Kamala Harris’ pitch to Pennsylvania’s working class falls flat

Kamala Harris held a rally tonight in Erie, Pennsylvania. As Jeff Bloodworth describes, Erie is “America’s political no man’s land, as bitter and contested as anywhere in the republic”. But for all the focus on northeastern Pennsylvania in the last election, the western half of the state looks like the hottest part of the battlefield in 2024. If a Republican carries Erie County, he is likely to win the whole commonwealth. Before Trump, the last Republican presidential candidate to win there was Ronald Reagan.

So the visit from Harris is no surprise. At the rally today, the Vice President gave her standard stump speech — long on promises, short on specifics, like most campaign speeches. A rally isn’t about specifics, it’s about impressions. And the impression Harris tried to convey is that she’s just like you, Pennsylvanians.