Donald Trump’s visit to Butler is his last stop before the RNC elections

Former President Donald Trump’s final campaign stop before next week’s Republican National Convention will be western Pennsylvania, where speculation is mounting about the long-awaited choice of his vice presidential running mate.

The visit to Butler County marks Trump’s fifth visit to Pennsylvania this year, a sign of the state’s crucial importance in the presidential election. But it marks the first visit this year by any presidential candidate to the county, which Trump won in 2020.

It will be Trump’s first stop in western Pennsylvania this year. Trump’s previous visits have been to Philadelphia, Dauphin, Bucks and Lehigh counties — all targeted at President Joe Biden when Trump was last on the ticket. Biden has focused his campaign efforts primarily on the Philadelphia, Scranton and Pittsburgh areas.

Butler County has been affable territory for Trump, with his support in double digits in 2016 and 2020.

The Saturday rally is scheduled to start at 5:00 p.m. Butler Farm Exhibitionwith doors opening four hours earlier. Western Pennsylvania is the area where the former president lived mostly worn in 2020.

It promises to be a busy day for political visits to the commonwealth, as both campaigns view Pennsylvania as a key part of their victory.

Vice President Kamala Harris to be keynote speaker at Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote Presidential Town Hall in Philadelphia. First Lady Jill Biden will be in Pittsburgh to attend Italian Sons and Daughters of America dinner. The visits come as Democrats are in clean-up mode after Biden’s lackluster performance in the June 27 debate.

Trump May Nominate Vice President in Butler County

The former president’s visit to Butler comes amid growing anticipation for his vice presidential nominee to be announced. Trump’s vice presidential nominees It supposedly includes Senator. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), Sen. J.D. Vance (R., Ohio) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Butler County is about 47 miles east of the Ohio border, which has fueled speculation that Trump might be reaching out to Vance, Ohio’s junior senator, who has frequently engaged in culture war issues.

Trump’s visit is the last campaign event before the Republican National Convention begins in Milwaukee on July 15. Trump has suggested he would like to announce his choice at the convention, but may pose some logistical challenges to conduct the official nomination process.

Butler could be the perfect place to bring Vance in, Elegy for the Peasants author, to the white, working-class demographic of this area.

Vance has he had changing views about Trump. In 2016, he told NPR that “I can’t stand Trump.” He also authored a 2016 New York Times op-ed in which he said, “Mr. Trump is not fit to hold the highest office in our country.”

As Vance began his 2021 Senate campaign, meet with Trump and gained his support. In an interview in June, Vance said he was wrong about the former president. Vance, once “the guy who will never be Trump”, is currently considered one of Trump’s top three candidates to succeed him in the campaign.

Trump has been at odds with his former vice president, Mike Pence, since the January 6 attack on the Capitol, after Pence refused to take action to block the certification of Biden’s election victory.

Why Butler County?

Trump won this county thanks to almost 66% of votes in 2020 and 61% of the votes in 2016, according to data on district elections.

Butler County is located in the 16th Congressional District, represented by U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R., Pa.), who has showed his support for Trump after his 34 felony convictions. Kelly is also up for re-election in November and has received Trump’s endorsement before his primaries in April this year.

Kelly was there too one of 139 US representatives who voted to uphold one or both of the objections to the electoral votes in Arizona and Pennsylvania on January 6, 2021.

The district is largely rural, predominantly white, and predominantly Republican. But the county is close to areas like the Pittsburgh suburbs that could play an essential role in deciding the state. Allegheny County (about 45 miles from Butler County) went solidly for Biden in 2020 — with nearly 60% of the vote.

Trump visited Butler County in 2020, making comments at Butler County Regional Airport.

Why will Trump’s first 2024 campaign visit be to a Republican county in Pennsylvania?

Trump is campaigning in Pennsylvania to target counties and demographic groups that Biden won in 2020, trying to take as many votes away from the president’s base as possible, as well as the narrow margin Biden won four years ago. Biden won the state by about 1 percentage point.

Trump’s last campaign event in Pennsylvania was at Temple University’s Liacouras Center on June 22. He had previously visited Newtown in Bucks County and Schnecksville in Lehigh County in April; and Philly (for the Sneaker Con event) and Harrisburg in Dauphin County in February. Biden won each of those suburban counties with just over 50% of the vote, and Philly with 81%.

The former president’s rally at the Liacouras Center last month was his first in the city, coming weeks after he opened a Philadelphia campaign office in Holmesburg on the northeast side of the city. Biden’s campaign will continue to rely heavily on the immense Democratic base in Philadelphia and its suburbs, but any number of votes Trump could win for his side could have an impact on how he does statewide.

In addition to Pennsylvania, Trump visited immense, diverse cities in other key states, including Detroit, where he visited a church where the majority were black people in June.

Trump’s visits to Philadelphia and Detroit are indicative of a broader pattern of campaign efforts to reach voters of color. Pew Research Center study from May found that while black voters still overwhelmingly support Biden, his “lead” among that voter demographic is not as immense as it was four years ago.