Just a few hours before officially emerging as the victor in the 2024 presidential election, President-elect Donald Trump captured the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania – ending any chance for his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, to take over the White House.
Trump maintained a lead of just over two percentage points as of 2:00 a.m. ET, with 95 percent of jurisdictions reporting. Trump ended up getting 3,338,581 votes over Harris' 2,083,454, or 50.7 percent over the Democratic candidate's 48.4 percent, with 97 percent of jurisdictions reporting.
Victory in the Keystone State was critical for both campaigns heading into Election Day, with its 19 electoral votes making it the biggest prize of the battleground states. This is the main reason why both Trump and Harris prioritized it during the campaign. In fact, the two made dozens of appearances in the state in the months leading up to the election. (Related: Election night updates from the Health Ranger: Trump achieves VICTORY as Pennsylvania is won – but will Dems STEAL it back in the early morning hours?)
Trump won the state in 2016 and this marks the second time he took over Pennsylvania. Before that, the last Republican presidential candidate to succeed in the state was former President George H.W. Bush in 1988. The Democrats hoped they had rebuilt the so-called "Blue Wall" in the Rust Belt after President Joe Biden won the state back in 2020.
For people in the state, which has been hit hard by inflation, Trump is the candidate best equipped to handle the economy. The 47th POTUS has touted his tariffs and mass deportation plans as he criticized Harris over her shifting positions on fracking, a key political issue in the state because of its influential natural gas industry.
Meanwhile, Harris was said to have been courting Independents and moderate Republicans before the election. She insisted that she would protect women's reproductive rights and democracy from what her campaign calls Trump's "unhinged, unstable and unchecked pursuit of power."
Trump survived an assassination attempt in July at a rally held in Butler, during which a gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop just a few minutes after he took the stage. His ear was grazed by a bullet. The shooting incident caused multiple attendees to be injured. An attendee was even killed. Trump returned to the site in October for a major rally with high-profile guests and allies.
Proving that Pennsylvania is the most crucial swing state, political luminaries and famous celebrities such as Big Tech billionaire Elon Musk and media mogul Mark Cuban went to Pittsburgh in the waning days of the race.
"Campaign notifications bombard phones, partisan ads dominate the TV and digital billboards glow with red-and-blue 'TRUMP' displays or black-and-white testimonials from Republicans pledging to vote Harris this time," a Wall Street Journal report indicated.
Locals support Trump as they believe Harris would just lead America into World War III
Will Austin, 43, a former postal worker started supporting Trump when the former president withdrew troops from Syria in 2019, as his son was aboard the USS Essex headed there.
Back in August, he drove from Jefferson City, Missouri, and moved into a Holiday Inn Express in Pennsylvania. From then on, he has worked with the county Republication Party and Early Vote Action, which registers and turns out voters.
"I told them straight up I'll do anything you need me to," said Austin, who is largely paying his own way, including $84 a day for his hotel room.
Days prior to the election, he joined forces with about 50 other canvassers from Texas, California and other states for a briefing at a local DoubleTree before dispersing across the county. Rick Potter, national chairman of the Mighty American Strike Force, another group marshaling votes for Trump, dispensed advice: be neighborly, mind the dogs, ring doorbells only once and most importantly, curtail conversations on Steelers game day.
Another organizer said those completing 100 voter interviews would be invited to a December dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida home.
A local volunteer distributed cookies bearing Trump's face. She elicited cheers when announcing the results of Oakmont Bakery's informal poll, 21,000 Trump cookies sold, outpacing 6,000 Harris cookies in that suburb.
Erica Morgan, 42, a fourth-generation Pittsburgher whose family once worked at the Jones and Laughlin steel company, was home tending to a sick son. A former John Kerry supporter who cried at his 2004 loss, she now backs Trump.
"If Kamala wins, it's going to be World War III," Morgan said. "If Trump wins, we're going to be able to afford groceries."
Head over to Trump.news to read stories related to the president-elect's victorious journey back to the White House.
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