MONTOURSVILLE, Pa. — President Donald Trump on Monday promised to continue pushing for job growth, unleash coal and shale, and bring back industrial plants as he attempted to woo voters in this key battleground state ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
In doing so, Mr. Trump, a Republican, struck many of the same notes he did during the 2016 campaign, when he narrowly won Pennsylvania over Democrat Hillary Clinton. But he also added a few new twists — garnering applause as he derided a “phony” witch hunt against him, socialism, and the “crazy” Democrats.
And the first-term president also tried a variation of his previous campaign slogan.
“We have saved America. We’ve made America great again, and we are going to keep America great,” he told a crowd inside an airport hangar in rural Lycoming County, where Republicans account for more than half of all registered voters.
Later during the roughly hourlong rally, he told the crowd, “Your dreams are my dreams. Your hopes are my hopes, and your future is what I’m fighting for.”
Mr. Trump’s visit came two days after former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential contender, branded the president at a Philadelphia rally as America’s “divider-in-chief” and aimed to strike a more conciliatory tone with voters.
It also came the day before a special election to fill a vacant congressional seat that covers, among other areas, Lycoming County.
“Trump’s coming, ostensibly, to campaign for [GOP candidate Fred] Keller, but, in reality, what’s it about?” said political analyst and pollster G. Terry Madonna. “It’s about Trump and Pennsylvania. This gives him a reason to get here.”
Republican state Rep. Fred Keller faces Democrat Marc Friedenberg, a Penn State cybersecurity professor, in a special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Tom Marino in the 12th District. The contest was scheduled for Tuesday to coincide with party primaries.
Mr. Trump described Mr. Keller as a “tough man,” who is tough on crime and loves police, veterans and members of the military.
The district lies in the middle of Trump country. And on Monday, as people in this small town awaited his appearance, support for the president appeared strong.
The road to the rally was lined with stalls selling Trump hats, T-shirts and buttons. One sold flags for Mr. Trump’s 2020 campaign and a slogan “no more bull—,” which at least two children wore as capes.
A handful of protesters stood near a single barricade en route to the rally, some holding signs that said, “Hate has no home here,” and others calling for the election of the Democratic congressional candidate.
Democrats and Republicans both are eyeing Pennsylvania as a key state in the 2020 presidential election, in part because Mr. Trump won the state in 2016 by roughly 44,000 votes, or less than 1 percentage point.
Already, with 18 months before the presidential election, Democratic candidates have begun visiting Pennsylvania. Mr. Biden came to Philadelphia last weekend. Bernie Sanders has been to Pittsburgh. Elizabeth Warren and Beto O’Rourke also have visited.
Those trips are only the beginning. On Monday, Mr. Trump promised to return.
“I’m here to see you, but I’ll be seeing you a lot over the next year,” he said, adding that Republicans have “got to win this state.”
One recent survey predicted Mr. Biden would have a wide lead over Mr. Trump in Pennsylvania and placed several other Democratic candidates either slightly ahead of or running even with Mr. Trump in hypothetical match-ups.
On Monday, the president sought to brand Mr. Biden — or, in his words, “Sleepy Joe” — as beholden to foreign governments.
“He’s going to save every country but ours,” Mr. Trump said. He also accused Mr. Biden, who was born in Scranton, of abandoning Pennsylvania.
Earlier in the day, before the president spoke, state Democrats issued a statement encouraging people to “ignore the president’s rantings and ravings” and instead focus on the primary election Tuesday, when voters will narrow down candidates to face off in the November general election in judicial and local races. Also on the ballot are special elections to fill vacancies in Congress, two state Senate seats, and one state House district.
Many outside observers, noting Republican voter registration edges in those areas, expect the vacant seats to go to GOP candidates. But some Democrats are hopeful, pointing out that they made gains in the state Legislature last November.
“If the Democrats were to pick up one or more of those, it would be a gigantic upset, and it would be something that might portend for the elections next year,” Mr. Madonna said.
At the Trump rally inside the airplane hangar, most of the discussion focused on 2020.
In the crowd were Donna and Taylor Hessinger, a mother and daughter from Palmerton in Carbon County, about 100 miles away. Both said they voted for Mr. Trump four years ago and intend to do so again.
“He’s the man,” said Donna Hessinger, 62.
She likes his stances on immigration, thinks the border wall is necessary, and appreciates his verbal commitment to veterans. In recent years, she said, she’s felt her Christian faith was under attack. Since Mr. Trump’s election, she said, “I have hope."
Her daughter, Taylor, 26, is expecting a baby boy later this week. They already have a onesie for him. On it is Donald Trump’s face, clad in American flag sunglasses, and a single word: 'Merica.
Liz Navratil | @liznavratil | lnavratil@post-gazette.com
First Published: May 21, 2019, 2:06 a.m.
