PHILADELPHIA — Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus argued Monday that Pennsylvania is the linchpin to Donald Trump’s general election hopes and chances at winning 270 votes in the Electoral College.
At a press conference Monday afternoon, Priebus said that Pennsylvania is “ground zero” in the presidential race, as he and former Sen. Rick Santorum noted Trump’s focus and stops in the state, particularly in Western Pennsylvania.
“We’ve got a targeted Senate race here that we’re going to be fully invested in. We already are in a way that is five times the amount we were putting into Pennsylvania four years ago. We feel good about Pennsylvania,” Priebus told reporters at the event.
“Donald Trump did so well here in Pennsylvania. The polls are continuing to be encouraging,” Priebus said. “We see Pennsylvania to be ground zero and a state that we’re going to be committed to today through November, and I think it’s our time to win again here.”
“We’re committed and we’re going to be here,” Priebus added. “We’re not going anywhere.”
Santorum spoke more specifically about Western Pennsylvania and how it’s become the key to a potential Trump victory in the Keystone State. At the moment, Trump trails former Secretary of State Clinton by three percentage points in Pennsylvania, which Republicans have not won in a race for the White House since former President George H.W. Bush carried it in 1988.
