As the dust from the 2024 election settles and both political parties look to the future, the PA Farm Show offered some insights into what Democrats and Republicans in Pennsylvania are thinking.
US Senator John Fetterman, member of the US Senate Committee on Agriculture, nutrition and forestrydelivered the keynote speech at Saturday’s Penn Ag Democrats meeting, while Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who just won a second term, headlined the annual Republican meeting on Monday.
Mike Firestine, chairman of the PA Ag Republican Party, said the GOP “couldn’t have had a better election.” In Pennsylvania, that meant shifting Republican Party offices, adding two members to the U.S. House of Representatives and changing one of the state’s Senate seats.
“I’m not going to stand here and lecture … we all know what happened,” Fetterman told Democrats.
Garrity, a Bradford County resident, spent most of her speech highlighting the work done by the treasurer’s office during her first term, but also discussed the latest election results.
“I’ve done it five times now, I’ve been to all 67 counties, and that’s why I wasn’t really surprised when Donald Trump won because everywhere I went felt like 2016,” Garrity said. “It wasn’t as much as 2020.”
Firestine called Garrity, who received more votes than any other candidate in Pennsylvania history, “our poster child.” Garrity during his campaign tried to take back previous statements she kept saying that “we know” Trump won in 2020.
Fetterman, wearing his usual hoodie and shorts, called rural Democrats experts and unsung heroes of the party “who lived it,” noting that many of them understood how Donald Trump would fare in rural areas.
“You live in parts of Pennsylvania that understand that Trump is going to be strong and understand why we didn’t get the result we expected,” Fetterman said. – You probably have a better idea about it.
Garrity pointed to U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick’s victory over three-term Democrat Bob Casey, calling it “fantastic.”
“When I worked in Washington, there was optimism everywhere, which was a refreshing change from the last four years,” Garrity said. She added that she was in Washington on Friday to celebrate McCormick’s inauguration.
“So we have a fresh president who knows how to get the job done, even though they are throwing everything against the wall to make it challenging for him when he takes office. But I’m not worried, I’m not worried at all that he’s going to make it,” Garrity said.
Firestine, highlighting Trump’s victory, said the places he visited during the campaign made a difference, but he also touted that the ads they ran had a positive impact on increasing the vote among Amish and Mennonites in Pennsylvania.
“I can report that we spent a lot of money on this year’s elections,” Firestine said. “We placed a few ads on Lancaster Farming News and they were excellent ads that we put together. I have never received more ad calls than ever before. I mean, they got everyone’s attention and I really think that helped the election.”
Todd Zimmerman, chairman of the Schuylkill County Democratic Committee, said the national Democratic Party should have a indefinite field organizer in every congressional district in every battleground state and also called on the party to organize bus tours through the heartland.
Others present said Democrats should focus more on rural Pennsylvania and suggested the party utilize billboards promoting a phone number so they can call and “get the facts” about the party.
A day after formally becoming a ranking member of the U.S. Democrats House Committee on AgricultureU.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) also spoke at the Democratic rally during the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
Craig outlined a roadmap for how Democrats can once again “win the hearts and minds of rural communities across the country.”
“Guys, it’s hard, but it’s not that hard. We have to show up. We need to shut up and listen to people again as Democrats and what they care about and what’s important to their lives,” Craig said.
Craig said she represents one of the most evenly divided congressional districts in the country. She said she secured another term in the House of Representatives in part because of improved performance in rural communities in her district.
“We don’t have to win in rural communities,” Craig said. “We have to lose by a smaller margin.”
Craig promised those in attendance that Democrats would “return the national agriculture circuit,” including appearances on Farm Radio, Fox News and podcasts where those communities are located, to applause from attendees.
“We have to go where they are,” Craig said. “And for God’s sake, this administration will give us plenty of opportunities to point out the flaws in policy.”
While both sides discussed the importance of passing the farm bill, they differed on what they thought it would look like.
“I hope that with GT at the helm and working with our new president, we will pass a good farm bill,” Garrity said, referring to U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-15th District).
Fetterman expressed hope that the farm bill would be completed in the previous session of Congress, but he wasn’t surprised it didn’t happen.
“So now they have the majority and it’s going to change a lot, am I wrong?” Fetterman said. “There may be a lot of things that I don’t support, otherwise I’ll be sad when I see some of those things, but my values won’t change.”
“But I will try to make sure there is something to work on together,” he added.
Craig and Thompson who we spent Saturday together at the Pennsylvania Farm Show for a listening session, will play a significant role in negotiations over the next Farm Bill. She told participants that if Republicans want a farm bill with a four-seat majority, “it’s going to have to be a bipartisan farm bill.”
Craig said the loss of U.S. Reps. Matt Cartwright and Susan Wild was “devastating” for the House Democratic caucus, who lost in November.
One brilliant spot for Pennsylvania Democrats in the 2024 election occurred in rural Cambria County, where state Republican Frank Burns (72nd District D) won re-election, helping the party maintain a one-seat majority in the state house, as Pennsylvania mentioned Democratic Party Chairman Sharif Street at a meeting.
