As if there was still any doubt about the central role Western Pennsylvania will play in the November election, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will return to the area Monday evening — even as Democratic rival Kamala Harris has deployed surrogates to the area in the past several days and plans to return to the state herself later this week.
Trump will be holding a rally in Indiana, Indiana County. Judging from a statement last week announcing the rally, Trump is likely to revisit familiar economic themes, decrying a surge in inflation during President Joe Biden’s administration and warning that the administration’s policies on natural gas drilling will “cripple Pennsylvania communities” that rely on energy production.
The event Monday is set to take place at the Ed Fry Arena at the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex. Doors are scheduled to open at 3 p.m. with Trump due to speak at 7 p.m., though he often runs behind schedule.
Prior to that appearance, Trump is slated to discuss “the threat of Communist China to U.S. agriculture” with two long-time allies — former ambassador Richard Grenell and former Congressman Lee Zeldin, at an event in Smithton, Westmoreland County.
The visit comes three-and-a-half weeks after a similar event in Johnstown, and it takes place at a moment of obvious urgency for Trump. A slew of polls during the past week-and-a-half suggest that Harris has an edge in Pennsylvania: While those polls generally show that the head-to-head race is within a margin for error, they tend to show the race either tied or with Harris holding a low-single-digit lead.
Not that Harris is taking anything for granted: The campaign says that she will be returning to the state on Wednesday as part of a multistate tour that will include stops in Arizona and Nevada in the days that follow. Combined with trips last week to Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia, her visit to Pennsylvania is intended to “showcase[e] her many paths to 270 electoral votes," the campaign says.
While there were few details available as of Monday morning, there have been reports that her visit could include a stop in the Pittsburgh area and a discussion of economic policy. Harris has held large-scale rallies in other parts of the state and country, but to date, her visits to Western Pennsylvania have been smaller-scale, “pop-up” style events.
Meanwhile, Harris surrogates have also been on hand during the past few days.
New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined local leaders Sunday for a rally with college students in Oakland, while Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made a pair of appearances on Friday night and Saturday morning.
Whitmer’s appearances showcased two key themes for Democrats this fall: reproductive rights and workplace justice. On Friday night, Whitmer joined actor and director Tony Goldwyn for a Moon Township stop on the campaign’s “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour.
The following morning, Whitmer visited with union members at the AFL-CIO hall on Saw Mill Run Boulevard.
”This election is going to be decided in two states: Pennsylvania and Michigan," Whitmer, speaking to a packed room of union volunteers while standing atop a desk. "So it’s up to every one of us to do everything we can between now and Election Day.”
“This is a match-up between a person who has worked an hourly job, who has taken care of a sick parent, who has helped take care of her sick kids,” Whitmore told WESA at the event. “The other guy has probably never been to a parent-teacher conference.”
Whitmer, who was the target of a kidnap plot four years ago, said the campaign was trying not just to win an election but also to mend some of the fraying social fabric at a time of deep polarization.
“We have done a lot of intentional invitation to people who are Republicans but don’t identify as Trump Republicans [and] who just want leaders who are going to protect our democracy and fundamental rights, whether it’s collective bargaining or our right to make decisions about our own bodies,“ she said.
Last week, Harris’ sister, Maya, spoke with local Democrats about abortion rights at the campaign’s East Liberty headquarters. Harris noted that during Trump’s Sept. 10 debate with her sister, he dodged a question about where he stood on the idea of a federal abortion ban.
Trump has boasted about the fact that justices he appointed to the Supreme Court ended the Constitutional guarantee of abortion rights and moved the issue to the states. But Maya Harris observed that “he did not say that he would veto a national abortion ban. Instead, he doubled down on his pride over having been singularly responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade.
“That is the context of this moment, and that is why we are all here.”
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Bill O'Driscoll
Arts & Culture Reporter
