Democratic candidate Kamala Harris vowed on Wednesday to serve "all Americans" if elected president, as she sought to contain fallout from a remark by US president Joe Biden that threatened to undercut her message of unity.
"When elected president, I'm going to represent all Americans, including those who don't vote for me," the vice president told reporters before flying to a campaign event in North Carolina, one of seven battleground states that will determine the outcome of the November 5th election.
Her Republican rival Donald Trump is due to hold a rally there as well on Wednesday.
Ms Harris is spending the final week of the campaign telling voters that she would respect those who disagree with her and portraying former president Trump as a threat to democracy.
That promise - delivered at a massive rally in front of the White House on Tuesday night - was muddied by Mr Biden, who criticised racist comments made at a Trump rally on Sunday.
According to a White House transcript, Mr Biden said: "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter's - his - his demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable."
Mr Trump's campaign said Mr Biden was referring to Trump supporters as "garbage," while Mr Biden said later he was talking about the language used by a comedian at the rally.
A Tuesday Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Ms Harris leading Mr Trump 44 per cent to 43 per cent among registered voters nationally, within the margin of error.
Uncertainty over North Carolina
Other opinion polls show tight margins in the seven election battleground states. Last month's hurricane damage has made North Carolina's results especially hard to predict.
On Wednesday, Ms Harris will be in the state's fast-growing capital Raleigh, while Mr Trump will hold a rally in Rocky Mount.
Mr Trump won North Carolina by under 1.5 percentage points in 2020. The last Democrat to win the state was Barack Obama in 2008, though it has had a Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, since 2017.
Mr Trump currently leads Ms Harris by just one percentage point in the state, according to a polling average by FiveThirtyEight.
Mr Trump and his allies have sought to portray voting by people who are non-citizens as a potential risk to the election, though private and state reviews have repeatedly shown that the illegal practice is very rare. The campaign to focus on the issue won a victory on Wednesday when the US Supreme Court reinstated Virginia's decision to purge from its voter rolls 1,600 people who state officials concluded may not be citizens, a claim that Mr Biden's administration disputed.
At stake on November 5th is who will run the world's richest and most powerful country. Ms Harris and Mr Trump diverge on support for Ukraine and Nato, abortion rights, taxes, basic democratic principles and tariffs that could trigger trade wars.
Long wait for results?
Residents in North Carolina, especially in the rural, hard-hit western region, are still trying to put their lives back together after devastating hurricane damage last month. The Republican-leaning area accounted for about 9 per cent of the vote in 2020, according to an analysis by Republican pollster Patrick Ruffini.
While some state officials - including some Republicans - have praised federal clean-up efforts, Mr Trump has falsely claimed that disaster aid intended for the state was diverted to help immigrants.
Republican representative Andy Harris said last week the state legislature should pre-emptively declare that Mr Trump won the state's 16 Electoral College votes, to avoid "disenfranchised voters".
Mr Cooper ruled that out.
The outcome in North Carolina may remain unclear for a week or more after the election.
Absentee ballots that arrive on Election Day, as well as ballots from overseas and military voters, can be counted for up to 10 days afterward.
In 2020, media outlets did not call the result in North Carolina for Mr Trump until November 13th, 10 days after the election.
More than a third of North Carolina's registered voters have already cast ballots in the 2024 election, according to the state's election board.
Later on Wednesday, Ms Harris will travel to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, two other election battleground states. Her Madison, Wisconsin, rally will feature performances from musicians, including the band Mumford & Sons. Mr Trump will also be in Wisconsin for a rally with retired National Football League quarterback Brett Favre.
