For the second week in a row, both Republican presidential candidates will campaign in Pennsylvania.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (Republican of Ohio) will come to Erie to deliver a speech on the economy and energy, while former President Donald Trump will travel to Johnstown for a rally on Friday.
“President Trump knows Pennsylvania cannot stand four more years of the dangerously incompetent and dangerously liberal Kamala Harris,” the Trump campaign said in a press release announcing the rally. “A Trump-Vance Administration will Make America Great Again by unleashing American drilling to cut energy costs in half, stopping the migrant invasion of our southern border, and restoring America to its rightful standing and respect on the world stage.”
Trump’s rally in Johnstown will be his ninth appearance in Pennsylvania this year, while Vance’s visit to Erie will be his fourth since joining the Republican Party as vice presidential candidate. The two were last in Keystone State on August 19th. in separate appearances in York and Philadelphia to discuss their economic plans.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign responded to the upcoming visits by saying a Trump presidency is bad for Pennsylvania workers and a second Trump term will be even worse.
“Pennsylvania workers know how bad Trump’s first presidency was, from weakening unions to eliminating 275,000 Pennsylvania jobs while giving massive tax breaks to large corporations that moved many of those jobs overseas,” said Onotse Omoyeni, Pennsylvania Rapid Response director for Harris for President, adding that a second Trump term would raise costs for middle-class families.
Harris, who officially accepted her party’s nomination for president at last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, has visited Pennsylvania eight times in 2024. the last appearance in this state was on August 18with his vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Governor Walz, on a bus tour of western Pennsylvania.
Trump’s rally in Johnstown will be held in Cambria County, which is consistently red, while Vance’s speech will be delivered in Erie County, which is purple.
Trump won Cambria County by 37 points in both 2020 AND 2016 over Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.
IN 2016Trump flipped Erie County from blue to red, beating Clinton by 1.5 percentage points just four years into the presidency Barack Obama won this county by 16 percentage points. IN 2020Biden turned the district blue again, defeating Trump by one percentage point.
Vance’s visit to Erie will be the first time both teams have played in a key swing county in 2024.
Harris and Trump remain neck and neck in the fight for Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes, Cook Political Report rating the presidential race in the Keystone State as “uncertain.”
Some Emerson College Poll released on August 16 showed Harris and Trump each with 47 percent of the vote, although 3 percent supported independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who ended his candidacy and endorsed Trump.
