Top Democrats are getting increasingly worried about the Harris campaign operation in Pennsylvania .
Pennsylvania Democratic Party leaders, elected officials, and allies are sounding the alarm, and 20 expressed their frustrations with Politico. Most opted to remain anonymous in order to speak freely.
“I feel like we’re going to win here, but we’re going to win it in spite of the Harris state campaign,” one elected Democrat said. “Pennsylvania is such a mess, and it’s incredibly frustrating.”
A common complaint is an alleged lack of engagement with minority voters. Surrogates and local leaders allegedly aren't being effectively utilized. The situation has deteriorated to the point that the finger-pointing has begun, with Harris’s Pennsylvania campaign manager, Nikki Lu, taking much of the blame.
“I have concerns about Nikki Lu,” Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council leader Ryan Boyer said. “I don’t think she understands Philadelphia.”
“We need young African American men to come home. We need African American women ... to come out in record numbers, and disaffected African Americans,” he continued. “We have surrogates in this area that have tremendous credibility in our communities. And Nikki Lu was slow to get to them.”
Another official described Lu as "AWOL," while a Pennsylvania Democratic strategist accused her of empowering a culture in the campaign of leaving officials feeling unengaged and disrespected.
Former Philadelphia City Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez expressed her concern that the scientific, data-driven focus of modern campaigns is missing the essential human element.
“Part of this is that politics has gotten so scientific around door-knocking and connecting that they forget, culturally, Latinos like just noise,” she said.
Another element is regional tension — Lu is from Pittsburgh, while much of the bitterness comes from Philadelphia.
Philadelphia City Councilwoman Kendra Brooks revealed this tension after complaining of “folks coming into Philadelphia that are making assumptions about what needs to happen in Philadelphia and not necessarily having the relationships to move Philadelphia politics.”
Harris national campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez defended the campaign's work in Pennsylvania: “Our campaign is running the largest and most sophisticated operation in Pennsylvania history.”
“We have 50 coordinated offices and nearly 400 staff on the ground," she said. "We invested in targeted advertising to black and Latino voters starting in August of 2023, and we have now spent more than any previous presidential campaign on outreach to these communities. … We are leaving no stone unturned.”
Lu was a key figure in President Joe Biden's 2020 Pennsylvania campaign, earning a spot in Biden's Department of Labor. She was then boosted to Biden's state campaign manager in 2024. After Biden dropped out in July, she switched over to help run Harris's campaign.
Trump and Harris are neck and neck in the largest swing state, with a massive effort being undertaken in the state. The two spent more than $500 million on TV ad spending and reservations, making it the most expensive state race in the country.
In September, Sen. John Fetterman (R-PA) voiced alarm over Democratic chances in Pennsylvania, saying that Trump has a "special kind of a hold" on Pennsylvania.
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“Trump has created a special kind of a hold … and he’s remade the party, and he has a special kind of place in Pennsylvania,” Fetterman said. “And I think that only deepened after that first assassination attempt.”
“I also want people to understand, you know, and it’s not science, but there’s energy and there’s kinds of anger on the ground in Pennsylvania, and people are very committed,” he added. “Trump is going to be strong, and … we have to respect that.”
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