John Cole, Pennsylvania Capital-Star

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. ...

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.” ...

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.” ...

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. ...

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. ...