Democratic
presidential
nominee,
U.S.
Vice
President
Kamala
Harris,
speaks
during a
presidential
debate
hosted
by ABC
as
Republican
presidential
nominee,
former
U.S.
President
Donald
Trump,
listens,
in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania,
U.S.,
September
10,
2024.
REUTERS/Brian
Snyder/File
Photo |
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Treasurer
of the
County
Line
Democrats
Kelly
Chelton
poses
for a
portrait
at the
Democratic
Party
Union
City
field
office
in Union
City,
Pennsylvania,
U.S.,
September
24,
2024.
REUTERS/Hannah
Beier |
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This
Pennsylvania
county
picks
presidents.
How the
Harris
vs.
Trump
fight is
going.
By
Jarrett
Renshaw
8–10
minutes
ERIE,
Pennsylvania
Oct 9
(Reuters)
- The
command
center
for
Republican
presidential
candidate
Donald
Trump's
campaign
in one
of the
most
hotly
contested
counties
in the
most
important
election
battleground
state of
Pennsylvania
sits in
a small
room of
a
strip-mall
office
rented
by Erie
County's
Republican
Party.
The
otherwise
sleepy
office
comes to
life a
couple
times a
week
when the
two-person
staff
hosts
the
volunteer
network
the
campaign
calls
Trump
Force
47.
A few
miles
away in
a
bustling
office
in
downtown
Erie,
paid
staff
and
volunteers
on Vice
President
Kamala
Harris'
campaign
make
phone
calls,
press
new
campaign
buttons
and
organize
watch
parties
and
phone
banking.
A
chalkboard
keeps
score of
door-knocking:
12,000
households
so far
toward a
goal of
20,000,
or
nearly
one of
five in
the
county.
With
just
four
weeks
before
the Nov.
5
presidential
election,
the
battle
for Erie
County -
a
historically
must-win
county
in a
must-win
state -
demonstrates
the
urgency
of
identifying
and
contacting
individual
voters
in a
campaign
that
remains
stubbornly
close,
according
to
campaign
staff
and
volunteers
for both
campaigns.
While
the
Harris
campaign
is using
its
sizable
cash
advantage
and
newfound
enthusiasm
to build
a
towering
ground-game
operation
aimed at
mobilizing
supporters
and
identifying
new
voters,
the
Trump
campaign
is
focused
on
infrequent
voters
and
betting
on a
voter
registration
drive
that has
cut into
the
traditional
Democratic
advantage.
Harris
and the
Democratic
Party
raised
$361
million
in
August
compared
to Trump
and the
Republicans'
$130
million,
and she
spent
nearly
three
times as
much as
her
opponent
that
month,
federal
financial
disclosures
show.
Reuters
interviewed
some 40
supporters,
campaign
staff,
volunteers
and
voters
who said
that
Harris'
ground
game
advantage
could
test
whether
brick
and
mortar
campaigns
still
prove
useful
in
campaigns
that are
defined
by viral
moments,
influencers
and
social
media ad
wars.
Supporters
of
Republican
presidential
nominee
and
former
U.S.
President
Donald
Trump
hold
signage
in Union
City,
Pennsylvania,
U.S.,
September
24,
2024.
REUTERS/Hannah
Beier
"Trump
and his
team
appear
to be
banking
on the
power of
his
personal
pull,"
said
Chris
Borick,
a
pollster
and
political
science
professor
at
Pennsylvania's
Muhlenberg
College.
"Harris
and the
Democrats
are
investing
deeply
in a
more
traditional
ground
game
here and
thus
this
election
will be
a test
of
dramatically
different
strategies."
The
volunteers
and
voters
also
described
rising
tensions
as the
campaigns
dump
millions
of
dollars
on
divisive
digital
and
television
ads,
robo
calls,
text
messages
and
door-knocking.
"I've
been
pretty
bombarded
with
mail,
phone
calls
and
texts,"
said
Erin
Miller,
38, a
bartender
and
mother
of six
who
recently
moved to
the
state
from
Colorado
and has
yet to
vote
locally
in a
presidential
election,
making
her a
prime
target
for the
campaigns.
With 19
electoral
votes
Pennsylvania
is the
biggest
prize
among
the
battleground
states
that
will
decide
the
election.
Erie
County,
a
blue-collar
region
with
177,000
registered
voters,
has
voted
with the
winning
presidential
candidate
for the
last
four
elections.
Biden
won Erie
County
in 2020
by less
than
1,500
votes,
or 1.03
percentage
points,
an even
closer
margin
than his
1.2
percentage
point
win in
Pennsylvania
overall.
In 2016,
Trump
won Erie
County
over
Hillary
Clinton
by fewer
than
2,000
votes.
Field
Organizer
for the
Harris
campaign
Hanna
Oleski
phonebanks
at the
Erie
County
Harris
campaign
headquarters
in Erie,
Pennsylvania,
U.S.,
September
25,
2024.
REUTERS/Hannah
Beier
The
Harris
campaign
and the
Democratic
Party
have
three
offices
in Erie
County
and
eight
paid
staff
along
with
more
than 300
volunteers.
"It's
the
bellwether
part of
it. It's
the mere
fact
that
this
particular
city, in
this
particular
state,
could
ultimately
decide
who's
president
and they
know
it,"
said
Marie
Troyer,
60, a
retired
teacher
who got
a job on
the
campaign
answering
phones
and
managing
volunteers.
