Scoop: Harris courts rural Trump voters in Pennsylvania
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Vice President Kamala Harris is launching a targeted effort to court Republican voters in rural Pennsylvania.
Why it matters: It's a sign that the Harris campaign is not only aiming to surge Democratic turnout in vote dense Philly and Pittsburgh but also trying hard to blunt former President Trump's margins in swing or red counties across the commonwealth.
What we're watching: The Harris campaign is launching a 30-second ad on Tuesday featuring two two-time Trump voters who plan to vote for Harris.
- "I voted for him twice. I won't vote for him again," says Bob Lange, a family farmer from Malvern, Pennsylvania, of Trump in the ad that was first obtained by Axios. "Never thought I'd say this, but the Democrats are the party of common sense."
- The ad will run on 130 rural radio stations including talk radio, classic rock, oldies, and country radio — collectively reaching an estimated 500,000 likely voters outside of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and suburban counties.
Zoom out: The new radio ads are a part of a larger effort from the campaign to go after rural GOP voters using Republican voices.
- On Tuesday afternoon, Georgia Lt Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) and former GOP Congressman Joe Walsh will join local Lancaster, Pa., officials for a Republicans for Harris event.
- Elsewhere throughout the week, other Republicans who will participate or speak at a Harris event include former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham; former Mike Pence adviser Olivia Troye and; Robert Brown, who was the late 2008 GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's North Carolina state director.
The intrigue: In Pennsylvania, 16 of the Harris campaign's 50 coordinated offices are in predominantly rural counties that Trump carried in 2020 by double digits, a campaign official told Axios.
The big picture: It comes as Pennsylvania Democrats urge Harris to frequent rural counties and be consistent with her messaging to win the hotly contested state that has an outsized role in deciding the White House.
- "You have to be consistent in your message. You're not pandering to one community and saying something different in another community," Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told reporters at a Bloomberg roundtable on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention.
- "I also think it's really important that you not hold back on what your views and values are. I'd be in rural communities, and I would talk about abortion rights. I would talk about my faith. What Pennsylvanians want more than anything is authenticity," Shapiro said.
The other side: A vast majority of Trump's paths to victory, per his advisors, include Pennsylvania: Trump could win by flipping Pennsylvania and Georgia, or by pairing Pennsylvania with Arizona and Nevada, among other paths.
- Trump's campaign and aligned groups are also ramping up their presence and activity in Pennsylvania in the remaining weeks.
- Scott Presler's group Early Vote Action has been registering voters at Trump rallies and other events, with a focus on beating Democrats on the number of registered voters in certain swing counties.
- Elon Musk's America PAC is actively recruiting canvassers in both red, blue and swing areas including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie and Reading.
The bottom line: Pennsylvania voted for the eventual president in 10 of the last 12 elections and winning the state's 19 electoral votes is key to both Harris and Trump's paths to victory.
- North Philadelphia State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta told Axios in an interview: "Pennsylvania is the center of the political universe, and we feel that. We feel that pressure."
- "If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing," Trump said at a rally in Indiana, Pa. on Monday. "It's very simple."
Go deeper: The 2024 election's most competitive battleground states
