The swing state of Pennsylvania is the scene of a clash of presidents on Saturday, as the biggest stars of each party work to energize voters just days before voting concludes in the midterm elections – in which there is much at stake – across the country.
Former President Barack Obama opens the day at a rally in Pittsburgh with Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania lieutenant governor who represents his party’s best chance to win a seat in the Republican-held Senate on Tuesday. Obama and Fetterman will appear alongside President Joe Biden and gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro later that day in Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump will end the day courting voters in a working-class region in the southwestern corner of the state with Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz and gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.
The presidential spotlight on Pennsylvania underscores the stakes in 2022 and beyond for a presidential battleground state that will host pivotal elections for the US Senate, House and governor on Tuesday. The Senate race could very well decide the Senate majority, and with it, Biden’s agenda and judicial appointments for the next two years. The gubernatorial race will determine the direction of state politics and control of the state’s electoral infrastructure ahead of the 2024 presidential race.
Polls show close competition between Trump’s preferred Senate candidate, Oz, and Biden’s pick, Fetterman, in the race to replace Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.
In the gubernatorial race, Shapiro, the state’s Democratic attorney general, leads the polls over Mastriano, a state senator and retired Army colonel who some Republicans believe is too extreme to win a general election in a state Biden won by little two years ago.
And while Democrats feel good about the Pennsylvania governor’s race, they enter the weekend decidedly on the defensive across the country as voters bristle at Biden’s leadership amid rising inflation, concerns about crime and widespread pessimism about the direction of the country.
History suggests that the Democrats, as the ruling party, will suffer significant losses on Tuesday.
Obama’s midday appearance in Pittsburgh marks the first time he has campaigned in Pennsylvania this year, though the former president has been the Democratic Party’s top understudy in the run up to Election Day. Obama campaigned in recent days in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona before arriving in Pennsylvania.
[Con información de The Associated Press]
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