PHILADELPHIA— Vice President Kamala Harris’ 20th visit to Pennsylvania of the year included a busy day of campaigning across the state’s biggest Democratic stronghold. As she sought to shore up support among her base, Harris also spoke about a new policy proposal focused on Puerto Rico, during a stop at Puerto Rican eatery Freddy and Tony’s Restaurant.

“Philly, we have nine days, nine days to get this done,” Harris said during an afternoon rally at the Alan Horwitz “Sixth Man” Center. A few thousand people gathered at the youth basketball facility in Northwest Philadelphia to hear from Harris, Philadelphia’s first Black woman mayor Cherelle Parker, and state House Speaker Joanna McClinton, the first Black woman to hold that title. “And for the next nine days, no one can sit on the sidelines.”

Harris, the Democratic Party candidate for president, said that since the beginning, her campaign has been about “building coalitions.” Her visit to Philadelphia on Sunday had a particular emphasis on Black and Latino voters, two demographics key to winning the city, and the state.

Harris described the “opportunity economy” for Puerto Rico she had announced on social media earlier in the day to a gathering at Freddy and Tony’s Restaurant. By Sunday evening, the post had already been shared by prominent Puerto Rican celebrities Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin.

“It’s about giving people access to opportunity, knowing that the people in all communities — in all communities — they want, yes, a job, but they want to be able to build wealth,” she said, according to pool reports. “They want to be able to build intergenerational wealth, home ownership, small business growth, right? So I call it an opportunity economy. The thing I mentioned this morning is I’m going to create basically an opportunity economy Task Force for Puerto Rico.”

She said the task force would be focused on bringing economic opportunities to the Puerto Rican island and address the ongoing problems with the electrical grid in Puerto Rico, per pool reports.

Philadelphia has the second-largest stateside Puerto Rican population among U.S. cities, only trailing New York City, according to the 2020 Census. The Center for Puerto Rican Studies reported that as of 2019, just under 500,000 Puerto Ricans live in Pennsylvania, making it the state with the third largest concentration in the nation.

Harris and Trump have not talked about Puerto Rico at length during previous campaign appearances in Pennsylvania, although some Republicans have used the discussion of Puerto Rico statehood as a campaign issue and as a reason to vote against Democrats.

The Trump campaign has made an effort to win over Latino voters in Pennsylvania, including opening a “Latino Americans for Trump” office in Reading.

Polling throughout this cycle shows that Trump has continued to make gains with Latino voters, although Harris still maintains an advantage.

During a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made disparaging remarks about Puerto Rico that quickly went viral on social media.

“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” Hinchcliffe said. which received a “scattering of claps and jeers,” according to NBC News. The Trump campaign reportedly responded saying that “this joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.”

Harris, who arrived in Philadelphia late Saturday, began her Sunday morning attending services at The Church of Christian Compassion in West Philadelphia. There, she talked about the lessons she learned as a little girl at the church where she worshiped in Oakland, California, according to pool reports.

Harris next stopped by nearby barbershop Philly Cuts, for a conversation with young Black men and community leaders. During this appearance, she highlighted the need to recruit and retain more Black men teachers “because we know the benefit to overall society,” according to pool reports. That idea is part of an economic agenda focused on Black men that Harris announced earlier this month.

During the 2020 election, Joe Biden received significant support from Black voters, although the support was stronger among women than men. National exit polling shows that 90% of Black women voted for Biden over then-President Donald Trump, while 79% of Black men voted for Biden. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Trump gaining ground with Hispanic and Black voters. The Trump campaign has also held multiple events during the year with the intention of winning over Black voters in Philadelphia.

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat representing Georgia, told reporters in Philadelphia on Oct. 23 that he believed Harris would still win votes from Black men.

“Let me say that the Vice President has always been focused on Black men, as she’s been focused on other parts of our coalition, and I have heard this reporting about Black men jumping on the Trump bandwagon. I do not believe that we will see large swaths of black men voting for Donald Trump,” Warnock told reporters. “I think that part of what is going on is an effort to create a bandwagon with the hopes that people will jump on now.”

