State GOP opens Centre County campaign office

With just seven weeks to go until Election Day, more activities are cropping up in the area.

State Republican Party Vice Chairwoman Joyce Haas, of State College, opened the party’s Centre County Victory Office on Burrowes Street on Wednesday.

It is just the most recent GOP office opening. Haas attended openings in Washington and Allegheny counties last week.

“We are only now opening the offices,” she said. “That’s been the plan all along, not to open until now.”

Haas said the office is a “grass-roots volunteer center for Donald Trump.”

Trump’s presidential bid is the top race on the ticket, but the GOP does have others on the agenda in Pennsylvania, including Sen. Pat Toomey’s re-election and the hotly contested race to fill Kathleen Kane’s former office as state attorney general.

“The thing that I’ve experienced everywhere has been an unbelievable amount of enthusiasm,” Haas said. “We need to be able to give reinforcement to people. It’s a place for our program in door-knocking, phone calls, this final volunteer push of affecting turnout on Election Day.”

But the opening wasn’t the only political activity in the area Wednesday.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein attended a rally at Penn State’s HUB-Robeson Center, although both her own Twitter feed and and her state and national organizations’ made no mention after the appearance.

Social media reports say Stein’s appearance drew fewer than 50 people who were kept waiting about 45 minutes for the candidate’s arrival.

Democrat Hillary Clinton was the first candidate to have a campaign visit in town after daughter Chelsea came to State College this month. But Trump may be following that up.

According to a release from U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard township, Trump’s middle son Eric is the invited guest for an event in Howard on Saturday.

The Second Amendment rally at the Howard Yearick Center will see doors open at 6 p.m. with speakers, including a confirmed Thompson and possible Eric Trump starting at 7 p.m.

This story was originally published September 21, 2016 at 8:26 PM with the headline "State GOP opens Centre County campaign office."