PBS News Hour

GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "News Hour."

Two weeks from today, the final votes will be cast and the polls will close in this year's presidential race.

Until then, the Trump and Harris campaigns are making their cases in battleground states across the country.

Laura Barron-Lopez has this report.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Both presidential nominees made appeals to a critical voting bloc today, Latino voters.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: The level of genius, entrepreneurship, energy that they have, it's an incredible community and, I like them and they like me.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Former President Donald Trump received a warm response from Latino business owners and religious leaders at his golf club in Miami.

(CHEERING) LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Trump again used dark language to describe the state of the country... DONALD TRUMP: We are a nation in decline.

We're a failing nation.

We're left out all over the world.

No matter where you go, they laugh at us.

They can't even believe what's happening.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: ... and spent time sowing fear around transgender Americans.

DONALD TRUMP: All they think about is transgender operations.

All they think about is, we want men -- we want men to play in women's sports.

There's a sickness going on in our country.

We have to end the sickness.

NARRATOR: It sounds insane.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: In the final sprint to Election Day, Republicans have poured millions of dollars into anti-trans attack ads that target Democrats up and down the ballot.

NARRATOR: Kamala's agenda is they/them, not you.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The former president also repeated attacks on his opponent's intelligence, criticizing Vice President Harris for not doing any public events today.

DONALD TRUMP: She's lazy as hell, and she's got that reputation.

And there's something wrong with her too.

She's slow, low-I.Q., something.

I don't know what the hell it is.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Vice President Harris had staff meetings and briefings in D.C., before giving interviews to Telemundo and NBC.

QUESTION: We are sitting here two weeks away from election night.

Last election, the former president came out on election night and declared victory before all the votes were counted.

What is your plan if he does that again in two weeks?

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: Well, let me say this.

We have got two weeks to go.

And I'm very much grounded in the present in terms of the task at hand.

And we will deal with election night and the days after as they come.

And we have the resources and the expertise and the focus on that as well.

QUESTION: So, you have teams ready to go?

Is that what you're saying?

Are you thinking about that as a possibility?

KAMALA HARRIS: Of course.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Today, in Wisconsin, former President Barack Obama joined Harris' running mate, Governor Tim Walz, as the state kicked off early in-person voting.

GOV.

TIM WALZ (D-MN), Vice Presidential Candidate: Our team is running like everything is on the line, because everything is on the line.

BARACK OBAMA, Former President of the United States: Donald Trump wants us to think that this country is hopelessly divided between us and them.

Now, for him, us means the -- quote -- "real Americans" who support him.

Anybody who doesn't, they're them.

And he employs this strategy, like politicians have for millennia, because having people divided and angry boosts his chances of being elected.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Republican vice presidential nominee Senator J.D.

Vance campaigned in Arizona.

SEN. J.D.

VANCE (R-OH), Vice Presidential Candidate: We got to make sure that if this election is as tight as it could be, that we're the ones who are on the winning side and not them.

And the only way to do it is to work our rear ends off for the next two weeks.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Laura Barron-Lopez.