Longtime Blue State Prepares to Go Red Again: 'It's Trump County Now'
The battleground state that flipped in Trump's favour after Democratic stronghold
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An election day draws closer, new optimism about Pennsylvania is being felt by Donald Trump and his allies.
In 2016, the battleground state flipped in Trump's favor.
Trump's campaign saw signs of momentum in the state during a rally in Latrobe on Thursday.
The state was under a Democratic stronghold until Trump won less than 45,000 votes in 2016.
Meanwhile, polls show Trump and Joe Biden are closely matched.
Trump campaign officials argue the president is in a better position now than in 2016.
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Nick Trainer, the Trump campaign’s director of battleground strategies, said in a statement:
“Between the record enthusiasm for this President, our unprecedented ground game, and trends in Republican voter registrations, the Commonwealth, once again, is ready to deliver for President Trump this November."
Trump has been paying frequent visits to the state.
“We’re putting them on notice today!” – President Trump starts process of defunding lawless cities like New York, Portland…
— Neon Nettle (@NeonNettle) September 3, 2020
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Vice President Mike Pence held a “Workers for Trump” rally at a construction company on Tuesday.
“I know we’re not too far from our opponent’s boyhood home, but it’s Trump country now,” Pence told the crowd.
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Meanwhile, Trump held a small rally last month outside Scranton just hours before Biden accepted the Democratic presidential nomination.
The President insisted during the event that Biden would be the state’s “worst nightmare” if elected.
But Biden’s campaign is still confident about his prospects in the state and has put emphasis on the Pittsburgh metro area were Democrats lost ground in 2016.
But Biden’s path in Pennsylvania is more complicated than winning back Wisconsin and Michigan.
Trump benefited from then-rival Hillary Clinton’s poor performance in the largest, heavily Democratic cities, Milwaukee and Detroit.
Latrobe is an hour outside Pittsburgh in Westmoreland County, which Trump won by large margins in 2016.
Though Democrats hold a large voter registration advantage, the number of new Republican registrations has outpaced new Democrats registering this cycle in the state.
