Monday, 09 Dec 2024

'I'm going with Trump': 3 former Dems from Pennsylvania explain how former president won them over

Former Democrats in Pennsylvania spoke to Fox News Digital about leaving behind their Democrat roots to support former President Trump's 2024 election.


'I'm going with Trump': 3 former Dems from Pennsylvania explain how former president won them over

"This is Lackawanna County, okay. This is Scranton. This is where Joe Biden was born. This is where Robert Reich was born. Hillary Clinton has ties here with her family. This was a deep, deep blue county. But, when you walk into the poll, I think a lot of these people are going to are going to think twice and think, 'well, nobody knows how I'm voting - which is the way it's supposed to be - I'm going with Trump,'" registered independent voter David Kveragas told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview this week. 

Kveragas is a resident of the battleground county of Lackawanna, which is nestled in Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley and has traditionally voted blue, last throwing its support behind a Republican in 1984 during President Reagan's blowout election when he won each state except Washington, D.C., and Minnesota - the home state of Reagan's competitor that year, former Vice President Walter Mondale.

The county has trended right in recent elections, however, teeing up a heightened election battle that will likely help determine how the key battleground state will swing come Nov. 5.

Susanne Green is a former Democrat who even previously worked for Planned Parenthood in Washington, D.C., as the abortion provider's financial manager and now supports Trump and is actively involved as a volunteer for the campaign. 

Green said that she also anticipates her left-leaning neighbors and friends will quietly vote for Trump. 

"They may be registered Republican or Democrat or independent, but they have told me privately, 'Susanne, I'm not going to put a sign in my yard. I don't want everybody to know who I'm voting for, but I'm going to vote for Trump,'" Green told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview this month. 

"I have many friends that are registered Democrats, I'm not going to mention names, but some of them are Democratic leaders in communities, and they're voting for Trump," the formerly longtime registered Democrat told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview.

Following the close of voter registration in Pennsylvania on Monday, the Democratic Party accounts for nearly 44% of registered voters compared to the GOP's 40%, but has seen its advantage over Republicans dwindle this year. 

The GOP has whittled down that lead this year to a 297,824 margin. When comparing registered voters this election year to 2020, Democrats face a net loss of 257,281 voters, while Republicans have a net gain of 428,537 registered voters. 

"I don't think it's going to be quite as close as they're saying. I mean, both sides are going to say that because you always play like you're behind. That just goes with campaigning. I just see too much momentum for Trump. We won't know that night, because in Pennsylvania we're so slow," Kveragas said. 

Fox News Digital spoke with the three Pennsylvania voters about their voting history and found that each individual had deep ties to the Democratic Party before registering as a Republican - or in Kveragas' case, registering as a Republican in the 1990s, before registering as an independent when Mitt Romney was at the top of the GOP presidential ticket in 2012. 

Green registered as a Democrat as a young adult and spoke with Fox Digital about her employment with Planned Parenthood as its financial manager in Washington, D.C., in 2000. 

The 2016 election spurred Green to rethink her support of the Democratic Party, pointing to Donna Brazile when she worked as a CNN commentator and fed debate questions during the primary process to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's campaign. 

Green voted for Trump in 2016 and is now volunteering for the campaign in Lackawanna County. 

"I really started looking at, you know, the morality. And I think that was the turning point for me is being a God-fearing type person and finding my spirituality again, because it was lost younger in my life. But, I just couldn't go along for the ride anymore with, you know, the way things were going with the Democratic Party going that far left," he said. 

Sardo said that in his social circles of union workers and longtime Democrats, he is seeing big changes regarding how they will vote this election. 

Sardo added that he believes many Democrats will not change their party affiliation despite supporting Trump, citing the commonwealth's closed primary process, which only allows voters to cast ballots for primary candidates in their registered party. 

Kveragas is a registered independent voter and was no fan of Trump's until he saw the 45th president's policies put into action. 

"I didn't vote for Trump [in 2016]. I voted against Hillary Clinton, who I paid a lot of attention to. I knew that we would be in deep trouble, especially coming out of the Obama years if we let her get in," he said. 

"I actually had a letter in The Wall Street Journal in May of '16 because he was complaining about how the primaries work. And I said, you know, he can step out of the primary at any time if he doesn't like the system, you know, he can just leave. So I was not a Trump supporter even going into the election," he said. 

The tide began to change for Kveragas when Trump was in office, and he saw improvements to the economy and peace across the world. 

For the trio of former Democrats who now support Trump, they all reported more or less the same: The Democratic Party has shifted harder to the left, leaving many Democrats finding refuge with Trump. 

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