As part of an ongoing effort to reach rural voters and the Republican Party, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign will debut a series of ads on digital platforms and radio stations in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
The ads will feature statements from 69-year-old Bob Lange, farmer in Malvern, Chester County, and a lifelong Republican who voted for former President Donald Trump twice. Lange says he now supports Harris.
There are three versions of the digital ad that will run on YouTube; one features Lange’s wife, Kristina, also a former Trump supporter who now plans to vote for Harris. Another digital ad that will target older voters focuses on Medicare.
In the radio ad, Lange says his farm has been in the family for six generations. “We’re the backbone of the economy,” he says, adding that he thought Trump “would help hard-working people” but has since come to believe that “Trump takes care of his buddies, the people who are very wealthy” and that Democrats “are the party of common sense.”
The ads will begin airing on more than 130 rural radio stations in Pennsylvania, including WFGY in Altoona, WYLE in Grove City and WIFT in DuBois. About a third of the stations are in a news/talk/sports format, and about half are in a rock/classic rock/oldies format. Twenty percent are country stations. Harris’ campaign said the stations reach more than 500,000 likely voters who don’t live in metropolitan areas around cities or suburban counties.
Harris’ campaign made a conscious effort to appeal to rural Pennsylvania voters, visiting Republican-leaning counties like Cambria and Luzerne during a Sept. 13 march through the state. The campaign also opened campaign offices in Lancaster and York, two other counties that regularly vote Republican.
