By Nathan Layne
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will speak on Saturday to an influential group of conservative Christian activists who advocate restricting abortion, before heading to Philadelphia for a rally aimed at courting black voters.
The former president is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at an event hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a group overseen by longtime Trump ally Ralph Reed, at 1:30 p.m. ET (1730 GMT) in Washington.
The meeting will highlight important issues for conservative Christian voters ahead of the Nov. 5 election, and participants will likely be eager to hear more about Trump’s stance on abortion.
Trump has tried to find a political middle ground on the issue, which has become a liability for Republicans in recent elections.
He has taken credit for appointing three right-wing justices to the Supreme Court who helped overturn Roe v. Wade two years ago this Monday, eliminating abortion rights nationwide in a moment of triumph for conservatives.
However, Trump has more recently said he would not support a federal ban on abortion, preferring to leave the issue up to individual states.
That stance doesn’t sit well with many evangelical voters, an important voting bloc for Trump. Reed has said his group would continue to work toward restrictions at both the state and federal levels.
Later on Saturday, Trump will hold a campaign rally at Temple University, in a historically black area of Philadelphia that has long been a Democratic stronghold. Trump won just 5% of the vote in precincts within a half-mile radius of Temple’s main campus, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Trump’s campaign has made courting black and Hispanic voters, who make up more than half of Philadelphia’s population, a priority this cycle, encouraged by some opinion polls that indicate he is gaining ground among these voters.
While Trump has little chance of winning the city (President Joe Biden, a Democrat, won 81.4% of the vote in Philadelphia County in 2020), Trump could still increase his chances by narrowing the margin in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties so critical to the overall recount in Pennsylvania, a battleground state.
Trump’s campaign said he will use his speech in Philadelphia to talk about Biden’s handling of inflation, the southern border and crime, all key tenets of the Republican’s campaign for a second term.
William Rosenberg, a political science professor at Drexel University, said he believed Trump’s main goal was to project his outreach to black voters nationally, similar to the rally he held in the Bronx borough of New York City. last month.
“It’s a play to go on national television to say you’re in Philadelphia and show that this is a black community,” Rosenberg said. “Then maybe you’ll convince some undecided voters that Donald Trump isn’t so bad.”
Democrats have placed posters, billboards and kiosks in Philadelphia and on Temple’s campus to promote Biden’s policies, including his efforts to forgive student debt, as well as to criticize Trump’s record with the Black community.
State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democrat, said black voters remember Trump’s history of promoting the bigoted conspiracy theory that questioned whether Barack Obama, the country’s first African-American president, was born in the United States, and the policies he pursued and that harmed black workers. class.
“Donald Trump is in a black place, but Donald Trump doesn’t give a damn about black people,” Kenyatta said at a press event at a Biden campaign office in Philadelphia, adding that Trump would “receive the kind of welcome he deserves.” “by the city.