On Friday in Pittsburgh, Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign will host a get-out-the-vote concert that will feature musicians Jason Isbell and Michael Stipe, two performers who have reliably supported Democratic and progressive candidates and who both supported Harris’ “presidential campaign.”
Isbell performed on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in August and was, among other things, a vocal supporter of Harris and other Democrats; organized the album covers of songs by Georgian artists to celebrate President Joe Biden’s victory in the Peach State in 2020. Stipe, who was the lead singer of R.E.M., also performed at campaign events in support of Harris and amazed by US senator Bernie Sanders during the 2016 Vermont independent presidential campaign. Both performers have their roots in the southern United States: Isbell is from Alabama and Stipe from the swinging state of Georgia.
Since rising to the top of the Democratic ticket, the Harris campaign has spent a lot of time in western Pennsylvania, visiting even more conservative areas like Johnstown.
The concert will take place the day before former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, also visits western Pennsylvania. Trump will hold a rally Saturday in Butler, the site where he survived an assassination attempt in July that killed rally attendee Corey Comperatore and injured two others.
Trump’s running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), visited western Pennsylvania on Saturday, speaking at an evangelical Christian conference. Harris was in Pittsburgh last week touting her economic policies, and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, will appear at a rally in York on Wednesday with U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.).
Pennsylvania counties have begun sending absentee ballots to voters, even as several lawsuits over the ballots and how they were counted remain in court. The Keystone State’s 19 electoral votes and its swing from Democratic to Republican to Democratic in the last few presidential elections make it a key state that both sides consider winnable.
