Trump boosting efforts to wrest Pennsylvania back to GOP victory

Former President Trump is accelerating his efforts to retake Pennsylvania by visiting key battleground areas in the state on Saturday.

This is part of the former president’s aggressive push to expand into the battleground region seen as President Biden’s stronghold.

Pennsylvania is the largest swing state on the map, boasting 19 electoral votes. If Trump can win it in November, it could significantly narrow Biden’s path to victory.

President Trump will hold a rally in the Lehigh Valley area on Saturday after attending a fundraiser in Bucks County, a suburb of Philadelphia.

“This will be one of many, many trips,” said David Urban, a senior adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign who played a role in the campaign’s effort to flip the state that year. Ta.

“If you look at the number of visitors in 2016 and 2020, we will have the same number or more,” he added.

However, Democrats have enjoyed great success in the state recently, with Biden expected to flip the state in 2020 and Pennsylvania Democrats to win up and down the state in 2022. Opinion polls also show Biden with an advantage. The Hills Decision Desk headquarters average has Mr. Biden leading Mr. Trump by a narrow margin of 46.5% to 45.9%.

Both parties are also closely watching a number of down-ballot elections in the state, including a high-profile Senate race and several competitive House races. President Trump’s stop in the Lehigh Valley particularly coincides with Pennsylvania’s competitive 7th District, currently held by incumbent Rep. Susan Wilde (D-Pa.).

Republicans argue that the national environment benefits Pennsylvania, pointing specifically to Biden’s weaknesses on the economy and immigration. Republicans also point to what they claim is an advantage in voter registration in the state.

“I’m very bullish on Trump’s campaign in Pennsylvania,” said Charlie Gerow, a Pennsylvania-based Republican strategist and former gubernatorial candidate.

“Republicans were able to dramatically reduce Democratic registration in Pennsylvania,” he said.

According to data from the Pennsylvania Department of State as of April 10, there are 25,593 automatically registered Republicans and 22,528 Democrats in the state. There were 22,822 voters listed as “other.”

Republicans say Trump will need to replicate some of his 2016 strategy, including boosting turnout in the state’s red enclaves while softening Biden’s support in areas that favor him, such as the Philadelphia suburbs. It is claimed that there is.

“If you look back at 2016, Trump won by historic margins in so many counties, 8% in some of those counties…where McCain, Romney and Bush had 60%. There are,” Urban said.

Lackawanna County is poised to once again become one of Pennsylvania’s hottest counties. Trump won the county in 2016, but Biden flipped it in 2020.

Biden is scheduled to visit Scranton, the county seat and hometown, on Tuesday to deliver an economic speech. The visit underscores the president’s own commitment to preserving the nation.

“He was in Delaware County from the State of the Union until the next day, and the atmosphere was great ever since,” said one Pennsylvania Democratic Party operative. “As people start paying attention to the election, Biden is doing better in part because his policies are so popular. We just need to tell people about them. It is.”

“Elections are choices, and the more voters consider this a choice, the better Biden will do. [Biden] “Compare me with the Almighty, not with an alternative,” the operative added.

In addition to touting Biden’s legislative accomplishments such as bipartisan infrastructure improvements, Pennsylvania Democrats have linked Trump to the anti-abortion movement and made baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. It suggests a plan to reassert itself.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) echoed this strategy in a statement released through the Biden campaign ahead of President Trump’s visit on Saturday.

“Donald Trump poses the greatest threat to the rights and freedoms of Pennsylvania in decades. Tomorrow, he will come to the Commonwealth. We will see the results: Women from Florida to Arizona are stripped of their ability to make their own medical decisions, people desperately trying to conceive are left without access to IVF, and doctors are left with no access to IVF. They live in fear of prosecution for carrying out their duties,” the governor said.

It also accused President Trump of “waging a campaign of revenge and retaliation” and “doubling down on the same election lies that inspired rioters to storm the Capitol, putting our very democracy at risk.”

But Republicans aren’t sure pushing those two issues will work in the state, especially as inflation continues to be a problem across the country.

“I don’t think democracy is on the ballot,” Urban said. “I don’t know if democracy really matters when people are worried they won’t be able to fill up their gas tank or take their kids on a trip this summer. It’s a concept. It’s a vague concept, whereas you can’t pay your bills. It’s not a vague concept.”

Some Republicans said abortion is established law in Pennsylvania, but others noted some vulnerabilities on the issue, especially in the state’s suburban enclaves.

“It’s a rallying cry to make sure you vote Democratic, and Republicans need to find a better way to get that message across,” said Vince Galko, a Pennsylvania-based Republican strategist. issues are having an impact,” he added. We keep asking questions every day, and Democrats don’t have the answers for them.

Another factor in the election could be a third-party candidate, especially if Robert F. Kennedy is able to appear on the ballot in Pennsylvania. Many Democrats and Republicans believe that Green Party candidate Jill Stein stole votes from Hillary Clinton in battleground states like Pennsylvania in 2016, helping Trump win.

Mr. Stein is running again for the Green Party nomination, but strategists in both parties say Mr. Kennedy’s national identity and support could hinder Mr. Biden in states like Pennsylvania. It states that there is.

“If Kennedy gets on the ballot, he’s going to do very well in the state,” Garko said. “He could be a spoiler this time for Biden. We don’t know if he’s going to get to 2 percent, 3 percent, 4 percent, 5 percent, 6 percent, but that makes a huge difference in votes. There is a possibility.”

Republicans say they’re happy with the state’s prospects heading into November, but warn they shouldn’t take the state for granted.

“I still believe it will be a relatively close race in Pennsylvania,” Gerow said. “Republicans can’t win the presidential election in Pennsylvania. Donald Trump was one of the few people in my lifetime to win the state.”