The Vice President, Mike Pence, will keep a “very aggressive” schedule in the final stretch before the election.
According to his chief of staff, the vice president will be traveling five to six days a week and will be holding up to three rallies per day.
In a press call organized by the Trump campaign on Monday, Marc Short, Mike Pence’s chief of staff, told the reporters that the Vice President is scheduled to visit seven states in the next six days, with two trips to Pennsylvania.
The Vice President’s robust campaign schedule comes as Trump pursues Joe Biden in the national and swing-state polling. Voters are also beginning to vote and go to polls in states where early voting has already started.
Included in the Vice President’s schedule is a visit to Pennsylvania twice, once on Monday and a second time on Saturday. The Vice President will also go back to Pennsylvania next week.
This frequency of trips emphasizes the focus that the Trump campaign is placing on this Keystone State. In the 2016 election, Trump won narrowly in the said state, and polls show a closer race wherein Biden is leading.
VP Pence's Chief of Staff Marc Short held a press call to detail Pence’s upcoming campaign travel schedule for the week.
Following a week of events in OH, WI, MI, FL, NC and PA, Short announced that Pence will be campaigning this week in ME, PA, NH, OH, IN (+ early voting) & FL
— Amanda Golden (@amandawgolden) October 19, 2020
Vice President Pence is also scheduled to travel to New Hampshire, Michigan, Ohio, and Florida. He will also travel to his home state, Indiana, on Thursday for the scheduled rally that evening, and he will be casting his ballots on Friday morning as early voting is starting to close in said state. At the beginning of October, Mike Pence planned to vote early in Indiana but later postponed it.
The states that the Vice President will be traveling to this week, except Maine, are the states that President Trump carried in the 2016 election. The President won’t the rural 2nd Congressional District of Maine in the year 2016, and his campaign back then has focused on the district. This is because Maine is one of two states that give one electoral vote to each congressional district’s winner, compared to the winner-take-all arrangement.
The Republican nominees seek to draw a contrast with the Biden campaign as his running mate, Kamala Harris, kept their in-person campaigning more limited due to the pandemic.
Short told reporters Monday, “I think it’s in stark contrast to what we’re seeing out of the Biden-Harris campaign and the limited travel and events that they are doing” The chief of staff further noted the enthusiasm for the Trump-Pence tandem on the campaign trail.
The chief of staff also indicated that the Vice President would more likely make joint trips with President Trump in the campaign’s final stretch. This includes the visit to Pennsylvania, which is scheduled next week.
During the Vice President’s trip to Pennsylvania, he will focus his argument to voters on the economy and trade, with specific attention on fracking or hydraulic fracturing. Furthermore, the Vice President will also highlight the current nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Presidential nominee is back at his Wilmington, Delaware home. Compared to the aggressive campaign schedule of the Republican nominees, Joe Biden will not return to the campaign trail until after his scheduled debate with President Trump on Thursday night.
Joe Biden landed in his home state after his campaign in North Carolina. Then after that, the Biden campaign called it a lid.
“Calling a lid” is when a candidate or campaign indicates to the press that they will not hold any more events for the day. The Democrats have no public events scheduled and will focus heavily on preparing for the second and final debate in the upcoming days.
