Obama will rally with Fetterman in Pittsburgh

Ryan Deto | Tuesday, November 1, 2022 10:15 a.m.

Tribune-Review

President Barack Obama addresses the crowd attending the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention on July 21, 2015, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

Former President Barack Obama is coming to Pittsburgh this weekend to hold a rally for Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman.

According to the Fetterman campaign, Obama will “rally voters, encouraging them to turn out and vote for Fetterman and Democrats up and down the ballot.”

Details about specifics had not yet been released as of Tuesday, except that it will be Saturday. More details will be announced in the coming days.

During the same day, Obama, Fetterman, President Joe Biden and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro will also be rallying in Philadelphia.

Obama has been rallying for candidates across the Midwest, including a recent speech in Michigan, in an attempt to pull Democrats over the finish line in what has been a tightly fought midterm.

But his rally in Pittsburgh will be the first Obama has held in the Steel City in several years, upping the ante of Pennsylvania’s contests.

Pennsylvania’s Senate race is predicted to be close, and whoever wins the seat could be the deciding factor in which party controls the chamber moving into the next term.

According to a New York Times/Siena poll that was taken over days straddling the Pa. Senate debate, Fetterman holds a five-point lead over Republican challenger Dr. Mehmet Oz, 49%-44%. That poll has a margin of error of 4.4%.

Obama’s visit also falls on the same day that former President Donald Trump will be rallying with Oz and Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano nearby in Unity.

Trump’s rally will begin in the afternoon, and the former president will speak at 7 p.m. at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.