Trump to campaign in Butler ahead of Republican National Convention

Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally outside Schnecksville Fire Hall on April 13, 2024 in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump will make his first 2024 campaign stop in western Pennsylvania on July 13, with a rally in Butler two days before the opening of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. 

The presumptive GOP nominee for president will “emphasize the horrendous effects Biden’s dishonest presidency has had on our country,” according to a release from the Trump campaign.

The venue is roughly an hour north of Pittsburgh in Butler County where Trump took 65% of the vote in the 2020 election, compared to President Joe Biden’s 33%. 

The rally will be Trump’s fifth appearance in Pennsylvania so far this year. He’s visited Philadelphia twice; at a rally on Temple University’s campus in June and a surprise appearance at Sneaker Con in February. Also in February, he spoke at a National Rifle Association convention in Harrisburg. And in April, he held a rally in the pivotal Lehigh Valley region.

While the July 3 Times-Siena poll taken after the June 27 presidential debate shows Trump widening his lead over Biden nationally, there isn’t yet enough polling to show how Biden’s shaky debate performance may have affected numbers in Pennsylvania.  Before the debate, most polls showed the candidates were in a statistical tie in Pennsylvania, which has 19 electoral votes up for grabs.

Biden will appear in Philadelphia on Sunday with first lady Jill Biden at the National Education Association conference. It will be his first post-debate appearance in the Keystone State. He campaigned in Philadelphia with Vice President Kamala Harris in May, to launch the Black Voters for Biden-Harris initiative.

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