On Monday, Vice President Harris (Kamala Harris) and former President Trump will kick off their campaign events at two different locations in Pennsylvania. Harris will deliver a speech at the northwest corner of Erie, while Trump will speak at the southeastern outskirts of Philadelphia.
Both the Democrat Harris and the Republican Trump have been frequent visitors to this key battleground state in the United States. This marks Harris’s 10th visit to Pennsylvania during the campaign season, while just last week, Trump made stops in Scranton and Reading.
Both are vying for the undecided voters in the state. With around 7 million people potentially voting in the presidential election, mail-in voting is currently underway in Pennsylvania.
The state’s energy industry and the controversial fracking technology could be crucial topics in the campaign activities.
Trump secured victory in Pennsylvania in 2016 with a lead of over 40,000 votes against Hillary Clinton, winning the presidential election. However, four years later, Joe Biden, who hails from Scranton, won the state by approximately 80,000 votes.
Harris will hold a rally in Erie, a city with a population of around 94,000 where Democrats form a majority, but there is a significant Republican presence in the suburbs and rural areas. Erie County is often seen as a reliable bellwether region in the state, with voters having more moderate voting records.
Trump visited Erie on September 29.
During the rally, Harris plans to promote early voting. Before the event, she will visit a Black-owned small business in Erie to promote her proposals, pledging to provide more economic opportunities for the local Black community and other development opportunities to gain the support of this voting group.
Meanwhile, Trump plans to hold a town hall meeting on Monday in the suburb of Oaks at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center and Fairgrounds to boost voter turnout among his supporters.
Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes are the highest among all swing states and have long been at the center of presidential elections. Democrats have won the gubernatorial elections in the state three times consecutively, with both current U.S. senators being Democrats. However, the two parties are evenly matched in the legislature, and recent state-level elections have seen a close competition between the two parties.
(Adapted from the report by the Associated Press)