ERIE, Pa. — It wasn’t much when he bought it, but Michael Hooks has turned the old garage into his own sanctuary. And the city of Erie knows it. One afternoon in October, half a dozen cars honk their horns as they drive by, while people hang out of the car windows to wave goodbye.
About a dozen cars wait for service in the shop, while a dog Hooks adopted the day before barks in his new cage. Exercise equipment, motorcycles and power tools border the kitchen on the side of the renovated building where his wife cooks a meal. At 6 feet tall and of a stocky build, Hooks has a graying beard and a mop of curls that he says could be peppered with snow showers by this time of year.
“I must be one of the few black-owned businesses on this street,” he says, noting that his repair shop is on Peach Street, one of the city’s main thoroughfares. He appreciates the greetings from passers-by. But he says many people who know him from the neighborhoods where he grew up will never set foot in the store. Nearly all of his customers are white.
Hooks, 58, is part of a coveted demographic in this year’s election: a black man and a business owner in a swing state. Both presidential campaigns have focused their messages on Black entrepreneurs, offering a range of economic policies and legislation that both parties say will boost the careers and lives of African Americans.
How Erie business owners and voters like Hooks view each candidate’s economic vision could determine control of the White House. Erie County has chosen the candidate who has won Pennsylvania in every presidential election since 1992. Both Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris have visited the city of 94,000 residents in recent weeks.
“Erie is a pivot point,” said Rhonda Matthews, co-founder of Erie Black Wall Street, a business group that supports local Black entrepreneurs. From population numbers to business startups, the future of Erie’s economy and politics has shown where the country can go. “I think if you want to know what’s happening in the country economically, you can look and see what’s happening in Erie.”
Harris has launched a series of economic proposals aimed at addressing affordability and boosting small businesses. Trump has emphasized his promise of sweeping tariffs, new corporate tax cuts and an unprecedented crackdown on illegal and legal immigration into the country.
Local leaders are weighing the impact of each agenda on their plans to renew the Rust Belt.
“A lack of predictability would be the worst possible thing,” said Drew Whiting, CEO of the Erie Downtown Development Corporation, which is steering more than $100 million in private investment into the downtown area.
Whiting praised federal policies such as Qualified Opportunity Zones, which are intended to spur economic development in low-income communities and were created as part of the Trump administration’s 2017 tax overhaul, as well as the investments in Erie made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law led by Democratic President Joe Biden.
But Whiting added that “broad policies,” such as Trump’s proposed 20% tariffs on all foreign goods, “threatened to be an inflation bomb that would crush small businesses” like the ones he works with. Whiting viewed Harris’ proposed investments for small businesses as a potential boon. A no-tax policy on tips, which both Harris and Trump support, would be a welcome innovation for workers, he said.
The Harris campaign has highlighted affordability as one of voters’ top concerns in the face of rising inflation. Her proposals to punish companies that raise prices and her promises to expand support for health care and child care are issues the campaign believes can lower costs for working families. Trump, on the other hand, would lower the corporate tax rate to 15%, expand his tax cuts and further reduce other individual and family taxes, including by eliminating Social Security taxes.
Most mainstream economists agree on this Trump’s proposals would worsen inflation.
Local business owners who spoke to The Associated Press were cautiously optimistic about Harris’ proposals to support small businesses, though most were largely skeptical about the impact federal policy could have on their lives.
“There are so many factors, things to consider and global factors,” said Gus Paliouras, owner of New York Lunch, a local restaurant. Paliouras’ family immigrated to the United States from Greece and bought the restaurant in 1970, when it was one of dozens of bustling businesses atop a post office, school and church. Now Paliouras’ restaurant is the only storefront left on the street.
“I try to keep it here just like Geneva,” he said, referring to the city in famously neutral Switzerland. “In this city, Trump, Kamala and Kennedy supporters could sit next to each other at the bar.” Independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was in the race until August, when he suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump.
Hooks considers himself a survivor.
Born and raised in Erie, Hooks grew up in poverty and with few options, support or direction for his life. At the age of 23, he was sentenced to 30 years for dealing marijuana. He spent eight years in prison, an experience he described as “the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Prison was the first place Hooks came into contact with Scripture – the Bible and the Koran – and with stories of travel, business and history.
Although he has transformed his circumstances and overcome “trials and tribulations that have made me a better person,” he finds the distinctions some make between poor people, working people, and middle-class people meaningless.
“It’s because we have people in this country who want to be better than anyone else,” he said in a recent interview. “You drive a Toyota Camry, I drive the Lexus. It’s the same… car. It’s just a different name, but it has a higher status.”
“For example, Harris says she wants to give us a $50,000 tax credit or whatever,” he added, referring to the vice president’s proposed tax credit for new small businesses. “But that could never happen with people who think they are better than someone else, but you live next door to me and your sign says Trump.”
In addition to his car care business, Hooks now runs a catering company. On weekends he returns to the neighborhoods where he grew up to feed, clothe and haircut the children for free. His charitable efforts are aimed at ensuring that children will never again have the experiences he once faced.
Hooks is skeptical about politicians’ ability to change fundamental issues facing everyday Americans, but says he will vote for Harris.
“Trump had a chance to be great,” Hooks said, but called Trump’s first term a “disaster.” Hooks said he preferred “to go with someone who can at least try to help the little guy.”