Blue-collar Pennsylvania voters could be 'deciding factor' in US election

ERIE, United States — Protecting and creating new jobs were among the most pressing issues for voters lining up to cast their ballots on Tuesday in Erie, a competitive blue-collar Pennsylvania county with a formidable reputation for picking US election winners.

Mason Ken Thompson, 66, voted at Edison Elementary School in Erie, the main city in the Pennsylvania county of the same name whose 270,000 people -- voting in a tightly-contested swing state -- will have an outsized role in whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump wins the White House.

"Manufacturing jobs have gone away from Erie. It's a big problem, and Trump hasn't helped that situation at all," said Thompson, who wore a camouflage baseball cap adorned with the US flag.

"I believe that Kamala is going to help the young people with housing," he added as a DJ played a roster of all-American hits while voters streamed into the school-turned-polling station.

Nearby, the Country Fair gas station handed free donuts to voters.

Erie is one of a handful of counties to have boomeranged between Democrat and Republican, voting for former president Barack Obama twice, then narrowly for Trump, before scraping out a Democratic win for President Joe Biden in 2020.

The path to victory for both former president Trump and Vice President Harris likely runs through Pennsylvania, and largely white- and working-class Erie in the state's northwestern corner encapsulates many of its top issues.

Pennsylvania has 19 electoral college votes, more than any of the other swing states which could go for either Harris or Trump, with polls showing them locked in a dead heat.

"I don't know how we became so important around here... we are like a deciding factor," said Marchelle Beason, 46, who also cast her vote at Edison Elementary.

Proudly sporting her "I voted" sticker, she said "way, way more people" were casting their ballot than in 2020.

'America comes first' 

As with many swing counties in the Keystone State, Erie was once a thriving industrial hub that has been hit by outsourcing and automation.

It is now increasingly reliant on the service sector, but is still home to many blue collar jobs.

"A lot of the young people are moving out and something to keep them in Erie is what we really need," voter Chris Quest, 69, told AFP on Monday after casting her early ballot.

Darlene Taylor, 56, said she wanted to "close the border" to protect US jobs.

"We don't need another four more years of high inflation, gas prices, [and] lying," said Taylor, who wore a homemade Trump T-shirt after also casting her vote at Edison Elementary.

"America comes first, and Harris is not going to support that."

In 2019, General Electric's rail vehicle building operations shut up shop in Erie, leaving a void in the city where generations of workers had punched in and out for the sprawling US "toasters to TV shows" conglomerate.

Wabtec, formed from the storied Westinghouse corporation, stepped in to continue making trains in the city -- but with far fewer employees than GE.

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey recently announced $48 million for the Wabtec factory to develop hydrogen batteries for rail.

The timing was no accident.

Casey is locked in a bitter contest for reelection with Republican Dave McCormick, a race which could decide which party has control of the US Senate.

Wabtec worker Henry Miller said he wanted politicians who would "start helping people in our own city".

"I like Donald Trump to a point, but then again, he wouldn't even leave when they try to put him out," he added before climbing into his black pick-up truck, referring to Trump's refusal to accept his 2020 elcetion loss.

Some voters have complained that postal ballots have not arrived, with election officials saying they will have to vote in person, blaming a supplier issue.

David Radcliff, 72, said the fiasco had not dented his confidence in the election's integrity.

"But I will never do mail-in ballots again," he said.