Warnock added that Black men are not a monolith, saying there will be some who vote for Trump, but emphasized his belief that Trump’s values “don’t align with ours.”

Leading into Harris’ Sunday events, the Trump campaign described the vice president’s visit as an “eleventh-hour swing” resulting in a “stench of desperation.”

“When Kamala is spending her precious little time rallying Democrat base voters just nine days out from Election Day, you know it’s clear that Pennsylvanians are gearing up to reject another four years of unlimited illegal immigration, rising prices, and worsening crime under Kamala and instead vote for peace, prosperity, and stability under President Donald J. Trump,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Kush Desai.

On Sunday, Harris also made a brief visit to Hakim’s Bookstore and Gift Shop, an African American-themed bookstore with books about Africa, civil rights icons, and slavery on the shelves, per pool reports.

“We’re going to do it. Victory runs through Philly. It runs through Pennsylvania,” Harris said, at the bookstore, according to pool reports.

Parker, the city’s 100th mayor, joined Harris for much of the campaigning on Sunday.

Parker highlighted another key component of the current Democratic coalition: the southeastern section of the commonwealth.

“Guess what the difference was between that 2016 vote and that 2020 vote?” Parker said at the afternoon rally. “More people came out to vote in the city of Philadelphia and our neighboring counties.”

She mentioned Philadelphia’s collar counties by name: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery and said “southeastern Pennsylvania is stronger together.”

McClinton cited recent appearances from Harris in Delaware County for a CNN town hall and a Republicans for Harris event in Bucks County as proof that the campaign recognizes how important the region is.

“It’s very crucial, because we understand that while our state is beautiful and awesome and diverse, and they are working in every place to get out the vote, there is a dense voting population on this side of the state, and as a result, so many times the person who wins in these collar counties is the one who will carry,” McClinton told the Capital-Star.

Ray and Margie Willis, who live in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, saw Harris speak on Sunday at the church service and the rally.

When asked which issues were most important to them in the upcoming election, Ray Willis told the Capital-Star “women’s rights and civil rights,” while Margie Willis added “jobs and housing.”

Ray Willis said he’s optimistic about Harris’ chances, given that he believes “you’re going to have a lot of women turning out.” Polling shows Harris leading among women voters, while Trump has led among men.

During Harris’ rally, she was interrupted by a protester who shouted about Gaza.

“I want to talk about Gaza for a minute,” Harris said in response. “We can and we must seize this opportunity to end this war and bring the hostages home.”

“And I will do everything in my power to meet that end,” she added.

Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes make it the largest swing state on the line this year. Trump was most recently in the state on Saturday for a rally in State College. He’s scheduled to return on Tuesday for a roundtable discussion in the Philadelphia suburbs and a rally in the Lehigh Valley.

Randyll Butler, a Philadelphia Youth Basketball Coach, opened up for Harris on Sunday at the rally. She said the nation needs a “role model for all of us,” and that “we need a most valuable player, an MVP” which was followed by “MVP” chants.

“This is the fourth quarter,” Butler said. “This race is neck and neck. We cannot get tired, we cannot get complacent, we all have to go out and we have to talk to our families and to our friends and sometimes to the other side about what’s at stake.”

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.

PHILADELPHIA —- Former President Donald Trump made his way to the city of Brotherly Love on Saturday for a rally, his first in the city of 2024. It also marked the first time Trump has advised voters in Pennsylvania to use mail-in ballots, something he has regularly spoken out against.

“If you want to save America, get your friends, get your family, get everyone you know and vote,” Trump said. “Vote early, vote absentee, vote mail-in, vote in-person, I don’t care how they vote, just get out and vote.”

Trump also repeated his false claims of election fraud in Philadelphia in 2020, saying it was “egregious” and “they used COVID to cheat. They used a lot of things to cheat, but we’re not going to let it happen again.”

While Trump leaned heavily on crime as a main talking point for the evening, speakers before him mainly kept their focus on the economy and the border. At one point, he suggested a “fight league” for migrants to the U.S., and discussed his support for school choice, which has emerged as a key point of contention between Democrats and Republicans in the state Legislature as they hammer out the budget.

