Deadlocked Senate race brings two former presidents to Pittsburgh area Saturday
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Two former presidents will be in the Pittsburgh area this weekend to campaign for their candidates.
As KDKA political editor Jon Delano explains, it's a clear sign of how important this region is on Election Day.
It's a battle of the political titans as former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump will both be here on Saturday, just days before next week's all-critical election.
"Two former presidents coming to the same area right here in Pittsburgh, that tells you one thing – that is this is a hotly contested Senate race," says Mike DeVanney, a Republican political strategist in Pittsburgh.
"Regardless of what you think of each one politically, both have the ability to excite the political bases of each party," adds Mike Mikus, a Democratic political strategist from this area.
Trump plans to rally supporters in Latrobe for Mehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor Trump endorsed in the GOP primary, while Obama is set to rev up supporters in Pittsburgh for John Fetterman, whose stroke last spring still may concern some voters.
Political strategists DeVanney and Mikus agree last-minute events are less about persuading undecided voters and more about getting their supporters to the polls on Tuesday.
"This is to give people that kind of extra oomph, that extra energy, going into Tuesday to make sure that they get every single voter to the polls," says DeVanney.
There is some risk to high-profile surrogates, both say.
Democrat Mikus notes there's a reason Oz took Trump off his website after the primary – and there's no predicting what Trump will say on Saturday.
"Donald Trump is extremely unpopular in the suburbs of Pittsburgh and the suburbs of Philadelphia, and it hurts Oz incredibly," notes Mikus.
But Republican DeVanney says at this stage the Oz campaign is more concerned about getting out the Trump voters. As for Obama, in addition to getting African American voters to the polls, "You also have higher educated, upper-income folks who view President Obama favorably who still may be undecided," says DeVanney. "He may be able to sway them to his candidate, which is John Fetterman."
Why all the mid-term attention on Pennsylvania?
Pretty simple: if Republicans keep the state in their column with Oz, it's pretty hard for Democrats to take full control of the U.S. Senate.
It's hard to recall a time when two former presidents were in this region campaigning on the same day. Shows you what's at stake.