Former President Donald Trump is set to appear in Harrisburg Wednesday for his first campaign rally in Pennsylvania since a gunman attempted to assassinate him less than a month ago at an outdoor event in Butler County.
Trump is scheduled to speak inside the Farm Show Complex’s 6,000-person-capacity New Holland Arena at 6 p.m. Doors are planned to open at 2 p.m. Free tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis and can be requested through the “events” section on donaldjtrump.com/events.
U.S. Senate hopeful Dave McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO looking to oust incumbent Sen. Bob Casey, announced Tuesday that he’s slated to speak at 4 p.m. Details are sparse on other planned speakers.
A spokeswoman for Congressman Lloyd Smucker, a staunch Trump supporter whose district covers Lancaster County and the southern half of York County, said Smucker would be at the rally but that she was uncertain if he would be speaking at the event.
Trump acknowledged Smucker and Pennsylvania’s other Republican members of Congress in the crowd during his February visit to Harrisburg at the annual NRA Outdoor Show.
As for what issues Trump and other speakers will discuss, a spokesman for the Trump campaign referred to a press release about the event that blamed Democrats for the state’s economic woes and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ presumed presidential nominee, for her handling of policies impacting the U.S.-Mexico border that are “wreaking havoc in Pennsylvania.”
Trump could also seize the opportunity to go on the offensive toward Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, one of the several Democrats being floated as a possible running mate for Harris.
A Susquehanna Polling and Research survey released Tuesday found that Harris led Trump 47% to 43% among 600 “likely voters” in Pennsylvania — within the poll’s 4% margin of error. Three percent said they’d support independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., while 7% said they were undecided.
READ: Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro is a top contender for vice president. What would he bring to the ticket?
Campaign strategy
Trump has hosted most of his Pennsylvania campaign rallies this year in areas that have historically favored Republican candidates.
Stephen Medvic, director of Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Politics and Public Affairs, said focusing on mobilizing a candidate’s voter base is one strategy to win an election. He said the other way is to persuade swing voters to support a candidate.
“(Trump’s) not looking to persuade swing voters; he wants to mobilize his base,” Medvic said. “So he goes where his voters are, hopes to show excitement with big crowds, and banks on enthusiasm generating turnout for him.”
Medvic noted that Trump employed a similar strategy in his past presidential campaigns.
“The results? Just barely good enough in 2016; not quite good enough in 2020,” he said. “Will it work this year? That’s anyone’s guess.”
Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016 by 44,000 votes. He lost it four years later by around 80,000 votes.
In a statement this week, Harris spokeswoman Allyson Bayless criticized Trump’s record. She blamed Trump for “destroying” hundreds of thousands of jobs, raising workers’ taxes and “ripping away” a woman’s right to an abortion, referencing his appointment of conservative Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“Donald Trump comes to Pennsylvania as voters here have never been more fired up to defeat him,” Bayless said. “We’re not going back to Trump’s extremism. Instead, we’re going to elect Vice President Harris to defend our fundamental freedoms and keep our economy moving forward.”
Though Harris has yet to visit Pennsylvania since she replaced President Joe Biden as the presumed Democratic presidential nominee earlier this month, her campaign has hosted several events to rally support for her candidacy.
On Monday, Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has squelched speculation that she could be Harris’s running mate, attended a Montgomery County rally for Harris.
