'We've got to earn every vote,' Kamala Harris says during stop in Johnstown

Vice President Kamala Harris made a nearly two-hour campaign stop in Johnstown on Friday afternoon before heading east to Wilkes-Barre as she continued a push to win over Pennsylvania voters.

“I feel very strongly that we’ve got to earn every vote, and that means spending time with folks in the communities where they live,” Harris said during a stop at Classic Elements Bookshop, where she met a diverse group that included supporters and those who back former President Donald Trump.

The shop, which has a cafe and serves wine, was described as Johnstown’s living room by Roy Smajda, who said he and his family spend a lot of time there.

Harris and the owner talked about the struggles of small, women-owned small businesses and met with staff.

“It was so exciting to see (Harris) in a coffee shop in my hometown. She made eye contact with me and gave me a wave. It was cool,” Smajda said.

The bookstore’s owner and employees declined to comment for this story.

The streets outside of Classic Elements in downtown Johnstown were lined with both Harris and Trump supporters, many side by side as the vice president visited.

Altoona’s Alicia Andrews and her two daughters, Anabeth, 15, and Charlotte, 9, hoped to a glimpse of the vice president.

“”It was a good welcoming for her and a good experience for my daughters to see the future president,” Andrews said.

Dennis Blair, 73, of Johnstown held a large Trump flag as Harris spent time in the bookstore.

“Somebody’s got to protest her. We’re showing our colors here,” Blair said.

Prior to the visit to the shop, Harris was greeted by hundreds of people who were invited to a hangar at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport where she posed for selfies.

Harris wore a dark pantsuit with black Converse Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers during the stop and was greeted by U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock, and his wife Gisele.

Both Harris and Trump supporters in two groups outside of the local bookstore/cafe where Harris stopped @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/Y5kEX9mKu2

— Megan Swift (@mgswift7) September 13, 2024

LIVE: @VP Kamala Harris shares her thoughts on Pennsylvania ahead of the presidential election @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/OG3ggyFuHg

— Megan Swift (@mgswift7) September 13, 2024

Melissa Kalwanaski, 43, of Johnstown, was among those at the hangar.

A volunteer with the local Democratic party, Kalwanaski is a gifted coordinator in Westmont Hilltop School District who gave birth to her daughter in June. Anne was conceived using in vitro fertilization, Kalwanaski said.

She said she feels a kinship with Harris’ running mate Tim Walz because his children were also conceived using IVF.

“I’m worried about the future for both my daughter and my students — especially those from marginalized communities — if Donald Trump would be elected again,” Kalwanaski said as she held Anne and awaited Harris.

Meet Melissa Kalwanaski and her daughter, Anne, who was born in June through IVF treatments.

Kalwanaski, 43, of Johnstown, said she was so excited to hear @VP Kamala Harris was coming to Johnstown.

Click the thread for the rest of the interview! @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/dfogX1RcVo

— Megan Swift (@mgswift7) September 13, 2024

Watch as @VP Kamala Harris steps off the plane in Johnstown, PA @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/dYyDjN7EbW

— Megan Swift (@mgswift7) September 13, 2024

People who attended were bused from the airport parking lot to the hangar.

The Democratic nominee for president has made the Pittsburgh region a focus of her campaign, having spent eight of the past 12 days in the area.

Hangar is pretty full now in anticipation of @VP Kamala Harris’ landing @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/uXF7UqaSbp

— Megan Swift (@mgswift7) September 13, 2024

The Beyoncé song “Love on Top” played in advance of Harris’ arrival.

Here in Johnstown, @VP Kamala Harris support signs are being handed out in anticipation of her arrival @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/wIF59NC9tt

— Megan Swift (@mgswift7) September 13, 2024

Suzan Mulkey, 72, of Johnstown, said this has been the most interesting election she’s seen.

“I’ve become politically active in recent years,” Mulkey said.

Beth Spillman, 47, of State College, took her 9-year old daughter, Zoe, out of school to see the vice president.

Spillman said she became interested in Democratic candidates during Obama’s initial run for the White House.

“I’m very excited. She’s a great candidate,” Spillman said of Harris. “I expect candidates to just come into the urban areas, so this is pretty great she’s coming to a rural area.”

Democrats are looking to make inroads in what has evolved into a Republican stronghold in the region.

Johnstown has Democratic roots and was the home of U.S. Rep. John Murtha, who served in Congress for 36 years. But former President Donald Trump collected 68% of the votes cast in Cambria County in 2020 and 67% four years earlier.

Democrats now account for less than 37% of registered voters in the county.

Barack Obama earned 40% of the votes cast in 2012.

Here in Johnstown, @VP Kamala Harris support signs are being handed out in anticipation of her arrival @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/wIF59NC9tt

— Megan Swift (@mgswift7) September 13, 2024

Trump was set to rally Friday night in Las Vegas.

“Hopefully Kamala Harris won’t need to bus supporters in to fill out her Friday events,” Trump spokesman Kush Desai said in an emailed statement.

“Pennsylvanians are fed up with the rising costs of groceries, gas and utilities thanks to the Harris-Biden administration’s disastrous inflationary, anti-energy agenda,” the statement said. “The choice between another four years of retirees scraping by off ramen under Kamala or a return to the peace, prosperity and stability of the Trump administration couldn’t be easier for Pennsylvanians.”

After her visit in Johnstown, Harris was scheduled to head to another campaign stop in Wilkes-Barre in Northeastern Pennsylvania, according to her campaign.

As the largest swing state in the country, Pennsylvania is crucial to this year’s presidential contest. Polls show Harris and Trump locked in a tight contest in the Keystone State.

Harris has spent nearly all of her time in Pennsylvania over the past two weeks, including participating in a high-profile debate Tuesday in Philadelphia against Trump.

On Wednesday, Harris went to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville on an official visit with President Joe Biden on the 23rd anniversary of 9/11. Trump also visited the memorial Wednesday.

Trump has also placed a large focus on Johnstown. He rallied there in August in front of 6,000 supporters.

Harris is campaigning following the debate as part of a “New Way Forward” tour that has her and her running mate Walz barnstorming across battleground states.

In Johnstown, Harris contrasted her campaign to Project 2025, a 922-page blueprint for a second Trump presidency from a conservative think tank, and attempted to tie the document to Trump, according to the campaign. CNN found that dozens of people in Trump’s circle are connected to the project.

Trump has said he has nothing to do with Project 2025.

Harris-Walz campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said Harris will focus on her campaign promises of instituting a federal ban on price gouging on food, capping the cost of prescription drugs and combating the nation’s shortage of affordable housing.

“With early voting about to begin and less than 60 days until Election Day, our campaign will take the vice president’s message directly to the voters wherever they are — on the airwaves, on the doors, and online,” Tyler said. “With so much at stake in this election, we are blitzing the battlegrounds and leaving it all out on the field.”

Made it inside the @VP Kamala Harris campaign event here in Johnstown, PA after going through security.

Follow along with me for more live updates @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/tgQmEk9m9c

— Megan Swift (@mgswift7) September 13, 2024

Fav pics I took of @VP Kamala Harris today in Johnstown.

Shot for @TribLIVE ???? pic.twitter.com/VzPgQdYKZE

— Megan Swift (@mgswift7) September 13, 2024

#KamalaHarris and #DonaldJTrump supporters are gathering in front of a venue where Harris meet some invited people in downtown #Johnstown, #PA pic.twitter.com/7KQqz27L76

— Massoud Hossaini (@Massoud151) September 13, 2024