Trump invited GOP U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick on stage to offer his “total support and my total endorsement” in person. He had previously endorsed McCormick after he won the Pennsylvania GOP primary in April.

McCormick made two separate appearances on stage Saturday, first to deliver an address before Trump and another to join the former president on stage as he encouraged supporters to back his candidacy over U.S. Sen. Bob Casey. It was the first time Trump and McCormick have appeared together on the campaign trail.

Trump called Casey a “stiff” and said he didn’t remember meeting the three-term senator during his time in Washington. “Nobody knows who he is, nobody has any idea,” Trump said. “But Dave McCormick is going to be an activist for you.”

McCormick thanked Trump, and said new leadership was needed. “We need a president in the White House with pro-growth economic policies, deregulation that brings back our business community.”

Following the rally, Casey’s campaign sent out a fundraising email reading in part, “This is serious. Donald Trump just attacked Bob Casey by name at a MAGA rally in Philadelphia saying that Pennsylvania “needs to defeat” Bob Casey.”

When talking to reporters on Friday in Philadelphia about McCormick’s expected attacks on him, Casey touted his record in the U.S. Senate, saying he’s delivered for the people of the state “over and over again.”

“What I won’t do is what David McCormick will do,” Casey told reporters. “He’s a bag man for billionaires. That’s what he is. He’ll vote with the billionaires.”

U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-9th District), who has emerged as one of the most vocal surrogates for the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania, said that Trump delivers on his promises and “will reverse Bidenomics” and replace it with “MAGAnomics.”

“Philadelphia needs a president that cares about it,” Meuser said. “Because Joe Biden’s administration are all talk and no action.”

‘Donald Trump does not give a damn about Black people’

Local Democrats spent the day preempting the presumptive GOP nominee’s messaging.

“Later today, a 34-times-indicted criminal is going to come to North Philadelphia doing what he does best, lying about his record, talking about the past, and thumbing his nose at working families all across Pennsylvania,” state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia) said on Saturday morning. He made the remarks at an event focused on Black voters at a Biden campaign office in North Philadelphia.

Kenyatta, state Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia), who is Chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, and Philadelphia City Councilmember Jeffrey Young, said it was important for Democrats to counteract his message ahead of the rally.

“We really have to show Mr. Trump that he’s not welcome here in this city, in this town, this state,” Young said. He added it was up to Democrats to remind voters in their communities about Trump’s record in office.

“Donald Trump is just all talk, right,” Young said. “In our community, we tend to idolize like celebrities, right, for some reason or another and Donald Trump appeals to that when he’s trying to appeal to Black voters and other voters in our community, but we have to let them know that the celebrity is all smoke and mirrors, there is no substance to that whatsoever, he does not care about pushing our community forward.”

Kenyatta blasted Trump for his record before entering politics and his false accusations that former President Barack Obama was not born in America.

“Donald Trump is a person who has a record, a well-documented record, of disrespecting Black people and destabilizing Black communities,” Kenyatta said.

Trump’s rally on Saturday is his fourth appearance in Pennsylvania so far this year and his second appearance in Philadelphia. In February, he delivered a brief address to SneakerCon at the Pennsylvania Convention Center to promote his new line of Trump-branded shoes.

In response to a question about Trump’s decision to hold a rally in North Philadelphia, Street said that Trump is trying to create a national narrative to persuade Black voters to support him, and that he believed the Trump campaign would bus supporters in from outside the city.

“So, a young Black person sitting in Detroit will say ‘well Black people in North Philly support him, how bad can he be?,” Street said.

Kenyatta, who serves on the Biden-Harris National Advisory Board and is a candidate for state Auditor General, echoed a similar message, saying Trump’s visit to Philadelphia was partly about getting the press to write headlines that “Donald Trump is trying to talk to Black folk.”

He likened Trump’s rally in North Philadelphia to somebody showing up to Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey and saying “the Eagles suck.”

“That’s not trying to reach out to Eagles fans,” Kenyatta said. “So, Donald Trump bringing his KKK rhetoric, bringing his racist Bull Conner bullhorn to North Philadelphia doesn’t mean he’s reaching out to Black folks, he is coming to disrespect Black people.”

