Though it was billed as a Pittsburgh kickoff bus tour on the eve of the Democratic National Convention , presidential candidate Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz instead spent Sunday afternoon in Beaver County in tightly controlled stops before heading to Chicago .
Harris held a short rally at a private airport hangar surrounded by supporters, mostly members of local unions who were bused in for the event, before she headed off to two retail stops and a phone bank.
She finished the day at a local Sheetz gas station, which was ironic at least and arguably hypocritical considering that Harris’s administration sued Sheetz in April. The ludicrous suit claims that merely by conducting criminal background checks on job applicants, the company was practicing racial discrimination.
Beaver County is located to the west of Allegheny County, adjacent to the airport. It was once a powerful component of the Democratic Party, filled with union families who worked at the steel mills in Aliquippa and Ambridge. But as the Democratic Party shifted leftward, the voters moved toward the Republican Party. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump won the county over Joe Biden by nearly 20 percentage points.
While some local Democrats thought the move was strategic to show she was attempting to expand her universe, others were more cynical, citing the tight control of who attended her planned events and the risk she would take doing an event in Pittsburgh, where she might face a pro-Hamas contingent in her party that has become very politically vocal there.
Late last week, that movement, spearheaded by the Pittsburgh Democratic Socialists of America, came to a head. The Democratic Socialists of America’s Pittsburgh chapter submitted a petition to the city for a proposed ballot question this November that would ban Pittsburgh from doing business with companies that have financial ties to Israel. The petition spurred accusations of antisemitism and placed Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey on the hot seat.
Gainey’s initial reaction was a concern that the ban would grind to a halt the city’s ability to deliver services. Gainey did not, however, ever publicly object to the ballot question. When the ballot petitions were handed in last week, it was discovered over a dozen employees within Gainey’s administration, including Communications Director Maria Montaño, had signed the petition. Within days, Montaño stepped down from her position.
Since Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel last Oct. 7, the city has become a hotbed of pro-Palestinian protests, including an encampment that was set up on the grounds of the University of Pittsburgh. The city has also become a hotbed of vandalism to synagogues, Jewish-owned businesses, and the homes of Jewish residents in the city neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, where the massacre of 11 congregants at the Tree of Life synagogue occurred six years ago.
Several longtime Democratic strategists in Pennsylvania believe Harris avoided Pittsburgh for any of her stops and stuck close to the airport so she could avoid the possibility that protesters would interrupt her tour in the important battleground state of Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, many supporters of Harris expressed disappointment in not being able to find a way to see her when she was in Beaver County.
The details of her event were kept under lock and key until her arrival. Given the distance of Beaver County to Pittsburgh, it was difficult for supporters to get there in enough time to see her.
Harris was greeted by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-PA) and Summer Lee (D-PA), and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato at the airport, where two Harris-Walz buses were parked.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
She greeted her invited supporters by walking in to the sound of her campaign song, “Freedom,” by Beyoncé.
A new Emerson College Polling-Real Clear Pennsylvania survey found 49% of voters support Trump and 48% support Harris for president in the Keystone State. With undecided voters’ support allocated, Trump extends to a 2-point lead, 51% to 49%. With third-party candidates on the ballot, 47% support both Trump and Harris, respectively, while 3% support Robert F. Kennedy Jr. No other candidates received more than three-tenths of a percent.
Local News
