Trump makes historic visit to county
The only visit to Butler County by a sitting President saw throngs of excited residents descend on the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport in Penn Township on Oct. 31 to hear a campaign speech by President Donald Trump.
While Trump arrived via helicopter at the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport at 6:20 p.m., his devoted supporters began arriving as early as 1 p.m. at the several designated farms and fields in the area to board school buses headed to the event.
Airport Road was closed at Saturday morning, and Three Degree Road between Renfrew Road and Beacon Road — where Penn Township Police blocked the remainder of Three Degree as a security measure — was alive with people walking to the rally, parking in the yards of enterprising property owners and driving carefully toward the harried officers to ask where to go.
“It's kind of cool for the area, no matter what you think,” said Beacon Road resident Travis Squyres, who watched the hoopla fill his normally quiet neighborhood.
At the airport, an estimated 15,000 people screamed their support as Trump delivered a speech that talked about his successes, his plans for the future and his perceived failures of Democratic candidate Joe Biden, who ultimately defeated Trump in the Nov. 3 election.“Hello, Butler,” Trump said. “We are going to win the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and we're going to win four more years.”Trump's comments touched on three major points that the Butler County crowd seemed to react to the most. Those topics were the oil and gas industry, A.K. Steel and veterans' affairs.Trump made these statements with many affected workers and veterans by his side as special guests.Trump focused heavily on fracking, claiming Biden plans to end all fracking. Trump told his supporters the ink was still drying on a document he signed that would protect fracking for the future.“We have to protect you,” Trump said to the enthusiastic fracking industry workers in the crowd. “Moments ago, I signed an order to protect Pennsylvania fracking. I signed it on the beautiful Marine One.”Trump also turned his attention to A.K. Steel.“We saved 1,400 jobs right here at A.K. Steel in Butler,” He said. “Anybody work there?”A contingent of the crowd made its voices heard.
“I know they're voting for us,” Trump said in reference to himself and U.S. Rep Mike Kelly, R-16th. “We did a great job.”In the previous year, the Trump administration launched an investigation into whether the import of electrical steel from foreign countries has threatened national security by circumventing tariffs.With VA Butler Healthcare and a high population of veterans in the county, Trump's statements about his strides in that regard also received a great deal of applause from supporters.Trump said he helped reduce times veterans once experienced in waiting for care, and he made sure the professionals treating veterans are more accountable and respectful of the patients.While much of Trump's remarks revolved around Biden, the president also highlighted some of the things he has accomplished.Trump said he was proud of the strides he made in criminal justice reform, the handling of the pandemic and the economy. Throughout the event, Trump attributed a 33.4% growth in the third quarter's gross domestic product to his administration's efforts.“Our economy is now growing at the fastest rate in the country, faster than any nation in the world,” Trump said.After Trump boarded Marine One to head to his next rally, a mass exodus from the airport caused a walking traffic jam on Airport Road, which caused Trump supporters a longer wait in the chilly Halloween temperatures because shuttle buses could not access riders for a time.Vendors all along Route 8 financially benefited from the presidential visit as Trump supporters snapped up signs, flags, shirts and other merchandise sold at pop-up stands that appeared along the highway.Robin Peters of Connoquenessing Township summed up the thoughts of those who were thrilled to see a sitting President come to Butler County.“No matter what your political party is, it's really cool to see a president in person,” she said.Local electionLike all 67 counties in Pennsylvania, Butler County dealt with a large influx of mail-in ballots in the first year when any voter could tick off their chosen candidates at home and vote with the lick of a stamp.In prior years, those requesting mail-in ballots had to prove why they could not vote at the polls. However, because of the coronavirus pandemic, both Republican and Democratic legislators in Harrisburg agreed that all should be able to vote by mail to avoid proximity to others at the polls.Aaron Sheasley, the new county bureau of elections director, gave an update at an October county commissioners meeting regarding the upcoming general election in November.He said unlike the June primary election, mail-in ballots must be sealed inside the secrecy envelopes included in the mail-in ballot package sent to voters.Sheasley said multiple mail-in ballot requests were received for some voters, but if the voter was already slated to get a mail-in ballot, all additional requests were flagged and declined.All 89 precincts in Butler County would be open for in-person voting, Sheasley told the commissioners.He also explained that all mail-in ballots had to be postmarked by Nov. 3, which was Election Day, but the post office was given three extra days to deliver the ballots to the elections bureau for counting.Many former or new voters sent in voter registration requests, adding to the election bureau staff's duties in an already busy presidential election, Sheasley said.“We process 75 to 100 in any given day,” Sheasley said.But he added that he was encouraged to see so many county residents interested in performing their civic duty.“That's good for democracy,” Sheasley said.Every incumbent representing Butler County in the state General Assembly was reelected to another term after in-person and most mail-in ballots were counted on Election Day.Regarding the presidential election, Butler County chose President Donald Trump over former Vice President Joe Biden by a large margin.As of 11:15 on election night, with 61 precincts counted, Trump had received 37,231 votes to Biden's 9,070.Still, Biden was named the winner of both Pennsylvania's electoral votes and the election.While the county's Democratic Committee was thrilled, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16, filed several lawsuits contesting the presidential election results. None have succeeded.Two Republican state representatives officially disputed the presidential election results as well.When Biden was named Pennsylvania's winner, Representatives Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, and Aaron Bernstine, R-10th, signed a resolution disputing the statewide contest results.Notably, many of the state's top Republicans did not sign on to the resolution. Neither House Speaker Bryan Cutler, R-100th, nor House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-171st, were signatories to the resolution.Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Ca., were certified Nov. 24 as the winners of the presidential election in Pennsylvania.
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