“Listen, Donald Trump is in a Black place, but Donald Trump does not give a damn about Black people,” Kenyatta added.

Trump rallies in Philadelphia as 2024 campaign heats up

Black voters in Philadelphia played a key role in President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in 2020 with 92% of Black voters in the state voting for Biden, while 7% voted for Trump. Recent polling has suggested that gap has narrowed, but with Biden still holding a considerable lead.

Last weekend, Trump visited Detroit for the launch of his “Black Americans for Trump” effort and claimed there that he had done “more for the Black population than any American president since Abraham Lincoln.”

When asked about recent polling showing Trump gaining support among Black voters, Street referenced polling the past two cycles in the state and said Democrats have continued to win statewide since he took over as party chair.

“Donald Trump famously said that ‘bad things happen in Philly,’ he is the bad thing that is happening in Philly,” Kenyatta said. “And he is going to get the type of welcome that he deserves in North Philly, and it’s not going to be nice.”

Calvin Tucker, a member of the Pennsylvania Republican Party Executive Committee, told the Capital-Star following his speech that his biggest takeaway was Trump’s message about the impact of “Bidenflation.”

“I want to see him back in so that we can get back to the normalization of prices,” Tucker told the Capital-Star.

In 2016, Tucker welcomed Trump to North Philadelphia for a roundtable event with Black leaders. Tucker said it was promising to see Trump in North Philadelphia again on Saturday.

“This is a harbinger of the activity that’s going to come,” he said.

In 2020, Biden received 603,970 votes in Philadelphia, while Trump received 132,740 votes. Tucker said he’s certain that Trump can make that margin more narrow, which could propel him to victory in November.

“If we keep the number below 400,000, we have a great opportunity to do that,” he told the Capital-Star.

Tucker cited recent polling that showed Trump gaining ground among Black and Latino Americans, and others as proof that he can flip the state back in the win column. He told the Capital-Star that he thinks Trump can win 18-25% of Black voters.

While the first level and floor of the Liacouras Center were mainly occupied by Trump supporters during Saturday’s event, the second level didn’t have anyone seated. The Capital-Star is seeking a crowd estimate for the event.

Prior to his address, Trump made an appearance at Tony and Nick’s in South Philadelphia to buy a cheesesteak.

Protesters gathered across the street from the Liacouras Center on Saturday afternoon, as temperatures soared into the mid-90s. Some exchanged words with Trump supporters awaiting his arrival, others waved anti-Trump signs and made their displeasure known.

Anne Geheb, 69, a resident of the Philadelphia suburbs, said Saturday was supposed to be a beach day but she decided to come to the city to voice her opposition to Trump instead. Geheb, who is a lesbian, said Trump’s negative rhetoric about the LGBTQ community, especially transgender people, was particularly concerning to her.

Trump said on Saturday during his speech he would “sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity and any other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on to our children.”

But Geheb said she was heartened to see many younger people protesting Trump as well.

“I’m very worried that the young people will not show up [to vote], and we need them to show up,” she said.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.

Gov. Josh Shapiro admonished former President Donald Trump to “quit whining” during a TV appearance Monday night, and said it was crucial not to give the former president the opportunity to appoint more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“All they hear from Donald Trump is a whole bunch of whining about this country, and I think Donald Trump’s got to quit whining, got to quit trying to divide us,” Shapiro said during a spot on Inside with Jen Psaki on MSNBC, describing how he viewed Pennsylvanians’ attitudes toward Trump.

“More people went to work this morning in America than at any other time in our nation’s history,” he added. “So I got a message to Donald Trump and all his negativity and his whining, stop s–t talking America. This is the greatest country on Earth, and it’s time that we all start acting like it.”

Asked if he thought Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts would influence Pennsylvania voters who are undecided, Shapiro added that he didn’t know “how the conviction will play out.”

Trump found guilty on 34 felony counts in NY hush money trial

Shapiro noted that Trump’s victory in 2016 led to enough justices serving on the court to overturn Roe v. Wade — Trump appointed three justices during his term — and said other rights could be at risk if he retakes the presidency.

