A score of Democratic Party officials and allies in Pennsylvania are alleging that Kamala Harris’ operations in the all-important state are “poorly run” and weakening her chances there, according to Politico.
Twenty elected officials, party leaders, and affiliates spoke to the news outlet to express concern that the Democratic nominee’s campaign may have “set them back.”
Their complaints zeroed in on concerns that the campaign wasn’t doing enough to attract voters in metro Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and in the state’s Black, Latino, and Asian communities, where Democrats likely need to win large majorities to offset Republican-leaning rural counties.
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One elected official, who spoke to Politico on the condition of anonymity, said the flush with cash Harris campaign should fund grassroots groups that reach out to Asian and Latino voters “where the party infrastructure is non-existent.”
Ryan Boyer, the head of Philadelphia’s powerful consortium of more than 50 building and construction labor unions, had a blunt assessment of Harris’ Pennsylvania campaign manager, Nikki Lu: “I don’t think she understands Philadelphia.”
Another Democratic elected official in Pennsylvania who spoke to Politico anonymously chimed in that Lu is “AWOL.”
The news outlet reported that a group of Latino and Black Democratic leaders met with the Harris campaign in secret last month in Philadelphia, where they raised their concerns to Lu and Sergio Gonzales, the Harris campaign’s deputy chief of staff. They asked for “a greater presence at local events, an improved surrogate operation and a more sophisticated understanding of how to engage with diverse voting blocs,” Politico reported.
Lu did not respond to Politico’s request for comment and the Harris campaign did not directly address questions about her, but other state Democrats offered praise. Delaware County council member Monica Taylor told Politico she is “very happy with our staff,” and state Sen. Vincent Hughes, a Philadelphia politician, added he has “no complaints about the campaign leadership.”
The Harris campaign also responded by sending Politico a list of surrogate events in Pennsylvania that targeted voters of color, including ones with former President Barack Obama, actress America Ferrera, Labor Secretary Julie Su, and elected Pennsylvania politicians. The Harris campaign told the outlet it employs 50 people working on voter engagement in the state’s majority-Black areas and 30 working on majority-Latino regions.
Harris has also held several major rallies in the state, including one on Monday in Erie.
But the strife doesn’t end there. Back in August, the Harris campaign’s Latino coalition manager in Pennsylvania resigned after two weeks on the job and wrote a memo savaging the state operation for providing “no access to necessary data on Latino demographics” and “no infrastructure to plan events or engage the Latino community.”
“Please give us the tools to win,” wrote Mariel Joy Kornblith Martin in the memo, according to Politico.
The Harris campaign told the news outlet that it was false to suggest Martin was not provided access to the data or other support. It also vociferously defended its Pennsylvania state operations.
“Our campaign is running the largest and most sophisticated operation in Pennsylvania history,” Harris’ national campaign manager, Julie Chávez Rodriguez, told Politico. “We have 50 coordinated offices and nearly 400 staff on the ground.”
Meanwhile, even an Election Day optimist threw shade at Harris’ team. “I feel like we’re going to win here, but we’re going to win it in spite of the Harris state campaign,” an elected Democratic official, who spoke to Politico on the condition of anonymity, said. “Pennsylvania is such a mess, and it’s incredibly frustrating.”
Nearly $1 billion has been poured into television, radio, and digital ads in Pennsylvania, the country’s largest battleground, a record for any state in any election in history.
Republicans have also expressed fears that former President Donald Trump’s ground game in Pennsylvania and other states is weak enough to cost him the election. Trump is leaning on outside political groups, like MAGA billionaire Elon Musk’s America PAC, to do the heavy lifting for his campaign.
