HANNAH YOON FOR “THE WORLD”
ReportageFour years ago, this state had tipped into the conservative fold (48.2% against 47.5%), a first since 1988. Still in shock, local Democrats want to believe that this cataclysm is only one accident of history.
Donna Kowalczyk may not know it, but she is the Democratic Party strategists’ worst nightmare. This stylist from Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania), a lifelong Democrat, voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and is preparing to do the same on November 3, without a shadow of a doubt. On the ground floor of her house in a working-class neighborhood transformed into a hairdressing salon from another era – a black plastic sink, two skai chairs and a single mirror – the sixty-year-old remembers succumbing in 2015 ” at Trump’s anti-corruption speech, at his way of being interested in people like us, his paces of a chef “.
She was not the only one. Symbol of a democratic America disoriented by its loss of white and working-class identity, the county of Luzerne gave itself to Donald Trump. Without barguigner. Carried by his slogan “America First” and his promises of manufacturing jobs, the Republican candidate was 20 points ahead of his opponent Hillary Clinton, helping to tip the whole of Pennsylvania into the conservative fold (48.2% against 47, 5%), a first since 1988.
An accident of history
Still in shock, local Democrats want to believe that the cataclysm of four years ago was just an accident in history. Hillary Clinton, the candidate at the time, had hardly campaigned in this state, taken for granted; the local Democratic Party, disorganized, had not helped in the mobilization. The Republicans, for their part, are convinced that the same causes producing the same effects, Donald Trump again has every chance “ in the county, state and country ”. In both camps, the mobilization is total.
Before knowing the verdict of the ballot box, the battle is played out in the gardens, where, with colorful signs, everyone shows support for their candidate as never before. Michael Wolfkiel is one of those Democratic voters who have been chomping at the bit for four years. In the peaceful streets of his neighborhood of Nanticoke, this trainer, unemployed due to the pandemic, is this year the first to have planted a pro Biden sign on his lawn. “In 2016, we all believed that victory was assured, that America would not elect a clown. We are not going to make the same mistake again ”, wants to believe the militant, wearing a cap “Dump Donald” (Throw Donald). Her commitment motivated her neighbors, and signs flourished amid the Halloween decorations. “Result: 25 pro Biden houses against 7 pro Trump”, he proudly calculates.
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