PENNSYLVANIA 2020: Inside The Democratic Strongholds That No Longer Recognize Their Party.
With a soul patch and a piercing in the top of his left ear, working in a typically blue industry in a deep-blue city, his politics don’t fit into the stereotype, a sentiment that echoes all over eastern Pennsylvania. From coal country to steel town, God is taken seriously, but so is party affiliation. While in some parts of the country parents and children vote differently without a second thought, in Luzerne and Northampton counties, generations of pro-life, pro-labor Democrats feel untethered from once-familiar parties, torn between traditions and beliefs.
“My wife told me, ‘It sounds like you’re going to the other side,’” he says. “But I don’t know what my side is anymore.”
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is poised to be either the Rustbelt keystone that secures a second term for Trump, or the capstone on a one-term presidency. While much of the attention is focused on the riotous streets of Philadelphia and the machine that runs its elections, it’s a decision that might well be made in the places where the sky truly gets dark, the mines lay empty, and the ruins of industry stand cold.