Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said Thursday that former President Donald Trump has created a special bond with Pennsylvanians following the assassination attempt against him July 13 and that he will be formidable to defeat in November.
Trump was struck in the right ear by a bullet fired from about 130 yards away by Thomas Matthews Crooks, 20, who killed a spectator and seriously injured two others at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, before a Secret Service countersniper killed him. It was the first of two assassination attempts against Trump in the past two months. The other was Sunday in West Palm Beach, Florida.
"Trump has created a special kind of a hold ... and he's remade the party, and he has a special kind of place in Pennsylvania," Fetterman said Thursday to a crowd at The Atlantic Festival in Washington, D.C., according to The Hill. "And I think that only deepened after that first assassination attempt."
Pennsylvania is seen as a must-win state for Trump to return to the White House. The Cook Political Report rates the state as a toss-up while the FiveThirtyEight polling average has Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris ahead by 1.4 percentage points (48.2%-46.8%).
Trump's support in the state has remained strong even after he was twice impeached, indicted in four criminal cases, and survived two assassination attempts.
"What's left?" Fetterman is now wondering.
"I also want people to understand, you know, and it's not science, but there is, there's energy, and there's kinds of anger on the ground in Pennsylvania, and people are very committed and strong," Fetterman said, according to The Hill. "Trump is going to be strong and ... we have to respect that."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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