“You really want to give Donald Trump the ability to appoint more Samuel Alitos to the court, more Clarence Thomases to the court,” Shapiro said. “You really want to give him the ability to put more people on the court who are going to take away our fundamental freedoms?”

“I really fear that this was just the beginning, and if Donald Trump is given the ability to lead this nation again to put more of those kinds of justices on the court, it will not only set us back for four years, it will set us back for 40 years,” he added.

As of June 10, President Joe Biden and Trump are slated to be on the Pennsylvania ballot for November’s election, although multiple third-party candidates like Jill Stein and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are making a push to appear on the ballot as well.

But Shapiro called the presidential election a “binary choice.”

“Don’t let anybody tell you there’s other people on the ballot,” Shapiro said. “Bunch of randos on the ballot with no chance of winning, this is a binary choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”

A Pennsylvania poll from Mainstreet Research, PolCom Lab and Florida Atlantic University released June 4 shows Trump leading Biden by 2 points in a head-to-head matchup, however, when Kennedy is added as a choice, he pulls 8% of the vote and provides Biden with a 2 point advantage over Trump.

Following the 2020 election, Trump sued several battleground states, including Pennsylvania, over the outcome of the race. Shapiro was the state’s attorney general at the time and noted Trump’s attempts to overturn the election were unsuccessful.

“He complains, he bemoans the fact that he lost, and he makes up excuses and tries to pivot away from personal responsibility,” Shapiro said. He added that if Trump wins, he’d attempt to “exact revenge” on enemies via the justice system, adding that should “scare all Americans.”

The Republican National Committee replied to a request for response to Shapiro’s comments late Monday without mentioning the governor by name, instead focusing on Biden.

“Joe Biden’s approval rating is underwater in Pennsylvania and Democrats know it,” RNC spokesperson Rachel Lee said in an email to the Capital-Star . “Despite their best attempts to gaslight voters, the Keystone State knows that failed Joe Biden is to blame for soaring costs, a spiraling border crisis, and staggering crime rates across the country.”

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.

NORTH WHITEHALL TWP — Former President Donald Trump returned to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania on a cold and windy Saturday to rally supporters in a pivotal battleground region 10 days before the state’s primary election.

“The pilot said ‘it’s too windy to land, sir,” Trump said at the beginning of an hour long speech. “I said ‘that’s OK, land anywhere. It’s windy, but it’s beautiful, it’s Pennsylvania.”

Describing the stakes of the upcoming November election, Trump said that “2024 is our final battle.”

“We are either going to have a great nation or a failed nation,” Trump said.

Saturday’s visit comes two days before Trump is scheduled to stand trial in criminal proceedings in a New York City courtroom. Trump is accused of falsifying business records to cover up payments made in 2016 after an alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels. He will be the first former U.S. president to stand trial in criminal proceedings.

As he has in previous rallies, Trump spent a sizable chunk of time trying to blame President Joe Biden’s administration for the charges he faces in several cases. He called it a “communist show trial” and claimed that some prosecutors suffer from TDS, or “Trump Derangement Syndrome”

“Remember, I’ve been indicted more than Al Capone, the great gangster,” Trump said. “I never heard the word indictment, I didn’t know, now all of a sudden, if I fly over a Democrat state, a blue state, I get subpoenaed before a grand jury.”

As in previous rallies, Trump also claimed baselessly on several occasions that the 2020 election was rigged against him and that he won Pennsylvania. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania by 44,000 votes in 2016, but lost to Biden in 2020 by 80,000 votes.

In recent months, Pennsylvania Republicans, including U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick and U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-10th District), have ratcheted up their calls for Republicans to embrace voting by mail, arguing they won’t be able to win without them, since Democrats have a large mail ballot advantage. On Saturday, Trump claimed, without evidence, that mail in voting was being used against him.

Trump called for paper ballots, same day voting, and voter ID.

Trump also spent a great deal of time discussing border security as a rallying cry for his 2024 campaign.

“Job number one is going to be, as soon as we take office, we will seal the border,” Trump said to applause.

