JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Kamala Harris had a chance to rally the working class in heavily Republican Pennsylvania.
Instead, she made an invitation-only pit stop.
Hundreds of supporters chanted “Kamala” as the vice president arrived at Johnstown Airport on Friday.
On her way into town, Harris drove down a road lined with Trump signs and spoke for 30 minutes at a local bookstore, Classic Elements, to show her support for small businesses.
Later that day, she held a rally in Wilkes-Barre, about 200 miles to the northeast.
But in Johnstown, admission to the airport and bookstore was invitation-only, a disappointment for voters who wanted to hear what the vice president had to offer their left-behind city.
“She's in hiding from most of the public,” Ed Luce told the Post. “She needs to woo a lot of the working poor.”
Johnstown was once a Democratic stronghold.
After the 1977 flood destroyed the mines and factories, the good-paying union jobs disappeared and the city gradually became more Republican.
Trump won the surrounding counties in 2016 and 2020 with more than 67% of the vote.
Pennsylvania's 19 electoral votes will be decisive in determining victory in November's election.
“Old-school Democrats are the same as modern-day Republicans,” Jim Ardery said, referring to values of hard work and patriotism.
He was on Friday guarding against Trump protesters disrupting Harris' bookstore event.
An Obama-Trump supporter, he's excited about President Trump's recent proposal to not tax overtime pay.
“I still believe the Democratic Party is the party of working people,” Greg Dadullah, vice president of the United Steelworkers Local 2632, told The Post.
He has spoken out about the Democratic Party's support for unionization and Trump's comments about Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Fire strikes workers.
Still, Trump is winning votes from Dadullah union members and many of the workers who lost union jobs after the Johnstown flood.
“Because of the economic situation, I ended up going into industrial weed control,” said Ruth, 63.
Ruth, who voted for both Obama and Trump, is considering whether to vote for Trump or Harris, or whether to vote at all.
After Tuesday's debate, Roos thought Trump might back down.
“I wasn't convinced” by Harris' performance, he said.
“Harris needs to show us more of her policies. It's still unclear what she's going to do,” he said, adding that he wants her to clearly outline how she will raise wages and improve health care.
If Ruth had been invited to Harris' event, this might have been her chance to hear him speak.
Donald Trump held a rally in Johnstown on September 4th.
More than 6,000 people packed into the Cambria County War Memorial, with the queue stretching for almost two miles.
All you had to do was register in advance and get in line.
After the indoor venue was filled to capacity, thousands more watched Trump's speech on a big screen outside the monument, which had been converted into a hockey rink.
“She could have gone to the war memorial like Trump did,” Roos told the Post, but he also understood that “city people are scared to go to the countryside.”
On July 13, a gunman attempted to assassinate President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, just an hour and a half away.
“She had the nerve knowing this was MAGA country,” AJ Hasley, a military veteran and chef, told The Washington Post, but felt insulted by Harris' invitation-only event.
“If you're campaigning, your job is to get your ideas out to as many people as possible,” Hasley said.
“Limiting it to invitation only makes it seem to me that she's only interested in rich people – people who fund her campaign.”
Hasley, 39, has never voted before and plans to vote for Trump for the first time, but said, “I don't know much about Trump.” [Kamala]I don't mind hearing her speak.”
“I don't think it's fair,” Arianna Dixon, a waiter who plans to vote for Harris, told The Washington Post.
“I wanted to meet her,” she said, with border security a top priority.
“We didn't even have a chance,” Phyllis Champine told the Post.
When Trump came to Johnstown, she proudly wore a handmade Kamala Harris blouse.
Champin, 72, didn't glance at Harris while waiting outside the bookstore, but “just being near her was enough for me,” he said.
Still, “we all believe she will come back,” she said.
“I want her back.”
