President Donald Trump arrives today in Luzerne County to speak at a venue he’s visited four times before, but in a political atmosphere far different than just a month ago.
In Trump’s 12th visit to northeast or north-central Pennsylvania -- fifth to the Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Township alone -- and second to the state since a failed assassination attempt, his contest with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris remains tight statewide and nationwide.
The difference is Trump led most Pennsylvania and national voter polls when President Joe Biden was the Democratic nominee. He trails Harris in many statewide and national polls.
In a Franklin & Marshall College poll of state voters released Thursday, Harris led 46% to 43%. Three other state polls in the last week showed similar results while two released since Thursday showed Trump up by 1 points.
With margins or error factored in, the Pennsylvania race is virtually tied, but Harris is doing better than Biden.
Harris is scheduled to begin a one-day tour of western Pennsylvania on Sunday with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, starting in Pittsburgh. After that, the Harris-Walz campaign will shift to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention.
Trump has a rally scheduled Monday in York.
Speakers at Trump's Wilkes-Barre Township rally are scheduled to include state Treasurer Stacy Garrity; U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Dallas); congressional candidate Rob Bresnahan, who is challenging Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Moosic); and U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick, who is challenging Sen. Bob Casey (D-Scranton).
Advisers: It's the economy
Trump advisers such as Kellyanne Conway and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy want Trump to speak more about the Biden-Harris administration’s poor handling of the economy.
Indeed, when Trump’s local rally was announced, the news release focused on economics.
“Hard-working Americans are suffering because of the Harris-Biden Administration’s dangerously liberal policies and radical Democrats are failing the Keystone State,” the statement said. “Prices are excruciatingly high, cost of living has soared, crime has skyrocketed, and illegal immigrants are pouring into our country. In Kamala Harris’s America, Pennsylvanians are struggling to afford the basics and stay safe.”
Trump wandered heavily into personal attacks on Harris at a North Carolina rally on Thursday. Whether he focuses better on the economy will be one thing to listen for today.
Harris camp's pre-emptive strike
In a pre-emptive strike Friday at a carpenters’ union hall in South Scranton, Democratic party leaders ripped Trump’s tenure as president. They said he killed jobs, shipped others overseas, presided over factory closings, made it harder to organize unions and appointed anti-labor people to positions of power.
Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti recalled Trump’s X interview Monday with X owner and Tesla founder Elon Musk.
“And he said to Elon Musk, ‘You're a great cutter,’ meaning you cut jobs well, like good for you Elon, you you know how to cut jobs, and you know how to fire people if they try to unionize,” Cognetti said. “That is the exact opposite of what we stand for here in Pennsylvania, especially here in northeastern Pennsylvania, in Scranton, in Wilkes Barre and places that have been built by union labor and continue to be backed by union labor for so many of our families and our households.”
Luzerne County Democratic Party Chairman Thom Shubilla said Trump reneged on promises to reopen factories and steel plants and create more jobs.
“He talked a big game about how he helped places like northeastern Pennsylvania, and people believed him,” Shubilla said. “People wanted to believe that Donald Trump would come in and save their jobs, would create jobs, would turn the economy around. He didn't.”
Local union leader Drew Simpson said Trump “doesn’t give a damn about protecting the rights of workers.”
“We union members tend to be pretty good at sniffing out which politicians are actually looking out for us and those who will sell us out,” said Simpson, the regional manager for the Eastern Atlantic States, Regional Council of Carpenters and (Carpenters) Local 445.
He warned Trump will want to implement the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 agenda. Trump has disavowed the project, but Democrats don’t believe him.
Project 2025 seeks decertification of unions, more classification of workers as independent contractors to limit non-pay benefits and making it harder for workers to claim overtime, Simpson said.
“Project (20)25 isn't just a wish list, it's a checklist that will be used if Donald Trump gets back into office,” he said.
Check back with WVIA News throughout the day for updates on this story.
