Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are locked in a competitive race in Pennsylvania.
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Pennsylvania is front and center in the 2024 presidential race.While in Philadelphia, both Harris and Trump made the case as to why they should be elected.Gov. Josh Shapiro praised Harris’ approach, arguing she was aiming to reach voters across the state.
During Tuesday’s presidential debate in Philadelphia, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump made their respective cases to the American public as to why they should be the next occupant of the Oval Office.
But the significance of the location was not lost on either candidate as the debate was held in the largest and most politically-influential city in Pennsylvania, the state that’s poised to determine the winner of the presidential contest.
For Harris, winning Pennsylvania would offer her a significant boost in holding the White House as she also looks for victories in “blue wall” swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin. And that’s before any potential wins in states like Arizona and Georgia.
And for Trump, flipping Pennsylvania — a state he narrowly won in 2016 but lost in 2020 — would give him a broader path to winning back the White House. And it would reaffirm the power of the working-class electorate that fueled his win in the state eight years ago.
Here’s how both candidates sought to make a special appeal to Pennsylvanians during the debate.
Trump tried to bring fracking into focus
In 2019, when Harris was running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, she voiced support for a ban on hydraulic fracturing — or fracking.
But Harris’ newly-minted presidential campaign in July said that she would not support a fracking ban.
And recognizing the political potency of the issue, Harris on Tuesday sought to distance herself from her past comments by pointing to her record as vice president.
“I have not banned fracking as Vice President of the United States,” she said during the presidential debate. “And, in fact, I was the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking.”
But her onetime opposition to the oil and gas drilling technique, which has contributed to an energy boom across Pennsylvania, has become a central point of attack for the Trump campaign.
“If she won the election, fracking in Pennsylvania will end on day one,” the former president warned during the debate.
It’s an issue that has particular resonance in Central and Western Pennsylvania, as it represents a major flashpoint in the ideological tug of war between climate initiatives and the push for increased fossil fuel production in the US.
Harris leaned into reproductive rights
Harris has been by far the most forceful advocate for abortion rights in President Joe Biden’s administration.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned by the US Supreme Court in 2022, Harris traveled the country to rail against the decision — while also making the case for Biden as the preferred candidate on the issue during his onetime reelection bid.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, center, has spoken highly of Harris’ campaign strategy across the state.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
But now that Harris is in the driver’s seat, her message to women on the issue — pointing to the health consequences that many now face in the wake of near-total abortion bans in some states — is one that led to Democratic electoral success in myriad races in the 2022 midterms and 2023 elections.
In Philadelphia, one of the most thoroughly Democratic states in the country, Harris was already poised to do well — and she’ll need robust support to counteract Trump’s strong support in rural parts of Pennsylvania.
But in Philadelphia’s suburbs — filled with boroughs and townships that were once dominated by the GOP — Democrats have made substantial inroads with voters.
It’s one of the reasons why Biden defeated Trump in the state by one percentage point in 2020. And Harris’ message on abortion is ready-made for this slice of the electorate, filled with the sort of college-educated voters who have turned the inner and outer Philadelphia suburbs into fertile ground for Democrats.
The numbers tell the story
Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes, which will go a long way for either Harris or Trump as they aim to reach the 270-electoral vote threshold to win the presidency.
From 1992 to 2012, only Democratic presidential nominees carried the state.
And Trump’s 2016 win over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was by less than one point, as he edged her out by a little over 44,000 votes out of roughly 6.1 million ballots cast.
Both parties foresee another close race in Pennsylvania, and the polling backs it up. In the state’s Real Clear Politics polling average, Harris and Trump are both currently tied at 47.6% support.
So voter outreach will be critical for both candidates.
Trump has been no stranger to rural and exurban parts of the state, while also looking to shave off votes from Democrats in Philadelphia.
Harris, whose campaign began in July after President Joe Biden stepped aside as the Democratic nominee, has had a much shorter window to craft her campaign strategy.
But immediately after Tuesday’s debate, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro made an appearance at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where he told reporters that Harris was making the case for her presidential bid to voters across the state — and pointed out an upcoming visit to Johnstown.
“She’s showing up in communities that are oftentimes ignored and left behind,” he said. “A lot of times, the national candidates fly over. She understands the importance of showing up in those areas.”
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