close
close

Yiamastaverna

Trusted News & Timely Insights

    • Harris gets help winning PA from an unlikely source
    Suffolk

    Harris gets help winning PA from an unlikely source

    Caradoc Wyn Posted on

    Any Democrat hoping to win Pennsylvania will need strong turnout from his party in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. And Kamala Harris needs Republican voters for that.

    play

    WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. — Pennsylvania, the center of the presidential election universe, is currently a statistical dead heat in polls between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

    Harris will need help from Republicans and independent voters who reject Trump’s increasingly erratic bid for a second term if she wants to win this state.

    That’s why Harris was here Wednesday, appealing directly to Republicans in the crowd, standing with her on stage and giving her attention in the news coverage. She spoke a day after President Joe Biden toured the state on Tuesday and Trump visited on Monday.

    Among the three “Blue Wall” states, Pennsylvania, along with Michigan and Wisconsin, is considered the linchpin of the presidency.

    Win here, win everything. Harris needs Republican help.

    Harris is making an appeal to moderate voters who may be tired of Trump

    The Harris campaign stop in this idyllic corner of Bucks County, a Philadelphia suburb, was an open appeal to moderate voters after Biden rallied the local Democratic base at a Philadelphia union hall on Tuesday and hailed his vice president as the party’s “next generation.” had touted.

    “In a typical election year, it might be a little surprising that you are all here with me. Dare I say, unusual,” Harris said with a laugh to the assembled Republicans before turning serious. “But not in this election.”

    Trump appeared on a Fox News “town hall” earlier in the day, where he repeated his clearly unconstitutional claim that his political enemies are “the enemy within” and could be fought by the military if he becomes president again.

    The Republican nominee couldn’t have lined up Harris better for the day. It was exactly the kind of crazy discourse she came to Bucks County to denounce. The crowd booed Trump as they recounted his words.

    “He views any American who does not support him or bend to his will as an enemy of our country,” Harris said. “It is clear that Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged. And he seeks uncontrolled power.”

    Opinion: “Anyone else want to faint?” Notes from Trump’s crazy town hall rally.

    She vowed, if elected, to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet and to “establish a Bipartisan Solutions Council” to advise on “our country’s most pressing problems.”

    This is exactly the opposite of what Trump is offering us – a long period of retaliation fueled by his many illogical grievances.

    Harris needs counties in Pennsylvania that lean conservative

    Any Democrat hoping to win Pennsylvania will need strong turnout from his party in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs, the so-called “Four Collar” counties.

    In 2020, Democrats slightly outperformed Republicans in voter registration in Bucks County, but this summer that reversed and Republicans led by one percentage point. The streets leading to Washington Crossing Historic Park, where Harris spoke, were lined with campaign signs supporting her or Trump.

    Former U.S. Rep. Jim Greenwood, a Republican who represented the area for six terms and opposes Trump, called him “a malignant narcissist” unfit for office during Wednesday’s rally.

    “Trump only cares about himself and his ambition,” Greenwood said, referring to the former president’s failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

    Trump lost Bucks County by less than one percentage point in 2016, while he won Pennsylvania by less than one point.

    Biden defeated Trump in Bucks County by 4.37 points in 2020, winning the state by just over a point.

    Biden stops in Philadelphia to call Trump a “loser.”

    In Philadelphia, where Biden was often jokingly referred to as Pennsylvania’s third senator during the 36 years he served in that chamber in nearby Delaware, he lashed out at Trump in pointed, personal terms.

    Biden has repeatedly called Trump a “loser,” from his corporate bankruptcies to his civil verdicts and criminal convictions to his debate with Harris last month, which he said he won handily, while noting that Trump has every since rejected further debate. He accused Trump of lying about the conditions at the country’s southern border.

    “Trump calls this a hellscape and talks about America being a failed nation,” Biden said. “Trump says we’re losers, but the only loser I know is Donald Trump.”

    Opinion: Michigan and Wisconsin are crucial for Harris. GOP groups want to help her win.

    Philadelphia is at the center of constant campaign news about conflicts between Democratic campaigns and the local party and whether enough is being done to win voters. Biden hit that note directly.

    “How you proceed and what result you achieve will determine the election,” the president said.

    Trump received just 15.37% of the vote in Philadelphia in 2016, a city where Democrats have long outnumbered Republicans 7-to-1.

    As expected, he still lost the city in 2020, but increased his support this year to nearly 18% and received nearly 24,000 more votes than four years earlier.

    Trump danced through the strange Montgomery County City Hall

    Trump’s town hall in Montgomery County on Monday raised just one question: What the hell is he doing? The event failed on stage after two medical emergencies in the audience. So he spent about 40 minutes shouting songs for his campaign staff to play while he bounced around the stage.

    That didn’t appear to help his chances in Montgomery County, where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans 49% to 34%. Trump received about 37% of the vote there in 2016 and about 36% four years ago.

    Because the race is so close, a Pennsylvania-dependent Harris victory could hinge on an element beyond her control – Trump’s behavior. And let’s just say it: Trump may not be in control of his behavior either.

    She needs him to keep saying the crazy part out loud to continue showing voters who he really is and what he really stands for. If he does, Trump could be the most influential Republican to support Harris’ run for president.

    Follow USA TODAY election columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan

    Tagged:

    LEAVE A RESPONSE

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Caradoc Wyn
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like

    ads