Women in Philly’s suburbs are key to determining the 2024 election. And Democrats have an advantage.

Doris Brown has lived in Quakertown for decades and watched it turn from a quiet rural area to part of Philadelphia’s sprawling suburbs.

In the late 1960s, before Roe v. Wade was the law of the land, Brown had an extremely difficult pregnancy. Ultimately, Brown said, the child died and she had a procedure similar to that of a surgical abortion to remove the fetus.

“Luckily, in those days I could have the abortion I needed; now that’s changing. Not in Pennsylvania, but it’s only a matter of time,” the 89-year-old told Vera Cole, a Pennsylvania House candidate who stopped by her home this month in one of the more conservative parts of battleground Bucks County. Abortion was illegal in Pennsylvania before Roe v. Wade, but there were loopholes. The abortion ban wouldn’t have affected Brown because the fetus had already died.

Cole, a Democrat, had identified her top issues as free and fair elections and protection of reproductive rights.

“I don’t like the way we’re being treated,” Brown told Cole. “I object to someone telling me what I can do with my body.”

Brown, an unaffiliated voter, hasn’t voted for a Republican for president since Sen. John McCain in 2008. But she said she would consider voting for incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, though she has voted against him before. She is exactly the sort of voter Democrats need to reach in order to win up and down the ballot in November.

The exchange between Brown and Cole mirrors conversations Democrats are having with women across Philadelphia’s suburbs ahead of November’s election, the first presidential contest held since the Supreme Court struck down the federal right to abortion in 2022. Reproductive rights have been a central theme for Democratic candidates — whether they’re running for the statehouse or the White House.

Women in the collar counties are poised to play a potentially decisive role in determining the next president after helping power President Joe Biden to victory in 2020. They could potentially make Vice President Kamala Harris the first female president if they turn out for her in similar or greater numbers against former President Donald Trump.

“Women are revved and ready to go this election season and they have been since their rights were taken away,” said Delaware County Councilwoman Monica Taylor, a Democrat who is also co-chair of Black Women for Harris in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Taylor noted that women had been showing up in high numbers to volunteer and that some who were disengaged earlier in the cycle began showing up after Harris became the nominee.

That enthusiasm will be put to the test in November.

The Philadelphia suburbs will be crucially important for Democrats. Biden improved on 2016 nominee Hillary Clinton’s vote totals by tens of thousands in each of the collar counties on his way to winning the state. All four counties have more voting age women than men, and Delaware County is second only to Philadelphia in proportion of voting age women to men. That slight edge in female voters could matter.

Abortion is a key driver for suburban voters. A Philadelphia Inquirer/New York Times/Siena College poll of Pennsylvania voters in May found that about one in eight respondents in the collar counties cited abortion as the most important issue, making it second only to the economy in importance. It was the only issue on which Biden, then the presumptive Democratic nominee, was more trusted than Trump.

Even before she became the nominee, Harris was the Democratic ticket’s lead messenger on reproductive rights. In one of her first campaign visits to the Philadelphia suburbs this year, Harris spoke with Abbott Elementary’s Sheryl Lee Ralph in Elkins Park about abortion rights.

That same focus on suburban women has been absent from Trump’s campaign, which has centered the economy and immigration. While those issues are relevant to women and the campaign has activated female surrogates to help, there’s little evidence that the campaign is working to reach women specifically — even as Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, fend off criticism for their records on abortion and their history of derogatory comments about women. In recent statements, Trump and Vance have said abortion policies should be up to the states.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign argued that Harris supports “dangerously liberal” policies that are harmful to women.

“Women deserve a president who will secure our nation’s borders, remove violent criminals from our neighborhoods, and build an economy that helps our families thrive — and that’s exactly what President Trump will do,” Trump national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Republicans have sought to catch up on reproductive rights as they struggle for a message as states have cracked down on abortion rights following the 2022 Supreme Court ruling.

In an event earlier this month in Bucks County, Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick invited a woman who had endured several failed rounds of in vitro fertilization to the stage to discuss his proposal to create tax credits for the treatment, which was threatened in Alabama by a state court ruling there earlier this year.

“Everybody focuses on abortion, and obviously this is a very polarizing issue in our country,” McCormick said. “... But there’s so much more about reproductive rights that I think we should be thinking about and talking about.”

McCormick, who has been persistently attacked for his own anti-abortion statements in a previous run for office, reminded the crowd that he is a father to six daughters as he said policy makers should be thinking about access to contraceptives, adoption services, and affordability of fertility treatments.

Deb Mackey, a Bucks County voter who attended McCormick’s event, said she was pleasantly surprised to learn about McCormick’s policies around families. But she said she was thinking about other issues when deciding how to vote.

“I think [Trump will] be better for the economy, better for my stocks,” said Mackey, a Republican who opposes abortion. “On the world stage. I don’t think the players are afraid of Kamala. I think they’re very afraid of President Trump. I think his presidency will protect the nation.”

Giana DePaul, the 21-year-old executive director of the Montgomery County GOP, said politicians have been incorrect to repeatedly push the abortion issue on women, especially young women.

“It’s detrimental to put women in a box and think that they only care for one thing because we’re as multifaceted as men are,” DePaul said.

While reproductive rights are an important part of the message, Montgomery County Commissioner Jamila Winder said women are also at the heart of the Democratic Party’s messaging on such issues as the economy and education.

“We’re gonna need every woman regardless of where they fit in a certain demographic in Montgomery County to play a role in turning out the vote,” said Winder, who hopes to hold an October rally of women supporting Harris in the suburbs.

Winder, who co-chairs Black Women for Harris in the Philly suburbs alongside Taylor, said she’s also working to recruit volunteers to arrange small events in their homes in an effort to meet people in a more intimate setting.

Meanwhile, Republicans who oppose Trump are working to plan similar gatherings.

Women4US, an organization working to convince Republican women to vote against Trump, has narrowed in on the Philadelphia suburbs as a key area. Stephanie Sharp, one of the group’s founders, said the chaos under Trump’s first administration is something Republican women didn’t want.

“They gave him that chance and saw what could happen if that was extended,” Sharp said.

Republicans are hoping Trump can gain back voters he lost in 2020 and persuade women with a policy-focused message.

“If they stay on core policy messages around these pocketbook, kitchen table issues, and national security issues I think they could have some success,” said Christian Nascimento, chair of the Montgomery County Republican Party.

But Democrats’ message around reproductive rights remains powerful.

Cole, the Pennsylvania House candidate who is running to unseat Republican incumbent State Rep. Craig Staats, said she is hearing about the issue at roughly a third of the doors she knocks on in Bucks County. She’s campaigning in a district that has been held by Republicans for decades, but she said people are quick to share personal stories.

“That’s something I often hear at the doors — that people have their own view about abortion, but they draw the line at making decisions for other people,” Cole said.

Brown, the 89-year-old voter, said she wasn’t yet sure if she would vote for Cole. But she plans to support Harris, and reproductive rights weigh heavily as she considers her votes in every race.

“It’s a privacy issue,” she said. “It’s a concern between a doctor, the father of the child, and the mother of the child. I just think laws and government and politicians should stay out of it.”

Staff writer Aseem Shukla contributed to this article.