John Cole, Pennsylvania Capital-Star

As U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) conducts raids on farms at the direction of the Trump administration, some lawmakers and agricultural organizations in Pennsylvania are criticizing the effort.

“This move could have devastating consequences for our nation’s food security,” Pennsylvania Farm Bureau President Chris Hoffman said in a statement. “Without a stable, dependable workforce, our fields will go unplanted, our crops unharvested, and our livestock uncared for. The dedicated men and women who work on our farms alongside our farmers are not just employees; they are the bedrock of our food supply chain.

“Any disruption to their ability to work threatens the availability and affordability of food for every American family,” he added.

The organization has more than 25,000 members and is the largest agriculture organization in the state. Hoffman said he and his fellow farmers are “deeply concerned” about the reports that Trump’s administration, after a brief pause, would resume and continue ICE raids on farms, ranches and packing plants.

Bailey Fisher, the group’s federal affairs specialist, told the Capital-Star the organization is worried that the raids can impact agriculture when they are already facing a workforce shortage.

“Agriculture and the workforce is not something where you can just hire a new person every week. It takes a while to train that person, especially if they’re working with livestock,” Fisher said.

One example she noted was how some may not feel comfortable working with a dairy cow or may not have the background with large animals.

“So, it’s not just a matter of finding just somebody to milk your cow,” Fisher said. “It takes experience. It takes somebody who’s comfortable doing it, knowing the animal, knowing what the animal needs.”

“It’s not just something that anybody can do and that anybody wants to do,” she added.

Pennsylvania’s dairy industry is the number one segment of its agriculture economy, according to Pennsylvania’s Department of Agriculture.

Fisher said she has heard the calls for the industry to just “hire domestic” workers.

“We have tried that. Trust me, we have tried every possible solution you could think of, and the domestic workforce is just not there in the Ag industry,” Fisher said. “A lot of Americans, they prefer the office job over getting up at 4 a.m. to go milk a dairy cow or being out in the hot summer heat, picking lettuce, harvesting lettuce, or fruit, etc.”

Fisher said she’s seen reports about ICE raids on farms in other states, but as of Tuesday afternoon, has not received any calls about any recently taking place in Pennsylvania.

She said while the group’s members respect federal agents and federal officials, they should know their rights and have the paperwork prepared.

“So we’re telling them, ‘Don’t be disorganized. Have your information ready to go, if need be,’” Fisher said.

She said the Farm Bureau hasn’t sent out any guidance for supervisors and workers on how to handle a visit from ICE, but instead is leaving that up to the employers to seek their own legal guidance.

“We don’t really try to get involved in guiding them on legal issues like that,” she said.

The administration’s change of heart has rankled some members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation.

U.S. Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-Centre) represents the commonwealth’s rural 15th Congressional District. He called the raids earlier this month in some states “just wrong.”

Thompson, the first Pennsylvanian to chair the House Committee on Agriculture in nearly 170 years, is a Trump ally. But, he also realizes the potential impact on the country.

“They need to knock it off,” Thompson told reporters on June 12, according to POLITICO. “Let’s go after the criminals and give us time to put processes in place, so we don’t disrupt the food supply chain.”

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, has also been critical of the approach.

“I’ve been clear that we need to address the immigration crisis in our nation and keep violent criminals off our streets – but deporting the hardworking people who keep farms across our country afloat is not the solution,” Fetterman told the Capital-Star. “If we just round up the 40 percent of farmworkers who don’t have papers without a real plan, the only thing we’ll do is increase costs for families.”

“I’ve shared my concerns with Secretary (Brooke) Rollins and am grateful for her partnership as we continue protecting Pennsylvania farmers and farmworkers,” he added. “Instead of treating migrant labor as a political football, we need legislative reform to address this issue head on.”

One potential solution to Fetterman is the Affordable and Secure Food Act, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO). The proposal would provide a number of reforms, including extending the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program. The United States Department of Agriculture describes the program as one that “helps American farmers fill employment gaps by hiring workers from other countries.”

During a Q&A with the Capital-Star this past March, Thompson discussed the need to reform the H2-A program, saying it “does not help our year-round agriculture needs.”Hoffman, the state Farm Bureau president, also called on Congress to prioritize H-2A visa reform and described the current system as “cumbersome, expensive, and fails to meet the year-round needs of modern agriculture.”

The American Immigration Council estimates that 196,100 undocumented migrants live in Pennsylvania, which is based on the most recently available census data from 2023. Just under 30,000 may work in the farming industry, according to estimates from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, which cites 2017 census data.

The Capital-Star reached out to Pennsylvania’s Department of Agriculture, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) and U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-8th District), a member of the House Agriculture Committee, for comment, but did not receive any responses. Thompson also did not respond to an additional request for comment.

