Ground Game: Harris and Trump prepare for debate

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Plus, House GOP issues Afghanistan report blaming withdrawal on Biden, and lessons from the Trump-Clinton debates{beacon}

By Meg Kinnard

September 09, 2024 05:43:16 AM

By Meg Kinnard

September 09, 2024 05:43:16 AM

  

When Donald Trump and Kamala Harris meet onstage Tuesday night in Philadelphia, they’ll both know there’s little debate that Pennsylvania is critical to their chances of winning the presidency.

Welcome to this week’s edition of AP Ground Game.

 

THE HEADLINES

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives in Pittsburgh International Airport, in Coraopolis, Pa., Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, and takes a selfie with Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Harris-Trump debate highlights Pennsylvania’s electoral role

The most populous presidential swing state has sided with the winner of the past two elections, each time by just tens of thousands of votes. Polling this year suggests Pennsylvania will be close once more in November.

A loss in the state will make it difficult to make up the electoral votes elsewhere to win the presidency. Trump and Harris have been frequent visitors in recent days: Harris plans to return on Friday, and the former president was speaking in Butler County on July 14 when he was the target of an assassination attempt.

The stakes may be especially high for Harris: No Democrat has won the White House without Pennsylvania since 1948. Read more.

Of note:

Republicans are looking to blunt Trump’s unpopularity in Pennsylvania’s growing and increasingly liberal suburbs by criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the