Pennsylvania could tip the scales in tough-to-call US presidential election

Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state that could hold the keys to the White House, is getting set for a neck-and-neck contest in the US presidential election.

With the presidential race in the final stretch, both candidates have become laser-focused on the must-win Pennsylvania, the largest prize of the most important swing states, holding 19 electoral votes.

Both candidates have become fixtures in America’s largest battleground state, investing more money, energy, and visits there than anywhere else in the US.

The state has sided with the winner of the last two presidential elections by just tens of thousands of votes.

“Pennsylvania is a state that went for Trump in 2016, went for Biden in 2020,” explained Franklin & Marshall College Director Berwood Yost.

“It’s got large urban centres, rural communities. So Pennsylvania serves as sort of a microcosm of the country as a whole, I think, in many ways,” Yost added.

It was at a rally in the state in July that Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt after being shot by and wounded in his upper right ear by Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park.

Trump has since returned to campaigning in the Keystone State, whose power is not lost on the voters themselves.

“I think it’s split pretty evenly right now, half of my friends are, you know, voting for Kamala, and the other half are voting for Trump,” said Brian Neel, a Pennsylvania voter from Chester County. “So if that’s any indication, then, I think it’s a pretty tight race here.”

Jodi Eichler-Levine, a voter from Upper Macungie Township, echoed that sentiment.

“I think that Pennsylvania is such a close state that it’s really going to be, you know, literally on Election day, does it rain? Is it sunny? And who’s knocking on doors and is most excited about their candidate?”

Harris is looking to win big in the urban centres of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh—and rack up strong numbers in their suburbs—by driving out the women, black voters, and college graduates that propelled Joe Biden to victory four years ago.

On the other hand, Donald Trump hopes to expand the Republican support in the rural counties that he carried handily in 2020 and chip away at traditionally democratic voters like Latinos and blue-collar workers.

While both sides are claiming the edge in the race for the state, analysts and voters expect every vote to count up until the very end.

“Both candidates’ current voters are equally motivated,” Yost said. “This is going to come down to which campaign is, I think, better on the ground…That’s ultimately going to be what tips the scales here.”

Since 1948, no Democrat has won the White House without winning Pennsylvania, which makes the political stakes especially high this time for Harris.

And with polls showing the race essentially tied here, once again, Pennsylvania could be the state that tips the US 2024 election.