Harris Campaign Tackles Doug Emhoff to Mobilize Pennsylvania Voters

During a meeting with Harris campaign volunteers in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Emhoff slammed Trump for his comments on Truth Social in which he threatened to prosecute those who “cheated” in the 2020 election, including sentencing them to “lengthy prison sentences to ensure this miscarriage of justice does not happen again.”

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On Sunday, Emhoff slammed Trump’s comments, calling them “unbalanced.”

Trump “is literally still lying about the 2020 election, he’s already complaining about the 2024 election, and he’s literally threatening jail time for anyone who gets in his way,” Emhoff said. “He just wrote that. That was last night. That’s unstable. That’s un-American. And you know what? We’re not afraid. We’re not going to be intimidated.”

Emhoff also implored the crowd to register to vote by the Oct. 21 deadline and vote early, starting Sept. 16, in the battle for the Keystone State, the most important battleground state this election cycle. “How do we win this election?” Emhoff asked. “Vote!” the crowd responded.

“First of all, everyone has to register. I know it’s common sense, but we have a lot of new voters,” he continued. “We have a lot of people, so make sure you know exactly what the rules are here.”

In his campaign appearances, Emhoff repeated themes from Harris’ campaign, including attacking Trump on reproductive rights, linking him to the 2025 Project and praising the vice president’s new proposals to help small business owners.

He did not speak about his Jewish faith after Hamas murdered six American Jews who were taken hostage in the October 7 terrorist attacks.

As of 2021, a majority of Pennsylvania’s Jewish electorate, 67%, lean Democratic or are Democrats. But after Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA), who is Jewish, was snubbed as Harris’ vice presidential running mate, some Democrats were undeterred and welcomed Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) joining the vice presidential campaign.

The day before, Emhoff appeared in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to boost morale and turnout among the Latino community, which has grown 40% in the past 14 years.

Emhoff’s two events were part of nearly 500 events the Harris campaign held across Pennsylvania over the weekend, reaching thousands of voters through canvassing, phone campaigns and other get-out-the-vote initiatives with Democratic allies.

At the Norristown event, Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), Madeleine Dean (D-PA) and Ted Lieu (D-CA) were among the speakers who addressed the crowd before the second gentleman.

Winning the Keystone State and its 19 electoral votes in November would likely secure the White House for Harris, who is currently in Pittsburgh preparing for Tuesday’s onstage showdown with Trump.

Her supporters in Pennsylvania are confident she can win the state election, though polls indicate the race will be tight.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Pennsylvania in terms of politics in the last election, it’s that it’s a really tough state,” said Daniel Veres, a 31-year-old resident of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. “So I believe that Pennsylvania can win because at the end of the day, we have the workers in Pittsburgh who know what it’s like to work. And we have the people in the City of Brotherly Love who are for change. So I just see it as a state that can’t stray from what it’s historically known for.”

In 2016, Trump won the state by a narrow margin of more than 44,000 votes, but four years later President Joe Biden won the state by more than 80,000 votes.

Harris hopes to continue Democrats’ dominant streak in the state by mobilizing voters who don’t want another four years of Trump.

“There’s a good chance she’ll win again. And that motivated me to get off my ass and do whatever I could to help the Harris-Walz campaign win,” said Kassel Coover, a 42-year-old Chester County resident and marketing specialist who is campaigning for Harris for the first time.

Coover’s husband is a Republican and voted for Trump in 2016 but did not vote for Trump or Biden in 2020. “I think he might vote to upset me, to cancel my vote,” Coover said of the 2024 cycle. “So I have to go out and make sure a lot more people vote if he’s going to cancel my vote.”

Being in a mixed-race relationship has helped Coover be “more empathetic” as she campaigns in the state. “I understand because they’re looking for someone to help them. I’m looking for someone to help me, and I believe that’s Kamala Harris,” she said.

Caroline Bradley, a 46-year-old marketing specialist also from Chester County, began campaigning for Democrats in 2016 after being called a racial slur, prompting her to change her views and support Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Bradley, who is already a seasoned campaign volunteer, is taking friends like Coover along with him in hopes of boosting turnout among Democrats in Pennsylvania.

“I don’t think Chester County just has to win the election. We have to win the election by 100,000 plus votes,” Bradley said. “Montgomery County has to win by 100,000 plus votes. Every collar county. If we can do that, we’ll get rid of the red in the middle.”

Bradley was referring to Philadelphia’s collar counties, which include Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware counties. The leftward tilt of those collar counties in 2020 helped flip the state to Biden, while Trump had more success in the northern and central parts of the state, known as the “T.”

Harris’ campaign has repeatedly boasted of its advantage in the field over Trump’s. Just last week, the campaign opened its 50th field office and has more than 350 employees, while a Trump campaign official said Washington Examiner the day before they had over twenty offices in the Keystone State.

Of those 50 field offices, 16 are in rural counties where Trump won by double digits in 2020. One of those offices is in Jefferson County, where Trump won by 79%, and another office is in Blair County, where Trump won by more than 71%.

The campaign also targeted the more than 157,000 Republicans who voted for Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in the GOP primary earlier this year. Many of Haley’s best-performing counties were in the collar counties, as well as Lancaster County and flagship Erie County.

Republican Party officials, recognizing Pennsylvania’s importance to winning the White House, have sent their own Trump Force 47 volunteers to campaign throughout the state and have earmarked millions of dollars for future advertising in the state, though not as much as pro-Democratic groups.

Trump and his vice presidential nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), have also visited the Keystone State multiple times, hoping to block Harris from getting to the White House.

Still, Harris’ campaign is emphasizing that she is the “underdog” in the race, hoping to convince voters not to assume Harris is automatically a sure thing.

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“I think Harris has more momentum and is really growing and developing. And I think when push comes to shove, Pennsylvanians will do what’s right,” said Emily Pugliese, a 43-year-old Philadelphia resident and policy expert for an environmental nonprofit.

“I’m very optimistic about this whole thing. I’m very excited. But for me, it’s not over until it’s over,” Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro said on a Zoom call to raise money for Harris’ campaign. “So we can’t think for a second that we’re ahead of this. We have to be in this all the way to the end because, you know, they’re going to try anything.”