LANCASTER— With six weeks to go before the presidential election, the Harris campaign held its first in-person organizing event, aimed at recruiting Republicans in Pennsylvania’s conservative Lancaster County.
“When you have a coalition that stretches from AOC on the left to Dick Cheney on the right,” Ann Womble, co-chair of Republicans for Harris, said at an event at the Barn At Stoner Commons, “you know it’s a big tent, and you know we can find a place in that effort even if we don’t agree on all the policies.”
Womble, who served as chairman of the Lancaster County Republican Party from 2012 to 2014, is leading the Harris campaign’s efforts to recruit Republicans in Pennsylvania with former U.S. Congressman Jim Greenwood, who represented the suburban Philadelphia district from 1993 to 2005.
Greenwood called himself a “true Republican” to the 100 people in attendance Tuesday, detailing his experience in elected office as a Republican. He encouraged the audience to go out and talk to friends who are undecided about the election, saying the choice is “pretty simple.”
“This is between a guy who is mentally, morally, psychologically, intellectually unfit to be president of the United States,” Greenwood said. “And a woman who is decent, honest, who has dedicated her life to serving others and who I believe will make us happy again and lead us forward.”
Greenwood, who has said he supports every Republican presidential candidate from Richard Nixon to Mitt Romney, also said his answer to undecided Republicans who might worry that Harris “is too liberal” is that there will be Republicans in office to make sure she passes legislation with bipartisan support.
He pointed to bipartisan legislation passed under the Biden administration, including the infrastructure bill and CHIPS and Science Act.
Greenwood and Womble were joined by former Georgia Gov. Geoff Duncan, former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois and former U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock of Virginia.
Comstock said she voted for Republican candidates over Trump in past elections, but this time she is supporting Harris, who she said will “stand up to dictators” and “uphold the rule of law.”
Comstock criticized Trump’s comments during a rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania on Monday, in which the former president described himself as a “defender” of women.
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“I want a woman who understands how to protect women, not Donald Trump, who last night absurdly said, ‘I will be your defender,’” Comstock said.
Walsh, who voted for Trump in 2016, said he would like to see Comstock become president someday and Duncan become governor of Georgia.
Walsh said Harris sounded like the delayed GOP President Ronald Reagan during her speech at the Democratic National Convention. Trump, he said, “speaks badly” about the country.
Duncan said Harris would be the “steady hand” the country needs, adding that she has been “entertaining the thoughts and minds of the middle” during her campaign.
Trump campaign spokesman Kush Desai responded to news of the organizing event by telling the Capital-Star that “if so-called ‘Republicans’ are campaigning for four more years of unrestricted illegal immigration and rising prices under the leadership of Kamala Harris, then they are not Republicans and are not worth listening to.”
While the Trump campaign does not appear to have an dynamic coalition courting Democratic voters in Pennsylvania, his campaign has been endorsed by former Democrats Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.
Craig Snyder, former chief of staff to the delayed Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, who leads the “Haley Harris Voters” the coalition attended Tuesday’s event but did not deliver a speech. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is supporting Trump’s presidential campaign after ending her own, criticized the initiative to utilize her name to try to get votes for Harris.
In the 2024 Republican primary, Trump won Pennsylvania, although Haley received 158,000 votes16% statewide, despite ending her candidacy a month before the primary.
Haley won 20% of the vote in Lancaster County during the 2024 primary elections.
Womble believes some Haley voters will be swayed, telling reporters that Lancaster County is full of what she called “traditional Republicans” who aren’t particularly enthusiastic about Trump this year.
Trump won Lancaster County 20 points In 2016, he defeated Hillary Clinton and secured victory in the county for Joe Biden 16 points in 2020. However, Democrats have gained ground in recent state elections, including Democrat Josh Shapiro, who lost the county by just 1 point in his successful 2022 gubernatorial campaign.
With the election just 42 days away, Lancaster County has only one bipartisan candidate in 2024: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, who met with volunteers in the field office earlier this month.
U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (Republican of Ohio), the Republican Party’s vice presidential candidate, has not visited the county, but he was not far away on Saturday, Berks County performances at rally and an interview with conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson of Dauphin County.
Speaking to reporters after his speech, Walsh said he believed Trump’s selection of Vance as his vice presidential candidate hurt the GOP candidates’ chances among undecided independent and Republican voters.
“In my opinion, this movement would not have happened,” Walsh told reporters, “if Trump had not chosen Vance and ‘doubled down on nasty, nasty MAGA.’”
He added that Harris was “not a flaming liberal,” which he meant as a compliment.
“She’s not a crazy liberal,” he told reporters. “That’s not her, and she can’t be elected that way.”
Duncan told reporters that he thinks Harris is doing her part by raising funds and building coalitions to try to attract middle-of-the-road supporters, an apparent reference to other policy positions Harris has announced that are perceived as more moderate compared to her previous presidential campaign.
“At the end of the day, Donald Trump continues to make his life harder because he continues to pick on people like Brian Kemp, the governor of my home state, who is a great conservative and trusted by both Democrats and Republicans, continues to stick his foot in his mouth,” Duncan told reporters.
Although Kemp and Trump have publicly argued, Kemp Endorses Trump’s Candidacy for the White House, after I do not support him in the Republican Party primaries.
Kemp was in Pennsylvania on Tuesday to campaign. for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick in Delaware County.
Womble said the Harris campaign, in addition to focusing on Lancaster County, believes the four key markets where Republicans and independents can be found are Allegheny, Butler and Erie counties, the Harrisburg suburbs and the counties surrounding Philadelphia.
Harris campaign launches modern ad series in Pennsylvania on Tuesday aimed at rural and GOP voters who might not want to vote for Trump. It features farmer Bob Lange of Malvern, Chester County, a lifelong Republican who voted for Trump twice but said he would change his mind in November and vote for Harris.
Harris will be in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, while Vance is scheduled to arrive in Bucks County on Saturday.
The presidential race in the key swing state of Pennsylvania remains incredibly close, latest Marist poll showing Harris and Trump have 49% each.
