ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will return to the Queen City this weekend as the Democratic ticket continues to heavily court the Lehigh Valley's Latino voters ahead of the 2024 election.
Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign announced Tuesday morning that Emhoff will visit the city on Saturday, but has not publicly released further details about the trip.
The visit is part of "Latinos con Harris-Walz," during which he will meet with leaders of Pennsylvania's Latino community, according to a release.
"Vice President Harris understands that Latinos are looking for a leader who will fight for them and the issues most important to their families, and the Harris-Walz campaign is investing heavily to reach and earn the support of this increasingly important bloc of voters in Pennsylvania."Harris-Walz campaign release
"Vice President Harris understands that Latinos are looking for a leader who will fight for them and the issues most important to their families, and the Harris-Walz campaign is investing heavily to reach and earn the support of this increasingly important bloc of voters in Pennsylvania," the release read.
The Allentown trip will be Emhoff's second to Allentown since his wife became vice president.
He toured the Bridgeworks Enterprise Center in May 2021, meeting with small business owners to discuss how they were adapting to the coronavirus pandemic and promoting the Biden Administration's infrastructure plan.
Connecting with Allentown Latinos
President Joe Biden and several of his proxies made deliberate efforts to connect with Allentown's Latinos this election cycle when he was the presumed nominee.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccera had lunch with a group of local Latino community leaders between tours of St. Luke’s University Health Network Sacred Heart and at Star Community Health Center in March.
Becerra asked them how to better connect with local voters. He recognized the Biden campaign needed to step up its voter outreach from 2020 and spoke about the administration's efforts to protect the Affordable Care Act.
“Can we count on you to help us get to the young people?” he asked.
First Lady Jill Biden also joined members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley, for a roundtable discussion on small businesses at Lehigh Carbon Community College.
Much of the conversation focused on providing more economic opportunities for the city's growing Latino community. The White House emphasized that Jill Biden's visit was not a campaign event, however.
Emhoff's visit will be the campaign's latest stop in Pennsylvania, a critical battleground state.
Harris and Biden made a campaign stop Monday in Pittsburgh, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is slated to make his first tour of the state this week since the Democratic National Convention last month.
Former President Donald Trump has been active in Pennsylvania as well. He held a rally in Johnstown over the weekend.
