3 Delco town hall participants tell CNN they’re now backing Kamala Harris

Following Kamala Harris’ town hall in Delaware County Wednesday, some of the undecided voters told CNN’s John King they made up their mind to back the vice president against former President Donald Trump.

“If I had to pick right now, I would pick her,” said Lauren Holden, who said she voted for Trump in 2020.

King spoke with Holden and four other undecided voters from Pennsylvania who asked Harris a question during Wednesday’s event. Three of the five told the veteran CNN anchor and election analyst they had decided to back Harris. Every vote is important in Pennsylvania, where Harris and Trump are virtually tied in recent polls.

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Harris’ response to a question to name a personal weakness — that she has always leaned on a team of “smart people” — resonated with Erik Svendsen, an IT worker in Conshohocken who is registered as a Libertarian. Svendsen told King he came into the town hall undecided, but would now vote for the vice president.

“In my line of work in IT, I don’t expect everybody to know the answer, I expect them to know how to get the answer … I don’t need a president who knows everything or thinks they know everything, because that’s not what America needs,” Svendsen said. “They need to put the right people in the right place to lead the country efficiently.”

Taneisha Spall said she admired Harris when the vice president entered the race for staying above the fray, and has decided to cast her ballot for Harris. But Spall also said she’s been turned off by Harris’ recent attacks against the former president, such as agreeing with his former chief of staff that Trump meets the definition of a fascist.

“I think that’s beneath her. She doesn’t need to do that. She can run on her policy,” Spall said. “You don’t need to stoop to his level.”

Pam Thistle, a real estate agent from Wyndmoor registered with no party affiliation, said she was tired of seeing the candidates going after one another, and would prefer more details on their economic plans.

“Stop trashing Trump. Trump, stop trashing the vice president. We don’t care,” Thistle said. “We don’t even know the people they’re talking about, that this person said this and that. How does that impact the voters?”

While Thistle remains undecided, she told King she came out of the town hall feeling personal “adoration” for Harris, especially when the vice president made a point to speak to her following the event.

“I think personally, she is a good person, and there was a nice connection, especially as a woman.”

Joe Donahue, a registered Republican from Bucks County, said he remained undecided because he couldn’t “get behind” Harris’ policy to bring back national abortion protections eliminated when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. While he said he agrees with Trump on abortion policy, he praised Harris for being open to speaking to him following the town hall.

“Anybody who’s willing to hear ideas that are in opposition to hers, or anybody’s for that matter, that is a personality trait I really appreciate,” Donahue said.

CNN offered to host a town hall event for Trump, but he declined to participate. The network initially proposed a second debate, scheduled for Wednesday. But Trump turned down that offer, claiming he “won” his debates against Harris and former President Joe Biden and that it was “too late” for a rematch against Harris, though the final debate during the 2020 election cycle took place Oct. 22.

“We continue to believe the American people would benefit from hearing more from the two major candidates for President of the United States,” CNN said in a statement.

Trump did participate in a town hall event with Fox News last week in Georgia, but the audience was largely Republicans and Trump supporters, cheering the former president’s responses and praising him ahead of their questions.

CNN said the audience for Harris’ town hall was filled with undecided voters chosen from a pool of people “identified by a nonpartisan research organization and CNN editorial producers working with local and state business groups, civic organizations, religious groups and universities.”