Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff meets volunteers for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in a field office in Allentown on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (Capital-Star photo by Peter Hall)
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will make an appearance in Pittsburgh on Friday, to deliver remarks at a get-out-the-vote concert for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. As first reported by the Capital-Star, the concert will feature musicians Jason Isbell, who performed on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in August and has been a vocal supporter of Harris and other Democrats; and Michael Stipe, lead singer for R.E.M.,who has performed at campaign events in support of Harris, and stumped for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016.
Emhoff has campaigned frequently for Harris in Pennsylvania, both with and without her; the day before the DNC, he joined Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his wife Gwen Walz on a bus tour through western Pennsylvania, and has made solo campaign visits to Bucks County and Allentown. During the visit to Allentown, Pennsylvania’s largest city with a majority Latino population, Emhoff made the campaign’s pitch to Latino voters, visiting a field office and holding a rally. Harris, Emhoff said, would help families build generational wealth if elected president.
“This is all about creating an opportunity economy where all of us, every one of us, can succeed,” he said.
The Pittsburgh GOTV concert comes a day before former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee for president, also visits western Pennsylvania. Trump will hold a rally on Saturday in Butler, at the site where he survived an assassination attempt in July. One rallygoer was killed and two others were wounded in the shooting, the first of two assassination attempts against Trump in 2024.
The campaigns are both spending significant time in the Keystone State in the final weeks before the November election, as its 19 electoral votes are crucial to both candidates’ paths to the White House. Walz campaigned with Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. John Fetterman in York on Wednesday, and Trump’s running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, campaigned in suburban Pittsburgh and suburban Philadelphia last weekend.
An Oct. 1 poll from Emerson College finds Harris and Trump tied among likely Pennsylvania voters.