Trump’s message just before the assassination attempt spurred me into action: mayor of the Butler area

SHERMAN’S DALE, Pa. – SHERMAN’S DALE, PA- Slippery Rock Pennsylvania Mayor Jondavid Longo was with former President Donald Trump in his native Butler in July, just minutes before the GOP nominee was shot by an attempted assassin.

Longo, who was about to begin his eighth year as mayor of the borough just a few miles northwest of the rally site, spoke to Fox News Digital as he traveled across the Commonwealth on the Team Trump bus tour — a journey of a week he started because of what Trump has come to mean to many Pennsylvanians since that tragic day, he said.

“You know, I’ve always been a supporter of the president,” Longo said, adding during his public speech that he had supported the mogul since “the first day when he came down the golden escalator” at Trump Tower in 2015.

Longo said he, like many Republicans in Pennsylvania, was hesitant to switch to early voting, from the age-old practice of waiting until Election Day to go to the polls to cast a ballot.

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“But… I thought long and hard to myself after that day, after I saw that man get shot in the face. And I thought, ‘My goodness, everything this man has been through – and he’s asking us to vote early – the least we can all do is do what he asks of us, to make sure he gets over can reach the finish line so we can take this country back,” he said.

“Because let’s face it: people are suffering and we cannot afford another four years of Kamala Harris’s failed leadership.”

Longo spent about 20 minutes with Trump before taking the stage at Butler in July.

Reportedly being his normal gregarious self, Trump interacted with several local officials, including the mayor, backstage at the Butler Farm Show grounds.

“He asked me, ‘Mayor, how are things going on the ground? What does Butler County look like?'”

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“And I had the pleasure of looking that man in the eye and talking about all the great things you’re all doing in places like Butler County and throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to make sure those 19 key electoral votes are his . so we can get them back to the White House.”

“We’re going to get you Pennsylvania, Mr. President. We’re going to do it for you,” Longo recalled telling Trump.

Moments later, shots rang out and Trump was chased by Secret Service agents, bleeding from his head. Gunman Thomas Crooks hit Trump’s right ear, which the president said was a stroke of luck as he gestured at the same moment to a graph with statistics on illegal immigration.

“I saw that man get shot in the face. How many of you have seen that?’ Longo later asked the crowd. “Let me ask you something: Do you love President Trump? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to make sure he comes back to Washington to clean up the mess that Kamala Harris and the Democrats have put us in?”

“Then I implore you, please join me and vote early for President Trump. And that’s my confession here. Ladies and gentlemen, I have to tell you that I have not been a big fan of early voting until this point. Then I looked into President Trump’s eyes, and he said, ‘Don’t let me down.’ And I heard him again and again.”

The refrain “don’t leave me” has stuck with Longo ever since, as he stepped off the bus for the next-to-last time Friday at Republican state Rep. Barb Gleim’s farm near the Perry County line.

As he took the stage, the sun was setting over the nearby Appalachian Mountains to the west, and former California Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado, a fellow Trump surrogate on the bus, noted how much the scene reminded him of home.

Standing next to Maldonado and several others, and in front of rows of supporters seated on hay bales and a giant American flag hanging from a crane, Longo said the risks Trump has endured for the U.S. should energize everyone next month.

“I thought to myself, this man, the sacrifices he has made for all of us, he and his family have been raked over the coals for years, giving up everything so they can fight for us.”

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Longo said he and his wife are expecting a daughter next year, and that Pennsylvanians should vote early, not only for Trump, but so they don’t abandon the next generation yet to be born.

At home in Slippery Rock, not far from industrial Youngstown, Ohio, and Erie, Pennsylvania, Longo said his voters are “feeling the pressure” of the Biden-Harris economy and the decline in public safety.

“My family shouldn’t feel unsafe going to a neighboring city like Pittsburgh for a night out. And we just don’t feel safe in our own cities anymore. Companies are also fleeing cities like that. I mean, my God, Pennsylvania itself is bleeding people,” he said.

“We are losing population because there are no opportunities. We are under heavy Democratic control here in Pennsylvania, I might also add,” he said.

“So these are the things that are really on the minds of Pennsylvania voters. And for those reasons, we’re going to go out and vote for Donald J. Trump.”