Politics

Biden, Obama, Trump turn to key state Pennsylvania ahead of midterms

By Beatriz Pascual Macias

Washington, Nov 5 (EFE).- United States Democratic president Joe Biden and former leader Barack Obama joined forces Saturday to campaign in Pennsylvania, while Republican Donald Trump gave a combative rally on the other side of the state.

Three days before the midterm elections, all attention was on Pennsylvania, a key swing state that could determine which party controls the Senate and that has great symbolic meaning for the three leaders: Obama won it in 2008 and 2012, Trump took it from the Democrats in 2016 and Biden won it back in 2020.

“Folks, three days, three days until one of the most important elections in our lifetime. The outcome is going to shape our country for decades to come, and the power to shape that outcome is in your hands,” Biden told the crowd in Philadelphia.

“It’s a choice. A choice between two vastly different visions of America.”

Biden appeared alongside Obama at a university stadium, which rumbled with hundreds of people, red and blue lights, huge American flags and banners with political slogans that repeated the word: “Vote.”

Some 36 million people have already voted early, but Democrats need a high turnout to win some of the key battles.

Pennsylvania could determine which party controls the Senate, for which the main local players are Democrat and progressive ex-Braddock mayor John Fetterman, and Mehmet Oz, a Republican Trump ally known as Dr. Oz on his television talk show.

For months, the polls favored Fetterman, who suffered a stroke in the middle of the campaign, but now they are almost even.

Fighting for the governorship are Democrat Josh Shapiro, until now the state’s attorney general, and Republican Doug Mastriano, a far-right state senator supported by Trump.

After Shapiro and Fetterman spoke, Obama addressed the crowd and argued that Tuesday’s election is essential to America’s future.

“Truth and facts, logic and reason, and basic decency are on the ballot. Democracy itself is on the ballot. The stakes are high,” Obama said.

During the morning, the former president campaigned for Fetterman in Pittsburgh, painting a bleak picture of a country on the verge of losing democracy.

However, he called on Democrats to get angry, rather than depressed, and to go to the polls on Tuesday.

“Sulking and moping is not an option,” said Obama, who has campaigned for Democrats in some of the most battleground states. “On Tuesday, let’s make sure our country doesn’t get set back 50 years.”

“The only way to save democracy is if we, together, fight for it.”

Just 15 minutes after the Democrats’ rally in Philadelphia ended, Trump made an appearance to drum up support for Mehmet and Mastriano in Latrobe outside Pittsburgh, on the other side of Pennsylvania.

He got off his plane to “God Bless the USA” by country singer Lee Greenwood, traditional of his political rallies.

Trump has toured the US in recent weeks to campaign for different Republican candidates for Congress and has taken the opportunity to repeat his lies about electoral fraud regarding the 2020 presidential elections, in which he lost to Biden.

In an attempt to mobilize conservatives, Trump called on his supporters to go to the polls to in a “giant red wave,” referring to the traditional color of the Republican Party, and take away the majority that Democrats currently have in Congress.

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