LANCASTER— With six weeks until the presidential election, the Harris campaign hosted its first in-person organizing event aimed at winning over Republicans in Pennsylvania, in conservative Lancaster County.

“If you’ve got a coalition happening that stretches all the way from AOC on the left to Dick Cheney on the right,” Ann Womble, Republicans for Harris co-chair said at the gathering at Barn At Stoner Commons, “you know this is a big tent and you know that we can find a place in this effort, even if we don’t agree with all the policies.”

Womble, who was the former Lancaster County Republican Party’s chairperson from 2012 to 2014, leads the Harris campaign’s effort to win over Republicans in Pennsylvania with former U.S. Rep. Jim Greenwood, who represented a district in the Philadelphia suburbs from 1993 to 2005.

Greenwood called himself a “real Republican” to the 100 people in attendance on Tuesday, detailing his background in elected office as a Republican. He encouraged the audience to go out and talk to their friends who are undecided in the election and say the choice is “pretty simple.”

“It’s between a guy who is mentally, morally, psychologically, intellectually unfit to be the president of the United States,” Greenwood said. “And a woman who is decent, honest, who has spent her whole life serving others and who I believe will make us proud again and take us forward.”

Greenwood, who said he supported every Republican presidential candidate from Richard Nixon to Mitt Romney, also said his answer to undecided Republicans who might be concerned that Harris “is too liberal,” is that there will be Republicans in office to make sure she passes legislation with bipartisan support.

He pointed to bipartisan legislation passed under the Biden administration, including the infrastructure bill, and CHIPS and Science Act.

Greenwood and Womble were joined by former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois, and former U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock of Virginia.

Comstock said in past elections she wrote in Republican candidates instead of voting for Trump, but is backing Harris this time, who she said would “stand up to dictators,” and “follow the rule of law.”

Comstock criticized Trump’s comments during a rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania on Monday, where the former president referred to himself as a “protector” of women.

Trump talks agriculture and China in Smithton ahead of rally at IUP

“I want a woman who understands about protecting women, not Donald Trump who is absurdly saying just last night ‘I’m going to be your protector,” Comstock said.

Walsh, who voted for Trump in 2016, said he would love for Comstock to be president one day and for Duncan to be governor of Georgia.

Walsh said during her speech at the Democratic National Convention Harris sounded like the late GOP President Ronald Reagan. Trump, he said, “bad mouths” the country.

Duncan said that Harris would be the “steady hand” that the country needs, and said she’s “entertaining the thoughts and minds of the middle” during her campaign.

Trump campaign spokesperson Kush Desai responded to the organizing event by telling the Capital-Star that “if so-called ‘Republicans’ are campaigning for another four years of unfettered illegal immigration and rising prices under Kamala Harris, they’re neither Republicans nor worth listening to.”

While the Trump campaign doesn’t appear to have an active coalition courting Democratic voters in Pennsylvania, his campaign has been endorsed by former Democrats Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.

Craig Snyder, former chief of staff to the late Pennsylvania GOP U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, who leads a “Haley Voters for Harris” coalition attended Tuesday’s event but didn’t deliver remarks. Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is supporting Trump’s presidential campaign after ending her own, has slammed the effort using her name to try to win over votes for Harris.

During the 2024 Republican Party primary, Trump won Pennsylvania, although Haley received 158,000 votes, 16%, statewide, even though she ended her candidacy a month before the primary election.

Haley received 20% of the vote in Lancaster County during the 2024 primary.

Womble believes some Haley voters can be won over and told reporters that Lancaster County is full of what she called “traditional Republicans,” that aren’t particularly supportive of Trump this year.

Trump won Lancaster County by 20 points over Hillary Clinton in 2016 and carried the county over Joe Biden by 16 points in 2020. But Democrats have made ground in recent statewide elections, including Democrat Josh Shapiro, who only lost the county by 1 point in his successful bid for governor in 2022.

Although the election is 42 days away, only one candidate from either ticket has made an appearance in Lancaster County in 2024: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic Party’s candidate for vice president, who met with volunteers at a field office earlier this month.

U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), the Republican Party’s candidate for vice president, has not visited the county, but wasn’t too far away on Saturday with appearances in Berks County for a rally and an interview with conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson in Dauphin County.

Speaking to reporters after his speech, Walsh said he believes that Trump selecting Vance as his running mate hurt the GOP ticket’s chances with independent and Republican voters on the fence.

“There would not be this movement, I’d argue,” Walsh told reporters, if Trump didn’t select Vance and “double down on ugly, ugly MAGA.”

He added that Harris “ain’t a flaming lib,” which he intended as a compliment.

“She’s not a crazy lib,” he told reporters. “That’s not who she is, and she can’t get elected that way.”

Duncan told reporters that he thinks Harris is doing her part with fundraising and building coalitions attempting to appeal to the middle, seemingly a reference to Harris announcing different policy positions viewed as more moderate in comparison to her previous presidential campaign.

