Trump, Harris focus attention on key swing state of Pennsylvania

Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump held a rally in Pennsylvania Saturday, a day before Democratic opponent Kamala Harris also visits the state as both focus their attention on the key battleground.

Trump held a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., targeting the northeastern section of the Keystone State, while Harris is set to kick off a bus tour of western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh on Sunday, a day before the start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Trump will again visit the Keystone State on Monday when he is scheduled to be in York, Pa., at a machining manufacturer to address the economy.

Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, meanwhile, campaigned Saturday in his native state of Nebraska.

Trump is a frequent visitor to Pennsylvania -- Saturday's rally was his seventh visit to the state this year and at least the fifth time he's appeared in Wilkes-Barre since 2016, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer . President Joe Biden won that state in 2020 but Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

With a pair of recent polls showing Harris edging past him in Pennsylvania, Trump has used his recent appearances to paint her and Walz as "extreme liberals" and "communists" while hurling personal insults at the Democratic nominee, a pattern he continued during his 100-minute speech on Saturday.

Addressing Harris' economic proposals focusing on protecting American consumers from price-gouging by the corporate food industry which she unveiled Friday, the former president said , "This is communist, this is Marxist, this is fascist," declaring, "Comrade Kamala want to introduce socialist price controls" while comparing her to former Soviet Union dictator Josef Stalin .

He also continued his personal assaults on the Democratic nominee, calling her "a socialist lunatic," commenting on her appearance and attacking her laugh as "crazy."

"I say that I am much better looking than her," he asserted.

Earlier in the week at a rally in Ashville, N.C., Trump attacked Harris as a "radical-left person from San Francisco," claiming she and Walz are "beyond socialists," while insulting her personally as "not intelligent." He doubled down on the personal insult later in the week and claimed he is "entitled" to do so.

Trump also said this week he believes Harris is vulnerable in Pennsylvania due to her past support for a ban on natural gas produced by hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking."

Over the past decade, advances in fracking and horizontal drilling have led to a boom in the state's oil and gas production. In 2022, Pennsylvania accounted for 19% of U.S. marketed natural gas production, with more natural gas produced than in any other state except Texas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

While running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, Harris along with most of her competitors aligned themselves with the progressive wing of the party in supporting a ban on fracking as an environmental danger. Harris has since altered her position and now claims Trump is misrepresenting it.

During an appearance at his New Jersey country club on Thursday, Trump again highlighted the vice president's one-time opposition to fracking, saying, "I think she will do very badly in Pennsylvania. You have to frack."

Demonstrating the importance the Trump campaign places on Pennsylvania, it proposed that two debates between the GOP nominee and Harris be held in the state. One of them so far has been approved by both sides -- a live televised debate in Philadelphia on Sept. 10 to be broadcast on ABC.

Meanwhile, Walz used his Saturday appearance before a packed crowd at The Astro Theater near Omaha to tout his Midwestern roots and deliver barbs at the Republican ticket.

"You got a slogan here: 'Nebraska: It's not for everyone,'" Walz said . "Well, it sure ain't for Donald Trump, I'll tell you that. This guy is the opposite of everything here."