Southwest Pennsylvania again takes center stage in presidential campaigns this week - TribLIVE

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Pennsylvania’s importance in the Nov. 3 election is apparent again this week in a series of stops planned in the Pittsburgh region by the Trump and Biden campaigns.

Former Vice President Joe Biden stopped in Harrisburg on Monday for Labor Day. The week will ramp up Wednesday with Vice President Mike Pence campaigning in Beaver and Westmoreland counties before Eric Trump campaigns for his father Thursday in Washington County.

Although the Murrysville event at Cornerstone Ministries is by invitation only, Pence’s visit to Freedom for a Workers for Trump rally is open to the public. Free tickets are available online.

Likewise, Eric Trump’s visit to the American Legion in Washington is open to the public, with free tickets also available online.

Finally, both President Donald Trump and Biden are scheduled Friday to travel to Somerset County for the 19th anniversary of 9/11 at the Flight 93 National Memorial. Trump is scheduled to speak at an abbreviated mid-morning memorial ceremony that is closed to the public due to the coronavirus.

Arrangements for Biden’s visit were being finalized Tuesday.

Last week, Biden kicked off his post-convention campaign with a speech in Pittsburgh and Trump addressed thousands of supporters at a campaign rally at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport just outside of Latrobe.

Pence in late July campaigned in Greensburg at a Cops for Trump rally.

Experts say the series of events here underscore the weight both campaigns are placing on Pennsylvania, specifically Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Although he lost in Philadelphia and Allegheny County in 2016, Trump bested Hillary Clinton by 44,000 votes statewide, with his largest margins coming out of places like Beaver, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

This year, he’s facing Biden — who likes to remind voters he is a son of the Keystone State, having spent his childhood in Scranton.

Although polls throughout the summer gave Biden a substantial margin in the state, recent polls suggest Pennsylvania and its crucial 20 electoral votes are in play.

A Franklin & Marshall College poll conducted in mid-August poll found Trump with 42% to Biden’s 49%.

A Monmouth University poll, conducted in late August, found the race tightening with registered voters putting Biden at 49% and Trump at 45%.

G. Terry Madonna, a political scientist and pollster at Franklin & Marshall College, said Trump’s visits to counties like Beaver, Washington and Westmoreland aren’t surprising.

“It’s in the heart of natural gas country. That’s his base. If he doesn’t win well in the Southwest, it’s hard to figure he can carry the state,” Madonna said.

And carrying Pennsylvania is important. Although Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 3 million votes in 2016, narrow margins in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin pushed him to an Electoral College victory.

Alison Dagnes, a political science professor and author at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania who follows Pennsylvania politics, said the Trump campaign’s recent flurry of visits to the Keystone State suggest that maintaining and growing his margin here is a critical component of the president’s re-election strategy.

“It has been his plan, I think, to repeat the magic of 2016. That means really just riling up the base, getting his base to the polls on Election Day and ensuring that he can thread the needle like he did in 2016 again,” she said.

Deb Erdley is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Deb at 724-850-1209, derdley@triblive.com or via Twitter .