“At the end of the day, Donald Trump continues to make it harder for himself, because he continues to pick on folks like Brian Kemp, the governor of my home state, he’s a great conservative and trusted by both Democrats and Republicans, he continues to stick his foot in his mouth,” Duncan told reporters.

Although Kemp and Trump have feuded publicly, Kemp is backing Trump’s candidacy for the White House, after not supporting him in the Republican Party primary election.

Kemp was in Pennsylvania on Tuesday to campaign for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick in Delaware County.

In addition to a focus on Lancaster County, Womble said the Harris campaign believes that the four key markets where there are persuadable Republicans and independents are Allegheny, Butler and Erie counties; suburbs of Harrisburg; and Philadelphia’s collar counties.

The Harris campaign launched a new ad series in Pennsylvania on Tuesday aimed at rural and GOP voters who may not want to vote for Trump. It features farmer Bob Lange, of Malvern, Chester County, a lifelong Republican who voted for Trump twice, but said he’s switching to vote for Harris in November.

Harris will be in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, while Vance is scheduled to be in Bucks County on Saturday.

The presidential race in battleground Pennsylvania remains extremely close, with the latest poll from Marist showing Harris and Trump tied at 49% each.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.

PHILADELPHIA — With the eyes of the nation on the debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump at the National Constitution Center, surrogates on both sides of the aisle generally agreed on two things. They thought their candidate won and hope for more debates in the future.

“I think there were several moments where Donald Trump seemed unhinged, kind of spewed conspiracy theories and a whole lot of nonsense, and it was kind of a reminder of the chaos of Trump in the past and so that stood out to me,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said in the spin room inside the Convention Center a few blocks away from the debate stage. “The other thing that stood out to me was the way Kamala Harris not only prosecuted the case against Trump, but also made clear what her vision is for moving us forward.”

Shapiro said Harris did an “excellent job,” adding that “we’ve got to turn a page on the past and look forward.”

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) told reporters that he saw the debate as a “slight win” for Trump and said Harris didn’t directly answer questions related to policy.

“Kamala Harris dodged every major question facing the American people. She spent her time attacking Donald Trump,” he said. “Donald Trump was focused on inflation and our border and foreign policy. She was not.”

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, said Harris made a presidential presentation.

“She’s shown that she’s going to be a president for all Americans, and she made a great case on why it’s time to turn the page on Donald Trump,” he said. “On every single issue, she put him on the defensive and deservedly so.”

Florida U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican, said Trump’s attempts to suggest Harris would ban fracking, a move she previously advocated for but now says she no longer supports, might hit home in Pennsylvania, which is a top producer of natural gas.

“There are a lot of voters in Pennsylvania who care about energy and who care about fracking, and President Trump effectively made the case that Kamala Harris believes in ending fracking,” Gaetz said.

Tuesday night was the second presidential debate of the cycle, but the first time that Trump and Harris faced off since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Republicans and Democrats want to see Harris and Trump go head to head again before November’s presidential election.

“I’d love to see another debate. I hope to see another debate,” California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said in the spin room. “If you’re Donald Trump, you’re running away from this debate. You’re doing the grievance stuff, you’re talking about how everything was somehow, you know, rigged against you. It’s a pity party.”

Donalds agreed there needs to be another debate, but had a different take on how Tuesday night’s was moderated.

“I think these debates are very important,” Donalds said. “Now that we’ve done ABC and I mean, let’s be very clear, the moderators did not fact check her at all. She lied repeatedly in this debate.”

Shapiro said “anytime a team is whining about the refs, it’s because they lost."

Tim Murtaugh, a Trump campaign senior adviser, said Trump has wanted three debates all along and Harris wanting more would be an “indication that she knows that she has more work to do.”

Polling between Harris and Trump has been neck and neck in several battleground states, including Pennsylvania. There were differing views as to how much the debate might change that dynamic.

Newsom said it “would be determined” if the polls would move following the debate, but added that, due to Harris’ performance, he said he “can’t imagine it won’t move the needle.”

Donalds said the debate won’t change poll numbers. “What this debate really did is it solidified the concerns that a lot of people have about Kamala Harris. She will not talk about substance,” he said.

Cooper wasn’t sure.

“What I do know is that Kamala Harris showed why she should be the next president. Donald Trump showed why he should not,” Cooper said. “And I hope if enough swing voters watched this debate, that it could very well affect the polls. … But the poll we have to remember that counts is Election day.”

Shapiro pointed out that the two previous presidential elections were close, but said that the “wind was at” Harris’ back, while Murtaugh said that he doesn’t think “there’s any way she can win Pennsylvania.”

Following the debate, Trump made an appearance in the spin room, declaring victory and airing some grievances.

“We thought it was our best debate ever. It was my best debate ever I think,” he said. “It showed how weak they are, how pathetic they are.”

