With party nominations clinched, Pennsylvania could decide who wins the presidency in 2024
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — With Tuesday's primary victories, both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have clinched their party nominations for this fall.
As KDKA political editor Jon Delano explains, this presidential election may come down to just a very few states, including Pennsylvania.
Forget the popular vote. In 2020, Biden beat Trump by more than 7 million votes in that category. But in the Electoral College, it's the states that count. To win the White House, you need 270 electoral votes allocated according to state population.
Most pundits think there are at least eight states that could go either way: Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
"Pennsylvania elects presidents," said Nikku Lu, the Pennsylvania campaign manager for Biden.
Some analysts think one scenario is for Trump to win the South and West and for Biden to win Minnesota, leaving three states — Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania — up for grabs. In this scenario, if Trump wins any of the three, he will be president again.
Another possible scenario has been winning the West and Midwest and Trump winning the South. That leaves just one state to decide the presidency: Pennsylvania.
"Pennsylvania is always close, and we're not leaving anything up to chance," Lu said.
Lu says it will be close, but the president will take his campaign to every corner of the Commonwealth.
"We have a good story to tell and the resources to tell it," Lu said.
KDKA-TV reached out to a number of Pennsylvania Republican and Trump campaign officials, but none was available. But we do know Trump spends a lot of time in Pennsylvania, visiting the state nearly 20 times as president.