With just a little over two weeks to go in a close presidential campaign season, the last thing a candidate wants to happen is for operations in one of the key battleground states to devolve into disarray.
And yet that is exactly what is going on with Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ Pennsylvania campaign headquarters, with multiple reports spilling out this week over external and internal grumbling as well as big concerns about whether Harris has sealed the deal with Latino male voters.
As far as the ground game goes, there are worries inside and outside the Harris Pennsylvania camp that the people running it don’t know what they’re doing and are clueless about the various voting blocs and the intricacies of voters in the Keystone State:
They say some Harris aides lack relationships with key party figures, particularly in Philadelphia and its suburbs. They complain they have been left out of events and surrogates haven’t been deployed effectively. And they’ve urged Harris staff in private meetings to do more to turn out voters of color.For some Pennsylvania Democratic elected officials, party leaders and allies, 20 of whom POLITICO spoke to for this article, they’re anxious the in-state operation has set them back.
[…]And complaints about outreach to voters of color are common in Democratic politics in Pennsylvania.But this level of frustration and finger-pointing is not.
One anonymous Democrat politician in the state even told Politico that “Pennsylvania is such a mess, and it’s incredibly frustrating.”
Their worry is particularly pronounced when it comes to winning over male Latino voters, who they believe are gravitating towards Donald Trump because they supposedly don’t like the idea of a woman president:
Latino political and business leaders in Pennsylvania have privately warned the Kamala Harris campaign that it is not doing enough to engage Latino voters and elected officials in the state, imperiling her chances of defeating Donald Trump here.
At a recent reception in Philadelphia, multiple Latino leaders approached Harris staffers and campaign allies privately to deliver versions of that admonition, according to two people who attended the event and were granted anonymity to describe private conversations. And interviews with a dozen Latino Democratic elected officials and strategists in this key swing state reveal ongoing fears that Latino men, in particular, still aren’t on board with Harris
“Trump has created a macho persona, a personality that is very attractive to the Latino man, and I can say this because I am a Latino man,” alleged Victor Martinez, a prominent supporter of Harris, who owns the La Mega radio station in Allentown.
It’s gotten so bad that even Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is now running an ad touting how he is allegedly an “independent” voice, proclaiming he “sided with Trump” on NAFTA and China tariffs.
“Casey bucked Biden to protect fracking, and he sided with Trump to end NAFTA and put tariffs on China to stop them from cheating,” the ad claimed.
The 30-second spot didn’t mention Kamala Harris one time.
For her part, Harris has been aggressively “courting” so-called “disaffected” Republican voters in the state, dragging in NeverTrumpers like Adam Kinzinger in hopes of winning them over.
This will be a fight to the finish, to be sure, but it’s one that has become increasingly challenging for Kamala Harris.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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