It is a well-worn part of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s shtick to claim his birthplace of Scranton, Pennsylvania as his hometown, even though he moved to Delaware as a child and remained there ever since.
That connection between Biden and Scranton will be tested Monday, as President Donald Trump’s campaign just announced that Trump will be holding a rally in Scranton on the eve of the election.
According to the campaign, the president will hold a “Make America Great Again Victory Rally” at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport around 2 p.m. on Nov. 2.
Scranton’s importance to Pennsylvania
In addition to Trump’s rally in Scranton on Monday, First Lady Melania Trump will visit the area for a small event on Saturday, and Eric Trump will be leading the “Team Trump Bus Tour” through the area on Sunday, the local media outlet The Citizens’ Voice reported.
The outlet noted that Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) is also supposed to make a stop at the Scranton airport on Monday, although the exact time and location of the event has yet to be determined.
As noted by The Citizens’ Voice, Luzerne County, where Scranton is located, is widely considered to be one of the most important swing areas in the battleground state.
In 2008 and 2012, the county voted for former President Barack Obama but swung decisively over to Trump in the 2016 election.
Prior trips to Scranton
This certainly won’t be the first time that Trump has traveled to Scranton to draw a contrast with his electoral opponent. He also visited the area on Aug. 20, the day that Biden delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
At that time, Trump accused Biden of having “abandoned” Scranton and Pennsylvania, both physically by moving out of the state and politically through Biden’s support for globalist trade policies that harmed American workers.
In 2016, then-candidate Trump also traveled to Scranton on the eve of the election, an appearance that arguably helped seal the deal on his slim victory in the important state, Breitbart reported.
That last-minute campaign stop was a typically raucous affair as Trump packed out a gymnasium with a boisterous crowd of supporters, reportedly maxed out at the 4,500-person capacity of the venue, during which he hammered the Democrats for having sold out the working-class residents of the area.
Given how important Pennsylvania is to the electoral map, and considering how critical the northeast portion of the state is to winning the state more broadly, it seems like a smart move by Trump to pay a visit to Scranton just hours before the polls open on Election Day.
The post Trump to campaign in Biden's birthplace on eve of Election Day first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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