Vice President Kamala Harris to join Colin Allred at Houston campaign rally on Friday

Just 11 days ahead of the Nov. 5 election, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris will be in the Republican state of Texas. She will be joined by Senate hopeful Colin Allred at a rally in Houston that will focus on the loss of reproductive freedom — a central issue in both candidates’ campaigns.

Friday’s event will be the first time Allred, a Democratic congressman from Dallas seeking to upset Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, and the vice president has shared a stage in Texas in the 2024 election cycle. Allred has so far been running a thread-the-needle campaign that seeks to keep the Democratic base in his tight grip, while not alienating independents and middle-of-the-road Republicans who might not want to award Cruz six more years in the Senate.

“Allred has gone from an arm’s length handshake to a full-on embrace of the Harris campaign,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor. “I think that’s because they’ve gone from persuasion to mobilization.”

Mere days away from the election, several polls show Trump and Harris neck-to-neck. A new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll from the first day of early voting shows Harris leads Trump by 63%-34%, close to 2-1. However, polls predicting Election Day turnout show Trump leading Harris 52% to 35%. Similarly, in a poll from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, Trump has a five-point lead over Harris, 51% to 46%.

Harris has been closely trailing Trump in Texas since her Democratic nomination this summer.

How to get Kamala Harris rally tickets

As of Wednesday morning, the exact location of Harris’ rally, along with the availability of tickets, had not yet been released by the Democratic National Committee.

The Democrats’ rally Friday, at a Houston venue to be announced later, will be an opportunity to remind voters that Trump appointed the three U.S. Supreme Court justices who anchored the 2022 decision that ended the right to an abortion, which had been in place for 49 years under the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. And it’s a chance to highlight Cruz’s long-standing opposition to abortion rights and his expressed support for the high court’s decision to leave it to the individual states to set abortion law.

Donald Trump to visit Austin for ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast

Former President Donald Trump is set to appear on podcasting giant “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast later this week.

“The Joe Rogan Experience” is a popular podcast hosted by UFC color commentator Joe Rogan. The podcast is particularly among right-leaning men and is known for its wide-ranging interviews and discussions on politics, culture, and controversial topics.

Rogan is set to interview Trump in his Austin studio on Friday, USA TODAY confirmed on background. The studio is inside the Onnit Headquarters in South Austin.

This would mark Trump’s first appearance on Rogan’s popular podcast.

Read more: Former President Donald Trump is coming to Texas for ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ appearance

Kamala Harris campaign rally schedule

Harris’ decision to stop in Houston is a bit of a surprise. Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have expended much of their time and financial resources in such must-win swing states as Pennsylvania and Michigan, largely ceding Texas to the GOP, which has won the state in every presidential election since 1980.

• Harris is traveling to Pennsylvania on Wednesday and participating in a CNN Town Hall event in Chester Township, just outside of the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
• On Thursday, the vice president will be in Georgia for a campaign rally, joined by former President Barack Obama as Bruce Springsteen performs. The event will mark the first time Harris and Obama have appeared together on the campaign trail.
• Harris is expected to visit Texas on Friday to attend a campaign event in Houston focusing on abortion rights and rally with Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who is challenging Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. And finally, she’ll sit down for an interview with researcher Brené Brown, a podcaster who talks about feeling vulnerable.

‘This election is different’: Bill Gates responds to leak of his $50M to pro-Harris super-PAC

This week, it was revealed that Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder who is among the wealthiest people in the world, privately shared about his $50 million donation to a super PAC supporting Harris.

Gates has not publicly endorsed a candidate, and his donation to Future Forward’s nonprofit arm, Future Forward USA Action, was intended to remain private, according to the New York Times. The outlet also reports Gates has “concerns about what a second Trump presidency would look like,” as expressed in private phone calls.

Although Gates did not confirm or deny the donation and instead emphasized his bipartisanship, the billionaire also said that “this election is different.”

Obama introduced by Eminem at Harris rally, raps ‘Lose Yourself’

Eminem has shown further support for the Harris-Walz campaign this week. At a Detroit rally Tuesday, the rapper introduced former President Barack Obama. And Obama ensured the crowd got hyped.

“I have done a lot of rallies, so I don’t usually get nervous. But I was feeling some kind of way following Eminem,” Obama said when he took the stage in Detroit, Michigan.

“Now, I notice my palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, vomit on my sweater already, mom’s spaghetti, I’m nervous but on the surface I look calm and ready to drop bombs but I keep on forgetting,” Obama rapped as the crowd burst into cheers.

Obama raps Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ at Harris rally

Rapper Eminem introduced former president Barack Obama at a Kamala Harris rally. Obama returned the favor by reciting Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.”

The lyrics came from Eminem’s 2002 song “Lose Yourself.”

— USA TODAY contributed to this report.