How will Butler rally change the way candidates campaign?
FORMER PRESIDENT Donald Trump will return to Pennsylvania.
FORMER PRESIDENT Donald Trump will return to Pennsylvania.
On Friday, it was announced the Republican presidential nominee would campaign Wednesday at the New Holland Arena in Harrisburg.
It is another sign things are returning to normal after the July 13 campaign rally in Butler. Gunman Thomas Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park brought an AR-15, secured a rooftop perch and fired eight shots in six seconds. He was taken down by a Secret Service sniper.
The rally became the place where Trump’s ear was injured. Buffalo Township firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, lost his life shielding his family from bullets. It’s where two other men were injured. David Dutch, 57, of Plum was just released from Allegheny General Hospital after 11 days. James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon remains in serious but stable condition.
Trump returned to the campaign trail out of necessity within days. The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee really couldn’t be derailed as thousands of delegates and staff from across the country descended on Wisconsin.
The unspoken question of when Trump would return to the state where a rally had a body count and prompted congressional hearings has been answered.
It was inevitable. Pennsylvania has more electoral votes on the table than any other swing state. It is a state where the right nudge in the right county can make a difference — and, big or small, a difference in Pennsylvania can make a difference nationally.
But there will be differences. Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday following bipartisan grilling over failures. Deputy Director Ronald Rowe has been placed in charge temporarily. The Washington Post reported the same day that Secret Service was “encouraging” the Trump campaign to refrain from outdoor rallies like the one in Butler.
The Harrisburg rally will be in the 28,000-square-foot New Holland Arena, part of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex.
There are plenty of indoor venues in Pennsylvania to hold events to reach out to the voters. There will be no end of opportunities to try to whip support for candidates of either party.
One side effect is those large arenas are not in Pennsylvania’s smaller communities.
While Trump voters have shown they are happy to travel to see their guy in person, like fans of Taylor Swift or the Grateful Dead, a political campaign is not about reaching out to those who already support you. It’s about reaching those on the fence, and those people have to be met where they are.
Let’s hope all candidates — in all of the important races in Pennsylvania this year — find a way to stay safe as they campaign but at the same time, find a way to reach out to the voters in even the smallest places.