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Welcome back to our new daily feature, Midterm Matters, where we pick a red-hot US midterms story and separate the signal (what you need to know) from the noise (what everyone is yelling about).
In the final stretch of the midterm race, Democrats and Republicans are pushing hard in Pennsylvania. On the blue side, President Joe Biden and his old boss Barack Obama will hold an event in Philadelphia on Saturday in a bid to get out the vote amid fears that turnout could lag, particularly among communities of color.
Meanwhile, on team red, former President Donald Trump will also make a stop in southwest Pennsylvania over the weekend to campaign for Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, as well as state Senator Doug Mastriano, who’s trailing Democrat Josh Shapiro in the race for governor.
Why Pennsylvania? Well, it’s one of just a few states – along with Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona – that will determine which party controls the Senate. Democrat John Fetterman currently leads Oz by a smidge, but Fetterman, whose health woes have become a central electoral issue, was leading his opponent by six percentage points just a month ago. Indeed, Democrats are rightfully concerned about their prospects in the state.
It’s also one of the very few opportunities Dems have this cycle to flip a Senate seat as opposed to playing defense.
In recent weeks, Obama, who remains extremely popular in the Democratic Party, has made stops in other crucial swing states like Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin. We’ll know in just a few days whether it’ll make a difference …