Kamala Harris rallied Democrats in “MAGA country” Pennsylvania, but excluded the “working poor”

JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania – Kamala Harris had the chance to mobilize the working class in deep-red Pennsylvania.

Instead, she made a pit stop that was accessible only by invitation.

Hundreds of supporters chanted “Ka-ma-la” as the vice president arrived at Johnstown Airport on Friday.

On her way into town, Harris drove down a street lined with Trump signs and gave a 30-minute speech at the local bookstore, Classic Elements, to show her support for small businesses.

Later in the day, they gathered in Wilkes-Barre, about 200 miles to the northeast.

But in Johnstown, access to the airport and the bookstore was by invitation only – to the chagrin of voters who wanted to hear what the vice president had to offer their marginalized city.

“She's hiding from most people,” Ed Luce told the Post. “She has to convince a lot of the working poor.”

Johnstown was once a stronghold of the union Democrats.

When a flood destroyed the mines and factories in 1977, well-paying union jobs disappeared and the city gradually turned red.

Trump won the surrounding counties in 2016 and 2020 with over 67% of the vote.

Pennsylvania's 19 electoral votes are crucial to victory in November.

“The old school Democrats are what the Republicans are today,” said Jim Ardary, referring to the values ​​of hard work and love of country.

He spent his Friday trying to stop Trump protesters from disrupting Harris' event at the bookstore.

As an Obama-Trump voter, he is enthusiastic about Trump's recent proposal not to tax overtime.

“I still believe the Democrats are the party of the workers,” Greg Dadura, vice president of United Steelworkers Local 2632, told the Post.

He pointed to the Democratic Party's support for unions and to Trump's encouragement of Tesla CEO Elon Musk to fire striking workers.

Nevertheless, Trump has the votes of many union members in Dadura, as well as workers who were unable to find union jobs after the flooding in Johnstown.

“Due to the economic situation, I ended up working as a road worker in industrial weed control,” says 63-year-old Luce.

Luce is an Obama-Trump voter and is considering whether to vote for Trump or Harris – or for him at all.

After Tuesday's debate, Luce feared Trump might drop out.

Regarding Harris' performance, he said: “I was not convinced.”

“Harris needs to be clearer about what her policies are. I don't know yet what she's going to do,” he said, wishing she would clarify how she would raise wages and improve health care.

This might have been an opportunity for Luce to hear Harris if he had been invited to one of her events.

Donald Trump held a rally in Johnstown on September 4th.

More than 6,000 people crowded into the Cambria County War Memorial, with the line nearly two miles long.

All they had to do was register and queue up beforehand.

When the interior was full, thousands more watched Trump's event on a large screen outside the memorial, which had been converted into an ice hockey rink.

“She could have gone to the war memorial like Trump,” Luce told the Washington Post, but she understands that “city people in the country are getting scared.”

Just an hour and a half away in Butler, Pennsylvania, a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump on July 13.

“Knowing it's MAGA country, she had courage,” AJ Hasley, a veteran and chef, told the Post, but he felt insulted by Harris' invitation-only events.

“When you campaign, your job is to get your message out to as many people as possible,” Hasley said.

“The fact that she only goes by invitation makes me think that she only cares about the rich people, the people who donate money to her campaign.”

Hasley, 39, has never voted before. He plans to vote for Trump for the first time, but said, “I really don't know that much about [Kamala]. I wouldn't have minded watching her talk.”

“I just don’t think it’s fair,” Arriana Dixon, a waitress who plans to vote for Harris, told the Post.

Dixon believed the vice president had come to deliver a message: “I will not forget all of you.”

However, she wanted to know how Harris would secure the border and said: “I would have liked to see her.”

“We didn’t even have a chance,” Phyllis Champine told The Post.

She proudly wore a homemade Kamala Harris blouse when Trump came to Johnstown.

Although Champine, 72, never saw Harris as she waited outside the bookstore, she said, “Being near her was good enough for me.”

Still, “we all believe she will come back,” she said.

“We want them back.”