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Former President Barack Obama To Hold Drive-in Car Rally At South Philly Sports Complex For Biden Campaign

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The race for the White House is running through Philadelphia on Wednesday. Eyewitness News has learned that former President Barack Obama will travel to Philadelphia for his first campaign event to support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Obama is scheduled to arrive in Philadelphia in the early afternoon, where he will participate in at least two events.

With just two weeks until Election Day, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Biden are racing toward the finish line with a flurry of rallies.

On Wednesday, Obama will make his first in-person campaign appearance, stumping for the Biden-Harris ticket in Philadelphia.

He's expected to make a personal appeal to voters during a drive-in rally at the sports complex in South Philly.

"He knows what motivates Joe, what inspires him, why he's running for office, to bring our country together, to make sure we build back better than we were before, and I don't think there's anybody in a better position to view his point and to speak on behalf of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris than President Obama," said Valerie Jarrett, Obama's former senior adviser.

Jarrett spoke about the importance of winning the battleground state of Pennsylvania, a state seeing a record 9 million voter registrations and a steady flow of mail-in ballots.

"I think it's a signal that the American people appreciate how important this election is and how important it is that they weigh in. And that's in all states -- red states, blue states we're seeing just a surge of support for Vice President Biden," she said.

Trump will be in Erie, Pennsylvania on Tuesday night as he is expected to host daily rallies at a dizzying pace leading up to the election.

"The president's definitely going to ramp up his rally schedule. You'll recall towards the end of the last cycle he was doing two to three rallies a day. Now he wants to do five rallies a day. Our president is committed to getting out there, engaging with the voters," said Trump campaign senior adviser Katrina Pierson.

She says they're concentrating efforts on swing states like Pennsylvania which Trump won in 2016, now having opened more campaign offices in Philadelphia.

Campaign officials say they're not concerned about national polls showing Biden with at least a nine-point lead. They anticipate a much closer race in Pennsylvania.

"We're not concerned about national polls. If you look at 2016, we're right where we were back then. Everyone thought Hillary Clinton was winning by double digits. Turns out that wasn't the case. A lot of these polls are skewed and they're heavily weighted towards Democrats. We just don't look at that," said Pierson.

While there have been targeted invitations to the sports complex event, it will not be public due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Supporters are being encouraged to watch a live stream of the event on the campaign's website.

CBS3's Natasha Brown contributed to this report.

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