Harris Republicans hold first rally in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

MANHEIM TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan described himself as a “very conservative” Republican, but on Tuesday he urged his GOP colleagues to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Doing what’s right is never a bad thing,” Duncan said. “If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024 as a Republican, that doesn’t mean you’re a Democrat. It just means you’re a patriot.”

Duncan joined three former GOP members of Congress at the first Republican-for-Harris rally in Pennsylvania at a renovated barn-turned-food hall in Lancaster County.

About 200 people — a mix of Republicans, independents and Democrats — showed up for the event hosted by Harris’ campaign, which is trying to gain influence in more rural areas in hopes of winning enough votes in places like Lancaster County to win the state in November. Polls show Harris with an extremely slim lead in Pennsylvania, a state that looks increasingly likely to decide the election.

While Trump won Lancaster County by 16 points in 2020, Democrats saw a huge enhance in votes compared to 2016. They see an opportunity here. Harris’ campaign has an office in nearby Ephrata and this week released a television ad featuring a Republican farmer from Malvern who endorses Harris after voting for Trump twice.

The meeting was a mix of group therapy, airing grievances and suggestions for getting the word out to Republicans about Harris.

While Harris’ campaign has aimed to show support for Republicans, Trump has for years won support from time-honored Democrats in places like Lancaster County.

At nearby Ephrata Fair on Tuesday, Jim Klein, a 52-year-old retired Navy officer and DJ, said he felt the Democratic Party had abandoned him, not the other way around. He was a Democrat who voted for President Barack Obama but changed his mind shortly afterward. “Trump really started putting things together four years ago,” Klein said. “There wasn’t as much price gouging. I thought things were a lot better.”

The Republicans for Harris group will focus primarily on four areas: Allegheny and Butler counties, Erie County, the Harrisburg suburbs and the Philadelphia border counties.

“These are population centers,” said Ann Womble, a former chairwoman of the Lancaster Republican Party who co-chairs the group Republicans for Harris with former U.S. Rep. Jim Greenwood of Bucks County.

Her home in Lancaster County, she argued, also opens the door for Harris to connect with non-Democratic types because of its history of Mennonite influence.

“There’s something moral about this neighborliness,” Womble said. “A lot of Republicans in Lancaster County felt very uncomfortable knowing that their party had put up someone they couldn’t in good faith consider their neighbor.”

Much of the work involves interpersonal conversations, Womble said, adding that she would like them to last longer than six weeks.

Republican Party chairmen did not spare words of criticism for their party’s candidate.

Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman from Illinois who briefly ran for president in 2020, said Trump’s attempt to overturn the election should be disqualifying.

“He’ll do it again. … It doesn’t matter if he loses every state or loses by one vote,” Walsh said. “I think Trump is a threat. … You have to believe that, and if you believe that, you have to smile at this difficult opportunity that the Lord has given us as Republicans.”

Duncan said: “He violates the Constitution every minute of every day.”

An increasing number Prominent Republicans Endorsed Harrisincluding former members of Trump’s Cabinet and national security leaders.

Former U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R., Va.) ridiculed Trump’s remarks Monday night in Indiana County, in which he vowed to protect women. “Would you ever, as a defense attorney, find someone guilty of a sex crime?” Comstock asked.

Last year, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing columnist E. Jean Carroll. In 1996, Trump denied the allegations.

“He couldn’t work at the mall, he couldn’t join the military,” she said, referring to Trump’s felony convictions.

Patrick Gerlach, who described himself as a “recovering Republican,” attended the event wearing a “Vote Decency” baseball cap. Outside, he handed out signs with the same message.

“People have told us so many times, ‘I don’t want to put up a sign because I’m afraid of my neighbors,’” Gerlach said. Alternatively, he said, he thinks people would see a “Vote for Decency” sign as a subtle endorsement of Harris.

“Something is broken and we have to admit it,” Gerlach said. “And to hell with the party and politics. … You have one person … she smiles, she laughs, she’s decent, you know? And then you have someone who is just, he’s just a stinking piece of shit.”