The Fox News Decision Desk Project projects that former President Donald Trump has won the critical state of Pennsylvania over Vice President Kamala Harris.
Polls have shown a close race throughout the campaign for Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes.
Pennsylvania was once characterized by then-Bill Clinton campaign strategist James Carville as “Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and Alabama in between.”
PENNSYLVANIA’S AMISH ARE KEY, BUT HESITANT TO VOTE
Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, left, uses a fryer as an employee looks on during a visit to a McDonald’s in Feasterville-Trevose, Pa., Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
These two cities are also the strongholds of Harris and the Democrats at the bottom of the ticket, while the Republicans are expected to do well in the middle of the state, especially in the districts of the Reps. Glenn Thompson’s, R-Pa., and John Joyce’s, R-Pa.,.
Both candidates have also visited the Commonwealth several times.
Trump held a rally in Allentown, the third-largest city in a key congressional district rated as “DIE” by the Cook Political Report.
Harris, meanwhile, appeared to be focusing his campaign on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area — where President Biden is from — and Pittsburgh.
Biden also visited the Scranton area during the campaign, speaking to union workers in Northeast Philadelphia, the red part of the blue city.
CRISS-COSSING PA VOTER REGISTRATION, PRESLER SEES DISTRICTS TURN RED
Trump largely broke the blue wall in 2016 by winning Pennsylvania, and Biden won it again for the Democrats in 2020.
During the campaign, Republican activist Scott Presler was seen all over the country, registering voters at military markets, community fairs and Penn State football games.
The “Trump team” bus tour with friends from Pennsylvania and around the country is traveling through the Keystone State, with stops in Duncansville, Chambersburg and Newport.
The so-called ‘purple’ Rust Belt commonwealth has returned to discussions of “political warfare” in recent years, after Trump upset Hillary Clinton there in 2016.
Although the governor’s office has changed hands every few terms and the legislature is generally Republican — though not recently — Democrats are doing much better than the GOP at the presidential level.
Trump narrowly defeated Clinton by close to the same margin that Biden defeated the incumbent in 2020.
Democrats have gained at the House and Senate levels since then, when Pat Toomey’s red seat went to Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in 2022.
Democrats also flipped a key district in the 2018 retirement of anti-Trump Republican Charles W. Dent in Allentown, and the seat of Rep. Scott Perry’s, R-Pa., Cumberland Valley is set for a close contest.
Another state official who was optimistic about Trump’s chances was state Sen. Chris Dush, R-Brookville, whose district includes more than 10% of the state’s forested northwest.
Dush’s district includes all or parts of Jefferson, Elk, Cameron, Center, Clinton, McKean and Potter counties. The center — home to Penn State University — was a rare blue state in the middle of the state targeted by Republicans like activist Scott Presler during his statewide GOP voter registration campaign.
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Trump, Harris (Getty Images)
Dush noted that neighboring Clinton County, home to Lock Haven, was solidly Democratic until the Trump era. “They just outnumbered the Republicans 3-to-1.”
“This is a big change that’s coming to rural Pennsylvania … and part of it is that my working class, middle-aged and upper-class people are realizing what’s happening to their jobs and inflation and this craziness,” he said.
“Since a man can now be called a woman: and that sort of thing. Finally enough is enough.”
Pennsylvania was one of seven states that were considered the most important to win the election, the others being Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan and Wisconsin.
There are also several important congressional races this cycle in Pennsylvania, as Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., trying to fend off a challenge from GOP State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Macungie, Rep. Matthew Cartwright against businessman Rob Bresnahan Jr., and Rep. Chris Deluzio are in a key matchup with State Rep. Rob Mercuri, R-Pine.
Combined, the seven districts award 93 of the 270 votes needed to win the presidential election.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign, exclusive interviews and more on our Fox News Digital election site.
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