PITTSBURGH — No state has played a bigger role in the presidential campaign in the run-up to Election Day than Pennsylvania.
It’s been the backdrop for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris more than any other state and the site of the most spending on behalf of either candidate. It’s where Trump was almost killed over the summer, only to make his triumphant return months later. It’s where he served french fries during a photo op at a McDonald’s and danced before the cameras for almost 40 minutes during a rally that turned into an impromptu music-listening session.
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It’s where Harris unveiled her running mate, her economic platform and made appeal after appeal to disaffected Republicans.
It’s where Harris and Trump held their only debate. It’s served as a proverbial red carpet for prominent surrogates.
And over the final two weeks of the race, both candidates and their running mates held 16 events in Pennsylvania — including Monday, marking some of Harris and Trump’s final rallies of the campaign.
To get a sense of life in the pivotal battleground state during this closing stretch of the campaign, NBC News traversed Pennsylvania for two weeks and spoke with more than two dozen voters, officials and operatives working on races here.
As it stands, most supporters on either side are not expressing over-the-top confidence that their side will pull out a victory. Polling in the state shows an incredibly tight race — one that mirrors the results of the last two presidential elections here. Driving through Pennsylvania, one notices a swing state made up of swing streets, along which neighbors have signs for the opposing candidates right next to each other. In some cases, there are even swing families — and talk of politics is verboten.
Jennifer Mann, a Trump supporter from Philipsburg who attended the former president’s rally in State College late last month, said that everyone here has friends or family in their immediate circle with differing views on who should win.
“So it’s really a sticky situation,” she said, adding that such political conversations “usually don’t happen, because it causes a lot of risk.”
Read more from Allan and Peter →
🗺️ Elsewhere on the battleground map: Natasha Korecki and Garrett Haake report that the Trump campaign remains unsettled about his prospects in North Carolina, a state he’s carried in the last two elections. Read more →
