How do candidates choose where to visit while campaigning?

They likely break down towns and cities based on which districts they are in, and how those districts are polling. I’m not a political scientist but that is my educated guess!

They do most of their campaigning in states that are either undecided or leaning slightly for or against themselves. Where they campaign in an individual state varies by who they are trying to reach ona particular stop.

They will generally pick a friendly spot similar in demographics to the audience they are targeting. If they are going to a farm setting they will go with a farmer registered to their party for example.

They don’t just campaign in swing states, but swing counties. And there are certain counties that political scientists study even more closely than others, because they are seen as more “representative” of how the country votes and where the country is going and tend to vote with the person who wins. Where do you live? Maybe Google will tell us why your town is such a hot spot.

This stuff is analyzed down to the block. When Ohio was planning on eliminating early voting, it was going to be by county, and only applied to Democratic counties. The emphasis in voter ID was to be pushed by precinct, to keep minority precincts as close to Republican as possible.

California is so Blue, despite having large swaths of Republican counties, that both parties only come here for the money. But both sides will be in Ohio at least once a week until November.

When it gets down to local areas, the considerations switch over from numbers to ways to highlight certain issues they want to highlight. You are probably in a city with a large number of undecideds. But if they want to talk about small business, they will find a local small business that is a supporter and hold a press conference there.

If they want to talk about education or Medicare or taxes, they will find a location that fits into the message. That’s where they will go.