As covid-19 changes political campaigns, airport stops are nothing new

Covid-19 has changed the landscape of political campaigning as the presidential election draws near.

President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to visit Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity on Thursday evening, has been forced to trade in his large-scale Make America Great Again rallies for simpler, smaller stops.

Thursday’s airport appearance is one of several recent quick airport campaign stops, during which the president delivers his remarks while Air Force One serves as a backdrop.

This style of campaigning has allowed Trump to sometimes visit several cities per day. It’s also much more conducive to current covid-19 restrictions on large gatherings.

Trump had tried to bring back his MAGA rallies, hosting one in Tulsa, Okla., in June. But the event drew a smaller crowd than the campaign had anticipated and it was met with controversy, as the event flouted local covid-19 guidelines.

G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College, said neither candidate is hosting packed schedules of crowded events, as politicians have always done. He pointed to the unconventional Democratic and Republican conventions, which were conducted almost entirely virtual, as proof.

“I don’t think the size of the venue matters,” he said. “It’s going to be covered widely. It’s going to be covered from social media and print to the radio and television.”

What does matter, he said, is the message.

Airport-style campaigning is nothing new.

Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, John Kerry and Ronald Reagan are among those who campaigned for the presidency in similar fashion.

Even before planes, brief traveling stops were common campaign practice. Calvin Coolidge, William Taft, Teddy Roosevelt and William McKinley all addressed crowds from trains during their presidential campaigns.

It’s not a new approach for Trump, either. He stopped at airports during his first presidential bid in 2016. He delivered a speech from a hangar at Pittsburgh International Airport in June before returning for another airport stop the day before the election.

Madonna said these area stops are pivotal for Trump’s reelection.

“I know why he’s going to Westmoreland County — because he won that county by 30 points in 2016. It’s in the heart of natural gas country. That’s his base. If he doesn’t win well in the Southwest, it’s hard to figure he can carry the state,” Madonna said.