PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Two former presidents will be campaigning for candidates in the Pittsburgh area this weekend.
As KDKA’s political editor Jon Delano explains, this underscores how important the region is on Election Day.
It’s a battle of former political giants President Barack Obama When donald trump Both are here on Saturday, days before the very important elections next week.
“Two former presidents coming to the same neighborhood here in Pittsburgh says one thing: this is a hotly contested Senate election,” said Mike DeVaney, a Republican political strategist in Pittsburgh. That’s it.
Mike Mix, a Democratic political strategist in the field, said, “Both have the ability to provoke each party’s political base, regardless of what you think of each politically.
Trump plans to rally supporters at Mehmet Oz’s Latrobe, the physician he endorsed in the Republican primary, and Obama plans to rally supporters of John Fetterman in Pittsburgh.
Political strategists Devaney and Mikus agree that the last-minute event is less about persuading undecided voters to get supporters into the ballot on Tuesday.
“This is to give people that extra oomph and energy heading into Tuesday to make sure that all voters can get to the ballot,” DeVanney said.
High-profile surrogates carry some risk, they say.
Democrat Mikus points out that Oz had a reason for removing Trump from his website after the primary — and you can’t predict what Trump will say on Saturday.
“Donald Trump is extremely unpopular in suburbs of Pittsburgh and suburbs of Philadelphia, hurting Oz beyond belief.
But Republican DeVaney says that at this stage, the Oz campaign is more concerned with kicking out Trump voters. As for Obama, in addition to including African-American voters in polls, he added, “There are some well-educated, high-income people who view President Obama favorably, but they may not have decided yet. “He might be able to direct them to his candidate, John Fetterman.”
Why is there so much medium-term focus on Pennsylvania?
Very simple. If Republicans keep the state with Oz, it’s pretty hard for Democrats to gain full control of the Senate.
It’s hard to remember when two former presidents campaigned in the area on the same day. Shows what is at stake.
John Delano
