PITTSBURGH — JD Vance had an optimistic message here Thursday afternoon about the Trump campaign, at odds with the city’s political reality. He promised that Republicans wouldn’t just show up in the Democratic stronghold, they would win it.
“We’re going to win Pittsburgh, we’re going to win Pennsylvania, we’re going to make Donald Trump the next president of the United States and it starts right here,” Vance told the crowd at his rally in the city’s downtown.
You’d be hard pressed to find a Republican in Pittsburgh or its suburbs that agrees with Vance’s take. Trump will almost certainly lose the county they’re in. But Allegheny County, Pennsylvania’s second-most populous county, has more than 250,000 registered Republicans. That’s more Republican voters than any other county in the state, and the ultimate margin Trump loses by could be a determining factor in whether he wins Pennsylvania and the presidency.