BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. — Some Pennsylvania Democrats are freaking out over what they say is a lackluster field operation across the state by Vice President Kamala Harris, which one characterizes as “grossly incompetent” ahead of Election Day.
“Compared to past presidential campaigns, the Harris PA campaign has been dysfunctional and, frankly, incompetent. They’re grossly incompetent,” a senior Pennsylvania Democrat, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, told Raw Story this week. “Really simple stuff that they've just dropped the ball on — a ton of stuff. And so everyone — literally every Pennsylvania Democrat I know — is complaining about the incompetence of the people running the Harrisburg, PA operation.”
Other Pennsylvania Democratic politicians and operatives echoed similar concerns to Raw Story, even as many say this year’s down-ticket races are going so well that they may be able to help the Harris campaign.
An example of the “incompetence” offered by one veteran Pennsylvania Democrat is when the Harris campaign sent two busloads of Chinese-speaking New Yorkers to a Black neighborhood in Philadelphia.
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“And they sent the canvassers who speak Chinese, not to neighborhoods where there would be large Chinese speaking citizens, but instead sent them to North Philly,” they said.
They said the Harris campaign has also been unnecessarily ruffling feathers, like when former Rep. Bob Brady, chair of Philadelphia’s Democratic Party for the past 35 years, wasn’t invited to Harris’ vice presidential rollout after Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) was announced back in August.
Rumor is, Brady’s been “pissed” since.
“Brady hasn't stopped b—ing about that since it happened,” Raw Story was told. “You didn’t hear that from me, but it’s 100% the case, though.”
Brady confirmed to Raw Story that there was a slight oversight, but he denies the rumors swirling around Democratic circles.
“I wouldn’t wait in line two hours for anybody,” Brady told Raw Story this week. “No chance. That’s not true.”
Neither the Harris-Walz headquarters in Harrisburg, PA, nor the Harris headquarters in Wilmington, DE, disputed the accounts Raw Story sent them.
But Brady tells the story this way:
“There was an event somewhere that I wasn't invited to for a moment, and then 90 people called me begging me to come. There was a mistake or something. Just some stupid event. No big deal,” Brady said. “Somebody was supposed to call me personally — they don’t send me an email or text — and they thought that I was getting a text from somewhere. And it wasn't a big deal, but once they found out the day before, they went crazy — 19 phone calls apologizing, ‘my mistake,’ ‘my mistake’ — no disrespect at all.”
Fears and accusations of incompetence aside, from his vantage point in Philadelphia, Brady says the Harris campaign has been putting in the necessary work on the ground. He’s even meeting President Joe Biden on the tarmac Friday before they rally the local sprinkler fitters union. But Philadelphia Democrats started this year’s contest with a handicap. There’s been a hole in the local Philadelphia organizing since former Philadelphia labor leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty was sentenced to six years in prison for embezzlement this summer.
But Brady denies Philadelphia’s Democratic get-out-the-vote machine has suffered, partly because the indictment first came down in 2019.
“Johnny Doc was a very, very, very small part. He didn't do much anyway. There isn’t that many electricians out there. They didn't do that much. The sheet metalers do more than Johnny Doc ever did. The carpenters do 10 times as much as Johnny,” Brady said. “But you listen to Johnny Doc, he did it all. And he’s my buddy, don't get me wrong. But there's no lull there.”
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When asked about the accusations of incompetence in their statewide operation here, the Harris campaign sent Raw Story data on its expansive get-out-the-vote effort. Since Harris entered the race, the Pennsylvania operation has had more than 110,000 volunteers knock on close to 2 million doors — “including more than 700,000 in just the last week."
The Harris team also says they’re using “principal, surrogate, and community events to engage voters, gather their information, and mobilize them to volunteer for our campaign.”
Brady says that tracks with the energy he’s seen on the ground.
“They're crisscrossing all over. All the surrogates are all over. We're gonna have [Kamala Harris] in again on Monday night before the election, and I understand that there’s a rumor now that we’re gonna have Taylor Swift. Just a rumor,” Brady said.
With or without a Swift appearance, even Democrats worried about the lackluster Harris campaign in Pennsylvania are optimistic going into Tuesday.
“Democrats here are excited to turn out and to stop Donald Trump,” a veteran Democrat told Raw Story. “Democrats are highly motivated, also out of fear. A lot of Democrats I talk to absolutely fear what a Trump second term would be like, and fear can also be a high motivator.”
Former Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) retired in 2015. Still, this cycle, she’s opened her home for a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), has been doing outreach to the Jewish community, blasted her old supporters list for donations, and gone door-knocking for local Democrats.
The former congresswoman has seen nothing alarming with the Philadelphia get-out-the-vote operation, but Schwartz knows politicians' egos bruise easily.
