli, MC Lyte, The Isley Brothers and DJ Gemini Gilly .

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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Washington and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.