Swing state voters consider Kamala Harris, who would be a historic nominee for president

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

In Pittsburgh, in a neighborhood called the Hill District where we've been interviewing voters about the changes in the presidential election. This is a historically Black neighborhood. You can see signs of trouble - vacant buildings, vacant lots - and also signs of revival. I'm looking at a brand-new supermarket that opened just this year in a busy shopping area.

The people we've been talking with include Francine Thomas. She's a nurse, and she is excited that there is a Black woman running for president of the United States - Kamala Harris.

FRANCINE THOMAS: Oh, I think it's great. Yeah, I'm for a woman up in the White House. I like her style. I like that she's for real and honest, and I think that she's a God-given woman.

INSKEEP: Thomas says she's part of a loose network of residents who urge people to vote, and they will be supporting Harris.

THOMAS: I'm going to volunteer. And I know political groups around the area, and we're already on it.

INSKEEP: Not everybody we met in the Hill District felt that way. Adrienne Dillworth (ph) said she had mixed feelings about Harris. We spoke while dodging cars in a grocery store parking lot.

ADRIENNE DILLWORTH: I think they should have put out a broader net for candidates to see who could be actually the best and not just, you know, like, OK, we're just going to push the VP for the position.

INSKEEP: Why do you have mixed feelings about Vice President Harris?

DILLWORTH: Just some of her history from...

INSKEEP: Here, we better get away from this. I don't want to...

DILLWORTH: That's OK.

INSKEEP: It would be bad for the interview if you were run over in the middle of the interview.

DILLWORTH: Yeah. No, we're not going to have that.

INSKEEP: All right.

DILLWORTH: From just some of what I'm hearing from what - of her history of some of the people that she's had incarcerated in the past.

INSKEEP: Dillworth has been talking with her son about Harris' record as a prosecutor in California. Some progressive groups accused her of being too tough on defendants, which leads to criticism in a historically Black neighborhood where many people feel they've been targeted by police.

So what does all this mean in a swing state that could decide the presidential election? We've called Kim Lyons, who's an editor with the Pennsylvania Capital-Star here in Pittsburgh. Good morning.

KIM LYONS: Good morning. How are you?

INSKEEP: OK, thanks so much. What do you make of what you heard there?

LYONS: Honestly, I think that is what I would expect. And I think, as you saw in the Hill District, this is a neighborhood that has not always benefited as much as other parts of the city from some of the development that's happened in Pittsburgh over the years. So I think this is a neighborhood that's very diverse. It's very, you know, nuanced as far as people that live there. And I think it is not surprising to me that someone would be a little wary of a very fast process like this.

It's only been the past few elections that progressive candidates have kind of pushed for some different ideas apart from a Democratic Party machine that really kind of controlled things and controlled candidates for a very long time. So it makes a lot of sense to me there would be some sort of skepticism of a process. It seems like it's gone kind of fast...

INSKEEP: Interesting...

LYONS: ...Just based on the past few elections we've had.

INSKEEP: ...But, of course, Harris needs a broad coalition.

LYONS: Yeah.

INSKEEP: Also this week in this area, we spoke with a Democrat in a more suburban area, a mostly white area, who felt that Harris' law enforcement record was a plus.

LYONS: Yeah, and, I mean, I think that's borne out as well. I mean, you're going to kind of see that disparity between a more urban neighborhood in Pittsburgh, where, you know, there's been a lot of - especially several years ago during the George Floyd protest, there was a lot of kind of feeling of - that the police were not as in sync with the communities in this - within the city. And, you know, I think that is fairly, you know, borne out by what you found.

But, you know, I think that - let's remember that western Pennsylvania sent the first Black woman from Pennsylvania to Congress several years ago when they elected Summer Lee. So...

INSKEEP: Oh, yeah.

LYONS: ...I think this is a very diverse part of the state that is not easily sort of summed up by just going to one urban area, one suburban area or - it's very diverse, very nuanced. It's a lot of kind of differences...

INSKEEP: Yeah.

LYONS: ...Among communities within different neighborhoods.

INSKEEP: And a lot of complexities for the presidential candidates and vice presidential...

LYONS: Sure.

INSKEEP: ...Candidates. I want to talk about the fact that western Pennsylvania is part of old industrial Appalachia. We're in hill country here.

LYONS: Yeah.

INSKEEP: And JD Vance, the new Republican vice presidential candidate, wants to appeal to Appalachia specifically. How is that coming across in western Pennsylvania?

LYONS: Well, Steve, I don't know that you appeal to Pittsburgh Steelers fans by bringing in the Cleveland Browns quarterback. I don't know how well that's going to fly.

INSKEEP: Oh.

LYONS: And I would also note...

INSKEEP: OK.

LYONS: ...That Middletown, Ohio, where JD Vance grew up is not Appalachia. It is western Ohio, with all due respect. But I think his book "Hillbilly Elegy" rubbed a lot of people in Appalachia the wrong way - a lot of stereotypes that people don't really appreciate.

INSKEEP: Ah, so you think that there's limited appeal for Vance in Pennsylvania, even though it's said he's going to park in this state.

LYONS: He can park in the state. That'd be fine. I'm sure people will be happy to hear from him. But I think even as you get further east - as you get into the Philadelphia suburbs, I don't know how much an Ohio connection is going to help. They are probably much less so. I think what Vance brings Republicans is you're going to get votes in areas that were already going to vote Republican.

INSKEEP: Kim Lyons is an editor with the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Thanks so much.

LYONS: Oh, yeah, thanks so much for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.