JD Vance holds a rally in Newtown as the battle for Bucks County — and Pennsylvania — intensifies

Before a rowdy crowd of supporters in Bucks County — a pivotal area in a pivotal state in the presidential election — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance ripped Vice President Kamala Harris’ stances on fracking Saturday and blamed her for increases in inflation.

Echoing themes often repeated by his running mate, former President Donald J. Trump, Vance said Harris was responsible for higher prices and increasing energy costs and accused her of not standing with the middle class. He also criticized Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose recent visit to Pennsylvania is under investigation by U.S. House Republicans who hold that it was aimed at boosting the Harris campaign..

But while the themes were familiar, the appearance Saturday evening at the Newtown Sports Training & Event Center underscored the importance of Bucks County to the fate of Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes and whether Trump or Harris, the Democratic nominee, wins the White House.

Bucks, the state’s fourth largest county, is closely divided between Democratic and Republican registrants, with the GOP holding a slight edge. It is the only one of the collar counties with a Republican plurality.

Pennsylvania’s battleground status was evident Saturday ahead of Tuesday’s vice presidential debate. While Vance was in Bucks, Gov. Josh Shapiro and producer and screenwriter Shonda Rhimes were stumping for Harris in Montgomery County.

Earlier in the day, Vance was 300 miles away in Monroeville, Pa., for an event that was billed as a town hall with The Lance Wallnau Show. Instead event was arranged so Wallnau, a conspiracy theorist, Christian nationalist, and Jan. 6 defender, introduced the pastor who then interviewed Vance.

Speaking in Newtown later Saturday, the Ohio senator said he doesn’t believe in the “segmentation of urban, suburban, rural” Pennsylvania voters.

“If you look at the issues that really matter to folks here in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, you hear the same things, whether it’s in Bucks County, or whether it’s in a much more rural part of Pennsylvania, or whether it’s downtown Philadelphia, where I have spent a lot of time in all these places, you hear three big concerns,” Vance said — public safety, the economy, and border security.

On the issues, Trump appears to be trusted slightly more than Harris by Pennsylvania voters on the economy. And that’s what Vance spent a large portion of Saturday’s rally speaking about, along with immigration.

“Bucks County has rejected Donald Trump and his MAGA allies in every election since 2016 because they know he only fights for himself and doesn’t care about us. JD Vance’s visit will be an important reminder of the extreme, job-killing policies he and Trump are promising to bring back if re-elected,” said Onotse Omoyeni, the Harris campaign’s Pennsylvania rapid response director, in a statement.

Saturday’s rally marked the first Trump campaign rally in a Philadelphia collar county this year, but Jim Worthington, owner of the Newtown Athletic Club and a staunch Trump supporter, emphasized the importance of voter turnout in the purple county.

“If you win Bucks County, you keep the Southeast close, you win Pennsylvania and he’s president of the United States,” Worthington said.

In April, Worthington joined other donors in hosting a fundraiser for the Trump campaign in Newtown. The wealthy Trump benefactor also served as the Pennsylvania delegation chair at July’s Republican National Convention. He hosted Trump near the health club in 2016, and he previously served on Trump’s Presidential Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. On Saturday evening, Vance called Worthington one of the “MVPs” of the Trump campaign.

Melvin Howard, 80, said he was a Democrat for most of his life. He voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, but he said that Nche Zama, a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon who ran in the 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary, helped him better understand conservatism.

To further court Bucks County voters, Howard thinks Trump needs to continue laying out his platform and exactly what he plans to do if he’s elected again to the presidency.

“I think he needs to let them know: ‘I started it, I have more training now because I did a lot … of positive things, and I would like to continue those things that I did,’” Howard said.

Gail Thibodeau, 66, of Langhorne, is a “Trump Captain,” meaning she’s been knocking on doors all across Lower Bucks County to spread the Trump campaign message.

Thibodeau said she sees Republican voter registration in Bucks County surpassing that of Democrats as a “good sign” for Trump in the swing county, but she said the former president needs to have clear messaging on his platform, including plans to address border security, inflation, and other economic issues.

Thibodeau, a committeewoman in Middletown Township, says residents have been receptive to her message.

At least when people answer the door.