President Trump held a campaign rally Saturday night outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, hours after he announced Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his pick for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s replacement on the Supreme Court. The crowd cheered when Mr. Trump kicked off the rally by mentioning Barrett, noting she is his third Supreme Court nominee.
Republicans have sought to capitalize on Mr. Trump’s nominees to the Supreme Court, since they will have long-standing effects on the legal system. With Ginsburg’s death, and if Barrett is confirmed, there will be six likely conservative justices to three likely liberal justices. Mr. Trump’s previous two nominees, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, were both confirmed.
At Mr. Trump’s rally on Saturday, a giant screen read “fill that seat,” the latest chant to become popular at his rallies. Rally-goers told CBS News they supported her as Mr. Trump’s pick.
“Most important of all, she will defend your God-given rights and freedoms,” Mr. Trump said to cheers.
Mr. Trump criticized his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, for not releasing a list of possible nominees. Biden, who has called for waiting to vote on a new Supreme Court justice until after the election, has said he will not release a list of nominees because it could influence the judges or possibly subject them to “unrelenting” attacks.
Mr. Trump also praised law enforcement during the rally, and there were several dozen supporters sporting “Police for Trump” T-shirts. Around 8 p.m., a rally-goer confronted a protester, who was quickly escorted out, and Mr. Trump called out the rally-goer to applause.
Mr. Trump also touched on a number of familiar themes from his rallies, including calling the coronavirus “the China virus,” trying to tout his record on the economy and slamming the Biden family, Hillary Clinton, the “job-killing Paris climate accord” and trade deals.
Clinton narrowly won Dauphin County, where Middletown and Harrisburg, the state’s capital, are located. Mr. Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016, the first Republican to do so since 1988. CBS News Battleground Tracker poll has Biden with a 52% to 47% lead in the state.
Weijia Jiang and Zak Hudak contributed to this report.
