Bethany Rodgers,Matthew RinkUSA TODAY NETWORK
Show Caption
A social worker from York County watched Tuesday’s presidential debate in dismay as former President Donald Trump allowed Vice President Kamala Harris to get under his skin.
A Pittsburgh-area Harris supporter came away pleased that, as he saw it, the vice president unleashed her prosecutorial firepower on her rival. And a Trump voter in Erie walked out of a watch party to smoke a cigarette, irritated with what she called Harris’ repeated lies.
The debate, which took place in Philadelphia, offered voters their first — and possibly only —opportunity to see the presidential hopefuls interact and lay their platforms side by side. The stakes were particularly high in Pennsylvania, a battleground state that could decide the next White House occupant.
And there were signs the presidential hopefuls had the Keystone State’s voters in mind as they spoke Tuesday night.
More: Swing state voters watching debate say Harris was prepared, Trump lost his cool
Harris made a call-out to Pennsylvania’s Polish American community as she spoke about the importance of containing Russian aggression in Europe.
Then, Trump sought to hammer Harris for previously expressing support for a ban on fracking, an industry that employs thousands of Pennsylvanians. Harris now says she does not support prohibiting hydraulic fracturing as the U.S. transitions to clean sources of energy.
Here’s what voters from different parts of Pennsylvania told USA TODAY Network reporters after watching Tuesday night’s showdown:
'She stood tall'
Carlos T. Carter, a Harris supporter from Beaver County, said the vice president put her prosecutorial skills on display Tuesday evening, adding that she came across as prepared and presidential.
“She stood tall for women,” he said. “She stood tall, for Black people, Asian people, and for America. The way she handled that made me proud.”
Harris didn’t deliver a perfect performance, in Carter’s estimation. He would’ve liked her to have spent more time acknowledging the economic hardships many Americans are facing rather than pivoting so quickly to her plans for the future.
The Democrat — who lives in Beaver County, which Trump easily claimed in 2016 and 2020 — also said the former president did a good job of “speaking to the pain of the American people” and delivering the type of performance his supporters have come to expect from him.
Overall, though, Carter felt Harris “ate him for lunch.”
To Carter, an author and motivational speaker, what matters most are a politician’s leadership skills, honesty and character.
Trump’s false assertion during the debate that immigrants are killing and eating people’s pets in Ohio and his refusal to apologize for questioning Harris’ racial identity dismayed Carter, who said these were examples of the former president exercising his white, male privilege.
“If integrity were on the ballot, (Trump) certainly would not win,” he said.
Reactions mirror party lines
Nearly 300 Harris supporters packed a warehouse behind the Lavery Brewing Co. in downtown Erie to watch the debate, which organizers said was the largest turnout among the watch parties it held across the battleground state.
In the early minutes of the debate, the spectators laughed when Trump called Harris a Marxist and heckled him when he suggested the Biden administration was letting criminals into the country.
"You're a criminal," one woman yelled.
When Trump said that abortions were being allowed after birth, a mix of boos and laughs filled the room. Then the crowd erupted in applause when ABC moderator Linsey Davis corrected him, saying "There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby."
"She's doing great," said Jess Hubert, a staff administrator for a local university. "She's answering the questions. She's on point with her rebuttals."
It was clear contrast from what Hubert and her boyfriend, Robert Wagner, saw when President Joe Biden debated Trump in June.
"Now Trump is in the same spot Biden was," Wagner said.
The couple watched the debate on a cell phone because the warehouse where the watch party was held was filled to capacity.
Avane Burkholder also attended the watch party, but she didn't vote for the party's nominee, President Joe Biden, in 2020, backing instead the Green Party's nominee. This time out, Burkholder is considering independent candidate Cornel West, but said she went to the debate party to hear what Harris had to say.
"Harris did really well," Burkholder said Wednesday. "Trump was on the defense. I was very satisfied with how Harris was responding to this Trumpism of speaking and shutting down and basically trying to aggravate and take command of the debate. "
Harris exceeded expectations, said Burkholder, who is now at a crossroads between choosing West or Harris.
"All I know is Trump is someone I'm not going to vote for," Burkholder said. "She was so much better than I was expecting. I'm happy I can finally say I kind of know who I'm going to be going with."
