Kamala Harris and Tim Walz include stops in Allegheny, Beaver counties on bus tour

Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are sweeping through Western Pennsylvania on Sunday hoping to build momentum the day before the start of the Democratic National Convention.

Harris and Walz will visit sites in Allegheny County and Beaver County on Sunday, including Rochester, on a bus tour, according to the White House.

The candidates and their spouses will arrive late Sunday morning or early afternoon at the Pittsburgh International Airport, where they will be greeted by supporters, and then travel across the Ohio Valley region before flying to Chicago later in the evening.

A full schedule for the Sunday bus tour has not been released, but the White House said Harris and Walz will give remarks in Rochester on Sunday afternoon.

“Vice President Harris, Governor Walz, and tens of thousands of grassroots supporters are putting their energy to work on the ground in the battlegrounds as we head into the Democratic National Convention,” said Harris-Walz Battleground States Director Dan Kanninen. “This week will show voters who Vice President Kamala Harris is, from her record as a tough-as-nails prosecutor to her work delivering for working families, and how that stands in stark contrast with the dangers of another Donald Trump presidency. This campaign is taking nothing for granted, doing the hard work to reach the battleground state voters who will decide this election.”

Allegheny County has remained a solid base for Democrats over the decades, while Beaver County has fallen out of their grasp over the last several presidential elections. Even so, towns along the Ohio and Beaver rivers, like Rochester, have remained pockets of blue in increasingly hostile territory for Democrats.

Maintaining votes in these industrial and largely white, working-class areas remain vital to Democrats’ chances come November.

The bus tour is expected to focus on meeting voters in community settings such as retail locations while also including canvass kickoff events.

It marks the first time Harris and Walz will campaign together with their respective spouses, second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Gwen Walz.

A New York Times/Siena College poll released Aug. 10 showed Harris with a slight edge over former President Donald Trump among voters in Pennsylvania by a margin of 45% to 43%.

Pennsylvania is arguably the most important state for both the Democratic and Republican campaigns and both have blitzed the Keystone State recently.

Harris introduced Walz as her running mate at a rally in Philadelphia on Aug 5.

Trump held a rally in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday and will campaign in York on Sunday. His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, held a campaign event with veterans in Lower Burrell on Thursday.

The Democratic National Convention will take place in Chicago and last from Monday through Thursday.