'As Goes Pennsylvania, So Goes The Nation': Pittsburgh Region Getting Special Attention From Both Presidential Campaigns, Say National Party Chairs
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - If you think this region is getting special attention during this presidential election year, you'd be right.
Both parties say this state is key to winning the White House.
In a story seen only on KDKA, political editor Jon Delano spoke with the chairs of both the National Republican and Democratic Party to find out what their strategy is.
Four years ago, Donald Trump carried every county in Western Pennsylvania except Allegheny, and his team thinks he'll do better this year.
Not so, say the Democrats, who say Joe Biden will win this region and the state.
"As goes Pennsylvania, so goes the Nation," says Tom Perez, chair of the Democratic National Committee.
"You are key to election to both parties," echoes Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee.
It's one of the few things that McDaniel and Perez will agree on.
"Donald Trump presented a different vision which really resonated in parts of your state, and we want to see that replicated in 2020, so we're going to spend a lot of time in Pennsylvania," says McDaniel.
McDaniel says Republicans can make a good case for Trump's reelection: "On issue after issue, this President has delivered, and he gets to run on results now."
But Perez says it's a record of broken promises.
"My goodness, 'there'll never be a plant closure,' he said. 'We're going to expand manufacturing jobs. Oh, your health care, we're going to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something better,'" says Perez.
"And where are we now?" he asks, rhetorically.
Politically, another big question – is the President's handling of this pandemic winning him votes?
No, says Perez.
"The President's chaotic response to the coronavirus, his failure to take it seriously, has cost us millions of jobs," notes the Democratic chair.
But McDaniel sees it differently.
"To have this President so quickly harness the strength of the private sector to make sure that no American has been without a ventilator, that the PPE is getting to where it needs to be, I think that will be a factor," says McDaniel.
Voters will decide who is right is just 25 weeks.