Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was scheduled to return to Pennsylvania for a rally in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday as both he and Democratic opponent Kamala Harris focus on the key swing state this weekend. File Photo by Allison Dinner/EPA-EFE
Aug. 17 (UPI) — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic opponent Kamala Harris will be focusing their attention on Pennsylvania with weekend visits to the vital swing state.
Trump is scheduled to attend a rally at 4 p.m. EDT Saturday 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 on Monday is scheduled to be in York, Pa., at a machining manufacturer to address the economy.
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is scheduled to appear Saturday at a 2 p.m. EDT rally in his native state of Nebraska. The event is planned for the Astro Theater in Omaha.
Trump is a frequent visitor to Pennsylvania — Saturday’s scheduled rally will mark 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.
He excoriated Harris during a Wednesday rally in Ashville, N.C., 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.
Designed by Gensler and HDR, in association with Luis Vidal + Architects, the transformed Pittsburgh International Airport Terminal aims to create a more tranquil passenger experience while celebrating Western Pennsylvania’s identity. Completed in November, it is entirely powered by its own microgrid that uses natural gas and solar energy. A skybridge connects the new headhouse—which con- solidates all major airport operations into a single structure—to a modernized terminal concourse. The roof, which consists of staggered peaks that frame clere- story windows, evokes the Allegheny Mountains, while branching columns recall trees. Augmenting the many nods to the region, the team included four verdant terraces fea- turing native plants, which are sustained by rainwater-harvesting systems.
Counties that used a redesigned envelope for their provisional ballots in 2025 saw rejection rates drop by 11.3% when compared to last year, according to Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt.
The new look adopted by 85% of counties indicates which fields are for voters and which are for election workers, and highlights where voters must sign. The drop from 4.96% to 4.4% doesn’t include the nine counties that didn’t use the new design or Chester County, which had a printing error in November that omitted third-party and independent voters from pollbooks.
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The 11.3% figure is adjusted for voter turnout. More than 7 million Pennsylvanians voted in 2024 – which was a presidential election year – compared to 3.6 million in the 2025 off-year election.
“Our goal remains ensuring every registered voter in our Commonwealth can cast their vote and have it counted in every election,” Schmidt said in a release. “As with the changes to mail ballot materials two years ago, these improvements resulted in more registered voters being able to make their voices heard in November’s election.”
Two years ago, the state conducted a voter education initiative and required counties to preprint the full year of mail ballot return envelopes. Mail ballot instructions and online application materials were also redesigned.
Five counties — Philadelphia, Berks, Butler, Mercer and Greene — worked with the state to craft the new envelopes to be more user friendly for both voters and poll workers.
“The purpose in leading the redesign effort was to reduce errors and have more votes counted, which is exactly what we achieved,” said Omar Sabir, the chair of the Philadelphia City Commissioners. “An 11% decrease in ballot rejections shows the real impact that thoughtful design can have on protecting voting rights across Pennsylvania.”
The nine counties opting out of the new design were: Bedford, Bradford, Crawford, Franklin, Huntingdon, Lackawanna, Lycoming, Monroe and Wyoming.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com.
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