Time to Retire Pennsylvania s Alabama | City Journal
Influenced by Carville s Alabama characterization, political pundits tend to lump these distinct middle regions together especially south-central Pennsylvania, the state s northeast, and the Lehigh Valley, which have seen profound demographic and economic changes in recent years. Pennsylvania s middle has come a long way from being a land of horse-and-buggies, corn fields and chocolate, depressed coal and steel towns, and churches and bars on every street corner. Today, these regions constitute the East Coast s inland empire, its economy fueled by health care, logistics, manufacturing, and the life sciences. Over the past eight years, warehouses and hospitals have sprouted up in empty fields. Suburban developments have drawn in young professionals and remote workers. Latinos, with familial links to metro New York, now make up the plurality or even majority in some cities and towns. These regional dynamics are the key to understanding Pennsylvania, and to determining whether Trump or Harris wins here and perhaps also takes the White House.
I know nothing about Pennsylvania but I do kinda like John Updike. If you have to have a swing state though, you could do worse than Pennsylvania.