NEW YORK (AP) — In the shadow of the White House, seven days before the final votes are cast for the 2024 election, Kamala Harris vowed to put country before party and warned that Donald Trump is obsessed with revenge and his own personal interests.

Arrived less than 48 hours earlier Madison Square GardenTrump called his Democratic opponent “a train wreck that has destroyed everything in its path.” His allies on stage labeled Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash” and baselessly claimed that Harris, a former prosecutor and senator who is trying to become the first woman elected president, started her career as a prostitute.

Two nights and 200 miles apart, the dueling closing arguments outlined in stark terms the choice facing American voters on November 5, when they will weigh two very different visions of leadership and America’s future.

Trump’s raucous rally, marked by crude and racist insults, spotlighted the uglier elements of his coalition. But other parts of it underlined the former businessman’s appeal as someone who promises to fix the economy and borders, and as a political outsider eager to defy convention despite the risks.

Harris, vice president for the past four years, chose a more formal setting — the grassy Ellipse near the White House — to underscore the gravity of this moment in American history and the threat Trump poses to democracy. She stood before a huge crowd in the same spot where Trump addressed thousands of his loyalists on January 6, 2021, before storming the US Capitol in one of the darkest days in modern history.

But Harris’ comments were not only intended to remind voters of the danger Trump poses to American democracy, but were also intended to highlight her opponent’s record of prioritizing his personal interests rather than that of the nation.

“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That’s who he is. But America, I’m here tonight to say, that’s not who we are,” Harris said. “I pledge to be a president for all Americans – to always put country before party and before self.”

Senior advisor Jen O’Malley Dillon noted that Harris’ closing argument is intended to reach the small segment of undecided voters; among them are many moderate Republicans.

“We know there are still many voters who are still trying to decide who to support — or vote at all,” O’Malley Dillon said. “And this race is extremely close. We talk about it as a race with a margin of error. We know it will be closed in the last week.”

Trump’s team is more focused on galvanizing his partisan base and reaching rare voters across the political spectrum who are frustrated with the direction of the country and are looking for change.

Yet Trump has framed his comments in recent days with a simple question that crosses political lines, asking voters whether they are better off now than they were four years ago, at the end of his first term. While the country was still in the grip of the pandemic when Trump left office, polls indicate that most voters are unhappy with the direction of the country today.

Trump has promised to stage the largest deportation operation in US history and impose broad tariffs to raise revenue and boost American manufacturing.

Despite criticism from even some Republicans, Trump on Tuesday called his event at Madison Square Garden “a love fest” and did not address comments from pro-Trump comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of trash” . Hinchcliffe also made derogatory jokes about black people, other Latinos, Palestinians and Jews in his routine before Trump took the stage.

“No one has ever had love like this,” Trump said of the hourlong Sunday event that included his family members and high-profile surrogates and supporters, including billionaire Elon Musk, TV psychologist “Dr. Phil” McGraw and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “It was really love for our country.”

The Republican former president also offered a dark assessment of Harris’ leadership on Tuesday. He said it has “obliterated” the country’s borders, “decimated the middle class,” brought “bloodshed and misery” to major cities and “unleashed war and chaos around the world.”

“No one who has caused so much destruction and death at home and abroad should ever be president of the United States,” Trump told dozens of supporters gathered at his Florida estate.

Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said Trump has made clear his plans to restore the economy, secure the southern border and “improve people’s daily lives.”

“Kamala Harris didn’t do any of that,” he said. “It’s a message of desperation, personal attacks and nothing from Harris or her campaign about what they will actually do to help Americans. So it’s a huge contrast.”

Harris has largely distanced herself from the “joyful” campaign style that defined her run in this summer’s presidential election. She promised unity Tuesday night, but she also cast Trump as someone driven more by revenge and spite than by devotion to the people.

“This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with resentment and bent on unchecked power,” Harris said. “This is not a presidential candidate thinking about how to make your life better.”

She sometimes spoke directly to Republican voters, promising to listen to those who wouldn’t vote for her if elected. Harris previously said she would appoint a Republican to her Cabinet.

“Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy,” she said. “He wants to put them in jail. I give them a place at the table.”

Ahead of the speech, the Democrats’ campaign was aware of criticism from her party’s far-left base that she was focusing too much on courting moderate Republican voters. They urged Harris to focus more on the priorities of the working class than on the threat Trump poses to American democracy.

Ultimately, the vice president’s speech was intended to connect the two issues. She warned that Trump would threaten democratic norms and vowed to take action on high grocery prices and help new homebuyers make a down payment.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a key Harris ally, said voters “can walk and chew gum at the same time — which means they can hear an argument about freedom and about something that affects their pocketbooks. And I think she’s certainly capable of prosecuting both cases at the same time.”

Sisters Michelle Detwiler and Renee Newell drove from Virginia to attend Harris’ remarks at the Ellipse.

“We both have daughters and we are both there for them,” Newell said. Detwiler said the location of the event is a “great counterpoint to the images of January 6. DC is a great city for peaceful public gatherings.

“We are so happy to be here and experience the joy,” she said.

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Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Fatima Hussein in Washington and Jill Colvin in New York contributed.