PHILADELPHIA – Former President Donald Trump will be in the swing state’s most vital city for a campaign rally on Saturday. And for the first time in the 2024 campaign, GOP U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick, who won Trump’s endorsement in Aprilis to join him.
“President Donald Trump loves the people of Pennsylvania,” the Trump campaign said in a statement announcing the rally at the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University.
But the former president didn’t always express “love” for Philadelphia.
In 2020, Trump called Philadelphia one of the “most corrupt political places in our country” and said during a 2020 debate with Joe Biden that “bad things are happening in Philadelphia” He too he falsely claimed in the 2020 election shows there were “more votes than people” in Pennsylvania.
North Philadelphia, home to Temple University and the Liacouras Center, is: mainly Black neighborhood in the city. Black voters are a key demographic for both presidential candidates and played a decisive role in Pennsylvania’s 2020 elections. Ninety-two percent of black voters in Pennsylvania in 2020, 7% voted for Biden and 7% voted for Trump.
AND Study conducted at Suffolk University/USA TODAY released earlier this week showed margins narrowing slightly. In the latest poll, Biden had 56% support among black voters in Pennsylvania, while Trump had 11%. So while Biden may not yet have the support he had four years ago among black voters in Pennsylvania, Trump is still far behind.
Last week, the state Legislative Black Caucus held a rally in Harrisburg to support Biden.
“Think about where we were four years ago when we heard from Trump occupying the White House that drinking bleach was OK to treat Covid-19. Sometimes we get lost and forget about history, but every indicator shows that blacks are better off and this The country will be better off under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” he says Sen. Vincent Hughes (R-Philadelphia) said.
On Friday, Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (R-Philadelphia) sharply criticized Trump ahead of a rally in his district.
“We have a guy who is basically going to come to my district to lie, make things up and, after four years of failure, take on the whole revisionist history,” Kenyatta said. He called the Trump administration “one of the most incompetent and corrupt.”
“And now this guy comes to Philadelphia and brings all 34 of his felony convictions to the Liacouras Center,” Kenyatta said.
In May, Trump was convicted of 34 crimes in a New York courtroom. The verdict is expected next month.
Saturday’s visit is part of Trump’s campaign to attract the attention of black voters. June 15 Trump visited Detroit — another city he had previously disparaged as “hell” and “totally corrupt” — a launch of its “Black Americans for Trump” campaign. Trump claimed so he has done “more for the black population than any American president since Abraham Lincoln” and said Biden “is just talk.”
The Trump campaign continues to spread the message that the former president’s policies were better for Black Americans than Biden’s. In a statement announcing the launch of Black Americans for Trump: campaign Black Media director Janiyah Thomas said “although Black Americans were left in place by President Joe Biden asset gave priority Black community.”
Saturday will be Trump’s fourth visit to Pennsylvania this year and his second to Philadelphia making brief remarks at Sneaker Con in February to promote his modern line of Trump-branded gold shoes. Although Trump has held numerous rallies in the Philadelphia suburbs since his first presidential campaign, Saturday is his first rally in the city itself.
Trump makes a surprise appearance at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia
The Trump campaign has stepped up its efforts in the Keystone State in recent weeks. On June 4, the campaign began for the first time “Trump Force 47” office in Philadelphia, headlined by U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX), who spoke at a podium with a sign that read “Black Americans for Trump.” Later that evening, Hunt joined U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL). “Congress, Cognac and Cigars” event. whose purpose was to appeal to black voters in Philadelphia.
On June 12, o The Trump campaign has opened an office in Reading with a focus on Latin American voters, and on Tuesday The Republican National Committee has made efforts to recruit poll workers and poll watchers and rally support for Trump’s candidacy in the Philadelphia suburbs.
The Biden campaign has made a presence in Pennsylvania a high priority early in the 2024 race, and the president has made eight appearances in the Keystone State this year, most of them in the southeastern region of the Commonwealth where Democrats dominate.
His last campaign visit was in Philadelphia in tardy May Vice President Kamala Harris. launch of the “Black Voters for Biden-Harris” program at Girard College. The Biden campaign has 24 coordinated offices statewide, opening the first round of offices in March.
Biden and Harris campaign in Philadelphia focusing on black voters
The Democratic National Committee launched an advertising campaign ahead of Trump’s visit with a billboard, a mobile advertising board are circulating the Temple University campus calling the former president a “disaster for Black Americans,” and pro-Biden kiosks dot the campus.
McCormick, who is pursuing incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (R-PA) in the latest survey by about 6 points, he went on to say social media on Thursday that he “looks forward to joining @realDonaldTrump in Philadelphia this weekend to talk about the leadership needed to get our country back on track! Together we will phase out Joe Biden and Bob Casey.”
At a campaign event in Philadelphia on Friday, Casey said he didn’t want to comment on campaign tactics but hoped Trump and McCormick would have to answer questions about various proposed legislation.
“I hope he was asked some basic questions,” Casey said. “I hope Trump and McCormick will be asked, ‘Do you support John Lewis’s legislation to protect the right to vote?’ Do you support the Women’s Health Protection Act? Do you support workers’ right to organize and vote for the PRO Act?”
On Friday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign it was announced that he had collected enough signatures to put on the ballot in Pennsylvania, although his nominating petitions would likely be contested by Democrats and Republicans. Polls over the past few months show Kennedy typically winning by a few points in Pennsylvania, which could potentially lend a hand tip the scales in a tight race between Biden and Trump. However, it is unclear which candidate could benefit from RFK Jr.’s presence. in the race.
Polls for the 2024 cycle show Biden and Trump close in Pennsylvania, although some recent polls show the former president with a slight lead. Some Emerson College Survey released on Thursday showed Trump leading Biden by 2 points in Pennsylvania.
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