Trump also claimed there were “a lot of great polls out” that showed he had won the debate, even though television commentators noted that a candidate entering the “spin room” was generally a sign the debate hadn’t gone well.

While Trump made an appearance in the spin room, Harris visited a nearby watch party at Cherry Street Pier.

Dispatches before the debate

Among the other surrogates on hand before the debate were U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, and Rick Scott, a Florida Republican.

“Remind them Donald Trump is a convicted felon, five -time draft dodger, who cares only about one person, that’s Donald Trump, who’s done everything he can to support his wealthy friends, but at the same time, let the middle class defend for itself,” Duckworth said in the spin room.

Scott said “everybody knows Trump,” and argued that the debate would be more about Harris having to defend the Biden administration prior to the debate.

“They know with Trump you’re going to get a secure border, a good economy, and not a war,” Scott said in the spin room. “I think what’s going to happen is Harris is going to have to figure out how to explain her past.”

Donalds, speaking with reporters in front of Max’s Steaks in Philadelphia during a “Black Voters for Trump” bus tour earlier on Tuesday, said Americans’ lives were better during Trump’s administration and that would be a selling point for voters in the debate.

“He leaves the White House, and everything has gone wrong,” said Donalds, who ordered a cheesesteak (provolone with onions) and added that Harris “was riding shotgun” with Biden during the current administration.

According to 2020 exit polling, 92% of Black voters supported Biden in Pennsylvania, while 7% backed Trump.

Donalds said 12-15% is the floor for the Trump campaign for Black voters in Pennsylvania and believed it’s feasible for him to win 15-20%.

Joining Donalds at the cheesesteak spot in North Philadelphia on the bus tour was former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a former Democrat turned independent whose prison sentence was commuted by Trump. He told reporters that he sees similarities between “Democratic bastions” like Philadelphia and Detroit, but added that he believes the Democratic Party has moved to the left in recent years, which led him to leaving the party.

Kilpatrick predicted Trump would perform better in 2024 with Black voters in Pennsylvania, adding that Biden had stronger numbers due to events in 2020, including the murder of George Floyd and the national debate about race it unleashed.

“The issues of race were so weighted and heavy, and the issues of division were more and I think people are trying to create that atmosphere now, but it’s not the same,” Kilpatrick said.

Though he backs Trump, Kilpatrick didn’t underestimate Harris and the impact the debate could have.

“As far as presidential elections go, debates are not usually that important,” Kilpatrick said. “This though, I think in all the debate history is the most critical and the most profoundly important one ever because of the juxtaposition of these two candidates.”

“A woman of color, a white male. Trump’s personality, her friendly, laughing personality, couldn’t be more starkly different, But I believe their policy positions couldn’t be more different as well,” he added, although he said Harris “can articulate a point,” while Biden struggled in the previous debate.

U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-4th District) told reporters in the spin room earlier in the evening that she wanted “Kamala to be Kamala” during the debate and for her to avoid taking the bait on “nonsensical” things from Trump.

“I want her to be herself, make the case against Mr. Trump,” Dean said.

“But much, much, much, more importantly, make the case for my children and my grandchildren. What’s the positive future that is here for us, which I know she can make. Take a look at what has happened with the economy under the Biden-Harris administration. We need to just grow from that,” Dean added.

A few minutes before Dean spoke to reporters, she was unexpectedly joined by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Trump supporter who ended his third-party presidential campaign in August, during a live TV interview. Dean said she had “no idea why he popped in” during her one-on-one interview on TV, but said she told him that she admired his father, the former U.S. attorney general and senator who was assasinated in 1968.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick, who is attempting to unseat U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), told reporters at a separate event on Tuesday morning in Bucks County that he “wouldn’t presume to give the president advice on how to conduct his debate,” but did share what he believed would be the key.

“I think he needs to just let Kamala Harris defend a set of positions that are wildly out of step with Pennsylvania,” McCormick said, arguing that the current administration has exhibited “weak leadership.”

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.

WILKES-BARRE— For the first time in 2024, former President Donald Trump rallied supporters in Northeast Pennsylvania on Saturday, telling an audience at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza that Vice President Kamala Harris did not choose Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate “because he’s Jewish.”

Shapiro was under consideration to be Harris’ vice presidential pick, but she ultimately chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

“She turned down your governor, by the way, just so you understand, I know some of you probably like him. I don’t think he’s a good person. I don’t think he’s good, I don’t think he’s good, but they turned him down because he’s Jewish,” Trump said Saturday. “OK, that’s why they turned him down. Now we can be politically correct and not say that. I could say, ‘well, they turned him down for various reasons.’ No, no, they turned him down because he’s Jewish. That’s why they turned him down. And I’ll tell you this, any Jewish person that votes for her or a Democrat has to go out and have their head examined.”

