As DNC Kicks Off in Philadelphia, Some Dems Worry About Rest of State
Pennsylvania considered a tossup in several projections
Democrats might have temporarily bumped up the population of Pennsylvania as they stream in for the convention today, but some party strategists and political analysts aren’t certain how the state will lean in November.
“This time, it’s not going to be easy,” former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, the chair of the convention host committee and a longtime supporter of presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, told The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Sunday. “There are a lot of people who feel left out of the process, and we have to reconnect with them and let them know we are on their side.”
Although Democrats have won Pennsylvania in every presidential election since 1992, the state has been considered a swing state since the 1950s . This election season, with blue-collar white voters in rural regions considered likely to be open to Republican nominee Donald Trump’s populist message, the Democratic grip on the state is considered weaker than it has been in years. In the walkup to the convention, several forecasts — including those at NBC News and NPR — have shifted the state from leaning Democratic to a tossup.