2024 showdown: Harris, Trump hold dueling Texas rallies to hammer home these key issues

HOUSTON, TX - With 11 days to go until Election Day and two leading national polls indicating a deadhead in the race for the White House between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, the major party nominees hold campaign events in Texas where they'll elevate two combustible issues as they make their closing arguments.

Harris, who has long leaned into the issue of reproductive rights, will blame Trump for an extremely restrictive abortion law in Texas, as she holds what's expected to be a large rally in Houston.

Trump, who has spotlighted illegal immigration ever since he launched his first White House run nine years ago, was in Austin to make comments on border security.

DO HARRIS OR TRUMP HAVE THE UPPER HAND IN THIS KEY CAMPAIGN METRIC

While Texas isn't one of the seven crucial battleground states whose razor-thin margins decided President Biden's 2020 victory over Trump and are likely to determine if Harris or the former president wins the 2024 election, it is home to a key Senate race that's among a handful that will decide if the GOP wins back the chamber's majority.

Conservative firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz joined Trump at the afternoon event in Austin, while Democratic challenger Rep. Collin Allred will speak at the Harris rally hours later.

The stop by Harris in Houston is the first time in decades that a Democratic Party standard-bearer will hold a major campaign event in Texas in the home stretch ahead of Election Day.