Trying to Find Trump's Ground Game in Pennsylvania

Four and eight years ago, there was a major Republican get-out-the-vote effort. This time is different.

by Ryan Cooper October 24, 2024

WILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA – My hometown in Northeast Pennsylvania is about as close to the epicenter of the 2024 presidential election as you can get. This is one of the swingiest regions in the most important swing state. As a result, every day my mailbox is stuffed with political mailers, my phone is ringing off the hook, and every day I get probably 20 or 30 text messages from campaigns, pollsters, and groups begging me to return my mail-in ballot NOW. (I will get around to it very soon, I promise.)

The ground game is a different story. While I have gotten entire forests’ worth of conservative mailers, especially from local GOP Assembly candidate Dino Disler, I have only been door-knocked by liberals—four times and counting, at the time of writing—twice from the Harris campaign, and twice from the Progressive Turnout Project.

The lack of Republicans canvassing me could be because I’m in their databases as a reliable Democrat. But if so, why am I getting so many conservative mailers? Furthermore, as I’ve walked and driven around town, it’s clear that Wilkes-Barre is simply crawling with liberal canvassers, who can be identified by their Harris-Walz merch, particularly the amusing camouflage hats. Even Christine Baranski, the Emmy Award-winning actress from The Good Wife and The Gilded Age, is knocking on doors in Wilkes-Barre, apparently to get out the Polish American vote (which is plentiful!).

But I have not seen a single Trump canvasser anywhere. The only conservative activist I’ve seen was what appeared to be a middle-school age kid in a Trump costume sitting in the road median near a beer store waving some flags. (Alas, I neglected to get an interview, as I had other pressing business, and have not been able to find him again.)

Continued https://prospect.org/politics/2024-10-24-trump-ground-game-pennsylvania/