Former President Donald Trump returns to Pennsylvania on Wednesday to take center stage at a Fox News town hall meeting.
The primetime event, hosted by Sean Hannity, will take place at New Holland Arena in Harrisburg, the capital of a key battleground state in the campaign between President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
President Trump arrived in Pennsylvania last Friday for a rally in Johnstown, western Pennsylvania.
Fox News Town Hall with Former President Trump hosted by Sean Hannity – Wednesday at 9pm ET
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump speaks during a rally at First Summit Arena at the Cambria County War Memorial, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Rebecca Droke)
“67 days from now, we will win Pennsylvania,” the former president declared.
Vice President Harris stopped off in Pittsburgh on Monday to join President Biden for a Labor Day event in the state's second-largest city and union stronghold. She will return to Pittsburgh on Thursday, her second visit this week.
Fox confirmed that Harris will return to Pittsburgh to prepare for his first and likely only game next week. Presidential Debate Harris is expected to remain in the state until next Tuesday's primetime debate in Philadelphia.
Harris and Trump's race within margin of error as election campaign heads into final stretch
Early voting begins this month in Pennsylvania, with nine weeks until Election Day on Nov. 5. “Ballots will start being distributed in Pennsylvania in the next 14 days,” Harris told supporters on Monday.
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden arrive at a campaign event at the IBEW Local 5 union hall in Pittsburgh on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
Pennsylvania was one of seven battleground states that determined the 2020 election between Trump and Biden and is seen by both campaigns as a deciding factor in the 2024 presidential election.
“This is the one state where you don't see a lot of people losing the presidential election and then winning,” Mark Harris, a longtime Pittsburgh-based Republican national strategist and ad creator, told Fox News. “This is clearly the epicenter.”
“You can see it when you look at the media bookings and the candidates' travel schedules,” said Mark Harris, a veteran of multiple Republican presidential campaigns. “The Trump and Harris campaigns clearly view this as a must-win situation.”
“I don't think there's any other state that's going to have as big an impact as Pennsylvania” when it comes to the White House race, Pittsburgh-based Democratic consultant Mike Butler told Fox News.
Biden returns to campaign for first time since end of reelection effort, teams up with Harris
According to data from AdImpact, a nationally known ad-tracking company, campaigns and deep-pocketed super PACs supporting Harris and Trump have already spent more than $336 million on advertising in Pennsylvania, including about $150 million to secure airtime for spots in the final two months of the campaign, a figure that could grow in the coming weeks.
The leading candidates aren't the only ones campaigning in Pennsylvania. Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, is campaigning in Lancaster, Pittsburgh and Erie on Wednesday and Thursday. Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, has been campaigning in Pennsylvania almost every week since becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee in mid-July.
Republican vice presidential nominee Senator J.D. Vance criticized Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz at a Trump campaign event in Philadelphia on August 6, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Pennsylvania, along with Michigan and Wisconsin, are three Rust Belt states that make up the Democratic Party's so-called “Blue Wall.”
The party had reliably won all three states for 25 years, until Trump narrowly won them in the 2016 election and took the White House.
Four years later, in 2020, Biden narrowly won all three states, defeating Trump and once again giving the Democratic Party the upper hand.
Fast forward to the present, and Pennsylvania remains a swing state, with the latest polls from the state showing it in a race between Harris and Trump within the margin of error.
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“It's going to be a battle to the end. I think Trump has some advantage,” Mark Harris said. “But it's going to be a very tough fight.”
Butler noted that Pennsylvania has been a close race in the past two presidential elections. “Trump's vote count is pretty much set. I don't think he can do any worse than he did the past two. So that means Pennsylvania is going to be a very tough election,” he said.
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital's Election Hub.
