The Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign is opening 14 offices across the Commonwealth this week, culminating with the opening of a Philadelphia office on March 30. The Pittsburgh office began operations and opened on March 23.
The offices will be focused on electing and re-electing Democrats “up and down the ballot,” including President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey. The offices will host training sessions for volunteers, canvassing launches and volunteer recruitment events.
“The Democratic Coordinated Campaign is committed to investing across the state,” Lancaster County Democratic Vice Chair Stella Sexton said in a statement. “No county, city or vote is taken for granted.”
The office opening is timed to highlight the Biden campaign’s recent initiatives in Pennsylvania mobilize Latino voters AND women. Lt. Gov. Austin Davis spoke at the conference opening of an office in Pittsburgh and told volunteers that the election would be a “stark contrast between a vision of moving America forward that includes all of us – that protects true freedom – and the American vision [where] the leaders want to divide us.”
Biden’s campaign aims to reach Latino voters in Pennsylvania and across the country
The first series of offices will cover key areas for Democrats: Montgomery, Delaware and Chester counties are counties in Philadelphia that are critical to winning statewide elections. In Bucks County, perhaps the largest swing county in the state, Democrats will open three offices in Bensalem, Newtown and Doylestown. Biden won Bucks County in 2020 by 5 points, a Democrat Jim Prokopiak won the special election for a House of Representatives seat in that country by more than 30 points.
“This Senate race will be about who stands with working people, and our campaign will make sure voters in every county know what Bob Casey and Democrats have accomplished across the Commonwealth,” Casey’s campaign manager, Tiernan Donohue, said in a statement.
Democrats will also have offices in traditionally red counties, including York, where former President Donald Trump stayed bristling Biden in 2020, 61% to 37%, and Lancaster, where Trump won 57% to 41%. Swing Erie County, along with Northampton, Scranton and Monroe also are on the list of Democrat-coordinated offices open this week.
“We are building and deploying unprecedented infrastructure to reach voters in every corner of the Commonwealth,” Nikki Lu, Biden’s Pennsylvania campaign manager, said in a statement. “President Biden, Vice President Harris and Democrats are fighting throughout the vote to lower prescription drug prices, protect abortion rights, and protect our Constitution and democracy.”
It was unclear whether Trump’s 2024 campaign had already opened offices in Pennsylvania. There was no immediate response Tuesday to an email to the Trump campaign from Capital-Star.
Trump has made two visits to Pennsylvania so far as part of the 2024 campaign; one to Harrisburg to address the National Rifle Association meeting and the other to Philadelphia to debut the up-to-date Trump-branded sneakers at Sneaker Con.
Trump makes a surprise appearance at Sneaker Con in Philadelphia
Biden visited the state four times in 2024, most recently in Delaware County the day after his State of the Union address. However, none of the candidates have visited the western part of the state yet.
But Republicans are also trying to mobilize voters in the Keystone State: Casey’s GOP opponent, David McCormick launched a 67-county bus tour last month in Lancaster. He has also participated in numerous Building America’s Future roundtables around the Commonwealth in the past several months emphasizing their position on various national and international issues.
McCormick also released his first television advertisement cycle on Tuesday. In response to the Casey campaign ad, fundraising emails were sent out citing McCormick’s personal wealth. Americans for Prosperity, a conservative super PAC backed by Koch’s organization, also pledged to do so spend $1 million on an ad campaign for McCormick’s candidacy.
Two days after Biden launched his campaign to appeal to Latino voters, the Libre Initiative, which is a center-right Latino organization, launched its Pennsylvania chapter at an event in Philadelphia.
The Pennsylvania primary election will be held on April 23.
