In Pa., Another Dem Gov. Pleads With Trump Not to Come for Rally

Another Democratic governor is pleading with Trump not to hold a potential COVID super-spreader event in his state.

With Trump scheduled to appear at a rally near Harrisburg on Saturday night, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf issued a statement Friday asking the president to put public health ahead of politics.

“To hold this event is not just misguided, it is dangerous, it is manipulative and it is wrong,” Wolf said. “I would ask Pennsylvanians to think of the health and safety of their families and their communities before attending this event or any rally put on by the Trump campaign. And I would ask the president, for once, to put the health of his constituents ahead of his own political fortunes.”

Wolf, a Democrat, said he sent the Trump campaign a letter on Sept. 10 asking it to abide by Pennsylvania’s virus mitigation measures with social distancing, masks and crowd limits, but Trump held a rally on Tuesday near Pittsburgh with thousands of people jammed together.

The Trump campaign has held mass rallies that violate public health rules set by other Democratic governors as well, including Nevada’s Steve Sisolak, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer and Tony Evers of Wisconsin.

Earlier this week, Vice President Mike Pence defended Trump’s mass rallies and said the campaign trusts the governors -- even as it violates their COVID-19 guidelines. “We’ve trusted governors in our states, and most importantly we’ve trusted the American people,” Pence, the former governor of Indiana, told ABC News.