1 of 2 | Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump urged the crowd at a Pennsylvania rally to "get out and vote" as the battleground is set to begin early voting with 43 days before election day. Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Pennsylvania for an event Wednesday. Photo by Peter Foley/UPI |
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Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Former President Donald Trump urged a crowd at his Monday night rally in Pennsylvania to "get out and vote," as early voting is about to get underway in the battleground before November's presidential election.
"It's great to be back in this beautiful Commonwealth with thousands of proud, hardworking American patriots," Trump said. "We're here today because early voting begins in Pennsylvania over the next two weeks and we need each and every one of you. Don't take anything for granted. We have to win Pennsylvania."
Early voting start dates in Pennsylvania vary according to each county.
"Go out and make a plan to vote early, vote absentee or vote in person on election day, but you gotta get out and vote," Trump added. "Our nation is at stake," as he criticized the current administration's Afghanistan withdrawal, the ongoing war in the Middle East and the "millions of millions of people pouring into our country" at the U.S.-Mexico border.
"We had four years of this, we're not going to have four more years. We won't survive it," Trump said, referring to opponent Vice President Kamala Harris who is the Democratic nominee. Harris travels to western Pennsylvania for a campaign event on Wednesday.
Trump started speaking shortly before 8 p.m. EDT at the Ed Fry Arena at the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex in Indiana, Pa. The athletic facility near Indiana University of Pennsylvania seats about 5,000, as Trump has moved his rallies indoors following two assassination attempts.
During his speech, Trump urged Christians and gun owners to vote because he claimed "she wants to take your guns away," as the crowd booed loudly. Trump urged his supporters to make November's election "too big to rig" because "if we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing, just 43 days from now!"
With much of his speech focused on voting, Trump touched on his usual talking points including energy as he accused Harris and President Joe Biden of buying oil from Venezuela.
"We have more liquid gold under our feet and we're buying oil from Venezuela. We don't need it at all. It's crazy!" Trump said.
"Over the past three-and-a-half years, Harris has inundated small towns all across America with hundreds-of-thousands of migrants," Trump claimed as he called out the vice president's 15 changed policies since she replaced Biden in July.
"She's saying what she's going to do if she becomes president. But she's been there almost four years and she hasn't done anything except destroy our country," Trump said as he called out the crisis at the border and inflation before questioning "who is our president right now?"
"I will get Pennsylvania energy workers pumping, fracking, drilling and producing like never before," Trump promised the crowd. "We are also going to keep U.S. Steel right here in America," as he called for the United States to become a "manufacturing super power."
In his previous presidential run, Trump won 68% of the vote in Indiana County, where Monday's rally took place. The Borough of Indiana, however, where the university is located with about 14,000, went for Biden by a narrow margin in 2020.
Trump is expected to travel to battleground states Georgia and Michigan after he leaves Monday's rally.
Harris will travel to western Pennsylvania with a trip to Pittsburgh, about 60 miles away from Indiana, on Wednesday.
Both campaigns have called Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes pivotal in their paths to victory in November. The road to capture the White House significantly narrows in voter outcome prediction models if the candidate loses the state.
