With six weeks until the presidential election, the Harris campaign held its first in-person organizing event in conservative Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, with the goal of winning over Republicans.
“If you’ve got a coalition happening that stretches all the way from AOC on the left to Dick Cheney on the right,” Ann Womble, Republicans for Harris co-chair, said at the gathering at Barn At Stoner Commons. “You know this is a big tent, and you know that we can find a place in this effort, even if we don’t agree with all the policies.”
Womble, the former chairperson of the Lancaster County Republican Party from 2012 to 2014, is leading the Harris campaign’s push to win over Republicans in Pennsylvania, alongside former U.S. Rep. Jim Greenwood, who represented a district in the Philadelphia suburbs from 1993 to 2005.
Greenwood addressed the 100 persons in attendance on Tuesday, referring to himself as a “real Republican” and explaining his Republican political experience. He encouraged the crowd to go out and talk to their friends who are undecided about the election, telling them the option is “pretty simple.”
“It’s between a guy who is mentally, morally, psychologically, and intellectually unfit to be the president of the United States,” according to Greenwood. “And a woman who is decent, honest, who has spent her whole life serving others, and who I believe will make us proud again and take us forward.”
Greenwood, who has supported every Republican presidential candidate from Richard Nixon to Mitt Romney, also stated that if undecided Republicans are concerned that Harris is “too liberal,” there will be Republicans in office to ensure she passes legislation with bipartisan support.
He cited bipartisan legislation passed under the Biden administration, including the infrastructure bill and the CHIPS and Science Act.
Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh, and former Virginia Congresswoman Barbara Comstock joined Greenwood and Womble.
Comstock stated that in previous elections, she typed in Republican candidates instead of voting for Trump, but she is now supporting Harris, who she claims would “stand up to dictators” and “follow the rule of law.”
Comstock blasted Trump’s remarks at a rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, on Monday, in which the former president referred to himself as a “protector” of women.
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“I want a woman who understands about protecting women, not Donald Trump, who is absurdly saying just last night, ‘I’m going to be your protector,” Comstock told reporters.
Walsh, who voted for Trump in 2016, said he hopes Comstock and Duncan become president and governor of Georgia, respectively.
During her speech at the Democratic National Convention, Walsh stated that Harris sounded similar to the late GOP President Ronald Reagan. Trump, he claimed, “badmouths” the country.
Duncan stated that Harris would be the “steady hand” that the country requires, and that she is “entertaining the thoughts and minds of the middle” throughout her campaign.
In response to the organizing event, Trump campaign spokesperson Kush Desai told the Capital-Star that “if so-called ‘Republicans’ are campaigning for another four years of unfettered illegal immigration and rising prices under Kamala Harris, they’re neither Republicans nor worth listening to.”
While the Trump team does not appear to be actively wooing Democratic votes in Pennsylvania, it has received endorsements from former Democrats Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.
Craig Snyder, former chief of staff to the late Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, who leads the “Haley Voters for Harris” coalition, attended Tuesday’s ceremony but did not make any remarks. Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is now backing Trump’s presidential campaign after abandoning her own, has condemned the use of her name to try to win over votes for Harris.
Trump won the 2024 Republican Party primary in Pennsylvania, although Haley garnered 158,000 votes statewide, or 16%, despite ending her candidacy a month before the election.
Haley won 20% of the vote in Lancaster County’s 2024 primary.
Womble believes she can win over some Haley voters, and she informed reporters that Lancaster County is home to many “traditional Republicans” who aren’t very enthusiastic about Trump this year.
Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by 20 points in Lancaster County in 2016, and Joe Biden by 16 points in 2020. However, Democrats have made gains in recent statewide elections, including Democrat Josh Shapiro, who lost the county by a single point in his successful quest for governor in 2022.
Although the election is 42 days away, just one politician from either party has visited Lancaster County in 2024: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, who met with volunteers at a field office earlier this month.
The Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), has not visited the county, but he was in the area on Saturday for a rally in Berks County and an interview with conservative political analyst Tucker Carlson in Dauphin.
Speaking to reporters following his speech, Walsh stated that he feels Trump’s choice of Vance as his running mate harmed the GOP ticket’s chances among independent and Republican voters on the fence.
“There would not be this movement, I’d argue,” Walsh told reporters, if Trump hadn’t chosen Vance to “double down on ugly, ugly MAGA.”
He also stated that Harris “ain’t a flaming lib,” which he meant as a compliment.
“She’s not a crazy lib,” he told reporters. He said, “That’s not who she is, and she can’t win an election that way.”
Duncan told reporters that he believes Harris is doing her bit to appeal to the center by fundraising and forming coalitions, which appears to be a reference to Harris’s announcement of more moderate policy positions compared to her former presidential campaign.
Duncan addressed the press, saying, “At the end of the day, Donald Trump continues to make it harder for himself because he continues to pick on folks like Brian Kemp, the governor of my home state; he’s a great conservative and trusted by both Democrats and Republicans; he continues to stick in his mouth.”
Although Kemp and Trump have openly feuded, Kemp is now supporting Trump’s presidential campaign after opposing him in the Republican Party primary race.
On Tuesday, Kemp was in Pennsylvania to campaign for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick in Delaware County.
In addition to Lancaster County, Womble stated that the Harris team believes the four major markets with persuadable Republicans and independents are Allegheny, Butler, and Erie counties; Harrisburg suburbs; and Philadelphia’s collar counties.
On Tuesday, the Harris team began a new ad series in Pennsylvania aiming at rural and Republican voters who may not support Trump. It shows farmer Bob Lange of Malvern, Chester County, a lifetime Republican who voted for Trump twice but has announced that he will vote for Harris in November.
Harris will be in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, while Vance is expected to visit Bucks County on Saturday.
The presidential election in battleground Pennsylvania remains extremely close, with the most recent Marist poll showing Harris and Trump deadlocked at 49% each.