Charles Lutvak, a spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign flatly rejected Trump’s comment in an email to the Capital-Star.

“Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz have decisively called out antisemitism in any form their entire careers, and our campaign will always be clear: Antisemitism and hate have no place in the Democratic Party or in our country,” Lutvak said. “Gov. Shapiro is a tireless and extremely effective champion for the people of Pennsylvania, and our campaign strongly rejects the attacks, rooted in his faith, that he has endured.”

“But let’s be clear: There is one candidate in this race who consistently denigrates American Jews, elevates Neo-Nazis, and trafficks in antisemitic tropes, and it is Donald Trump. And our campaign is uniting voters who reject his rhetoric of hate and will defeat him at the ballot box in November,” he added.

The rally marked Trump’s seventh visit to Pennsylvania this year. Wilkes-Barre is not far from President Joe Biden’s boyhood home of Scranton, in the northeastern region of Pennsylvania that was key to Trump’s victory in 2016.

“Inflation has been devastating under this group of people that have no idea what the hell they’re doing,” Trump said at the opening of his remarks. “Are you better off with Kamala and Biden than you were under President Donald J. Trump? I don’t think so.”

The annual inflation rate was 2.9% in July, the lowest rate since 2021 although both campaigns are putting the issue front and center as it remains top of mind for voters.

Democrats criticized Trump ahead of Saturday’s rally, with Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti calling him the “most anti-labor President in recent memory.”

In his usual meandering style, Trump went “off teleprompter” as he put it, straying from his prepared remarks in a speech that was just over 100 minutes long to make various observations, including:

“I am much better looking than her. I’m a better looking person than Kamala,” a reference to a comment he said someone made about Harris having an advantage as an attractive woman.“Nobody knows about Casey. Nobody knows about him, even though he’s been there for years. His father was there for years.”We will build a missile defense shield over the top of our country, an Iron Dome. It will be a great Iron Dome, and much of it will be made right here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” something he said former President Ronald Reagan had wanted but didn’t have the technology for.

While Trump repeated false claims that the election was stolen during his rally on Saturday, Linda Kerns, a Republican National Committee lawyer, spoke on stage a few hours prior to Trump’s speech, encouraging those to vote by mail.

“I understand that as patriots and conservatives, we may be suspicious of mail ballots, but if we want to change the system, we need to win elections,” Kerns said. “Part of the game is mail ballots. And we cannot give Democrats the advantage in this election.”

“When the Dallas Cowboys come to town, we do not give them a two touchdown lead, right,” she asked the crowd, mentioning being an Eagles fan from Philadelphia. “Same goes for this election. Let’s not give Democrats the lead.”

Democrats had a significant mail-in ballot advantage in recent elections. Although Trump railed against mail-in ballots during the 2020 presidential election, his 2024 campaign has pivoted to embracing them as needed to help win back the White House.

“I know that sometimes people are suspicious of our elections here in Pennsylvania,” Kerns said. “But the only way your vote will not count is if you do not cast it.”

Before Trump took the stage, U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) made his familiar comment about Casey being “Punxsutawney Bob,” and told the audience Trump was needed to get the country back on track.

“We need Trump and a new senator from Pennsylvania to secure our border,” McCormick said. “We need to unlock our energy sector and make America energy dominant. We need to strengthen our military, because the only way to have peace is through strength, and we don’t have it right now.”

Former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum praised McCormick as a “dynamic leader,” and someone who is “the real deal.” He then harkened back to some of the rhetoric of his failed 2006 campaign against Casey, claiming the three-term incumbent isn’t the “real Bob Casey,” referring to Casey’s late father Bob Casey, Sr., who was governor of Pennsylvania from 1987 to 1995.

“The real Bob Casey was the guy who was so popular because he stood up to his party because he fought for what he believed was right, not for what the left wing of his party was pushing,” Santorum said, arguing the current senator “got elected simply because his name was Bob Casey.”

“Bob Casey Jr is not the real Bob Casey. He is the fake Bob Casey. He is a guy that has not only not stood up to his party, he’s voted with Harris and Biden 98% at the time,” Santorum continued.

Casey beat Santorum 59% to 41% in the 2006 election.

Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who is seeking re-election, delivered jabs at Walz.

“[GOP vice presidential nomineee] J.D. Vance is a proven leader, a veteran who served this country with honor and distinction while deployed to the Middle East,” Garrity, a U.S. Army Reserve veteran who was also deployed to the Middle East, said to applause. “The only combat zone that Tim Walz ever saw was on the streets of Minneapolis in 2020.”

Walz served in the Army National Guard for 24 years.

Northeast Pennsylvania key for Trump in past elections

Trump’s 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton made him the first Republican candidate for president to win Pennsylvania since 1988. He flipped Luzerne County, where Saturday’s rally is being held, beating Clinton by 20 points. And even though Clinton eked out a 3.5-point victory in neighboring Lackawanna County that year, that was a much narrower margin than President Barack Obama’s 2012 victory over Republican Mitt Romney.

