Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes, making it the biggest battleground state in the U.S. presidential election to decide who will win. Erie County in Pennsylvania has been a key indicator in the past four presidential elections, consistently voting for the eventual winner of the presidency. In the 2024 election, both the Trump and Harris campaigns have invested heavily in this county to engage in a fierce battle.
According to Reuters, former President Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, has set up his campaign headquarters in Erie County, Pennsylvania, in a small office on a commercial street.
Two Republican staff members in Erie County are leading the volunteer network called “Trump Force 47” to mobilize voters.
A few miles away in downtown Erie, the Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Harris’ campaign team, comprising paid staff and volunteers, is busy making phone calls and conducting campaign activities. They have set up three offices in Erie County with eight paid staff members and over 300 volunteers.
Marie Troyer, a 60-year-old retired teacher, works for Harris’ campaign team in Erie County, handling phone calls and managing volunteers. She told Reuters, “This city and this state can ultimately decide who the president is, and they know it.”
Erie County, with 177,000 registered voters, is a blue-collar area and a must-win county in a must-win state in U.S. election history. In the 2020 election, Biden won Erie County by less than 1.03 percentage points. Trump had won Erie County in 2016 by less than 2,000 votes against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
With less than four weeks until the November 5th presidential election, Harris’ campaign team is using its substantial cash advantage to build a massive ground game to mobilize supporters and find new voters, while Trump’s team focuses on identifying infrequent voters and pushing them to register and vote.
Federal financial disclosures show that Harris and the Democratic Party raised $361 million in August, while Trump and the Republican Party raised $130 million. Additionally, Harris’ campaign spending in August was nearly three times that of Trump’s.
Approximately 40 supporters, campaign staff, volunteers, and voters interviewed by Reuters noted that the ground advantage of Harris’ campaign team in Erie County will test whether physical campaign activities still work effectively, as much of the election is now conducted online.
Chris Borick, a polling expert and political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, stated, “Trump and his team seem to be relying on his personal influence.”
“Biden and the Democratic Party are investing deeply in traditional ground campaigning here, so this election will be a test of vastly different strategies,” Borick added.
Volunteers and voters described the increasing intensity of the campaign activities from both presidential candidates, including digital and TV ads, robocalls, texting, and door-knocking operations, reflecting the escalating tension of the election.
Erin Miller, a 38-year-old bartender and mother of six, recently moved from Colorado to Pennsylvania and has been bombarded with emails, calls, and texts. She is a sought-after voter by both campaigns.
According to local officials and volunteers, while Harris’ campaign team has a ground advantage, they are finding it challenging to mobilize black male voters in Erie City, where roughly 16% of the population is black.
Howard Pratchett, a 48-year-old barber, plans to vote for Trump, believing Trump is more focused on facts than Harris. He expressed that the Democratic party has not offered anything to heterosexual black male voters.
Monty Davis, a 51-year-old in charge of a local youth project, praises President Biden’s efforts to reduce costs and plans to vote for Harris. However, he warned that the enthusiasm of the black community in Erie County for the Democratic Party is not as high as it was for past presidents like Obama or Biden.
Davis said, “It’s just not as intense.”
Harris is set to visit Erie County on October 14th, with her vice presidential running mate, Tim Walz, having visited in September.
Since Trump became the Republican political leader in 2015, the Democratic Party’s voter registration advantage in Erie County and Pennsylvania as a whole has significantly decreased.
In 2015, the Democratic Party had about a 33,000-voter registration advantage in Erie County, but based on current county election records, this number has decreased to 10,000.
Pennsylvania voter data shows that the Democratic Party now holds a registration advantage of about 338,400 voters over the Republican Party statewide, lower than the 892,624-voter registration advantage the Democratic Party had over the Republican Party in 2016.
Sam Talerico, the Democratic Party chairman in Erie County, acknowledged that the sharp increase in Republican voter registrations was unwelcome news for them.
He said, “We certainly don’t want to see those registration numbers close; that’s bad news. The good news is I still think we have an advantage with independent voters turning our way, and that’s having an impact.”
Like in other swing states, the Trump campaign relies on funding from well-endowed outside groups such as Elon Musk’s “America PAC” and a loose network of supporters and volunteers to mobilize voters.
Tom Eddy, the Republican Party chairman in Erie County, stated that the two paid staff members of the Trump campaign in the county oversee campaign activities in two other counties.
The Trump campaign and local Republicans declined to reveal the number of volunteers they have in Erie County, but local officials admitted they have fewer than the Democrats.
Republicans are banking on Trump’s frequent visits – hosting five rallies in three campaign events in Erie County, including two visits. Large rallies provide an opportunity to mobilize a large number of voters, as organizers can collect contact information and push for voter registration and turnout.
Volunteers of “Trump Force 47” network knock on doors of infrequent voters to determine their voting plans and preferences. Volunteers who knock on many doors can receive rewards such as hats and sweaters.
Justin Berkheimer, a 39-year-old volunteer working for a group assisting individuals with disabilities, said, “We’re not looking to persuade anyone. The more important thing is to ensure those already inclined to vote for Trump actually go out and vote.”
Volunteers noted that the intensity of the battle for Erie County between the Trump and Harris campaigns could escalate into confrontations and fierce battles.
Several die-hard Trump supporters told Reuters that they would face threats if they openly expressed their support for Trump.
Patrick Fuller, a 50-year-old credit union employee, said he knocked on doors for Trump over 2,000 times this year during the campaign but chose not to wear his red MAGA hat to avoid confrontations with anti-Trump individuals.
Fuller said, “Many people are afraid to participate because they’re worried someone will curse them or threaten them.”
Several Republican volunteers mentioned incidents where their cars with pro-Trump stickers were spat on.
Democrats in Erie County stated that they have also encountered tensions when setting up campaign offices in rural areas. Trump won 72% of the vote in Erie’s rural areas in 2020.
Kelly Chelton, a 62-year-old volunteer, described an incident where a man approached a Democratic volunteer in anger over the volunteer holding a sign that read “Christians against Trump.”
“He came here ready to fight, he questioned, ‘How do you know Trump’s not a Christian,’ and he got all worked up,” Chelton said, adding that the county government later installed security cameras.