Pence covers a lot of political ground on swing through Pa.
The road to victory in November’s election runs through Pennsylvania, Vice President Mike Pence says, and so did his campaign bus on Wednesday.
In a day of events that took him from a ministry in Export, Westmoreland County, to a natural gas well in Freedom, Beaver County, Mr. Pence pulled out some of the campaign’s greatest hits, labeling his running mate, Donald Trump, a defender of law and order, a president who’s met the challenge of COVID- 19, and a freedom fighter who will stand up for the unborn and for those employed in fracking.
The vice president also sought to warn Western Pennsylvanians that if Democrat Joe Biden is elected to the White House in 55 days, it will mean American voters opted for a human placeholder for the radical left and a politician who doesn’t back law enforcement or the energy industry.
Mr. Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, shot back with a statement insisting that “it’s a slap in the face for Vice President Mike Pence to be talking to Beaver County workers ... when the Trump- Pence administration’s disastrous economic policies have led to the highest job losses in
Pennsylvania in decades.”
“Instead of looking out for workers like they promised, President Trump and Vice President Pence let big corporations avoid paying taxes by offshoring jobs, hurt workers with a reckless trade war, and failed to protect Pennsylvanians from the economic fallout of COVID- 19 while the Beaver County unemployment rate skyrocketed to 16%,” Biden campaign Pennsylvania State Director Brendan McPhillips said in a statement before the visit.
After landing at the Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s 171st Air Refueling Wing in Findlay, Mr. Pence took his big blue campaign bus — emblazoned with the Trump/ Pence 2020 logo — to Export, where he participated in a roundtable discussion and “fireside chat” with anti- abortion leaders at Cornerstone Ministries.
He first joined a private discussion with seven socially distanced participants, including advocates for the crisis pregnancy center Women’s Choice Networks and Paul Mango, deputy chief of staff for policy at the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services and former Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate.
Mr. Trump is “the most pro- life president in American history” and stands for sanctity of life, Mr. Pence told the group. He credited the people who serve at crisis pregnancy centers as being “the hands and feet of faith and compassion in this country.”
Then, in a fireside chat with Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, before an audience of about 200, Mr. Pence touted Mr. Trump’s judicial efforts and praised Chloe Kondrich and her family.
Chloe, who has Down syndrome, introduced Mr. Pence and was joined onstage by her father, Kurt, a former Pittsburgh police officer and advocate for protecting unborn children with Down syndrome. In Pennsylvania, “Chloe’s Law” requires medical providers to share accurate information about Down syndrome with parents who get the diagnosis.
Mr. Pence said he’s met with Chloe on multiple occasions, and that because of “steps we’ve taken,” he’s “proud to say more families will be more blessed by incredible young children and lives like Chloe’s.”
The vice president also criticized a June ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court that struck down a law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. The ruling led him to
oneconclusion, he said: that “we need more conservatives on the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Mr. Trump can make that happen, Mr. Pence said.
“[ H] e did what, to my knowledge, no candidate for president had ever done: He literally published a list of men and women who were all principled conservatives, who will uphold all the God- given liberties enshrined by our Constitution,” he said.
Emily Callen, executive director of Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates, marked Mr. Pence’s visit by alleging he came to Pennsylvania to “spread more lies about abortion and reproductive health care.”
“Pence’s failed health leadership, from his woefully incompetent handling of the COVID- 19 task force to his efforts to limit access to sexual and reproductive health, is a danger to Pennsylvanians and the country,” Ms. Callen said. “Pennsylvanians deserve a leader who will fight for our health, safety and dignity.”
After departing Cornerstone Ministries, Mr. Pence’s motorcade traveled to Freedom, where the vice president took the stage outside at a natural gas producing well operated by PennEnergy Resources.
With workers wearing hard hats lined up around him and a sign behind him proclaiming “Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!,” Mr. Pence said the Trump administration revived the economy with tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks and allowed the American energy industry to flourish.
“In three short years, what a difference Pennsylvania’s choice made,” he said.
As the crowd chanted
“Four more years,” Mr. Pence responded: “I don’t want to interrupt you.”
The vice president used the gathering as an opportunity to address cities’ responses to protests around the nation and calls for defunding police departments.
“Our police officers deserve the respect of every American, every day,” Mr. Pence said. “The president and I will always support the right of Americans to peacefully protest, but rioting and looting is not peaceful protest, burning businesses is not free speech and those who do so will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Mr. Pence pointed to recent incidents in Pittsburgh and blamed Democratic leadership for allowing protests to get out of hand.
“The people of America deserve better, and frankly the people of Pittsburgh got to be able to sit at an outdoor restaurant or go to a McDonald’s without being harassed,” said Mr. Pence, referring to protest incidents Saturday in Downtown, both captured on video and eliciting a response from the president himself on social media.
He criticized Mr. Biden, alleging the former vice president hasn’t called on Democratic mayors to get their cities under control.
“Undermining support for law enforcement has real consequences,” Mr. Pence said. “It emboldens those who would sow chaos on our streets and it demoralizes the men and women who serve in law enforcement.”
On his bus tour, Mr. Pence also made an unscheduled stop at a GOP Victory field office, a short drive from the church in Export, where more than 100 supporters waited — many holding campaign signs.
Re- electing Mr. Trump, Mr. Pence said, would mean more jobs, more support for troops and more support for law enforcement.
“It’s going to take at least four more years to drain that swamp,” he added.
Mr. Pence’s visit came two days before his running mate, Mr. Trump, is slated to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at a memorial service for Flight 93 in Stonycreek, Somerset County. Mr. Biden also is scheduled to visit the Stonycreek area Friday. No further details have been announced.