Donald Trump will be in Reading and Scranton; Barack Obama coming to Pittsburgh

By Jonathan D. Salant / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump, who returned to Butler over the weekend, has two other Pennsylvania rallies scheduled for Wednesday this week — including one in President Joe Biden’s native Scranton.

Trump first is to stop at Riverfront Sports in Scranton, the county seat of Lackawanna County. Mr. Biden carried the county in 2020, 54% to 45%. Then he will hold a rally at the Santander Arena in Reading, the county seat of Berks County, which preferred him over Mr. Biden, 53% to 45% four years ago.

The former president last was in the Keystone State Saturday for a rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds three months after he was grazed by a bullet in an assassination attempt at the same location.

Former President Barack Obama is coming to Pittsburgh on Thursday on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris, although the campaign has yet to release any details of the visit. Ms. Harris will head to New York City and then Nevada and Arizona after planting a memorial tree on the grounds of the vice president’s residence on Monday, the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel.

Mr. Biden is heading to Philadelphia on Tuesday for a campaign event for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who has a tough race of his own against Republican challenger and former hedge fund CEO David McCormick.

Also Wednesday, former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., is headlining a program for Ms. Harris in Montgomery County. Ms. Cheney lost her House seat after challenging Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. She recently joined her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, in endorsing Ms. Harris.

The event, which is being billed as a fireside chat, also will feature former Trump White House aides Alyssa Farah Griffin, Cassidy Hutchinson and Sarah Matthews. Ms. Hutchinson was a star witness before the bipartisan House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection by supporters of the former president. Ms. Cheney was the panel’s vice chair.

The event is sponsored by Democracy First, formed after Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election and whose supporters include U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, and former Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon.

A national poll by Susquehanna Polling & Research released Thursday gave Ms. Harris a 49% to 44% lead among likely voters, but that lead was within the margin of error, meaning the race is tied statistically, which is what other national polls have shown as well.

An NPR/PBS News/Marist College Poll released the same day showed the race at 50% to 48% among likely voters, slightly in favor of Ms. Harris, but again well within the survey’s margin of error.

In Pennsylvania, the Real Clear Politics poll average shows the race a tie.

NOTE: This post has been updated from the original to correct the sequence of Trump events on Wednesday.