Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris rallied in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, a key electorate given its decades of Democratic prominence until the Trump era.
Former President Trump upended the political map in 2016 when he won blue-collar, union-heavy counties like Luzerne and neighboring Schuylkill, Columbia and Northumberland as a Republican nominee.
However, many of those who attended Harris’ Wilkes-Barre rally predicted that trend was coming to an end.
Jill Purdy, whose nearby home of Northampton County flipped red in 2016 but went for President Biden in 2020, said Harris’ strength is explaining her plans for fixing the economy and meeting with foreign leaders.
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“I think that what resonated with me is Trump saying at the very end [of the debate], ‘I have a concept of a plan.’ So, you know, what is a concept of a plan? None of us can get by with a concept, and you have to have something in your back pocket,” Purdy, a teacher, said.
“So, I really appreciate how she … I would hope she would have done a little bit more and, hopefully, we hear more before the election. But I think she set [her plan] in motion.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, speaks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute leadership conference Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
In Northampton County, Bethlehem Steel’s stacks and coke works once puffed smoke at all hours, signaling solid employment and well-paying union jobs for the Lehigh Valley.
Now, its steel stacks instead serve as a backdrop for a casino and other smaller venues on the rest of its former property, a silent reminder of the area’s industrial past.
Similarly, in nearby Macungie, Mack Trucks — now owned by Volvo — still produces some of its Bulldog-emblazoned vehicles in Macungie, though its former “world headquarters” nearby sat vacant after its buyout.
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Even in 1981, singer Billy Joel’s “Allentown” described the decline in the area’s industrial might, and the issue has persisted today.
Since 2016, groups like Auto Workers for Trump have formed, citing concern with the Biden administration’s green policies and the offshoring of jobs. And Teamsters President Sean O’Brien became the first such union boss to speak at the Republican National Convention.
But, for voters like Purdy, Harris remains the best hope for her area, she said.
A Trump counter-demonstrator sits outside a Harris rally site in Luzerne County, Pa. (Charlie Creitz)
“I do see a lot of Trump supporters in my neighborhood,” she said. “Though. I’m a teacher. So, I’m familiar with unions. And I do think they are for the ‘common workers,’ so to speak. Those doing the grunt work are still going to favor Harris for the reality of what she can say.”
By contrast, she claimed Trump’s reassurances are “just words.”
“I think most of the people that are [part] of unions are starting to really hear that.”
When asked about Trump’s overtures to energy workers or autoworkers like those at Mack, invoking green restrictions and the like, Purdy said she would defer on that particular aspect.
“I don’t know enough to know whether I hear anything that this is … personally, I still think Kamala probably has a more logical route [on the topic],” she said.
“[Harris] did switch a little on the fracking and that type of thing. I’m OK with people changing their mind for a logical reason. I do worry about the environment, but I can’t speak to what others are really thinking about.”
Purdy said that, as a teachers union member, she does fear Trump would abolish the federal Department of Education.
The cabinet office was established by former President Carter, and part of the 1980 Republican platform was to do away with the fledgling agency.
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Meanwhile, rallygoers Christian and Annette traveled to Wilkes-Barre from neighboring Hanover Township. They took issue with Trump’s tack on the affordability crisis.
Fox News Digital asked about the disparity between gas prices at the end of his term and today and the similar dynamic in the housing market.
“I don’t believe anything Trump says,” Annette replied. “He lies.”
“The reason [gas] was a dollar in the first place was because nobody was on the road — because there was COVID,” Christian added, recalling empty Pennsylvania roads in 2020.
Annette said Harris “really wants to help us.”
“I believe Harris is really for the middle class,” she said. Trump always likes to brag about how much money he has.
A Harris-Walz supporter arrives in Wilkes-Barre in a police-style vehicle with a campaign logo. (Charlie Creitz)
Behind the venue on Franklin Street, Joe Granteed sat in a chair along the major northbound thoroughfare with a sign he said was meant to warn rallygoers and students at Wilkes University against buying what Harris is selling.
Granteed, of neighboring Plains, said it took him some time to think out what he wanted to write on his large poster facing traffic.
“I think she’s desperate,” he said of Harris. “She needs to get a piece of Pennsylvania, but Trump owns Pennsylvania.”
“Don’t be fooled by all her lies. She preys on your youth and inexperience. They promised unity and prosperity and we got chaos and struggles and division,” Granteed’s sign said.
Granteed also suggested Trump got a raw deal from ABC News moderators at the “3-on-1” debate, as he put it.
Meanwhile, on Main Street, Chris M. traveled all the way from Manchester, N.H., to see Harris speak.
Chris said Trump had been a political force until Harris came along.
“He mowed down like 16 competitors in 2016,” Chris said. “No one figured out how to handle him until she came along.”
Former President Trump acknowledges the crowd during halftime of a game between the South Carolina Gamecocks and Clemson Tigers at Williams-Brice Stadium. (Jeff Blake/USA Today Sports)
While he “loathes Trump,” Chris did admit that, amid persistent inflation, it was the Republican nominee who likely originated the “no tax on tips” plan both candidates put out around the same time last month.
“I did hear that latest thing about what he said [Friday] about taxes. I think it’s a good idea,” he added.
“[But] Harris hasn’t been afraid to address that, even though it’s a weakness under Biden-Harris. So, I don’t know,” he said, adding inflation does not feel as bad as it did under former President George W. Bush in 2008.
In line to get into the McHale Center, Kerry Jones from nearby Dallas said Harris “really puts forth the agenda of the middle class and bringing up the economy for the working people.”
“As opposed to the rich people and the corporate greed and the takeover of our country by interests that are not ours.”
Jones said Harris’ housing plan is “great,” and that it would help her daughters finally move out of her house.
“She nails home that she’s for the working people, and she wants to take our money and put it back into us,” she said.
When asked about energy prices and the overall affordability crisis, Jones said the president has “very little” to do with gas prices because they are subsidized by the feds and assisted by “Republican tax cuts.”
