Republican Party candidate, former President Donald Trump, will return to Pennsylvania for a rally on Aug. 17, two days before the Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago.
“Hardworking Americans are suffering under the dangerously liberal policies of the Harris-Biden administration, while radical Democrats are failing the Keystone State,” reads a Trump campaign press release promoting the event.
Saturday’s rally at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre will be Trump’s seventh visit to the Keystone State in 2024, but his first to northeastern Pennsylvania. Trump appeared July 31 at rally in Harrisburgwhich was his first visit to this state after attempted bombing at Butler rally July 13th.
Northeastern Pennsylvania was a focus for much of the 2020 White House race between then-President Trump and Joe Biden, whose childhood home in Scranton is in the area. Although Biden will no longer be at the top of the Democratic ticket, He is expected to give a speech at the Democratic National Convention two days after that rally. Biden also told CBS he would campaign Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, in Pennsylvania.
Harris and her vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, held their first joint election rally in Philadelphia on August 6On the same day, Trump’s vice presidential candidate, U.S. Senator JD Vance also held a campaign event in Philadelphia.
Harris and Trump are expected will face off in a debate hosted by ABC News in September.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick confirmed to the Capital-Star that he will attend Saturday’s rally. He is challenging U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), a native and resident of northeastern Pennsylvania, in his bid for a fourth term.
The race between Harris and Trump for Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes is expected to be close, though a recent New York Times/Siena College poll shows Harris has a slight lead over Trump. Cook Political Report rates Pennsylvania’s presidential race as “uncertain.”
