Obama coming to Pittsburgh next week to campaign for Harris

PITTSBURGH, Pa. (KDKA) -- Former president Barack Obama is coming to Pittsburgh next week to kick off a campaign tour in support of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Obama's campaign stop in Pittsburgh on October 10 will be the first of several throughout battleground states ahead of the presidential election next month.

When Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention earlier this year , he said that "Kamala Harris is ready for the job."

Pittsburgh has been a hotbed for visits from candidates aiming to win Pennsylvania, the largest of the seven battleground states.  The state has 19 electoral votes and is a crucial key to the election.

The latest CBS News polling shows that the race remains a tight contest with Harris having a slight lead over Trump, 52% to 48% nationally among likely voters, and 51% to 49% in battleground states.

In 2020, President Biden won the state by less than 81,000 votes. Former president Trump won the state in 2016 by just over 44,000 votes.

Details about when and where Obama will be campaigning on Thursday are unclear.

Trump and Harris both have a key focus on Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania

Trump will be returning to the Pittsburgh area on Saturday for a rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds, the same place where he was the victim of an assassination attempt in July.

Harris was in Pittsburgh last week to push her economic plan , if elected president.

She has visited Pennsylvania more than a dozen times already this year and seven times since launching her presidential bid.