It’s a brisk November Saturday in Pennsylvania. It’s 45 degrees under a clear blue sky. One does not need to travel far outside of Philadelphia or Pittsburgh to realize that we Pennsylvanians are blessed to live in God’s Country. Farmer’s Markets bustle in the suburbs, as small, family-owned farms sell their goods to eager customers. Long lines form to purchase produce, freshly baked apple, pumpkin, or peach pies. It’s a not-so-tightly-held secret that peaches from Chambersburg, PA are just as good, if not better, than anything our friends in Georgia produce.
Travel a bit further and you’ll find nature lovers taking to the woods. The leaves are changing as autumn takes hold, creating a breathtaking mural of pastel colors across the rolling hills and mountains of the Pennsylvania landscape. Hikers will take in these views, and if they’re lucky, catch a glimpse of a black bear or elk, in the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon.
It really is God’s Country.
Pine Creek Gorge is “Pennsylvania Grand Canyon”, a 47-mile gorge provides supreme views of the canyon up to 1,400 feet below at its deepest point.
Best scenic overlooks can be seen from Leonard Harrison and Colton Point State Parks.#Pensylvania The Keystone State#travelUSA🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/KBrTOMdvn3— 🌸 Sophie 🌼 (@lacsd) August 18, 2021
Meanwhile, 80,000 screaming fans in Happy Valley will pack into Beaver Stadium as the Penn State Nittany Lions host the Ohio State Buckeyes in a Big 10 showdown with National playoff implications. The teams are ranked third and fourth, respectively, and the excitement at State College is palpable. A bumper sticker claims God is a Penn State fan because he made the sky blue and white. Faith, family, and football is the Pennsylvania way.
We Are…
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF MORNINGS https://t.co/1grAc7gAdU
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) November 2, 2024
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Happy Valley becomes the third largest city in the state when the Nittany Lions play a home game.
Happy Valley does it different. 👀 pic.twitter.com/EgkwMdKBaa
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) November 2, 2024
It’s a November Saturday in Pennsylvania, and aside from some yard signs, you couldn’t tell that we’re just 3 days from a presidential election. An election in which these people, from the farmer’s markets to the football fields, may very well decide the winner.
If Donald Trump wins Pennsylvania it will be the people between the cities that deliver the victory. Roughly half of the state’s voters are in Greater Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and both areas are deeply blue. The Trump campaign has worked hard to make inroads in both cities, and to their credit may have done so, but they need voters outside of those cities to deliver on Tuesday if they hope to carry the state. They did that in 2016 but came a little short in 2020.
In a recent article, Twitchy favorite, Salena Zito explains Pennsylvania’s current political landscape.
Voters in places just 15 minutes outside Pittsburgh and Philadelphia will tell you, more often than not, they do not have a voice in D.C. and are acutely aware of how people there, and in New York, view them as “lesser than” or “backward.” https://t.co/uGmFq3fn7M
— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) November 1, 2024
No one keeps their finger on the pulse of Pennsylvania politics better than Salena. Trump does have reason to feel good about the Keystone State, but the work isn’t done.
LATROBE, Pennsylvania — ‘If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole damn thing.’
Two weeks ago, former President Donald Trump announced these words to rallygoers in this Westmoreland County town at a packed event, which included several former Pittsburgh Steelers taking the stage to endorse him and steelworkers as well, who even got the former president to put on a hard hat that ruffled his hair.
A win in Pennsylvania may just win it all for Trump. Should Harris lose Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes her path to 270 becomes very narrow.
It was a statement that made the thousands of supporters, most of which were young, go understandably wild with emotion. Many of the attendees I spoke to were young women, many of them mothers with their children, who could not wait to vote in the first election they were truly excited about.
Trump wasn’t wrong. Heading into the final stretch of the election, I’d rather be him than Vice President Kamala Harris in the Keystone State. Several pollsters across the political spectrum shared data showing that Trump has a consistent edge in Pennsylvania and that Harris is at a standstill.
Donald Trump is again connecting with voters who feel unseen and unheard in Washington DC.
His rallies have worked, despite ridicule and skepticism from reporters, because he showed up in places such as Butler, Luzerne, Cambria, Erie, and Northampton, where people feel unseen and unheard and where climate change and pronouns mean less than the cost of food.
Suburban voters closer to the cities are often forgotten as well. He may not win those counties but those voters are determined to be heard.
I spend a lot of time just outside of Philly. The western suburbs. The Main Line. There are more Trump signs than the last two elections combined, often next to signs supporting Israel. He won’t win there, but he’s picked up votes
— Not That Mark Emmert (@NotMarkEmmert) November 2, 2024
The same holds true in Allegheny County. It’s never good when the constituents of the party in charge not only feel ignored but outright despised.
Pittsburgh treats anyone from outside city limits like a burden, while it disproportionately drains county tax dollars for their pet projects from those very same people they despise.
— The Appalachian Man (@snoyote84) November 1, 2024
Polls are showing momentum moving with Donald Trump but polls don’t win elections. Voters do.
This ad is potent and vividly captures the emotions, sentiments, aspirations and concerns I hear from voters all of the time. No one in DC or Washington is going to get us. But I know a lot of people who will say there by the grace of God goes me. https://t.co/n5XCFoP5A7
— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) November 2, 2024
Today, on a beautiful November Saturday in Pennsylvania, outside of the cities, in God’s country, faith, family, and football rule the day.
Come Tuesday We fight!
