Donald Trump will visit a Polish Catholic shrine in Bucks County, his second trip to the purple Philly collar county

PHILADELPHIA — Former President Donald Trump will visit Bucks County on Sunday, his campaign confirmed.

Trump is expected to visit the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown. The campaign did not immediately say what time Sunday the visit would occur or whether it would be open to the public.

The national shrine honors Our Lady of Czestochowa, an icon depicting the Virgin Mary that holds particular significance for Catholics in Poland. The shrine has been visited by several American politicians, including former President George H.W. Bush in his unsuccessful 1980 campaign for president. The shrine is run by the religious order of the Pauline Fathers and Brothers and is not directly affiliated with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Trump’s campaign said Polish President Andrzej Duda will also be at the shrine on Sunday, though the campaign said the two men had not coordinated their visits.

Pennsylvania is home to more than 700,000 people with Polish ancestry — 5% of the commonwealth’s population.

During the presidential debate in Philadelphia last week, Vice President Kamala Harris also made mention of Polish American Pennsylvanians— a historically reliable voting bloc for Democrats, though Republicans have also lobbied for their support.

Father Maksymilian Ogar, a spokesperson for the shrine, said Trump’s visit would not include any speeches or campaigning.

“With everything that’s been happening the last couple of days, his coming to the shrine is an act of praying and thanking God for a failed assassination attempt,” Ogar said, noting that he was not able to confirm details of Trump’s potential visit.

On Sunday, Trump faced his second assassination attempt in less than three months as the Secret Service opened fire on an armed man while the former president golfed on his Palm Beach, Fla., course.

The stop will be Trump’s second in hotly contested Bucks County, a purple county and the only area in the Democratic Philadelphia suburbs represented by a Republican in Congress. Earlier this year, Trump hosted a private fundraiser in the county.

Trump narrowly lost Bucks County in 2016 and President Joe Biden expanded Democrats’ lead in the county in 2020. The county, however, remains one of the former president’s best chances at regaining support in Philadelphia and its suburbs.

This summer, Bucks County became the only county in the area where registered Republicans outnumbered registered Democrats. While Democrats control county government, voters have kept U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican with a reputation as a moderate, in office.

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