Blue dot of Joe Biden supporters stand strong in red Somerset County

There’s a pulsing blue dot in the middle of screaming red Trump Country these days.

Just southeast of the Westmoreland County line where the Laurel Highlands soar, Somerset County was the reddest of Western Pennsylvania’s rural counties that pushed then-candidate Donald Trump to a narrow win in Pennsylvania in 2016 and on to the White House. Voters in the county where Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 2-to-1 gave Trump a 56-point victory over Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton.

Fast forward four years, Somerset is even redder. County voter registration has grown by 10% among Republicans and declined by 22% among Democrats.

But a group of local women, their voices amplified by social media, joined forces and the landscape literally began to change. Billboards and yard signs for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden suddenly began cropping up in this corner of Trump Country.

Leah Walker, a 28-year-old Somerset native who owns several AirBnB rental properties in the area, was amazed how the group grew. While some came across the county line from nearby Ligonier, most of them were Somerset County residents. They opted to meet and chat on a private Facebook page.

“We’re a distinct minority here. Somerset has always been Republican, and we wanted a safe space where people could talk. Now, people are getting braver and braver,” she said.

When she hosted a Biden sign giveaway event at her parents’ home, hundreds of Biden supporters drove up to claim yard signs.

“Everyone was really grateful. We even had some doctors and attorneys in town that I didn’t know who showed up,” Walker said.

When the women decided they wanted to do even more, they went to Facebook again. Almost overnight, they raised $5,000 and connected with a political action committee that put up six full-sized billboards and two smaller billboards for them.

Somerset County Democratic Committee Chair Shelley Glessner, 64, marvels at what the women were able to do.

“They were amazing,” she said.

They remain a distinct minority, such as a dot of blue in a sea of red. Still, they’ve had an impact.

Guy Berkebile, 58, the local businessman who chairs the Somerset County Republican Committee, remembers the 2016 election vividly. There were no signs that Clinton had any kind of support in the rural county where mining, farming and outdoor recreation rule. Hand-lettered signs echoing Trump’s vow to “lock her up” sprouted in yards here and there.

Berkebile is confident that Trump, whom he’s met and spoken with at the White House, and Vice President Mike Pence, who held a campaign event at Guy Chemical Co. on July 30, will win Somerset County big again this year.

The ongoing registration shift to the GOP and events like a recent Trump caravan through the county seem to support his confidence.

The women say they will be happy simply to cut into the president’s margin of victory.

Erin Shifflett, 48, a Somerset native who left after college and moved back the day after the 2016 election, was happy to find kindred souls in the local Facebook group.

But Shifflett, who teaches college English at the University of Pittsburgh’s Johnstown campus, said some have objected to their message. A billboard in the countryside along Route 281 was covered with red paint four days after it went up.

“Lamar (the billboard company) was great. They replaced the one that was destroyed within four days. But we’ve had flags torn down, a mailbox set on fire, a driveway spray painted and cars with Biden bumper stickers keyed,” Shifflett said.

Rick Beahr, 51, a Somerset businessman, awoke one day to find the group’s messages on two 22-foot billboards at the edge of his parking lot. One urged voters to “Stop the lies. Stop the hate. Stop the Division. Vote Democratic.” The other read “Restore the soul of America. Vote Biden/Harris.”

Beahr, who had previously staked a small Trump/Pence yard sign beneath the billboard, was hesitant to discuss the billboards that greet his customers.

“There is no room in the middle anymore. There is so much division and hatred. I think it’s all due to social media,” he said, gazing at the billboards.

Shifflett said the women just wanted a voice in Somerset County.

“We’re not zealots by nature,” she said. “It was just an effort to let people know there are people in their community who were supporting Biden and Harris.”

She said the Facebook group that now numbers about 300 was thrilled to learn that Harold Shaulis, a recently retired dairy farmer she characterized as “one of the wise elders of the farming community,” had filmed a video for the Biden campaign.

Shaulis, 69, is a lifelong Republican who served on agriculture boards and commissions at the state, local and federal level. He counts the late Sen. John Heinz, former Gov. Tom Ridge and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum among the Republican candidates he’s actively supported over the years. This year he is supporting Biden.

“I’m still a Republican,” Shaulis said. “Donald Trump is not.”

He said Trump’s embargoes and trade deals were disastrous for farmers and sent milk prices plummeting to 1975 levels.

“In 2019, we were sending out suicide prevention letters with milk checks,” Shaulis said.

He called the president’s behavior disturbing.

“The mockery, the lies, the bullying, the name calling. He’s ruined the relationship we had with our allies. He talks about our servicemen as losers, talks about John McCain as a loser,” Shaulis said. “There is no excuse for a person like that. I would have voted for anybody else on that Republican primary.”

He said the feedback he has received for his video suggests he isn’t alone in that blue dot in the region’s reddest part of Trump country.

“We have 25,000 views on the video, and I’ve had over 400 comments directly to me running 95% favorable,” Shaulis said. “I know there are people out there who are upset with me. But about 95% who direct messaged me are in the exact same boat I am.”