More Pa. voters have registered as Democrats since Kamala Harris entered the presidential race

Voter registration among Democrats in Pennsylvania has spiked in the three weeks since Vice President Kamala Harris entered the race, according to State Department data.

The boost in registered Democrats comes amid a flurry of national and swing state polling that reflects increased enthusiasm for a Harris ticket, impressive fundraising numbers, and a wave of hyper-specific Zoom forums (see: “Dead Heads for Kamala”) to galvanize support for the vice president.

Cultivating passion in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state that will likely decide the outcome of the election, is especially important for the Harris campaign, which will look to meet or build on President Joe Biden’s small margin of victory in the Commonwealth from 2020.

But after July 21 — when Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed Harris — the race drastically changed and with it came an around 1,000 registration boost for the Democratic Party, making it the largest margin in new registrations for Democrats since late 2023.

As of Aug. 14, Democrats have approximately 350,000 more registrations than Republicans in the Commonwealth. Four years ago, Democrats received about 800,000 more registrations than Republicans.

For most of 2024, Republicans had been registering more than Democrats in Pennsylvania, especially during the week of the Republican National Convention in July, just days after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler. More Pennsylvania voters registered as Republican during that week than in any week since 2020, with an increase of 2,000 registrations, according to voter data aggregated by The New York Times.

In late July, Republicans outpaced Democratic voter registration in Bucks County — a key purple suburb — for the first time in a decade and a half, making it the only predominantly Republican county in the Philadelphia area.

While voter registration increases have slightly dwindled since the week that Biden withdrew from the race, and Republican registration remains high, the gains in Democratic registrations could have mitigated some momentum that was building among the GOP registrations since the week of the RNC.

Registered voters don’t always represent the broader electorate, and a large number of new Pennsylvania voters did not register with a party, making it difficult to surmise their perspective on the election, but the boost in registration for Democrats could signal a positive trend line for Democrats.

Until Biden dropped out of the race, voters had been skeptical about the president’s ability to rile up enthusiasm to vote against Trump as he did in 2020.

But after his disastrous debate performance against Trump on June 27, Democratic leaders began calling on Biden to step down and other individuals in the party expressed further concern about Biden’s appearance and condition.

Last week, Harris introduced her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for the first time to a rowdy audience in Philadelphia that at times simulated the crowd at a concert — Taylor Swift-esque light up wristbands and all — perhaps symbolizing the growing enthusiasm for the campaign.