Gwen Walz addresses volunteers in first campaign visit to Blair County

ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ) — With only 21 days until the election, Blair County had its first visit from either presidential campaign.

On Tuesday, First Lady of Minnesota, Gwen Walz, stopped by the Blair County Democrats’ office in Altoona briefly between her stops in Harrisburg and Pittsburgh on her own ‘New Way Forward’ tour. Walz thanked local campaign volunteers and touched on key points of the Harris-Walz campaign, including Social Security, reproductive freedom and education, promising a Harris-Walz administration is what’s best for middle class Pennsylvanians.

“They are fighting for middle class families like the ones they grew up in. They have real plans to give you a tax credit, tax cut– sorry, tax cut, lower the cost to healthcare, help you buy a home. Real middle class things,” Walz said.

This visit is the first Blair County has received any attention from either national presidential campaign, despite the Harris-Walz campaign’s own acknowledgement of the state’s key role in the upcoming election.

“Now I know here in Pennsylvania, you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. I see it when I look at you and I feel it in almost every call center, volunteer center, I walk in,” Walz said in her address to the volunteers.

While local democrats were excited for the attention from the national campaign, some also said they’d like to see Harris rally locally.

“Of course, I would love to see them in a big venue,” said Denice Rodaniche, a volunteer with the Harris-Walz campaign in Altoona. “So if they, if we can have a rally like they had in Johnstown, or excuse me, in Pittsburgh or in Erie, I’d be all for that.”

Both republican nominee Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance have rallied in Johnstown. Trump also hosted a rally at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and plans to come to Latrobe soon. While Vice President Kamala Harris made a brief stop in Johnstown in September, the area has yet to see running mate Tim Walz.

Central Pennsylvania has been largely ignored by both campaigns with Altoona, State College and their smaller surrounding areas not being visited from either candidate, possibly leaving some voters in the key battleground state feeling unimportant.

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“I would love to see them here, but I– they– we’re really, I don’t want to call it a small potatoes, but I know that just having her here was a huge, was huge excitement,” Rodaniche said.

With less than three weeks until election day, the candidates could still rally for the few remaining undecided votes in Central Pennsylvania.

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