ERIE, Pa. — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are dispatching their running mate to benchmark Rust Belt counties in a bid to win over swing votes in key battleground states.
But was anyone being pushed around?
History makes Erie County a natural choice for president: The county voted for Barack Obama twice, Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020.
Sen. J.D. Vance made his campaign there in late August as Trump's candidate, saying his story of growing up in a left-behind Ohio town resonated with voters, after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz courted Erie's working-class population last week as the Democratic candidate.
“I'm on the fence about either candidate,” Vince Palermo, 45, a small business owner from Millcreek Township, told The Post at a gas station across from where Walz's “New Way Forward” jet had landed just minutes earlier.
As he filled up his tank, Palermo noted that “we didn't have these price gougings” under Trump. Now, “everything is more expensive.”
Palermo, a former Erie County Democratic Party director, registered as a Republican in 2020 and voted for Trump “to see what an outsider can do.”
But in 2024, he is struggling to support Trump, believing his attacks on judges make a “mockery” of the criminal justice system that the former president “just doesn't care about.”
Still, Palermo acknowledged that it was “tough” to lean toward Harris.
“I don't think she has the experience,” he said, unlike Hillary Clinton, for whom he voted in 2016.
Palermo was not impressed with Walz's comments about Erie, but he did acknowledge that the running mate is “more human” than current VP Harris, noting that Harris turned down a salary increase as governor in 2023 and 2024.
“He seems like a normal guy, but I have doubts about how normal guys talk,” he said, adding that Democrats chose him “just because he has gray hair.”
Palermo wasn't the only undecided voter who stopped for gas in Millcreek Township that day.
Chuck Jones, 40, a box stacker from Erie, said he “voted Democrat” in 2020 but isn't sure how he'll vote this year.
“No one is who they say they are,” Jones told the Post. “One minute they're saying one thing, and the next minute they're saying something different.”
In her first interview as a candidate, Harris said she has no plans to ban fracking, which is big business in Pennsylvania, denying that she had backtracked after telling a CNN rally during her 2019 presidential run that she was “no question about it, I'm in favor of banning fracking.”
Lehualani Lowndes, 43, a health care worker from Erie, told The Post that Harris is “too flashy. She's fake.” She plans to vote for Trump again because he “doesn't take things lightly.”
She's not alone in sympathizing with the campaign's theatrics. Barry LaCastro, 50, a business agent for the Erie local union, Stage Employees International, is frustrated by the smearing of Vance and Walz. “Why not run on your own platform?” he asks.
“Guys like me are tired of being named,” LaCastro told The Post as his men dismantled the set for Walz's rally and loaded the equipment onto a truck bound for Pittsburgh.
He said Harris has said she would cut costs, but they're “fighting” with her because “you're the vice president.”
Still, even if she likes Trump's economic policies, “my heart just can't bring myself to vote for Trump and his 'poison tongue,'” LaCastro said.
Employees are evenly split between supporting Harris and Trump, but 30% say they are “undecided,” just like him.
Palermo said he knows many “very disappointed” Americans who “are not going to vote.”
He voted for Obama twice because “Obama was able to tap into the hearts of the people.” Obama had “the essence of Kennedy.”
“I want to see someone who can bring us together,” Palermo declared. “Harris doesn't have that, and I'm not sure she'll get it.”
Kasean Henderson, a 58-year-old retired plumber who has historically voted Democratic and works with renters' associations to keep rents in his area down, also hasn't decided. “I'm not sure what to expect from this election. I don't trust either party right now. You can blame Trump all you want, and we can do the same, Kamala,” she said, adding that the vice president doesn't have the experience people want in a president.
“She's a beautiful woman. She's intelligent. Can she run this country? No,” Henderson said.
His vote hinges on trust: “Too many people promising too much.”
His financial situation will also influence his decision: He's “not saving any money right now.”
“How can I vote for this person when she's part of that administration?”
Henderson had been scheduled to meet with Walz during a visit to the city for a renters association meeting, but Walz, the vice presidential candidate, canceled.
He said if the group meets with Waltz, “we might be able to make a decision.”
