President Donald Trump made a rare visit to the church on Sunday when he and his Democratic rival Joe Biden campaigned across the country in key states with the Nov.3 election looming.
Trump was attending services at the Las Vegas Nondenominational International Church before raising money in Newport Beach, California, and holding an evening rally in Carson City, Nevada. Biden’s schedule put him in North Carolina for a voter mobilization event in Durham and a virtual meeting with African-American religious leaders. In the morning, he worshiped at a church in Wilmington, Delaware.
For Trump, it was a return to a church he had visited as a candidate in October 2016. At that point, he received a prayer on stage and toured an affiliated Christian school, seeing students and commenting on alternatives to traditional public schools. .
Biden went to St. Joseph’s at the Brandywine, as he does almost every week. He and his wife, Jill, came in wearing dark-colored masks. She was carrying a bouquet of flowers that included pink roses.
The church is a few minutes drive from Biden’s house. Beau, Biden’s son, who died of brain cancer in 2015, is buried in the cemetery on his grounds. Joe and Jill Biden visited the grave after the service.
If elected, Biden would be just the second Catholic president in American history and the first since John F. Kennedy. Biden speaks frequently about his faith and its importance in his life.
Trump attends church much less frequently, but has received strong support from white evangelical leaders and frequently hosts groups of pastors in the White House.
Trump has maintained a more robust schedule since returning to the campaign after contracting the coronavirus, which lags behind in national and fundamental state polls on the battlefield with just over two weeks to Election Day.
Trump enters the final stretch of the campaign with a huge financial advantage, a highly unusual situation for a starter. After building a huge cash advantage early in the race, his campaign spent handsomely. Biden kept expenses low and benefited from a large number of donations that led to him raising nearly $ 1 billion in the past three months.
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