MARTINSBURG, Pennsylvania — President Trump blitzed the battleground state of Pennsylvania with three rallies on Monday as he increasingly turns to the personnel, tactics, and states that propelled him to power in 2016.
The campaign announced it was strengthening its Pennsylvania team with the addition of Bob Paduchik, credited with helping deliver Ohio last time around, even as pollsters in the state warned the president would struggle to repeat his come-from-behind victory.
On Monday, Trump arrived with a warning that a President Joe Biden would regulate Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry out of existence.
“You don’t need a president like that. That means no fracking, no natural gas, no coal, no jobs, no energy, no Pennsylvania family being well taken care of,” he told an audience at Altoona-Blair County Airport that included miners in hard hats. “Fracking is saving Pennsylvania families $2,500 a year.”
He played a new campaign advert in which the Democratic nominee apparently promises to end fracking, a method for extracting oil and gas that has rejuvenated the state’s energy industry, although the Biden campaign has repeatedly said there is no such plan to end the practice.
“Now, Joe Biden is trying to ban fracking and deliver an economic death sentence for Pennsylvania,” said Trump.
Trump won the state by a hair’s breadth in 2016. This time around, Democrats see it as their tipping-point state, with Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral college votes being enough to get across the 270 threshold.
As a result, both candidates are all-in.
Biden and his wife were in the state on Saturday. And Biden returned for a low-key appearance on Monday in Chester, near Delaware, while Trump held rallies in Allentown, Lititz, and Martinsburg on Monday.
Party officials say they expect him to return at least two more times during the final, frantic week of campaigning.
“I think we’ll win Pennsylvania, so I don’t think I have to worry about that,” Trump told reporters as he arrived in Allentown for his first rally. “I think we’re going to win Pennsylvania by more than we did last time.”
Officials repeatedly point to 2016, when Trump pulled off a surprise victory, despite being behind in the polls. This time will be the same, they say.
The approach mirrors that much of Trump’s campaign leadership includes figures from 2016, including strategists Jason Miller and Justin Clark. In recent weeks, Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie have both taken on higher-profile roles, despite being mostly frozen out after helping on the 2016 campaign.
Even the audience at Altoona-Blair County Airport played their part, reprising the 2016 chant of “Lock her up,” as Trump attacked his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton.
“I mention her name, and the place goes crazy,” he said.
But 2016 will get him only so far, said Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg who runs its polling institute. He said it was a mistake to think that Trump’s support was being underestimated by Pennsylvania polls that average out to give Biden a 5-point lead.
He said the story of this year’s figures had been Biden’s steady, significant lead in the state and Trump’s inability to shift the numbers. “What will move it? Everybody wants to know,” he said. “Certainly, the president is looking for that.”
Borick’s latest telephone poll released on Friday gave Biden a lead of 51% to 44%.
“There aren’t as many undecideds, there are methodological changes that make the polls a little bit stronger this cycle, and there’s a little bit of a wider gap,” he said. “Trump’s got to find a way to at least get those into a tighter range, and that’s why he’s here, that’s why he’s coming to Pennsylvania.”
Trump allies believe the winning issue could be fracking, which has given a lifeline to the fossil fuel industry in Pennsylvania.
The campaign has begun airing TV ads clipped from last week’s debate in which Biden said he would “transition” away from oil and gas as part of a response to climate change.
And campaign manager Bill Stepien said the travel schedule was based on the best way to retain the White House.
“We think the calendar reflects what we believe our potential pathways to 270 are, preserving optionality, making sure we harden our support, we turn out our vote, and convince last-minute persuadables,” he said.
Rob Gleason, former state Republican chairman, said it was vital that Trump put in multiple appearances.
“Pennsylvania wants to see you,” he said. “The Democrats know it. It isn’t rocket science.”
“It’s about having a plan and being able to execute it. They can’t execute because Joe can’t go.”
