Why Pennsylvania is receiving so much political attention in the midterms
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- President Joe Biden made his first of three trips to Pennsylvania this week on Tuesday, blasting "MAGA Republicans" and "sickening" attacks on the FBI in Wilkes-Barre.
This weekend, former President Donald Trump will also be in Pennsylvania, rallying for Republican candidates as the midterms approach.
There has already been a constant barrage of political ads since the start of the primary races. Political experts say they won't end, and neither will these visits from heavy hitters.
"I think Pennsylvanians should get used to a lot of visits in the months and years ahead," Committee of Seventy president Al Schmidt said.
Schmidt says to hunker down and prepare yourself to see a lot of political pandering ahead of the November general election.
"Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016, Biden won Pennsylvania in 2020," Schmidt said, "so it's very much up for grabs."
While neither Biden nor Trump is on the ballot, both of their legacies are. With neither leader being popular outside of their respective party, Ed O'Keefe of CBS News says they're here to help drum up votes.
"He's trying to get them enthusiastic and interested and motivated to vote in November regardless of whether they like him," O'Keefe said.
Biden started his swing in Pennsylvania Tuesday in Wilkes-Barre. He's scheduled to head to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the coming days.
Topics he's expected to discuss are gun control, the state of American democracy and key legislation passed by Democrats in the Senate.
"There is certainly some risk in having a president who's polling in the high 30s come to Pennsylvania," O'Keefe said, "but notice the types of events he's doing. They're not overt campaign rallies."
Meanwhile, Trump will be in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday for his first rally of this general election.
Republicans and Democrats say they are ready.
"We're a bellwether state," Albert Eisenberg with BlueStateRed said. "We're a swing state and we are in a lot of ways, we encompass what the nation is as a whole."
"It's an obvious thing that Pennsylvania is a swing state," Jabari Jones with the West Philadelphia Corridor Collaborative said. "We are an area that can go left or right and that's why it's always been so important for presidential, governor candidates to really spend time campaigning here."
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