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Before the public began to arrive at Acrisure Stadium for the Oct. 15 rally for Democratic Vice Presidential candidate and Minn. Gov. Tim Walz, two people with the Kamala Harris campaign roamed the crowd and approached people for photo ops. One was a woman in pink clothing and a camouflage Harris Walz hat à la Chappell Roan, and the other was a man with a papier mache Walz helmet that at least a few in the crowd initially mistook for a likeness of Bernie Sanders. They circulated as about 500 people gathered inside the cold interior of the stadium — it felt like the 52 degree weather outside.
Walz showed up about an hour late. He gave a familiar speech with his expected folksy charm, contrasting both his and Harris’ humble beginnings and the big plans they have for the country against the affluence and “concepts of a plan” of their opponents. His most notable flubs came when trying to ignore the three protestors removed from the event, at least two of whom were shouting slogans related to Gaza. One younger masked protestor yelling “Free Palestine!” caused Walz to temporarily stumble in confusion. After the rally, a few protestors yelled further about Trump.
While Walz’s rally conjured up common concerns about the Harris campaign — a lack of enthusiasm, haphazard planning, conflict with the progressive base, etc. — other events have painted a much rosier picture. When former president Barack Obama spoke at the University of Pittsburgh on Oct. 11, he drew a crowd of more than 4,000 and brought the house down. Sen. John Fetterman also left the Pittsburgh area to join Harris in Erie, Pa. for a successful Oct. 14 rally complete with the dancing and cheers that elicited the kind of joy promised by the Harris campaign.
As the election gets closer and closer, it appears only tighter and tighter. Even when optimistic in tone, Democrats have used events like these as an attempt to sound the alarm: if the party and its supporters aren’t diligent, Trump and the Republicans down ballot just might pull this thing off.
It’s become a cliché since former president Donald Trump’s upset 2016 win in Pennsylvania and across the country that whoever wins this state wins the whole election. It’s not literally true, but it’s hard to imagine a candidate flopping in Pennsylvania somehow winning the presidency. At the very least, Pennsylvania is part of a group of about seven states that seemingly could go either way. Polling both in Pennsylvania and nationally have the two virtually tied — as of press time, Harris has a insubstantial lead nationally, and Trump has an insubstantial lead across the state, according to fivethirtyeight’s polling averages.
The Walz rally seemed particularly attuned to the reality that Democrats need to fight hard in the Keystone State. Speakers before Walz, such as Mary Gibson, the Pa. Democratic Party’s deputy voter protection director, warned the crowd that, in 2020, despite comfortably winning the popular vote, President Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by an average of only about five votes per precinct.
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, whose politics seem mostly simpatico with Walz’s, emphasized the option of early voting. Wearing an “I Voted” sticker, she told the crowd that she dropped off her early ballot that day at Soldiers and Sailors in Oakland.
“Allegheny County, we’re pretty important this election cycle,” Innamorato said. “The path to the White House runs right through Pennsylvania, and victory in Pennsylvania runs right through Allegheny County. We cannot grow weary in this battle. Our rights, our bodies, our future, are on the line. Freedom is on the ballot.”
The left has regularly criticized Harris, Biden, and other Democrats for not sufficiently opposing the military actions of Israel, and this often materializes in the form of protests by young people. This issue seems particularly troublesome for Harris in Michigan, a swing state with a substantial Arab and Muslim population. Elsewhere, it’s a problem for Harris, but perhaps not a substantial one.
According to a poll by GenFoward based out of the University of Chicago, about 10% of adults ages 18-40 planned to vote for Harris but have been dissuaded due to the Biden administration’s handling of the conflict, and just 2% identified “the war in Gaza” as the most important issue. And in one poll done by the progressive think tank Data for Progress, voters ages 18-29 trust Harris more than Trump the least on the issue of Israel-Palestine and also say they “don’t know” who to trust more on Gaza about double the amount of every other issue.
Other state-level Democrats on the ballot include incumbent Senator Bob Casey, facing a challenge from businessman Dave McCormick, whose campaign has been plagued by accusations that it’s really most accurate to say he lives in Connecticut. Casey has appeared at various Democrat events, and his campaign hosted a Zoom press briefing on Oct. 14 with top national security experts admonishing McCormick for using his previous hedge fund to manage hundreds of millions of dollars of Russian debt.
Other down-ballot Democrats have taken a more strident tone as a way to draw contrasts between themselves and their opponents.
At an Oct. 23 evening event at Point Park University’s GRW Theater, former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale made himself available for a public “Ultimate Job Interview” hosted by Spotlight PA. Government Reporter Katie Meyer, along with two individuals who work outside of politics and reporting but who often conduct and prepare candidates for job interviews asked questions to DePasquale, Republican candidate Dave Sunday and Forward Party (yes, the Andrew Yang outfit) candidate Eric Settle.
Unlike Sunday, who never discussed policy and sold himself as approaching the job apolitically, DePasquale advocated for a minimum wage increase, explained that better education and mental health services would do the most to prevent crime, and stated he would use discretion to refuse to ever prosecute a woman for having an abortion.
This underscores DePasquale’s treatment of the AG role as more of a political position than a prosecutorial one, and it also snugly fits him into the national messaging of Democrats this election cycle: Republican extremism that threatens foundational freedoms and functioning of society needs to be met with an alternative.
Media coverage following Obama’s appearance focused on his comments addressing hesitation about Harris potentially becoming the country’s first woman president. Other men, including Casey, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, and Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro, spoke before him to shore up support for Harris.
“Part of it makes me think — and I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president,” Obama said to the crowd.
Obama overcame the enormous task of becoming the first Black president and ended up, since leaving office, becoming one of the most popular figures in American politics. Following Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016, anxiety about the role of sexism still pervades among Democratic operatives. At the same time, the reversal of Roe v. Wade and threat of further infringement of abortion protections has motivated more women to support Harris.
At her rally in Erie, Harris entered by walking down a long, straight platform to Beyonce’s “Freedom” and waved to the crowd with a big, elated smile. A diverse crowd, young and old, Black and white, looked even more elated. For several seconds, she spun around and admired the crowd.
“It’s good to be back in Pennsylvania!” Harris says.
Toward the middle of her remarks, in between adoring interruptions from the crowd, Harris reminded attendees that much is on the line this cycle.
“And we have to remember this is not 2016 or 2020. The stakes are even higher because a few months ago, the United States Supreme Court just told the former president that he would essentially be immune from anything he does while he’s in office,” Harris says. “Now, just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.”
This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2024.
