Dispatch from Pennsylvania: Harris and Trump Deliver Sharply Different Messages on Election Eve
While Trump rambled about wanting “Penn State guys” to wrestle migrants, Harris kept her remarks brief and forward-looking.
PHILADELPHIA – On the eve of history – either the return of twice-impeached Donald Trump, or the ascendance of Kamala Harris, who could become the nation’s first female and first Asian American president, to the White House – it’s fitting that eyes nationwide, even globally, are affixed to the birthplace of America. The state that pushed Trump over the 270 threshold in 2016, by a thin margin of 0.72%. That pushed Joe Biden over the threshold in 2020, by a similarly slim 1.17%.
Accordingly, both candidates dedicated much of their final day of the 2024 campaign to Pennsylvania. Trump held two rallies there, one in Pittsburgh, and another in Reading; Harris held four in the state, with stops in both towns Trump visited.
Trump’s closing rallies have suffered from dwindling crowd sizes and rambling speeches.
While the former president called well-known Democrats things like an “evil, sick, crazy b–” and said he wanted “Penn State guys” to wrestle migrants, Harris’ speeches largely focused on optimism and moving forward, and seldom mentioned Trump.
“It’s good to be back in the city of brotherly love where the foundation of our democracy was forged. And here at these famous steps, a tribute to those who start as the underdog and climb to victory,” she said in Philadelphia on the ‘Rocky Steps’ of the city’s Museum of Art to a crowd of thousands who waited hours in line to attend (at one point, it took me 12 minutes to briskly walk from one end of the winding line of people to the end).
The excitement for Harris in Philadelphia was wide-ranging – from disappointment or disgust in Trump’s policies and leadership to enthusiasm for the Democratic nominee’s stance on protecting reproductive rights and advancing family and economic policies.
Some, though, were not attending in full enthusiasm. One Arab-American tech worker who was voting in his first election described feeling “stuck between a rock and a hard place.” He felt unenthusiastic and heartbroken. “I'm seeing people walking around in keffiyehs. It is on the mind. It's present in this space, what's happening in Gaza.”
Before speeches began, a small group of pro-Palestine and anti-war protesters chanted for hours. One, Samuel Mason, a paramedic and long-time Philadelphia resident, told me he was there to try to “gently and lovingly talk” to whoever would engage, regardless of their beliefs. While he said he might feel heartbroken by loved ones who vote for the Democrats, he did not fault people, for instance, women, for voting for someone they thought would protect their health and reproductive rights. The spirit was, in some respects, echoed by individuals who were more enthusiastically in attendance.
Dave Sharkey, a lifelong area resident, described discomfort with US support for Israel’s war. “It's like, there's an army and then there's just people, and they're just getting bombed. It’s just not right, and it’s disgusting.”
His friend, Dave Patrick, agreed, saying while the conflict is complicated, there was space for the US to at least “partially” shift policy.
Despite the reservations, Sharkey, Patrick, and others standing nearby lauded possibilities like expanded paid family leave in the US or fewer tax cuts for billionaires if Harris wins.
Earlier in the day, Mitchell Chellis, a 57-year-old barber, opened his shop doors to an NAACP voter engagement event in the city. Chellis, a Harris supporter who views his shop as a place where people can safely opine, underscored how much unity meant to him, describing how quick people, regardless of background, are to help each other in dire moments of need, but not always share such care more broadly. “Why does it always have to take a tragic situation for people to unite?”
Tragedy stuck with him globally, too. “I know that it's only a matter of time before Kamala and them are going to force this thing to cease,” he said on Israel’s war on Gaza. “They got to, they got to. Because, how can you wake up every day knowing that babies and mothers are getting slaughtered and killed, and nobody said nothing, do nothing.”
Along with ending the war, Chellis said he wants a potential Harris administration to help unite the country, and to affirmatively help people, like by raising the minimum wage. “Everybody just want to get ahead a little bit, you know, man, a little bit. I mean, I'm doing okay, but I know friends that are really struggling, trying to get ahead.”
While Philadelphia is a decidedly blue city, the excitement for Harris wasn’t felt by everyone. Early Monday, one cab driver, a younger Black man, told me he wasn’t likely to vote. He took issue with both parties, though expressed disdain for Democratic stances on immigration and foreign policy.
And statewide, the race for the state’s 19 electoral votes is neck-and-neck. State and local organizers focused on turnout explained their efforts to reach disengaged voters.
The Changing the Conversation Together, for example, recruited hundreds of people to carry out “deep canvassing,” appealing to human connection to bring out especially low-propensity voters. Mohan Seshradi, of the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance, told me that his coalition will have knocked on 325,000 doors in over 20 languages and made over 5.4 million phone calls in 22 languages since Jan. 1.
But organizers note their work won’t necessarily end on Election Day, as Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election still looms. “Everyone’s just planning for the steal,” one organizer said. “And I can’t get past that.”
Watch out for more of Prem's reporting from Pennsylvania, as well as Zeteo's live election coverage.
I think we have to stop thinking good guys and bad guys. Yes, Trump is a bad guy that needs to be stopped. I feel degraded having to state this. It’s like that ploy question “but do you condemn Hamas?”
Yes, I condemn Trump! I do! I really do!!!
But even if “our team”, which is NOT really “our team,” wins, we’ve still got to deal with an administration that is profiting, arming and supporting a genocide. That is totally on the take. So, if she wins, we’ve got about (I’m looking at my watch) 15 seconds to celebrate that we defeated an overt, deranged fascist—then back to work! A Harris administration, regrettably, is just another 4 years of the Biden administration. The party operatives in the Biden admin picked this candidate. Wow! She’s a woman. Now back to what we were having to deal with in the Biden administration.
Biden by other means.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments, especially those giving me an insight into the hearts and minds of Palestinians and Arabs. I sincerely hope that the US brokers a deal that allows Palestinians to be free to live their lives in peace and prosperity. The US and other countries must spend the same amount of money to rebuild Gaza as they spent on providing arms to Israel. The Harris administration, should it come to pass, must fulfill the promise to invite those who disagree with her to the table by creating a forum where American Jews and Arabs can speak with each other in order to ultimately achieve understanding, trust and hope. That would be the American way that Harris said she believes in.