Obama won Luzerne County by 5 points and took Lackawanna County by 27 points in 2012.

When Biden won Pennsylvania in 2020, the numbers he put up in his native region played a key role, with an 8-point victory in Lackawanna County.

Biden made one appearance in Northeast Pennsylvania in April, calling the race between him and Trump “Scranton values or Mar-A-Lago values.” Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential race in July following a poor debate performance against Trump in late June.

Randy Bloem, Pastor of Revival Baptist Church in Scranton, delivered the opening prayer for the rally at 2 PM.

He said that he was praying that Lackawanna County “can turn for Donald Trump,” and shared an anecdote about how he thinks local voters feel about the race.

“Our church is in Lackawanna County and I, in 2020, saw signs for Biden and Trump, about even,” Bloem said. “I can’t find a Biden sign or Harris.”

“I think they’re ashamed of him, but we’re not ashamed of the great opportunity for our country,” he added.

Norb Dotzel, who runs a nearby family trucking and topsoil company, discussed the economic hardships businesses have faced under the Biden administration and claimed that Trump’s business background will benefit the economy.

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have put in charge a crew of smug, incompetent, DEI hires who are trying to destroy our country,” Dotzel said. “America needs a great businessman and leader like Donald Trump who is serious about saving our country and our businesses, both large and small, like my own.”

Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre is located in the state’s 8th Congressional District, which has the distinction of being the only U.S. House seat in the state that Trump won that is held by a Democrat, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Lackawanna).

Republican Rob Bresnahan, Cartwright’s challenger, delivered brief remarks on stage on Saturday, linking Cartwright to the Biden-Harris administration, former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

“We need an economy that works, we need a border that is secure and we need communities that are safe,” Bresnahan said. “I’m going to fight like the absolute dickens to bring this back to Northeastern Pennsylvania.”

The densely populated southeast region of the commonwealth has seen a majority of the visits from both presidential campaigns in 2024.

Trump’s appearance in Pennsylvania on Saturday was the beginning of a hectic swing through the Keystone State for both campaigns.

On Sunday, Harris and Walz will embark on a bus tour in western Pennsylvania, ahead of the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday.

Harris and Walz to kick off Pennsylvania bus tour in Pittsburgh

Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), will deliver speeches revolving around the economy in separate appearances in York and Philadelphia on Monday.

Before Biden exited the race, polling consistently showed Trump with a narrow advantage in the Keystone State. However, Democrats have experienced a bump since Harris became the candidate at the top of the ticket.

An Emerson College poll released on Friday showed Trump and Harris tied at 47% each in the race that includes third party candidates, while other recent polls have shown Harris with a narrow edge in the race.

A Franklin and Marshall College Poll released on Thursday, showed Harris leading Trump by 3 points in Pennsylvania, offered some details on how voters perceived the candidates.

The main reasons that Harris voters supported her candidacy in that poll included anti-Trumpism (18%), women’s rights (17%), character (15%), partisanship (13%) and democracy (13%). The top reasons voters support Trump include economic policy (29%), immigration (20%) and partisanship (19%).

Pennsylvania is the biggest prize among battleground states this election, with 19 electoral votes, and both parties are going all-in to court voters.

The Cook Political Report rates the presidential race in the state as a “toss-up” as of August 8.

This article was updated throughout the day Aug. 17, 2024, with a final update at 7:45 p.m.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.

NEWTOWN — The Republican National Committee brought its new nationwide campaign aimed at recruiting 100,000 poll watchers, poll workers, and legal experts to Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

“We from the RNC have put in place an incredible election integrity program,” RNC Co-Chair Lara Trump said Tuesday. “This is unlike anything we’ve ever done before and it is to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections.”

Trump, the daughter-in-law of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said the RNC wants to have “an army of people across this country, 100,000 people strong working around the country to ensure integrity in our election.” The RNC’s Pennsylvania target is to recruit at least 5,000 volunteers.

RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-9th District) joined Lara Trump Tuesday at the second stop on the “Protect the Vote Tour.” An RNC press release described it as a nationwide initiative to “champion election integrity, rally voters for President Trump, and train volunteers to ensure it is easy to vote and hard to cheat this November.”

The actual training session was closed to the press, so it is unclear how many stayed for that portion, but the room was filled with supporters to hear the politicians’ remarks Tuesday.

Whatley told reporters after his speech that training includes directions for how to sign up as an election observer, training on what they are looking for in the role, and how to flag an issue if they see one.

“We’re not there to be disruptive, what we want to make sure is everybody understands how it should be running and then if you see something, then you’re in a position to go ahead and flag it and raise the issue,” Whatley told reporters.

