This combination of file photos shows Vice President Harris speaking at a campaign rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on October 26, and former President Donald Trump at a rally on October 22 in Greensboro, NC.

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LAS VEGAS — The presidential campaign moved west Thursday, with Vice President Harris and former President Donald Trump making their closing arguments to voters in the critical swing states of Arizona and Nevada.

With five days to go until polls close on Election Day, the candidates are trying to win over Latino voters in the two states — and talk about border security, one of the biggest issues for the campaign.

In Arizona, Harris criticized Trump’s comments at a rally on Wednesday that he would protect women “whether the women like it or not.” She took the comment as a foretaste of the damage a second Trump presidency could mean for women.

“He doesn’t believe women should have the choice and authority to make decisions about their own bodies,” Harris said. “He simply does not respect women’s freedom or women’s intelligence to know what is in their best interest and make decisions accordingly,” she added. “But we trust women.”

Harris used her campaign stops Friday to draw a contrast between herself and Trump when it comes to issues affecting Latino voters. Mexican regional band Los Tigres del Norte warmed up the crowd before Harris took the stage in Phoenix, and at one point in her speech she led the audience in a chant of “Si se puede,” or “Yes you can.”

“He insults Latinos, scapegoats immigrants — and it’s not just what he says, it’s what he will do,” Harris said of her Republican opponent. “If elected, you can be sure he will bring back family separation policies, but on a much larger scale than last time.”

Arizona — which Trump lost by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2020 — remains one of the most hotly contested states in this year’s election. Republicans hope a ballot measure that would make illegal border crossings a state crime will help motivate support for Trump, while Democrats have tried to mobilize voters around a ballot measure that would enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution.

The Nevada race

Jennifer Lopez greets Vice President Harris at a campaign rally at Craig Ranch Amphitheater in Las Vegas on Thursday.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

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Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

After Arizona, Harris traveled to Nevada for rallies in Reno and Las Vegas.

In Las Vegas, Harris was introduced by pop icon Jennifer Lopez, who spoke at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York last weekend about a comedian’s crass joke calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash.”

“At Madison Square Garden, he reminded us who he really is and how he really feels,” Lopez said. “It wasn’t just Puerto Ricans who felt offended that day, okay, it was every Latino in this country.”

The comment at Trump’s rally initially sparked a wave of backlash against the former president, but on Wednesday Harris had to clear up President Biden’s comments during a video call in which he sounded like he was calling Trump supporters “trash.” Trump responded in Wisconsin on Wednesday by speaking to the press from a garbage truck.

Trump continued to attack Harris for the comment during a campaign stop Thursday in Henderson, just outside Las Vegas.

“How stupid is a man to say that,” Trump said. “How stupid is a man to say that. But she believes it too.”

Former President Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nevada, on Thursday.

Ian Maule/AFP via Getty Images

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Ian Maule/AFP via Getty Images

His meandering speech touched on a wide range of topics. Trump claimed Harris lacked the stamina to run for office, hyped his social media platform TruthSocial and bragged about his support from Elon Musk.

“I would say, you’ve got to say, in computers I would say he’s probably about as good as you can get,” Trump said of Musk.

At one point, Trump also suggested that Border Patrol agents can determine which migrants are good and which are bad just by looking at them.

“They’re going to have problems, problems, problems, – no problems – problems, problems. They can look at it and they can see good or bad,” Trump said.

Trump spoke later on Thursday in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale at an event with Tucker Carlson, the conservative commentator known for stoking controversy.

With their stop in Nevada, home to a large population of service industry workers, both candidates returned to a state where they had touted plans to eliminate taxes on tips for hourly workers.

In Nevada, Latinos make up just over one in five eligible voters, while in Arizona they represent 25% of the eligible voting population, according to the Pew Research Center. Democrats have traditionally won a significant share of the population, but polls have shown the Republican candidate wiping out that advantage.

A rare stop in New Mexico

Trump also made an unusual campaign stop Thursday in New Mexico, a state that has not elected a Republican to the White House since 2004. The rally in Albuquerque marked his first time in the reliably Democratic state since running for the White House in 2020.

Trump told the crowd that he traveled to the state to win over Latino voters.

“I’m here for one simple reason: I really like you, and it’s good for my credentials with the Hispanic or Latino community,” he said.

Trump said it would take record turnout of Latino voters to win New Mexico, and also claimed he won the state every year he ran for president, despite back-to-back losses in 2016 and 2020.

The home stretch

Starting Friday, the two campaigns will race from swing state to swing state in an effort to rally supporters and win over the last remaining undecided voters. Harris will make stops in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin before wrapping up her campaign Monday with a series of rallies in Pennsylvania — including one in Allentown, where more than half the people are Latino — mostly Puerto Rican.

Trump travels to Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin. He also has a stop in Virginia, a state Harris generally favors. His campaign has not yet announced where he will spend his final day of campaigning.