If there’s one surefire way to gauge which states matter most in the electoral game, it’s tracking where presidential hopefuls spend their time. Right now, as the campaigning comes to an end, Pennsylvania and Michigan are headlining that list. Between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, the two have made a whopping 40 visits to just those two states since August, as analysed by Axios, leaving other areas out of the campaign limelight. It’s a swing state thing, and nothing new.

Pennsylvania and Michigan take focus

For Harris, Pennsylvania takes the top spot with 13 visits, which shouldn’t be a shock given the state’s 19 electoral votes up for grabs. Michigan follows closely behind with seven stops. Other campaign-trail musts like Wisconsin, Georgia, and North Carolina also get some attention, but these pale in comparison to her emphasis on Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Even Harris’s high-profile events outside these areas — like a fundraiser with Beyoncé in Texas — don’t detract from her central focus on these key states.

Trump’s itinerary mirrors Harris’s. His most visited state is Pennsylvania, with 11 stops, followed by Michigan with nine. North Carolina, Georgia, and Wisconsin are his next most visited states, though they don’t compete with his attention to Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Trump, however, has kept his rallies less frequent this cycle than in past years, opting instead for high-energy but fewer appearances. His recent rally schedule has even outpaced Harris’s.

Changing state importance for candidates

The two maps of their visits, in fact, tell the same story: Pennsylvania and Michigan are prime real estate for both candidates, while many other states barely register. Candidates have largely given up on making stops in Ohio, once a campaign staple, and even Virginia, once a toss-up, is seeing little to no attention, despite Trump’s occasional claim it’s still “in play.”

So that’s the picture for this year’s campaign, Pennsylvania and Michigan are the states seen as electoral hotspots. Every four years, campaign teams – always carefully assembled – assess the battlegrounds and make their plans, hoping to nudge the needle just enough in their favour.