Former President Donald Trump is expected to visit to Bucks County this weekend.
Trump is slated to stop at The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in New Britain Township on Sunday, September 22, according to sources familiar with the plans.
Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative politician, is also expected to visit the shrine on Sunday.
Details about the event remained scarce as of Monday, and it was unclear whether the public will have access.
The Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The visit comes amid heightened security concerns following an incident on Sunday where an armed individual had a rifle and the FBI has accused the man of attempting to shot Trump, who was the target of a failed assassin in July. The man on Sunday was arrested and did not fire shots at the former president, according to law enforcement in Florida.
Security is expected to be tight for Trump’s Bucks County visit, with a number of local law enforcement agencies in Bucks County assisting the U.S. Secret Service, sources said.
Duda will be in the U.S. next week for the United Nation’s General Assembly in New York City. The event brings together heads of state and heads of government from around the globe.
The Catholic shrine in Central Bucks County was built starting in the early 1960s. It is dedicated to Polish Catholic religious figures and is home to the heart of Poland’s third prime minister, Ignacy Jan Paderewski.
Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, visited the site twice and a statue of him stands on the stands on grounds overlooking Doylestown.
President Lyndon B. Johnson attended a ceremony at the shrine in the mid-1960s. George H. W. Bush came to the site in 1980 as part of his campaign for vice president, and President Ronald Reagan visited in 1984.
In 2016, then-Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo and President Duda visited the site for separate events.
Trump would be the first candidate for the presidency to visit the shrine in the 21st Century.
U.S. Sen. JD Vance is expected to visit the Newtown area later this month.
Trump was last in Bucks County in April for a high-dollar fundraiser in Newtown Township.
In 2016, Trump held a campaign rally at the Newtown Sports Training and Events Center, and Trump put on an October 2020 reelection rally in Upper Makefield Township.
Republican sources have said since late spring that the Trump campaign was planning a visit to Bucks County, with Newtown Township and Bristol Borough previously discussed as possible locations.
With election season in full swing, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump could return to Bucks County before November.
Bucks County is a key swing county in a state that is a pivotal win for whoever wants to hold the presidency. Trump lost Bucks County to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, but both races were close.
