Biden s local ties and cultural roots helped lift him to victory in 2020 here in Lackawanna County, the population hub of increasingly red northeastern Pennsylvania. In this most Catholic part of the swing state with the second-highest Catholic population, Biden ran ahead of Hillary Clinton s 2016 pace, enabling his narrow, one percentage point statewide victory.
Kamala Harris Pennsylvania Problem – POLITICO
But now, as Democrats battle for the state with Kamala Harris as the nominee, their chances of winning in the region or performing well enough there to carry the state are looking considerably dicier. It s not just the loss of Biden an older, white, Catholic man with an affinity for the working class from the top of the ticket that worries local Democrats. It s the cultural dissonance with Harris, a Californian and woman of color who has spearheaded the party s post-Dobbs abortion messaging. That profile makes her an awkward fit in a closely watched, economically hard-pressed working-class region that s historically been a locus of anti-abortion activity.
Biden isn t wildly popular here. But as a native son, Biden is viewed through a nostalgic lens. To many in this once staunchly Democratic region, he embodies an older iteration of the party that was closely tied to organized labor and focused on economic issues. Even though Biden moved to Delaware as a child, he remained in close contact with the city of his birth and was seen locally as a protective force against the national party s progressive flank.
via www.politico.com
Ya think, really, Politico? Why would a working class Catholic not go for Kamala? Bad reasons only.