Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz will be in Western Pennsylvania Tuesday, appealing to rural and urban voters alike in a series of stops across the region.
Details about Walz's tour of the area have been released only sparingly. But it will include afternoon stops in the Lawrence County town of Volant, followed by stops in Butler County, and Pittsburgh.
During his appearance in Volant, Walz will roll out an agenda for rural America devised by the campaign of Walz's presidential running mate Kamala Harris. It includes a focus on improving rural health care, such as plans to recruit 10,000 new health care professionals in rural and tribal areas through scholarships, loan forgiveness and new grant programs, as well as economic and agricultural policy priorities.
Harris' plan is to encourage more doctors, nurses and other health care professionals by offering more scholarships and federal loan repayment programs for those who work in rural or tribal areas. The proposal also includes federal aid for residencies in rural hospitals, and plans for programs to introduce school students to medical careers.
The proposal would preserve Medicare eligibility for "telehealth" visits which allow patients to consult with doctors remotely: That move would have to come before they take office, as the program is set to expire at the end of this year. But Harris and Walz would also seek to fund the access to the technology needed for such services for rural clinics. And it would address "ambulance deserts" — places where paramedics are more than a 25-minute drive away — with added training and support for volunteer ambulance services.
As the governor of Minnesota, Walz has been Harris top surrogate in rural areas, and he previously spent part of the afternoon in a photo-op friendly visit to a Fayette County farm. Tuesday's visit, by contrast, seems likely to feature a more robust discussion of policy.
Other proposals include familiar Democratic policy prescriptions like expanding Medicaid access to lower-income people — a move Democrats say would help more people access and pay for services in rural and other hospitals. The plan also includes a pledge to rein in the business practices of pharmacy benefits managers, drug-industry middlemen that Democrats in particular blame for driving up drug prices and squeezing out independent pharmacies in rural and other parts of the country.
The campaign has previously disclosed that Walz's stop in Pittsburgh will call on Allegheny County voters to take advantage "satellite" voting centers which will be open in the days ahead. The centers allow voters to request mail-in ballots, complete them and hand them to county staff in one visit, essentially providing a form of early voting with no chance of having a ballot lost in the mail.
Both parties consider Pennsylvania a crucial battleground state this fall, and Western Pennsylvania is seen as a key front in that fight. Walz's GOP counterpart, Ohio Senator JD Vance, visited Johnstown this past week, and on Tuesday morning announced that he would hold deliver remarks in Downtown Pittsburgh Thursday. Local Republicans say Donald Trump is planning a visit to the region sometime next week. Polling has generally showed the race within the state is within the margin of error.
This story is developing and will be updated.
