Donald Trump's political supporters visited Northeast PA to mobilize Pennsylvanians to encourage unlikely voters to cast ballots for the former president on Nov. 5.
“Voting just isn’t enough,” said U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser. “You’ve got to get two, three, four people. Reach out…We have 9,000 voting stations in Pennsylvania…If we can get two to three to four more at every poll station, that's almost 40,000 more votes, and that will assure the win.
Meuser, a Republican congressman, joined the Team Trump Bus Tour, a five-day campaign blitz across Pennsylvania. The tour began Monday outside Philadelphia and hit Lackawanna and Luzerne counties on Tuesday.
Officials first stopped at Kriger Pipeline in Dickson City and then at Post Family Limited Partnership in Luzerne County before heading to Acacia Fraternity in State College.
Meuser (R-Dallas) spoke outside the Wilkes-Barre Township warehouse to a small group of dedicated Trump supporters. He applauded Luzerne County’s flip to a Republican registered majority. The longtime Democratic stronghold shifted red in September for the first time during a presidential election since 1968.
He warned that Republicans’ work isn’t done. Meuser wants his party to further cement its control in Pennsylvania by motivating low propensity voters — voters who are registered but do not vote in every election — to turn out to the polls on Nov 5.
Meuser is running for reelection against Democrat Amanda Waldman.
Lackawanna County
Meuser was not the only Republican candidate for office who traveled with the Trump campaign on Tuesday.
Rob Bresnahan is running to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Moosic). He told natural gas industry workers at the Krieger Pipeline in Dickson City that Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic opponent, “vilifies our natural resources” and the fracking industry.
“We have an opportunity of a lifetime to change the trajectory of this country, and it's going to start right here in Pennsylvania's eighth congressional district,” said Bresnahan.
The 8th Congressional District covers all of Lackawanna, Pike and Wayne counties and portions of Luzerne and Monroe counties.
Bresnahan and Cartwright face-off in a moderated debate at 7 p.m. on WVIA-TV.
Out of state push for PA
Prominent politicians from outside the state spoke alongside Meuser and Bresnahan and highlighted how Pennsylvania could decide the election.
Former Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-Long Island) called Pennsylvania “an absolute must win” for both major political parties. He also encouraged Trump supporters to draw out unlikely voters to the polls.
"This is a moment where everyone needs to do our part..not only is it important that these low propensity voters vote, but they vote now so that then the Trump campaign can spend all of their resources, all of that energy, to focus on other people,” said Zeldin. “All eyes are on Pennsylvania.”
In both Dickson City and Wilkes-Barre Township, Republican Kash Patel doubled down on the need to get registered, but unmotivated voters to the polls. He was the former Chief of Staff to the Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense during Trump’s first term.
Patel pushed supporters to reach out to people outside of their communities, their churches and temples. People they know well are already likely to vote, he explained.
He alleged the Harris campaign assumes it has the votes of people of color and does not reach out to them.
“Go out and talk to the people that haven't been spoken to during this political season, go out and talk to the people that Kamala Harris has said ‘I'm going to buy your vote because you're black, I'm going to buy your vote because you're Brown’ … Trump is the one recruiting every single American under the America First movement,” said Patel.
America First Action is a super PAC dedicated to supporting federal candidates who back Trump's policy agenda, according to Ballotpedia.
Patel, an Indian American and son of immigrants, argued that illegal immigration “has ravaged our communities.” He says it’s “not racist” to vote for an America First candidate. Patel’s parents legally immigrated to America to flee a dictatorship.
He spoke about his rise to the U.S. Government.
“That's the American Dream that our children should have, that our grandchildren should have, and it's not racist to say that, and I'm an Indian American telling you I want lawful immigration. There is nothing wrong with that,” said Patel.
Monday was the last day to register to vote in Pennsylvania. Registered voters have until next Tuesday, Oct. 29, to request a mail-in ballot.
