The Trump and Biden campaigns are set to battle it out in Pennsylvania on Saturday for the Keystone Stateโs 19 electoral college votes with President Trump holding a rally in Butler, just north of Pittsburgh while Jill Biden is being sent to speak at a dinner in Pittsburgh and Kamala Harris set to speak at presidential town hall in Philadelphia.
Joe Biden will be resting up at his beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware after a tough week trying to save his candidacy, making phone calls to House Democrats to shore up support.
President Biden arrives in Delaware for his weekend at his Rehoboth beach house pic.twitter.com/ppCho6zVui
โ AlexGangitano (@AlexGangitano) July 13, 2024
Trump last appeared in Butler late in the 2020 campaign with a massive rally with tens of thousands of supporters that was staged with the background of a magnificent sunset. This time the backdrop is a potential announcement of a vice presidential candidateโor at least a last minute audition before the Republican convention next week for one or more on Trumpโs short list, perhaps Sen. J.D. Vance from neighboring Ohio.

President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally at Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport in Butler, Pennsylvania. Photo by @ReutersBarria pic.twitter.com/2cRLF1jAuG
โ corinne_perkins (@corinne_perkins) October 31, 2020
Trumpโs outdoors rally is being held on the grounds of the Butler Farm Show. Door open at 1 p.m. with Trump scheduled to speak at 5 p.m. The weather forecast is for mostly sunny skies with a high 89 degrees. The campaign said in an email to those who signed up to attend the rally that free water bottles would be handed out to attendees.
Jill Biden is scheduled to speak at the same time as Trump, 5 p.m., at the Italian Sons and Daughters of America dinner in Pittsburgh.
A 2021 CNN article detailed Jill Bidenโs Italian heritage (excerpt):
The first ladyโs family has deep roots in Italy, and the Italian culture has long played a role in Jill Bidenโs life. Her Sicilian ancestors are responsible for a historic note: She is now the first, and only, Italian American first lady of the United States.
Bidenโs maiden name is Jacobs, but before her great-grandfather emigrated to America โ arriving at Ellis Island โ it was Giacoppa. Guytano Giacoppa โAmericanizedโ the family surname, as thousands of immigrants did, upon starting a new life in the United States.
The Giacoppas lived in tiny Gesso, Sicily โ a small village in the Messina province, which now boasts a population of fewer than 1,000 people. Her familyโs origin story contributes to her growing up with Italian influence, something Jill Biden has credited in several interviews as the impetus for large, Italian-style Sunday family dinners โ she has said the President likes her Angel hair pasta with fresh tomato sauce and her sons were partial to her chicken parmigiana.
Kamala Harris, whose mother was from India, is scheduled to speak at 3:30 p.m. at the Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote Presidential Town Hall in Philadelphia.
Axios reported this week that Biden has been losing support among Asian Americans (excerpt):
By the numbers: Less than half of Asian American voters surveyed (46%) say theyโre likely to vote for Biden โ an eight percentage point decrease from the last presidential election year, the Asian American Voter Survey finds.
31% say theyโll likely vote for Trump (compared to 30% in 2020).
5% say theyโll likely vote for someone else (up from 1% in 2020).
The intrigue: 43% said they had a favorable opinion of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at a presidential town hall hosted by APIAVote in Philadelphia this weekend.
Joe Biden will be making phone calls to House Democrat groups, Fox Newsโ Chad Pergram reported, โBiden has conference calls today with 2 groups of House Dems: The New Dems Coalition and the Progressive Caucus. 13 of those who have called for him to step down are part of the New Demsโ
Biden has conference calls today with 2 groups of House Dems: The New Dems Coalition and the Progressive Caucus. 13 of those who have called for him to step down are part of the New Dems
โ Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 13, 2024
According to a Decision HQ post on Friday, Trump leads Biden by four points in Pennsylvania, 48.7 percent to 44.7 percent.
Pennsylvania Presidential Forecast
Chance of Winning:
Trump: 56% (7-day change -1 // 30-day change +2)
Biden: 44%Poll Average:
Trump: 48.7% (+4.0)
Biden: 44.7%
โโโโโโ
Trump: 45.1% (+3.1)
Biden: 42.0%
Kennedy Jr: 5.5%https://t.co/nYFAK7GfV3โ Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) July 12, 2024
Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016. Biden took the state in 2020.