In a park in northern York County, Pa., where rural farmland bangs into new suburban construction, busloads of Democratic canvassers on Saturday were preparing to knock on doors in a region where not long ago, their voters scarcely existed.
Among the fired-up faithful, the watchword for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential ambitions was hope.
“As tight as the race is, as ugly as it’s gotten, I do have hope,” Stephanie Cramer, a 53-year-old York County native and former teacher, said as she was heading out for another day of canvassing.
Thirty-four miles to the north, at a “tailgate” party in the back room of Arooga’s Grille House near Hershey, Representative Scott Perry, a close ally of Donald J. Trump, was more than just hopeful about the former president’s chances of winning, especially in the biggest, most important swing state of the 2024 campaign.
“The vice president’s campaign is in free fall,” he pronounced, as Penn State scored an early touchdown against Ohio State and the Republican crowd cheered, with one eye on the congressman, the other on the big screens.
“They’re abandoning states like Arizona and Nevada,” he continued, which is not true. “They’re trying to shore up whatever is left of this ‘blue wall,’ but it’s going to crumble in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night.”
