Democrats and Republicans held rallies in Bucks County – a swing county in a swing state – on Saturday.
Gov. Josh Shapiro was the Democrats’ star attraction while the GOP faithful flocked to hear activist Scott Presler and to have him sign copies of his new book, The Persistence.
Shapiro, who is running for reelection against Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, aimed most of his ire at President Donald Trump.
“We’re tired of the chaos, we’re tired of the cruelty, and we’re tired of the corruption that we’re seeing all across this country,” said Shapiro. “And we’re trying to figure out how we use the power that we have to stop it. And Bucks County, you’ve got a lot of power to stop it. The chaos knows no end.”
He turned his attention to affordability.
“You go and try to fill up your car, and around here you’ve all got big SUVs,” he said. “You go try to fill up your SUV at $4.60 a gallon. And farmers try to get diesel at $6.60 a gallon. And we’re reminded that Donald Trump took us into a chaotic war we never should have been in in the first place.”
Trump said the war was aimed at stopping the Iranian mullahs from building a nuclear bomb, something previous presidents have also opposed.
Shapiro also touted the lawsuits he’s joined to fight Trump policies. He opposed locating two Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers in the state, and Trump’s executive order limiting voting by mail, calling it unconstitutional.
The governor pointed out Montgomery County-area U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04) and Delaware County-based Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA-05) were in attendance. He said electing Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie (D) to Congress would help them oppose the president’s policies.
Shapiro also castigated Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regarding the nearly 1,000 measles cases and five reportedly measles-associated deaths in the commonwealth.
“We believe in science,” he said. “We believe in vaccines.”
He decried cuts to food stamps and Medicaid.
“Every day when he sits behind that desk, he’s not thinking about you,” Shapiro said. “He’s thinking about how to enrich himself.”
The governor trumpeted recent state-level tax reduction for seniors, through an expansion of the Property Tax/Rent Rebate program, and for child care, through an increase in the Child and Dependent Care Enhancement Tax Credit.
“We put a dollar in your pocket, and Donald Trump and his enablers took two bucks out,” Shapiro said.
Harvie asked the crowd if they were ready to win to loud cheers. He said they’d “lost a lot” from ten years of his opponent Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s (R-PA-01) tenure as well as Trump’s.
Harvie claimed that American women “have lost the most” under Trump, and quoted Abigail Adams in a letter to her husband, John, “Remember the ladies.”
“It’s the women in this country who know how to get things done,” said Harvie. “Now you’re messing with girl dads. And out of all the titles I have – Democrat, commissioner, congressional candidate – it is the one that makes me want to fight. If you want to come after my daughter’s rights, you’re going to go through me.”
Several audience members who spoke with The Independence said nearly the same thing: They supported the Democrats because they did not like the direction in which the country was going.
Henry Baird of Newtown said he was a lifelong Democrat who came to the rally to support Harvie.
“I’m a thoroughly committed Democrat,” he said. “And have been my entire life. I’m well informed on politics and determined.”
In contrast, Jimmy Kirlin, of Lower Makefield, said he supports Republicans because he is pro-life. At one time, some Democrats were also pro-life, he said, but no longer. Kirlin said he knows this from 25 years of working the polls.
“That tells you the mindset of the Democratic Party,” he said.
Signe Espinoza, executive director at Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates, a rally sponsor, spoke about her own abortion in college. She said she is pleased that Shapiro stopped the state’s longtime practice of funding pregnancy help centers that provide alternatives to abortion.
After their event, the Democrats went to knock on doors. The Republicans held their rally at a bar and restaurant in Falls Township late in the afternoon after knocking on doors earlier that day.
Presler, who founded Early Vote Action PAC, thanked Bucks County voters for voting for Trump in 2024, the first time a majority of Bucks voters backed a Republican presidential candidate since 1988.
Presler also thanked the county Democrats who tried to shut down the lines during in-person, on-demand voting “while our people were waiting by the hundreds to vote.”
“Because the Democrats tried to shut us down, Lara Trump and the [Republican National Committee] sued their behinds, and we got three days of extra voting,” he said.
This year, the Democrats are down 90,000 mail-in ballots from where they were four years ago, Presler said. Republicans have requested 50,000 more mail-in ballots than in 2022.
“For everyone saying there is going to be a blue wave, the data isn’t showing that right now,” Presler said.
Presler said his EVA PAC is for federal candidates, so he is focusing on the congressional races, including Fitzpatrick’s.
“Our work at the top of the ballot is going to help the bottom of the ballot,” he said. “So you all must reelect Sen. [Frank] Farry (R-Langhorne) and Sen. [Tracy] Pennycuick (R-Red Hill) as well. Those are the top two seats the Democrats are trying to flip. And if they flip the state Senate, we become California, Virginia, Washington, Oregon, Connecticut, [and] New York overnight. That’s how important this election is.”
Presler said that, in 2024, billionaire Elon Musk called him and asked how he could help. Presler asked for reposts of his messages on X and $1 million for his PAC, which Musk provided.
“This did not go to my haircare routine,” Presler joked. “In hindsight, I could have asked for $10 million, I could have asked for $20 million. I wanted him to know I was serious.”
He was then able to hire 87 staff members who registered 50,000 voters.
“And Sen. Dave McCormick [R-PA] was elected by a mere 15,000 votes,” said Presler. “So, now we’re going to do it again. We’ll have knocked 100,000 doors by November 3.”
Early and mail-in voting are important to lock in votes and save time and money for the campaigns’ and EVA.
“What if they run out of ballots [on Election Day] like they did in Luzerne County?” he asked. “Or the power goes out. By voting early, they can lock in their votes. I don’t want to leave it to chance that we lose the state Senate because we voted during twelve hours on one single day.”
Mike Gettis, a Republican who is running to unseat state Rep. Jim Prokokiak (D-Levittown), asked Presler about cleaning up the voter rolls.
“So, the Democrats tell us that noncitizens never vote,” Presler said. “We are finding noncitizens literally on the voter rolls” by using the lists of people who aren’t allowed to serve on juries and matching the names to voter rolls. “And sure enough, noncitizen, illegal fraudulent voters are voting in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And we at Early Vote Action are helping to expose that.”
After he visited Philadelphia, his group facilitated purging 50,000 voters in three days, Presler said.
“We’re the first entity ever to do it,” he boasted, saying he recommends turning mail-in ballots to county election offices.
Sean Duffy, who is running for state representative against Democratic incumbent Rep. Tim Brennan (D-Doylestown), said, “[The Democrats] know if they take back the Senate and they increase their majority in the Senate, that they can pass the radical wish list for Josh Shapiro that will set him up to run for president in 2028.”
Indeed, at the Democrats’ rally earlier on Saturday, Shapiro mentioned that having the governorship, House, and Senate will give him extra power to get things done.
“You know what I need to make more progress in Harrisburg?” the governor asked. “I need a trifecta, which we haven’t done since Bill Clinton’s election 30 years ago. And that is to elect a Democratic state Senate in Pennsylvania. When we elect [Clerk of Courts] Eileen Hartnett Albillar [who is running against Farry] to the state Senate, do you know what the first bill to reach my desk will be? To raise the minimum wage.”
Afterward, Shapiro posed for selfies with dozens of fans but left without taking questions from waiting journalists.