BOOTS ON
THE
GROUND
Despite
the
ground
game
advantage,
the
Harris
campaign
has
found it
hard
work to
mobilize
Black
voters
who make
up about
16% of
the
city's
population,
especially
Black
men,
according
to
Reuters
interviews.
Howard
Pratchett,
48, a
barber,
said he
plans to
vote for
Trump
because
he is
more
"factual"
than
Harris.
"We
don't
care
about
LBGT
rights.
We don't
care
about,
you
know,
abortion
rights.
We're
not
worried
about
that.
They
don't
offer
anything
to the
straight
Black
male
voters,"
Pratchett
said.
Monty
Davis,
51, who
runs a
local
youth
program,
said he
appreciates
President
Joe
Biden's
efforts
to lower
costs
and
plans to
vote for
Harris.
But he
warned
the
energy
among
the
Black
community
is not
as high
as it
was with
Presidents
Barack
Obama or
Biden.
"It's
just not
that
intense,"
Davis
said.
The
Trump
campaign's
two paid
staffers
in Erie
also
oversee
two
other
counties,
according
to Erie
County
Republican
Chairman
Tom
Eddy.
The
Trump
campaign
and
local
Republicans
declined
to say
how many
volunteers
they
have in
the
county,
but
local
officials
conceded
they
have
fewer
than the
Democrats.
As in
other
battleground
states,
the
Trump
camp is
relying
on
deep-pocketed
outside
groups –
like
billionaire
Elon
Musk’s
America
PAC -
and a
much
looser
network
of
supporters
and
volunteers
to
mobilize
voters.
Chairman
of the
Erie
County
Republican
Party
Tom Eddy
poses
for a
portrait
at the
Erie
County
Republican
Party
Headquarters
in Erie,
Pennsylvania,
U.S.,
September
24,
2024.
REUTERS/Hannah
Beier
Since
2015,
when
Trump
emerged
as a
leader
in
Republican
politics,
Republicans
and
outside
groups
have
significantly
narrowed
the
Democratic
advantage
in
voting
registrations
in Erie
and in
Pennsylvania
overall.
In 2015,
Democrats
enjoyed
a
roughly
33,000
voter
registration
advantage
in Erie
County,
but that
has been
whittled
down to
10,000,
according
to
current
county
election
records.
Statewide,
Democrats
have a
roughly
338,400
voter
registration
advantage
over
Republicans,
down
from the
commanding
892,624
advantage
Democrats
held in
2016,
state
voter
data
shows.
Sam
Talerico,
the
county's
Democratic
chairman,
conceded
the
Republican
surge in
registrations
is
unwelcome
news.
"We
certainly
don't
like to
see
those
registration
numbers
converge,
but
that's
the bad
news.
The good
news is,
you
know, I
still
think we
have an
advantage
with
independents
turning
our way,
and
that's
making a
difference,"
he said.
Republicans
also are
banking
on
Trump's
frequent
visits -
five
rallies
over
three
campaigns
in Erie,
including
two
visits
this
election.
The
rallies
represent
mobilizing
opportunities
as
organizers
register
voters
and
collect
cell
phone
numbers
and
email
information.
Harris
will
make her
first
visit to
Erie on
Oct. 14.
Her
running
mate Tim
Walz
visited
in
September.
And then
there's
Trump
Force
47, the
volunteer
network
that
knocks
on the
doors of
infrequent
voters
to
determine
whether
they
plan to
vote,
and for
whom.
Volunteers
win
awards,
such as
hats and
sweaters,
for
knocking
on more
doors.
"We are
not
trying
to
persuade
anyone.
It's
more
just
that the
campaign
is
trying
to make
sure
that
people
who are
already
inclined
to vote
for
Trump
get out
and
vote,"
said
volunteer
Justin
Berkheimer,
39, who
works at
a group
home for
people
with
mental
disabilities.
A HEATED
CAMPAIGN
For both
campaigns
the
intensity
of the
fight
for Erie
has
spilled
over
into
threats,
antagonism
and
uncomfortable
conversations,
volunteers
said.
A
half-dozen
die-hard
Trump
fans
told
Reuters
they are
uncomfortable
being
seen as
public
supporters
of the
former
president.
That's a
departure
from
2016
when
Erie was
flooded
with
Trump
signs,
according
to local
officials
and
volunteers.
Patrick
Fuller,
50, a
credit
union
employee
who said
he has
knocked
on more
than
2,000
doors
for
Trump
this
election,
said he
leaves
his red
MAGA hat
at home
to avoid
confrontation.
"A lot
of
people
are
afraid
to get
involved,
because
they are
afraid
that
somebody
will
swear at
them or
threaten
them,"
Fuller
said.
Other
volunteers
said
they had
their
cars
spit on
for
displaying
Trump
bumper
stickers.
County
Democrats
said
they ran
into
tensions
when
they
pushed
into
rural
areas,
opening
up a
satellite
office
in a
part of
the
county
that
Trump
won with
72% of
the vote
in 2020.
Volunteer
Kelly
Chelton,
62,
described
a man
lunging
at a
volunteer
because
he was
angry
about
the
large
wooden
sign
reading:
"Christians
Against
Trump."
"He came
in
looking
for a
fight,"
Chelton
said.
"He
asked
how do
you know
that
Trump
isn't
Christian."
She
added:
"He was
just
screaming
and
yelling."
The
county
party
later
installed
video
security
cameras,
Chelton
said.
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