PHILADELPHIA – Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign opened its first Pennsylvania office on Tuesday, in a former optometrist’s office in Philadelphia’s Holmesburg neighborhood.
“It’s fair to say that we need new leadership in America, we need new leadership in Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Lawrence Tabas said at the opening of an office in Northeast Philadelphia. “Bidenomics has failed.”
The event, dubbed the “Trump Force 47 Office Grand Opening,” was the first office opening coordinated with the Trump campaign, the Pennsylvania Republican Party and the Republican National Committee.
U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX), billed as the “keynote speaker” at the office opening, stood at the podium with a sign that read, “Black Americans for Trump.”
“Black problems are American problems,” Hunt said, repeating his comment for emphasis.
Hunt said Black Americans hate what is currently happening on the southern border, the inflation, energy prices, feeling insecure and “being on the brink of World War III.”
“It is time for our country to unite around President Trump to save us from the brink of disaster,” Hunt said.
Tabas added that GOP policy is not focused on one group.
“Our policies are designed to provide a better life for Americans, not for any particular or single group, but for everyone in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the United States – that is our goal,” Tabas said.
The third ward of the city’s 64th district, where the fresh Trump campaign office is located, chose Biden in 2020. He defeated Trump in this election by 15%. However, some neighboring wards in the city’s 64th Ward narrowly supported Trump over Biden in the 2020 election.
Philadelphia Republican Party Chairman Vince Fenerty told the Capital-Star on Tuesday that despite Democrats’ electoral advantage – registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 7 to 1 in the state’s most populous city – he believes Philadelphia Republicans can be the “decider factor” in defeating Trump summit.
Fenerty did not specify how many votes he thought Trump would need to win in Philadelphia, but he expressed confidence that the number of votes would raise compared to the previous election.
“I really haven’t calculated the vote count, but I guarantee he’ll get more than last time, much, much more, tens of thousands more, and I’m not too enthusiastic about that,” he told the Capital–Star.
When Biden put Pennsylvania back in the Democratic victory column 2020in Philadelphia he defeated Trump by 471,050 votes. Despite this gigantic advantage, it was an improvement for Trump compared to Elections 2016when Hillary Clinton defeated him by 475,277 votes in the City of Brotherly Love.
Trump, now the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, won the April primary in Pennsylvania. However, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, who had already dropped out of the race, still had an 18% share in the race GOP primary in Philadelphia and double digits in all surrounding collar counties. The The Biden campaign has made an effort appeal to these voters. Haley has since endorsed Trumpcandidacy, but she insisted that he court those who supported her in the primaries.
Despite protests against mail-in voting over the past few years, the Trump campaign announced Tuesday that it was launching a campaign “Cover the US vote“an operation aimed at encouraging voters to vote by correspondence and early voting in the 2024 elections.
“I talked to him a few weeks ago and our goal is to win beyond the cheating margin, at all costs,” Hunt told reporters when asked about the change in strategy. “We have to win beyond the cheating margin.”
Biden significantly outperformed Trump in mail-in voting in 2020, and despite claims by Trump and other members of the Republican Party, there was no evidence that the contest was “rigged” or “stolen.”
Pressed by reporters on Republicans’ refusal to certify the 2020 election results, Hunt said it “looks very suspicious” that Trump had an early advantage, but Biden ultimately prevailed. Hunt wasn’t elected until 2022.
“That night, before I went to bed, at 1 a.m. in Pennsylvania, President Trump was winning,” he said. “And then I woke up and he lost. That’s weird.”
The Biden’s campaign sharply criticized Trump on Tuesday campaigned to employ out-of-state deputies to headline the Pennsylvania office opening.
“Today, Byron Donalds and Wesley Hunt will continue their pathetic attempts to cover up Donald Trump’s broken promises and failed attempts to reach out to the Black community,” Democratic National Committee senior spokesman Marcus W. Robinson said in a statement. “As president, Trump has given handouts to the ultra-wealthy and tried to strip health care and cut affordable housing programs – all at the expense of working-class Black Americans. Donalds and Hunt’s desperate lies may facilitate them pass Trump’s extreme MAGA litmus test, but it will not make up for his disastrous plan to put Black Americans last.”
In 2024, Trump has made three appearances in Pennsylvania so far, including one in February in Philadelphia to announce a fresh line of Trump-branded sneakers. His last visit to this state was for rally in April in the Lehigh Valley. Trump rallied supporters in Wildwood, New Jersey in May before a crowd that included many Pennsylvanians.
Trump encouraged mail-in voting during his Wildwood rally, but not during his appearances in Pennsylvania in 2024. His ability to campaign has been somewhat narrow in recent weeks as he was in a New York courtroom during a hush money trial. He was convicted of 34 offenses on Thursday and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11.
Trump found guilty of 34 crimes in New York hush money trial
Trump’s conviction was not a key point of discussion during Tuesday’s opening remarks.
The Biden campaign made two trips to the Keystone State last week. On Wednesday, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris gathered in Philadelphia announce the formation of the Biden-Harris Black Voters Coalition. On Saturday, First Lady Jill Biden visited Pittsburgh and emphasized the importance of the 2024 LGBTQ rights elections during the city’s Pride celebrations.
In 2024, President Biden visited Pennsylvania eight times and Harris appeared five times.
The The Biden campaign has opened 24 coordinated offices in Pennsylvania in 2024, distributed throughout the Commonwealth, with three offices in Philadelphia.
Fenerty said Tuesday that the Trump campaign will have additional offices in other parts of the city and other parts of the state.
“Someone else said there are a lot more Joe Biden offices than Donald Trump offices,” he said. “Well, people will jump on the Trump train and the locomotive will run them over. We are going to open offices.”
After the office opened, Hunt was scheduled to attend an event titled “Congress, cognac and cigars” with U.S. Republican Byron Donalds (R-FL) and former ESPN host Michele Tafoya to discuss the impact of black male votes on the election.
“We’re talking about getting at least 25 to 30 percent of the black male vote,” Hunt told reporters Tuesday night. “This is what we have to do.”
Donalds was reported as a potential candidate for vice president for Trump.
Update: This article was updated at 11:33 PM on June 4, 2024, with a statement from a DNC spokesperson.
