Bethany Burger, a former government employee from Newport, said she returned to Pennsylvania because of high prices in Washington.
“I know the inflation numbers, they like to say they look good, but not everyone sees that in their first bills,” she said.
Burger said her main concern this cycle is the economy.
She was one of the voters who showed up in deep Perry County red to show support for Donald Trump. In 2020, the county voted for Trump over Joe Biden by 50 points.
Pennsylvania is considered a must-win state with 19 electoral votes. The margin of victory in the last two elections was slim – Biden won the state by about 80,000 votes and Trump by almost 40,000.
Some voters expressed concern about immigration and border policies.
Border crossings have increased since Biden took office, peaking at nearly 250,000 migrant encounters at the border in December 2023. That number dropped to nearly 60,000 in August 2024, according to the data. Pew Research Center.
Former acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said the Biden administration does not want to fix the border.
“They went to work every day so that there would be chaos at the border like it is today,” he said.
In 2024, Republicans and Democrats have written bipartisan legislation to fix the border crisis. Bill died in the US Senate amid reports that Trump didn’t want it to pass.
This week, Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly he moved against his former boss, claiming that the former president harbored fascist beliefs and wanted generals similar to those in Nazi Germany.
Many members of the Trump administration, including the attorney general, have said he is unfit for office Bill BarrSecretary of State Rex Tillerson and vice president Mike Pence.
Trump adviser Kimberly Guilfoyle rejected those comments.
“I think these are people who didn’t perform well,” she said. “Sour grapes are trying to shoot the president. Desperately lacking meaning
She added that if elected, Trump would bring the “best and brightest” into his recent administration. Victory 2016.
Guilfoyle criticized the Biden administration, saying it was disrespectful to law enforcement and the military.
“If [the Biden administration] have the nerve to think they can control you and tell you what to think, how to vote, what to do, take your money, disrespect your family, indoctrinate your children, disrespect the military, disrespect law enforcement, veterans, everyone above,” she said. “How dare they?”
Trump reportedly called veterans killed in action “losers and suckers.” Biden criticized that statement, which Trump denied during his speech to Congress 2024 Democratic National Convention.
In August, the Trump campaign had an argument at Arlington National Cemetery. Under federal law, campaign events cannot be held in Arlington. Trump’s campaign said he was invited by the families of fallen soldiers, although he still does so October 22 a federal judge ordered the details of his visit to be released, which was done next day.
Guilfoyle and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris worked together in the San Francisco district attorney’s office in the early 2000s.
Guilfoyle said her history with Harris is part of the reason she doesn’t support her.
“I tell you this as someone who has known President Trump for twenty years and as someone who knows [sic] “Kamala Harris has had two decades of no choice but President Trump, one of them is a complete disgrace and she has no idea what she is doing,” she said. “She doesn’t have those options.”
When asked if she would accept the results of the upcoming election, Guilfoyle replied that their team always does.
It’s January. 6, 2021, spoke in front of a crowd of Trump supporters, stating that they would not let Democrats steal the election.
Shortly thereafter, members of the mob stormed the U.S. Capitol.
It remains no evidence the election was stolen.
Registration to vote in the upcoming election is closed, but voters can still request an absentee ballot until October 29. Ballots must be received at local election offices by 8 p.m. on November 5.