When asked about the specific red flags that they are telling people to look for, he said it depended on the states, since each state has its own processes.

“If this thing goes smoothly, this is a very boring job,” Whatley said. “And that’s really what we want is we want to make sure that all of the systems are going to operate very smooth, we want it to be fair, accurate, secure, and transparent.”

Following the 2020 election, former President Trump repeated false claims that the election was stolen, although the courts ruled against efforts to overturn the results, including in Pennsylvania. He continues to claim on the campaign trail, without evidence, that the 2020 election was “rigged.”

Whatley said Tuesday the three things needed to ensure election integrity were making sure the laws are followed, while making a plea for voter ID and ensure mail-in ballot protocols are being followed; having a national conversation about election integrity and being able to be in the room during the process of voting and tabulating.

The Democratic National Committee said Tuesday that the RNC has a different intent for its poll watching initiative than it claims.

“Donald Trump is terrified that Pennsylvania voters will hand him another defeat in November, so he and his Republican allies are using whatever resources they have left to spread dangerous lies about rigged elections,” DNC spokesperson Addy Toevs told the Capital-Star. “The truth is much simpler than that: Trump is a loser. Trump knows that his best shot at a victory in November is to attempt to undermine our democratic process, just like he tried and failed to do in 2020.”

“Democrats will continue to fight for every voter’s right to make their voice heard — early, by mail, and in person on Election Day — free from intimidation, misinformation, or suppression,” Toevs added.

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In 2016, the RNC’s attempt to change Pennsylvania’s poll watcher laws to allow people from anywhere in the state to monitor precincts on Election Day was rejected by a federal judge.

Whatley told reporters it was not something they planned on revisiting leading up to the 2024 election.

“I think what we want to do right now is work within the rules that we have, work within the laws and the regulations that we have, make sure that everybody understands where we are and then we’re going to train people and make sure we deploy them, but we would like to have as many as 5,000 volunteers here in Pennsylvania that are going to be able to go out and work as poll workers and poll observers,” he said.

When pressed by reporters about where in Pennsylvania those 5,000 people would be located, he said they were going to “look where people are going to be voting,” adding it would be throughout the commonwealth.

He said the RNC already has staff deployed to Pennsylvania on the political and election integrity side to ensure they have people in place before November.

Mail-in voting pitch

Speakers at Tuesday’s event encouraged those in attendance to vote either on Election Day, early, or by mail. Trump, who has railed against mail-in voting for years, launched his “ Swamp the Vote USA” effort on June 4 in an effort to encourage voters to vote by mail and vote early in the 2024 election. Unlike some other states, Pennsylvania does not have early in-person voting.

During Trump’s previous appearances in Pennsylvania, which were all prior to the launch of that initiative, he didn’t encourage attendees to vote by mail. On Tuesday, Lara Trump rejected the notion that it was a shift in strategy.

“Well, he has told people. He’s put it out on his Truth Social, he actually made a video specifically saying ‘however you feel comfortable voting, whether it’s voting by mail, voting early, or voting on election day, those are all great ways to vote’,” she told reporters. “And I think the reality is we as a party should be embracing this more and we want every legal vote to count and however you can vote best and as early as you can vote, that’s exactly what we want you to do.”

In Pennsylvania, mail-in ballots are not allowed to be pre-canvassed, which is different from some other states with mail-in voting, and which adds time to tallying votes on Election Night. Reporters asked the RNC officials if they supported a change in the state’s law to speed up the process.

“Right now, what I would say is we are working within the construct of every state and I mean, there are some changes that we’re going to be pushing, but that’s not one that we’re really kind of taking a look at,” Whatley told reporters.

“So, what we want is we want to make sure that we have a big enough majority that when people go to bed, they feel very comfortable about where this is going to go,” he added. “But we certainly understand in Pennsylvania and in other states that they’re going to be doing counts that are going to last a day, or they’ll last two days, or three days, but we want to make sure that there is a secure count, we want to make sure it’s accurate, it’s fair and it’s transparent as all of the ballots are going through the process.”

Trump returns to Pennsylvania

Trump is scheduled to be in Philadelphia on Saturday for a rally at the Liacouras Center on Temple University’s campus for his his fourth visit to Pennsylvania in 2024. President Joe Biden has made eight appearances in Pennsylvania this year, most recently in Philadelphia with Vice President Kamala in late May to announce the launch of Black Voters for Biden-Harris at Girard College.

Trump to return to Philadelphia for rally on Temple’s campus

The Biden campaign jumped off to an early start in Pennsylvania, opening 24 coordinated offices across the commonwealth beginning in March. Trump’s campaign has recently ratcheted up its efforts in Pennsylvania by opening its first “Trump Force 47” office in Philadelphia on June 4 and opening an office on June 12 in Reading to appeal to Latino American voters.

