SHERMAN’S DALE, Pa. – SHERMAN’S DALE, Pennsylvania— Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania Mayor Jondavid Longo was with former President Donald Trump in his home county of Butler in July just minutes before the GOP nominee was shot by an attempted assassin.
Longo, about to begin his eighth year as mayor of the borough just a handful of miles northwest of the rally site, spoke to Fox News Digital as he traveled the commonwealth with the Team Trump bus tour — a week-long trip he embarked on because of what Trump has come to mean for 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 backed the mogul since "day one when he came down the golden escalator" in Trump Tower in 2015.
Longo said he, like many Republicans in Pennsylvania, was hesitant about transitioning to early voting from the centuries-old custom of waiting until Election Day to go to the polls to cast a ballot.
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Slippery Rock, Pa., Mayor Jondavid Longo speaks at Team Trump bus tour stop in Franklin County, Pa. (Fox News Digital/Charlie Creitz)
"But… I thought to myself long and hard after that day, after watching that man get shot in the face. And I thought, 'My goodness, everything that this man has been through — and he's asking us to go and vote early — the least that we all could do is do what it is that he's asking us to do in order to make sure that he can get across the finish line so that we can take this country back,'" he said.
"Because let's face it, people are suffering, and we cannot afford another four years of the failed leadership of Kamala Harris."
Longo was with Trump about 20 minutes before he took the stage in Butler in July.
Reportedly 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 we doing on the ground — what’s it look like in Butler County?'"
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The "Hay Man" on PA State Rep. Barb Gleim's "Hayman Farms" outside Mechanicsburg, Pa., urges visitors to vote for Donald Trump. (Fox News/Charlie Creitz)
"And I had the pleasure of looking that man in the eye and talking about all of the great things that all of you are doing in places like Butler County and all across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to make sure those 19 important electoral votes belong to him so that we can get them back to the White House."
"We’re going to deliver Pennsylvania for you, Mr. President. We're going to do it for you," Longo recalled telling Trump.
Moments later, shots rang out, and Trump was dogpiled by Secret Service agents, bleeding from his head. Shooter Thomas Crooks had hit Trump’s right ear in what the president said was a stroke of luck due to his gesturing at that same moment toward a graph of illegal immigration statistics.
"I watched that man get shot in the face. How many of you saw 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 gets back in Washington to clean up this mess that Kamala Harris and the Democrats have put us in?"
"Then I implore you, join me in early voting for President Trump. And that's my confession here. Ladies and gentlemen, I've got to tell you, I wasn't a giant fan of early voting until this moment. When I looked at President Trump in the eyes, and he said, 'Don't let me down.' And I heard him time and again."
The "don’t let me down" refrain stuck with Longo ever since, as he stepped off the bus for the penultimate 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 Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, a fellow Trump surrogate on the bus, remarked how much the scene reminded him of home.
Standing beside Maldonado and several others, and before rows of supporters seated on haybales and a giant American flag suspended by 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's made for all of us, him and his family have been raked over the coals for years and have given up everything so that they can fight for us."
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Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by Secret Service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
Longo said he and his wife are expecting a daughter next year, and that Pennsylvanians should vote early, not just for Trump, but to not "let down" the next generation yet to be born.
Back home in Slippery Rock, not far from industrial Youngstown, Ohio, and Erie, Pennsylvania, Longo said his constituents are "feeling… the pressure" of the Biden-Harris economy and decline in public safety.
"My family should not feel unsafe going to a town next door like Pittsburgh to go and enjoy a night out. And we just don't feel safe in our own cities anymore. Businesses are fleeing cities like that as well. I mean, my gosh. Pennsylvania itself is hemorrhaging people," he said.
"We're losing population because opportunities aren't here. We're under heavy Democrat control here in Pennsylvania, I might add, too," he said.
"So these are the things that are very much on the hearts and minds of Pennsylvania's voters. And for those reasons, we're going to get out and vote for Donald J. Trump."