How Kamala Harris is trying to bleed support from Donald Trump by infiltrating rural Pennsylvania counties
While it is not unheard of to be a Democrat in rural Pennsylvania, it is not the norm.
But as the campaign season heats up with 33 days to go before Election Day, Democrats in deep red areas are growing more confident to come out of the woodwork and show their support.
It helps that Democrats running for office are taking action in every corner of the state.
The latest poll from Emerson College shows Harris and Donald Trump tied 48 percent to 48 percent with voters in the state.
With Pennsylvania perhaps the most important battleground state in the presidential election and the polls showing a razor-thin race, Kamala Harris’ campaign and party officials are leaving nothing to chance.
Their efforts are growing hope among supporters on the ground that the trend of rural areas in the crucial state becoming increasingly red will reverse or at least slow.
How Kamala Harris is trying to tap Donald Trump’s support by infiltrating rural Pennsylvania counties
Kamala Harris’ supporters wait in line to attend a Tim Walz event in York, PA. It’s a county that Donald Trump won by double digits
“While we have generally been a Republican stronghold in this county, we have a higher percentage of independent voters and Republican voters, and so I think it’s very important to think about the strategy of how they are here and why they are here . said 44-year-old Natalie Williams of York.
She wants candidates to really try to convince people “who may no longer lean toward a Trump America.”
“My instincts say Pennsylvania will be blue,” she added. Even in the deep red county, Williams isn’t alone.
A Keystone State Walz sign at its meeting in York
On a dreary Wednesday afternoon, a line of voters dressed in Kamala Harris attire moved through the York County fairgrounds, joining like-minded individuals in what is best known as Trump country.
They were there for a meeting with Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, who was making his second drive through central Pennsylvania en route to parts of the state that Trump won by double digits even as the state turned blue again in 2020.
Trump won York in the last election with more than 61 percent of the vote, but the Harris campaign has set up shop in the county with one of 50 coordinated field offices down the street as the election approaches.
Lifelong Republican Hugh Darlington of Elizabethtown has noticed this. He was never active in politics before Trump came on the scene. Now he has attended his second Walz event.
“I think character is everything, and I don’t think Trump has that,” he said. “I’m a veteran, I’m also a gun owner. I’m also a motorcyclist. I’m also Catholic.’
“Trump and Vance are despicable. That’s putting it nicely,” he added.
His wife Louise was also present. She said the worst thing that has happened in the last eight years is the division, but was grateful that the Harris team made the effort to get involved.
“They need to go into the breach and meet these people and talk to them,” she said. “It’s not going to move everyone, but I think it will move a lot of people because some of these areas aren’t getting the information.”
The Darlingtons believe that if people know Harris and Walz are around, they will pay attention.
Walz took the stage at the York Expo Center on October 2 as part of his bus tour of Central Pennsylvania
The vice president has campaigned in some very red parts of the state. She planned to make the trip to York, but had to turn her attention to Hurricane Helene.
But Walz has been given a unique opportunity with this bus tour. As he enters ruby-red Trump country, he puts his upbringing in rural Nebraska on full display.
“If you’re from a small town, there’s a game we play. We’re trying to bring someone else out of the small town,” Walz told supporters. “So I tell them ‘400’ and they say ‘yeah, about the same.’ And then I say, “I had 24 kids in my class.”’
Walz made his pitch in York surrounded by hay bales. His walk-up song is “Small Town” by John Mellencamp. He talked about agriculture and rising prices.
There’s a tractor next to the stage at the Walz event in York County
At this event he was introduced by a lifelong Republican. A few people in the audience held “Republicans for Harris” signs.
Bill Troutman, an electrician and former Republican voter from Elizabethtown in nearby Lancaster County, came out to hear what Walz had to say.
Troutman chose not to vote for Trump in 2020. He plans to do the same in 2024 and thinks others could turn around.
‘There are moderates who are changeable. It certainly is,” he said in a deep rasp. ‘If you don’t try, you won’t get them. It’s that simple.’
He said he lives in a very Republican neighborhood where having a political conversation is sometimes “almost impossible,” but he thinks some are willing to talk more freely than in the past and listen to the “Democratic side of things.”
“Maybe I’ll get somewhere with some of them,” he smiled. “Some will never change.”
Democratic Senator John Fetterman walks out to speak in York, PA, ahead of Walz. The senator flipped the state Senate seat in 2022 with the motto “Every county, every vote.” The goal was to reduce Republican support in rural areas while increasing the vote in the suburbs and cities. Harris and Walz have also moved into ruby-red rural parts of the state
Troutman is also a supporter of Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who is from York and whipped up the crowd ahead of Walz’s comments.
“Pennsylvania chooses the president,” Fetterman told the room of supporters. He’s not wrong. The path to the White House runs directly through the state. A Democrat hasn’t won the presidency without it since 1948.
“You’re all willing to do this kind of work and show up and make sure we deliver to Pennsylvania,” Fetterman said.
Heading to Trump country, the Harris campaign is taking a page from Fetterman’s book. He fell far short of winning the county in the 2022 midterm elections, but he showed up across the state. The double-digit gap shrank by three points that year compared to 2020.
It was part of a border strategy to visit every county while cutting some Republican Party support in rural areas.
There was a pretty even mix of Trump and Harris signs outside homes as they drove through York, PA, as voters geared up for the election in the battleground state
York Democrats are under no illusions that they will flip the county in November, but they do sense a shift.
Lexi Ganas, 26, who organizes for Democrats, said she can walk into the grocery store wearing a Harris shirt or hat and experience it differently than how she felt when she wore Hillary Clinton in 2016. wore.
“People are more open to conversation than expressing hate,” she said. “I feel like we’re going in the right direction.”
As they drive through York, Pennsylvanians on both sides are showing their political colors. With the elections approaching, yard signs are popping up everywhere. It’s an even-looking mix: some read Trump. Others: Harris.