“I certainly hope they worked it out because this is just too important to let personal hurt feelings get in the way,” Schwartz told Raw Story.
Schwartz was in office when former President Obama fought hard to win the state in 2008 and again in 2012, but she says the energy’s different this year.
“Everyone's quite nervous, but also quite engaged,” Schwartz said. “I feel a different sense of not just energy and enthusiasm for our ticket — you know, for Harris-Walz, for the congressional races, for state rep. races — there's also a deep sense of seriousness about this campaign that it feels a little bit different. It feels like so much is at stake, we cannot risk it.”
“Democrats are on the offense”
On a recent Saturday morning, just outside of Philadelphia in the all-import suburbs of Bucks County, a couple dozen volunteers crowded into a tiny office tucked inside a nondescript strip mall.
“How many of you are knocking for the first time? Okay, we got one. Alright, one. Hey, that's alright. Everybody has their first time knocking, so You usually get about 30 seconds at the door,” West Point graduate and former military helicopter pilot Ashley Ehasz told the room. “Sometimes you get someone who's really engaged — and those are lovely — but when you get them, it's usually 30 seconds.”
This isn’t Ehasz's first rodeo. The Democrat lost to now four-term Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) in 2022 by roughly 10%, but she was confident when she coached a room full of volunteers recently, especially when she discussed reproductive rights—and the lack thereof.
“Kind of the quick pitch is, ‘Hey, she grew up in a family that struggled. Served our country in the military’ — I personally served in Iraq — and then, for the love of God, make sure they know Brian Fitzpatrick voted for a nationwide abortion ban,” Ehasz said. ‘When we dig into it, that's what kind of gets voters, not only engaged in the conversation and kind of the issues of the day, but also shatters that illusion that Brian Fitzpatrick is ‘Mr. Nice Guy,’ ‘Mr. Moderate.’”
After the volunteers hit the pavement, Ehasz sat down with Raw Story in her unadorned back office where she explained how this year’s dynamics are different than the midterms — and not just because Fitzpatrick refused to debate her this year and has, largely, avoided the press.
“Democrats are on the offense now. We lost the House in 2022, so there's just a hunger to win that back,” Ehasz said. “So I think most folks are just really engaged with the congressional races in a way that they just weren't in 2022.”
Fitzpatrick’s campaign didn’t respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
The veteran and her team say there’s been more engagement this year, partly because of the presidential contest. But Ehasz says a lot has changed since then, including Republicans controlling the House in the least productive Congress in history.
“We have seen what a GOP majority will do, and it's to continually attack our reproductive rights,” Ehasz said. “Whereas in 2022 … there were still a lot of hypotheticals even then, but those hypotheticals have become reality. They have gone after IVF. They've gone after contraception.”
“These are some of our toughest races in the country”
About 45 minutes north in Allentown, Pa. is the 7th district where four-term Rep. Susan WIld (D-PA) is facing off against Republican state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie.
The presidential contenders from both parties have made stops in this all-important region, but the incumbent says she’s been focused on running her own grassroots organization. Even as her team coordinates with the Harris team on their canvassing operations and swap campaign literature, Wild hasn’t had time to worry about the Harris PA operation,.
And Wild says she feels good about her team’s get-out-the-vote effort in the Greater Lehigh High Valley.
“This is the ultimate swing district in the ultimate swing state, so I don't take anything for granted,” Wild told Raw Story. “We are going to be working right up to the last.”
The neck-and-neck contest has also attracted all the political royalty Washington offers, including congressional leaders like House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Because control of the House could depend on a handful of these tight suburban contests, House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark was recently in the region for an abortion roundtable with Wild.
“These are some of our toughest races in the country, and we also have such strong incumbents that I know they are going to work to the very end and I am confident they're going to be reelected,” Whip Clark told Raw Story after the event. “People do not want to go back. Susan Wild's opponent is already on record in the state house here in Pennsylvania as doing just that.”
Wild says grassroots local operations in her race — and across the commonwealth — will make all the difference, even if having all the big national names paying attention to the district has been energizing.
“It’s just a testament to how important our district is. It's not about me. They are literally coming in — on both sides of the aisle — because they know that the voters here in Pennsylvania 7th are going to potentially be the ones that decide who has the House majority,” Wild said. “The voters of Pennsylvania 7th may very well be the ones who decide who the next president of the United States is going to be, because you don't win Pennsylvania if you don't win Pennsylvania 7th.”
“Do you feel like voters understand that?” Raw Story asked.
“I talk about it at every single event I do,” Wild told Raw Story. “It's really like Katherine Clark's not coming in for me. Hakeem Jeffries didn't come in for me. They came in because they recognize this is the center of the universe, Pennsylvania 7th.”
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Matt Laslo was the Washington correspondent for WHYY, Philadelphia’s NPR station from 2014-2020.