HARRISBURG — Vice President Mike Pence is making a swing through Pennsylvania on Wednesday to tout the Trump administration’s support for funding tuition for private school students and, on the campaign side, to make an appeal to women voters.
He will be with U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, first at a Catholic school Philadelphia and later at a suburban Harrisburg hotel.
The Philadelphia event is education-themed. DeVos is touring the states to tout her $5 billion plan to fund tuition for private school students. The “Education Freedom Scholarships” allow businesses and individuals to get 100% federal tax credits for donations to scholarship-granting groups.
Pennsylvania has a similar tax-credit program for businesses, although critics say it lacks accountability, transparency and oversight, and siphons cash away from public schools.
Later, Pence will headline a “Women for Trump” campaign event in suburban Harrisburg, in a congressional district where Republican Rep. Scott Perry is expected to face a stiff challenge from Democrat Eugene DePasquale, the elected state auditor general.
President Donald Trump was the first Republican presidential candidate since 1988 to win Pennsylvania, and the state is expected to be a premier battleground in this year’s election.
