Beyoncé brings star power as Kamala Harris claims 'freedom' in Texas

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Kamala Harris joined a rally of pop diva Beyoncé as Donald Trump sat down for a three-hour interview with youth-focused podcaster Joe Rogan on Friday, as a deep gender divide in the US electorate came to the fore. House Race.

With just over a week and a half until Election Day on Nov. 5, dual campaign events in Texas — a Republican stronghold — saw Harris try to shore up women's support while Trump made another pitch to his male supporters.

While Harris has leaned heavily on abortion access and women's rights in the final stretch of his campaign, Trump and his allies have ramped up their rhetoric around masculinity, including at times profanity — which analysts say could lead to a historic gender divide when Americans go to the polls next month. .

A USA Today/Suffolk University poll this week painted a starker picture of the divide, with women backing Trump by 53 percent for Harris to 36 percent. But Trump held the same edge with men. A similar vote on November 5 would mark the largest partisan gender gap in modern US history.

Harris, who will be the first female president of the United States, spoke in Houston on Friday night in what her campaign considered a major address on reproductive freedoms that she said have been eroded by Trump.

“In America, freedom is not a given. It is not donated. It is our right, and we are ready to fight for it,” Harris said.

A campaign official said about 30,000 people attended the Houston rally, making it the largest event of Harris' campaign.

The Democratic candidate has made abortion rights the centerpiece of his bid for the White House, blaming his Republican rival for overturning Roe v. Wade and subsequent tougher abortion laws in Republican states, including Texas.

She was joined on stage by pop star Beyoncé, whose song “Freedom” has become an anthem for the vice president at rallies and in commercials. Beyonce was the latest to signal support from celebrities, including Taylor Swift, who endorsed Harris in September.

“I am not here as a celebrity. I am not here as a politician. I'm here as a mother,” Beyoncé said before introducing Harris on stage. “Imagine our girls growing up seeing what's possible with no ceilings, no limitations.”

Meanwhile, Trump hammered out one of his campaign messages — curbing immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border — at an event in Austin before sitting down with Rogan. The three-hour interview meant Trump was several hours late for a planned campaign rally in Traverse City, Michigan, on Friday night.

Trump and his allies have leaned toward a hyper-masculine message for months, from a Republican National Convention headlined by signee Kid Rock and wrestler Hulk Hogan to the former president's recent comments about the late golfer Arnold Palmer's anatomy.

Right-wing media celebrity Tucker Carlson, campaigning for Trump, drew outrage this week when he described the former president as an angry father who would come home to “vigorously spank” an unruly daughter.

Trump and his allies have invested millions of dollars in television ads attacking Harris for her support for transgender rights. In one ad, a narrator says: “Orange's agenda is them/them, not you.”

Rogan's podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, is the most popular in the US, with nearly 14.5 million followers on Spotify. The controversial program is particularly popular with younger male audiences — a demographic that tends to vote less but which the Trump campaign believes could help elect him if it turns out in large numbers.

Democratic strategist Mary Ann Marsh said events in Texas' rival campaigns indicate how the candidates are positioning themselves 11 days before the election.

With the Financial Times' poll tracker showing Harris and Trump in a virtual tie nationally and in seven battleground states, Marsh argued that Trump was betting on low-propensity voters to propel him to victory, while Harris was counting on a strong vote from women.

“There is no woman left for him to apply. He hit his ceiling,” she said. “What she's trying to do now is young men. Because young women are voting in droves and they are voting in droves for Kamala Harris.”