“On day one, we will begin the largest domestic deportation operation in the history of our country,” Trump said later in the rally.

State Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R-Lehigh) said in an interview with the Capital-Star that the two biggest issues for voters in the Lehigh Valley were the economy and the border.

When making a Pennsylvania-centric pitch to supporters on Saturday night, Trump claimed the energy policies of his administration would benefit the state’s economy, touted passing the USMCA Trade Agreement, while criticizing the Biden administration’s moratorium on building new liquified natural gas export terminals, and U.S. Steel’s proposed sale to Japanese-based Nippon Steel.

Noticeably missing from Trump’s speech was any mention of abortion. Trump made several attempts to clarify his position last week, finally saying he would not sign a nationwide ban. On the campaign trail, Trump has taken credit for Roe v. Wade being overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ahead of Trump’s visit, a group of Democratic women lawmakers spoke at a press conference in Bucks County and criticized Trump’s stance on abortion. U.S. Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon (5th District), and Madeleine Dean (4th District), were joined by Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Rep. Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia, and candidate for PA-01 Ashley Ehasz.

“When I go to the doctor, there’s only room for me. There’s not room for the state legislature. There’s not room for Congress. There’s not room for the president, no matter who’s there. There’s not room for the Supreme Court,” McClinton said. “Unfortunately, the government has gotten into these medical offices by taking away our rights, by rolling back almost 50 years of precedent. And we cannot blindly sit still while the former President is in Bucks County frolicking around, continuing to spread the Big Lie.”

Although Trump is already the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, there are several competitive races for GOP candidates in Pennsylvania’s April 23 primary. Trump did not weigh in on any of the competitive primaries on Saturday night, but did formally endorse David McCormick’s candidacy for U.S. Senate and shouted out Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who is seeking a second term in office.

Trump endorses McCormick on Casey’s birthday

U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-9th District) spoke before Trump on Saturday, suggesting that Pennsylvania is “Trump country.”

“We must elect the superior mind, the intellectual, the strategic, the great negotiator, the great leader Donald Trump the next president,” Meuser said to applause.

Prior to the evening rally, Trump attended a fundraiser in Bucks County, which is considered the lone purple county of the Philadelphia suburbs. It is unclear whether U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-1st District) was in attendance for the fundraiser in his district.

Trump sent out a post on Truth Social on Saturday challenging Biden to debate him and repeated that challenge on Saturday, bringing out a podium on stage with him.

“I’m calling on crooked Joe Biden to debate, anytime, anywhere, anyplace,” Trump said.

The Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced three presidential debates for the fall.

Saturday was Trump’s third visit to the state in 2024. In February, he spoke at a National Rifle Association event in Harrisburg and one week later unveiled a new line of Trump-branded sneakers and delivered brief remarks at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia.

Biden’s campaign has kept a steady presence in the crucial battleground state. He’s made four separate appearances in Pennsylvania, all in the eastern region of the state, including the Lehigh Valley, most recently visiting Delaware County the day after his State of the Union address.

Biden will return to the state for three separate visits in the upcoming week.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) put up billboards in Allentown criticizing Trump’s comments on abortion before the rally on Saturday. And Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a Friday statement that Trump’s agenda was “too dangerous and extreme” for Pennsylvania.

In 2016, Trump lost Lehigh County by just under 5 points, but won neighboring Northampton County by nearly 4 points. In 2020, Biden won Lehigh County by roughly 7.5 points, while also flipping Northampton County blue.

“I think the Lehigh Valley is a very close predictor to how the statewide vote usually turns out,” Coleman told the Capital-Star. “The Lehigh Valley is really a melting pot.”

In 2020, Northampton County was the only county in Pennsylvania to pick the winner in all four statewide elections. The only debate between the candidates for vice president will take place in Northampton County in September.

Widespread polling shows Biden and Trump are currently locked in a close race for Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes. The Cook Political Report, a national ratings outlet, labels Pennsylvania as one of the six “toss-up” states this cycle. It’s the state with the most electoral votes on the line in this category.

Update: This story was updated at 11:30 p.m. April 13, 2024 with new details throughout.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.