Erie Trump Rally A Strategic One For the Campaign

Trump supporters gathered on Saturday, July 29, at a Trump Rally in the working-class city of Erie, Pennsylvania. This rally was a strategic one for the Trump campaign. Erie County is a bellwether for the rest of Pennsylvania as its election results often parallel the state’s results. In 2016, Trump beat Clinton by 2% in Erie County. In 2020, even though Trump gained more than 6,000 votes over his victory in 2016, Biden won Erie County by a 3 to 1 margin in mail-in ballots. In 2020, Trump lost to Biden in Erie County by 1,417 votes, less than 1% of the vote.

Working class Erie, Pa. has been plagued with economic problems, the median income much lower than the national average as well with almost 14% of the population below the poverty line, according to the 2022 Census. Erie County also has a higher per capita death rate from drug overdoses than most places in the U.S. The need for economic redevelopment and the open border issue, which many say is responsible for the devastating increased deaths of young people in Erie County, may swing Erie County back towards Trump.

I was on the ground covering the event for Real Americas Voice News and interacted and interviewed many rally-goers who traveled by car to get there from as far away as Florida. Seven-term House member, Congressman Mike Kelly who represents Erie, PA and was an early Trump supporter, fired up the crowd invoking the loudest reception of the day other than that of Trump, and proclaimed that Erie is “Trump Country.” House Rep. Dan Meuser also made a powerful case for Trump. He reminded the audience of the disparity between life under Trump and that of the Biden Administration. I interviewed Congressman Meuser before he went up on stage and he told me that his typical constituent has lost “$800-$900” per month under Biden, and that they are “furious” over the border situation. He went on to say that his constituents want change and that Trump proved himself once and “they want him to do it again.” Former Ambassador to Denmark and former PA U.S. Senate candidate Carla Sands also addressed the crowd. Ambassador Sands helped Trump get NATO countries to kick in their 2% fair share during the Trump Administration.

Registered Democrats in Pennsylvania outnumbered Republican registered voters by about 590,000 voters in early January 2023, but the GOP has gained about 70,000 new Republican voters since the 2020 election, with a seismic shift from Democrat to Republican voter conversions putting Pennsylvania back in play for Trump in 2024. On the GOP primary side, a June Quinnipiac University poll shows Trump has support in PA from about half (49%) of all GOP voters in the state, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a distant second place (25%).

File Photo

Best estimates are that there were approximately 7,000 people in attendance. The Erie Insurance Arena has a “concert” capacity of about 9,000. Critics of the event claim that the arena was not full and that this was an ominous sign for the Trump campaign. They should be reminded that no other candidate on either side of the aisle even gets a fraction of the attendance of this rally or any other. Despite extreme weather and long distances from Erie to major population centers, the arena was still packed with supercharged Trump supporters.

I conducted many ‘man on the street’ interviews with the crowd and there was a common thread amongst them that our country is in dire shape and we need to fix crime, the border, our schools, the economy and our national security. One can argue that this rally was a smart move for the Trump campaign, targeting areas that are vulnerable for a Trump victory, especially places like Erie, Pennsylvania where less than 1,500 votes determined the outcome of the last Presidential election in that county.