“We have President Trump’s popularity going way up, we have the commonwealth of Pennsylvania with some serious Biden buyer’s remorse,” Meuser, who objected to certifying Pennsylvania’s results in 2020 said Tuesday. “Who’s relating to this agenda of this Biden administration? Who in their right mind is actually relating to it? It’s a disaster from A to Z.”

Biden and Trump have been neck-and-neck in polls over the past several months. A Marist poll released on June 12 showed Trump leading Biden by 2 points in the Keystone State.

Biden beat Trump in Pennsylvania in 2020 by just over 80,000 votes.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.

CAMP HILL— U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-10th District) made his expected annual visit to the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference on Friday, but challenged his fellow conservatives to embrace a method of voting that is popular with Democrats: vote-by-mail.

“I didn’t pick the battlefield that I was going to have to fight on and neither did you,” Perry said. “It is what it is. We have what we have.”

Perry said that if he had it his way, there wouldn’t be “Election Month or Election Week,” but just an Election Day where voters would provide identification, but that isn’t the case. He said Republicans have to embrace Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballots, adding that the legislature “probably” won’t be changing the law.

“The way it’s going to happen is this,” Perry said. “We got to take the system that they have, the system that was put in place, and we’re going to beat them at their own game and when we beat them at their own game, they’ll be crying to show up on Election Day with their identification.”

Following applause from the audience, he urged them to “stay in the fight” and make sure everyone they know is registered to vote, and follows through at the ballot box.

Perry claimed that if all registered Republicans would vote, no matter what the method, they would win every election.

Democrats have, in recent elections, used mail voting at significantly higher rates than Republicans. So pronounced is the split that in 2020, President Joe Biden won the mail vote in 14 out of 15 states analyzed by 538.com, while Trump likewise won the Election Day vote in 14 out of 15. That list included Pennsylvania.

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Perry has been a regular at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference for years, which takes place within his district. He wasn’t the only Republican at the conference to urge fellow Republicans to vote by mail.

David McCormick, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, told the audience Friday that “it’s something we’ve got to embrace or we’re going to lose.”

Just outside of the conference room, the Pennsylvania Republican Party had a sign-in sheet encouraging voters to sign up to “bank your vote” by committing to vote early, while Win Again PAC also had signs outside of the venue that read “Beat the Democrats Vote By MAIL.”

Despite the coordinated efforts from Republicans, former President Donald Trump has called mail-in voting “totally corrupt,” as recently as February, delivering mixed messaging to GOP voters.

Perry, a former member of the House Freedom Caucus, has made headlines in recent years due to his effort in reportedly boosting Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election in Pennsylvania.

McCormick says GOP has to embrace mail-in voting ‘or we’re going to lose’

Trump will be in Pennsylvania on April 13 for a fundraiser in the Philadelphia suburbs and a rally in the Lehigh Valley. Perry was in attendance for Trump’s February visit to Harrisburg to a National Rifle Association event.

Perry was the only member of the state’s congressional delegation to deliver an address to the conference on Friday, although U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-9th District) is scheduled to speak on Saturday.

Perry is running unopposed for the Republican Party nomination for the 10th Congressional District, but six Democrats are currently vying for their party’s nomination to face him, with national Democrats are also eyeing the seat.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced this week that it is targeting Republicans in eight congressional districts for supporting a bill that would ban in-vitro fertilization. That target list includes Perry’s 10th Congressional District.

The month-long billboard campaign will be on display in swing districts held by Republicans who supported the Life at Conception Act.

“House Republicans will stop at nothing — including outlawing in vitro fertilization — to reach their ultimate goal: banning abortion and restricting reproductive rights nationwide,” said DCCC spokesperson Aidan Johnson. “We will not let Americans forget that extreme House Republicans, including those who pretend to be moderates, continue to put politics over families by championing out-of-touch legislation that chips away at freedom.”

Perry’s campaign fired back, disagreeing with the charge.

“Liberals can lie all they want, but Congressman Perry made it clear that he supports IVF treatments because they help families struggling to conceive experience the blessing of building a family,” said Matt Beynon, campaign spokesman.

The DCCC told the Capital-Star that the billboard, which is an image of House Speaker Mike Johnson and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is a five-figure ad buy. It does not include an image or quote from Perry.

Perry is one of five Republicans serving in Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation who co-sponsored the legislation introduced last year that is referenced in the ad.

According to ABC27, Perry said on Friday that he’s against a nationwide abortion ban. Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the legislative arm of the reproductive healthcare organization, gives Perry a zero on its Congressional scorecard.

The six Democrats fighting for their party’s nomination have discussed their support for abortion rights throughout their primary race.

Janelle Stelson, a former longtime anchor at WGAL-TV, and Mike O’Brien, a recently retired Marine, are two of those Democrats seeking to challenge Perry, released their first ads this week, both mentioning abortion access in their 30 second spots.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.