Joe Biden's connection to his hometown of Scranton is so strong that he continues to return to the childhood home where he spent his first decade.
But neighbors on the block are nervous that Kamala Harris doesn't have what it takes to win over residents of the president's beloved home state of Pennsylvania.
The Keystone State and its 19 electoral college votes could determine the outcome of the general election and have been the focal point of both campaigns in recent weeks.
“People like me have more of a connection with him than with her, even though he supports her,” said Jamie Hayes, 73, a retired college student who watched the race from a neighbor’s porch, just yards from the house where Biden forged. lifetime titles.
'So I'm behind her and I'm certainly against the other side. But I think any help they can get in Pennsylvania would be a good thing, because we know it's critical. And Trump too,” she added, saying Biden could provide a needed “boost.”
Jamie Hayes, 73, speaking just a few doors down from Joe Biden's childhood home, said the election situation was “scary” for her. Harris supporter says she has more of a connection to Biden, and that the president should spend more time in his former stronghold to boost her
Hayes was there as residents crowded around Biden during his latest visit to the former Green Ridge neighborhood as part of a campaign reset.
Biden said at the time that he looked at the economy “through the eyes of Scranton,” not the eyes of Mar-a-Lago. He also came on Election Day 2020.
Hayes worries that after a turbulent debate, the hurricanes and war in Israel are putting Harris in a precarious position with voters. “It's definitely scary for me,” she says.
Having worked with young students, she says Democrats may need to turn to celebrity support like Taylor Swift to motivate voters. “I know the impact it has, but this is what they’re going to need to do,” she said.
At Hank's Hoagies, a Biden favorite just steps from his former home, retired software engineer Deanne Loftus called Biden's decision to back off “selfless” and said Harris has his vote.
She just has a feeling Harris might prevail. 'I think so. I’m worried about the Senate race,” she says, pointing to the candidacy of Sen. Bob Casey, a Scranton native who grew up just a few blocks away.
It's not just the sandwiches and old memories that keep Biden coming back. 'Scranton rises in your heart. There's no way to take it off, even if I wanted to. I don’t,” the president said days ago in his eulogy for childhood friend Tommy Bell at St. Paul Catholic Church, where he worshiped as a child.
It's a potential well of Democratic support surrounded by rural areas where Trump has been making inroads in a state that Biden took from him in 2020. Biden beat Trump in Lackawanna County that year, prevailing by 9,000 votes and winning 54 to 45. Scranton has a population of around 75,000 inhabitants.
'If we win Pennsylvania, we win everything. It’s over — the whole thing,” Trump said during his trip to the state for two rallies on Wednesday, including one in Scranton that drew a few thousand people.
Leading political experts agree. Pennsylvania, due to its 19 electoral votes, the closeness of the polls and the way it is oscillating between Trump and Biden, is the most contested state in the country. For Harris, it is the most worrying section of the “blue wall.”
One of the Trump voters in Biden's neighborhood is John, a Scranton firefighter and union organizer who declined to reveal his middle name and who stands by the former president after previously voting for Barack Obama. (The International Firefighters Union was the first to support Biden in 2020 and has not made any endorsements this year.)
“When he was there the first time, the economy was good. I know some of this can be attributed to Barack Obama before him. But I like his hard-line stance on both domestic foreign policy and promoting economic growth here in the United States, he says as he walks his Dachshund past Biden's former home.
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President Joe Biden revisited his childhood home in Scranton in April as he sought re-election. Now neighborhood voters worry about whether Kamala Harris can win the state he won
'Scranton rises in your heart. There's no way to get it out,' Biden said in a recent eulogy in his childhood hometown.
Deanne Loftus says that after buying giant sandwiches at Biden's sandwich shop, Kamala Harris will likely pull out a victory. She fears for the state's Democratic senator, Bob Casey
Mia Scotti attends Marywood Catholic University, just steps from Biden's childhood home. She's getting ready to cast her first vote for Donald Trump
Freshman Baden Hancock Trusts Trump on Economy as He Eyes New Mazda Sports Car
Dave Castellani, a self-described right-wing Republican, voted for Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania. He called Trump a threat to the Constitution
Biden spent a decade at the North Washington Street home and still visits from time to time
'If we win Pennsylvania, we win everything. It’s over – everything,” Trump said in Pennsylvania on Wednesday
Just steps up a hill from Biden's childhood home is Marywood University, a Catholic institution where some students earned extra credits by registering to vote.
Mia Scotti says she will vote for Trump for the first time. “I feel like he has more of a voice and he’s done this before,” she said during a break from studying in the school’s education program.
Baden Hancock, a freshman studying math, is also preparing to vote for Trump for the first time, after earning five extra points in his Psychology class after registering. The golf enthusiast hopes to save up enough money to buy a new Maza sports car.
“Maybe I agree with him,” he says of Trump. 'I just want a better economy.' As for Harris, 'I don't think she's as strong as Trump. I think she would just like to be a weaker candidate, I think Trump, I know he's going to do what he says he's going to do.
Biden hasn't lived in the Green Ridge neighborhood since 1952. But there's another real Biden street in Scranton — renamed after he was elected in the struggling downtown. (There is also a Biden Expressway with big green signage that takes drivers off Pennsylvania Highway 307).
As in many industrial centers, there are signs of economic trouble on Biden Street, which is filled with empty businesses — including one on a prominent corner decorated with Trump signs.
But here, Harris has already gotten exactly the kind of vote she needs if she wants to carry the state into a Lackawanna County government center, located just a few doors down from Biden Street.
Dave Castellani, a self-described right-wing Republican and retired Proctor & Gamble employee, had just dropped his vote for Harris on Wednesday.
Asked how he feels after his vote, he replied: 'That's questionable.'
'You have to look at the worse of the two evils,' he continued,
'You know, you might not think that Harris is the greatest, that he's going to be the greatest president, but then you look at Trump and you have to make a decision whether you're going to stick with the Constitution or whether you're going to 'let's look at someone who wants to try to be the Whatever it is – he wants to be someone who is like Putin,' he says after handing over his ballot.
“He has a huge following, so it’s like a cult situation. I mean, you look at his vice president, every person who worked with him said he shouldn't be in office. He is a danger to the Constitution, to the American way of life. And I believe that,” said Castellani, who voted for Trump in 2016.
“At that time, I thought it was possible he was a different kind of person,” he said.