Across town, more than 30 Republicans gathered at Lefty's Tavern in Erie, but attendees wouldn't allow reporters inside.
Tracy Gemler, 54, of Edinboro, thought Trump was doing "fairly well" but she was frustrated that Harris kept pinning on Trump the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 and accusing Trump of wanting to enact a federal abortion ban.
"Some of the stuff that Kamala said with (Project 2025) and abortion and stuff like that, he never said," Gemler said. "He didn't say that he was going to ban abortion 'cause he can't. He can't do it (unilaterally). I think that's good. I think he just needs to prove to the American people that he's going to do what I think was good that he did in his last term and help people with the economy, inflation, the job market, the tariffs that he wants to put on other countries."
More: Republicans fret Trump debate performance could haunt him at polls in November
Renea Kovski stepped out of Lefty's Tavern to smoke a cigarette because she was getting aggravated with Harris and what she characterized as her "lies."
"He's doing OK," Kovski, wearing a Trump T-shirt, said. "He's losing his temper more than he should."
But she later said Trump was "killing it."
"We knew it would be heated and it is," she said.
More: Harris or Trump will be busy in 2025: Next president will face these issues in office
'Trump was debating three people'
Heather Solesky, a Republican social worker who lives in deep red central Pennsylvania, said she was disappointed that Trump seemed to lose his cool during parts of the debate.
She understood his pique, saying that Harris kept putting him on the defensive by, for instance, claiming his political rallies were so boring that people walk out halfway through. Solesky, who watched the debate from her York County home, said that’s not true — and she should know, having attended her share of Trump events in the past.
On top of that, Trump had to contend with the two moderators, Solesky said, noting that the ABC moderators fact-checked the former president multiple times but didn't correct any of Harris' statements.
“I think Trump was debating three people on that stage rather than one,” she said.
Harris came across as “well-coached” and a “fantastic actress." If she were a less-informed voter, Solesky might be tempted to support the vice president, she said.
She wishes the candidates had spent more time talking about immigration, an area of weakness for Harris, according to many polls. And the conversation didn't touch at all on the "transgender movement," an issue that Solesky believes is every bit as important for women as abortion access.
Despite Trump's spotty debate performance, Solesky still plans to vote for the former president in November.
“(Harris) may have won the battle, but I don’t think she’s going to win the war,” Solesky said.
More: A fierce debate and seven swing state voters: Readers weigh in on Harris-Trump debate
'She did not reveal anything'
Doug Statler, a Chambersburg retiree who now does gig work as an Uber driver, came away from the debate skeptical that it would sway many people.
In his view, Trump is the better candidate —not because the Republican is particularly likable but because he seems to have a decent handle on economic and international policy. Statler said the vice president, by contrast, sounds “naive” when she blames price gouging and corporate greed for the high costs that are saddling consumers.
In a former job in egg marketing and production, Statler saw how goods like groceries are priced and said it has much more to do with market forces than a corporate windfall.
“She does not have any understanding of what it’s like to be sitting at your desk having to make payroll for 75 people,” said Statler. “Certainly, there are items at times that are overpriced intentionally by sellers, but generally it comes down to supply and demand and competition.”
Statler was hoping the debate would force Harris, who has allowed relatively few media interviews, to answer tough questions on the spot. But he didn’t end up feeling enlightened about how she’d lead as president.
“She did not reveal anything, as far as what she really, truly intends to do,” he said.
'She looked like a professional'
Michael Bloeser, a licensed clinical social worker who also attended the Democrats’ watch party in Erie, said he was pleased by the enthusiasm at the event and by Harris’ performance.
He took Harris’ promises about child tax credits and help for first-time home buyers with a grain of salt, seeing them as typical political platitudes. But at least she had a plan, he said.
When moderators asked Trump what his proposal would be for repealing the Affordable Care Act, Bloeser noted, the former president responded that he had “concepts of a plan” but offered nothing concrete.
Trump’s demeanor was also lacking, said Bloeser, who described the former president as immature and bullying.
“Mr. Trump looked like an angry, old man, and she looked like a professional,” he said.
Bethany Rodgers and Matthew Rink are USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania capital bureau investigative journalists.
