Stella Sexton, a lifelong Democrat, did something yesterday that might have seemed kind of bizarre at another time in American political history.
She ripped one of the “Pennsylvania Democratic Party” campaign signs from the wall of the local party’s basement office in Lancaster County and taped a sign that read “Republicans Support Harris” in its place.
It’s one of the small actions that reflects Vice President Kamala Harris’ extraordinary effort on the presidential campaign trail, and a crucial part of her strategy in her campaign home base to persuade Republicans to vote for her. It’s becoming a big part.
Harris’ campaign is trying to win as many votes as possible in battleground states that are essentially evenly matched, but her campaign is also trying to capture as many votes as possible from Republicans, particularly suburban women, who have been alienated by Donald Trump. We hope that we can persuade people across party lines to vote to block it. he. She made her case that day by traveling to narrowly divided suburbs in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin with her most prominent Republican, former Rep. Liz Cheney.
“I don’t know if there’s anyone more conservative than me, but the most conservative value is to protect the Constitution,” Cheney said this afternoon in Royal Oak, Michigan, after calling President Trump a grave threat. I understand that.” He supports democracy and urged Republicans to support Harris, even if they disagree with her on some policy areas.
This strategy was reinforced last week when Ms. Harris campaigned with Republicans in Pennsylvania’s Purple Bucks County and appeared on Fox News. The bet is that enough voters have been kicked out to support them.
It’s a sometimes macabre maneuver for a vanishing minority of Republicans whose most powerful members, including Cheney, are decisively out of power. I have no illusions that this campaign will bring them all a victory. And the fact that they think it’s a play worth making reflects how close they believe the race is.
“It’s not a fool’s errand,” said Republican pollster Whit Ayers, who estimates that about 10 to 12 percent of Republicans are so-called Never Trumpers. “Those people are not going to vote for Trump. The question is whether they will skip voting for president or vote for Harris.”
small group
One thing we know is that the universe of obtainable Republicans is very small. The latest national poll by The New York Times and Siena College found that 9% of Republicans plan to support Harris. This group has a slightly higher proportion of women than men, and a slightly higher proportion of older people than young people.
Late last year, the Pew Research Center found that just 11 percent of Republican voters supported Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, who ran in the primary as a moderate Republican and critic of Trump, and whose level of support has been noted. He announced that he is considering doing so. As a representative of Republicans who want to break with Trump.
When the same voters were contacted again in August, they found that her approval rating was 18%, compared to 78% for Trump.
That’s a meaningful share for Harris to pull off, but it’s only 1 percent of the electorate.
Mr. Trump has done little to engage with moderate Republicans or Ms. Haley’s supporters, suggesting earlier this year that donors to Ms. Haley were not welcome in his political campaign. The Harris campaign, by contrast, has been eager to engage them.
Harris has the backing of Republicans such as Mesa, Arizona Mayor John Giles and the son of the late Sen. John McCain. A Harris official said the campaign spent seven people communicating directly with Republicans, including through ads explaining why former Trump voters are now supporting Harris.
battle of lancaster
The race for moderate Republicans is particularly fierce in places like Lancaster County in southeastern Pennsylvania, which Trump easily won in 2020, where 20% of April Republican primary voters voted for Haley. I voted for him even though I was no longer in the constituency. race.
On Sunday, as Mr. Sexton put up his sign, out-of-state Republicans who once worked for President George W. Bush and others lined up in the Democratic Party’s basement and knocked on doors in the area.
“I no longer accept the Republican Party,” Olivia Troy, a former national security official in the Trump administration, told the assembled volunteers.
Minutes away, outside the Lancaster County Convention Center, a river of Trump supporters wearing MAGA hats appeared before a town hall event the former president was hosting that afternoon. The essence of this effort was a David vs. Goliath situation. Sharp relief.
“We visit communities across Pennsylvania and we’re more involved than you might think,” said Anne Womble, former chair of the Lancaster County Republican Committee and current co-chair of Harris’ Pennsylvania Republican Party. We want to show our presence.” The goal, she said, is to encourage Republicans that “when you walk into your polling place and see the secret ballot, it’s okay to vote for Harris.”
With the smell of pizza in the air, Democratic volunteer Morris Meyer was dispatching Republican volunteers to nearby Manheim Township. Manheim Township is a Lancaster suburb with a highly educated population that likely includes some pro-Harris Republicans.
Meyer himself knows all too well how difficult it is to persuade Republicans to vote for the Democratic presidential candidate. He’s urging his 87-year-old mother, Janice Meyer, a registered Republican, who lives near Lititz, Pennsylvania, to do just that.
Mr. Meyer was sending volunteers, so I called his mother. She said she voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 but was disgusted by what she called Trump’s “baggage” and “drama.” Her son was unable to convince her to vote for Harris, but she said she was considering not voting for the presidential candidate at all.
“I don’t think you can make a decision until you get out there,” Janice Meyer said.
Ruth Igielnik contributed reporting.
Housing costs are hurting Democrats in Nevada
One reason Democrats are so focused on winning over moderate Republicans may be that they are trying to make up for losses in other areas. My colleague Jennifer Medina spent several weeks reporting in Las Vegas this year, finding that high housing costs are turning away voters who were once crucial to Democratic victories. I asked her to tell me what she found.
Nevada is an important prize for both Democrats and Republicans this year, and it’s not just the state’s six electoral votes. This represents one of the biggest political battles of 2024. Both parties are trying to win over the support of more working-class black and Latino voters.
These are the voters least likely to pay attention to the minutiae of political drama and the ones most likely to be dissatisfied with the economy. They make up a sizable portion of the handful of still-persuasive voters that campaigns are focusing furiously on in the final days of the presidential election.
Over the past year, I’ve talked to many voters in and around Las Vegas. Without exception, when they list concerns, their top concern is the cost of housing. They describe how their rent has been increasing by hundreds of dollars a month for years. They think owning a home is a very unattainable dream. Even older voters who comfortably own their own homes worry that their adult children won’t have the same middle-class security they’ve managed to find in Nevada’s vast desert lands. There is.
Many of these voters are now turning their backs on the Democratic Party, believing it has promised a lot but has done little to improve their daily lives. They believe they have little to lose by opting out and possibly voting for Donald Trump. They think voting Democrat didn’t work for me, so why not try something different?
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