Kamala Harris gave Polish Americans in Pa. a rare moment in the spotlight during the debate against Trump in Philadelphia

Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia in particular, did not get a ton of mention from Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump on the debate stage Tuesday night, despite the event’s location at the National Constitution Center.

And when the conversation did turn to the Keystone State, a crucial battleground that could likely determine the outcome of the presidential election, it was about frequently discussed topics like fracking or the economy. Until Harris name-dropped Pennsylvania’s Polish American community.

Harris pressed Trump on international relations, namely the NATO alliance, Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Russia’s war on Ukraine. She said that if Trump was still in the Oval Office, Putin would invade the rest of Europe, starting with Poland. With this, Harris took the opportunity to reach a very specific demographic in the critical battleground state.

“Why don’t you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch?” Harris said in one of her harder-hitting lines of the evening.

It’s not often that Polish Americans — specifically those in Pennsylvania, where 5% of people say they have Polish ancestry — get a shout-out on the national debate stage, but the moment showed that Harris appeared to have done her homework in the hope of grabbing the attention of more than 700,000 Polish Americans in the commonwealth, a group that is consistently civically engaged.

Michael Blichasz, president of the Polish American Cultural Center in Philadelphia, said he was “pleased” to hear the vice president mention Polish American Pennsylvanians, a historically reliable voting bloc for Democrats, though Republicans have also lobbied for their votes.

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Back in 2012, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney attempted to appeal to Polish American voters in part by making a visit to Poland.

Polish Americans are “not a community that gets a lot of publicity,” Blichasz said. “However, the people in politics know that the Polish people come out and vote. They know that because they contact us on a regular basis to urge people to come out and vote.”

Polish Americans are dependable voters because of their beliefs in the “independence” offered in the United States, Blichasz said.

“They believe in the United States of America as one of the great places that has welcomed them for centuries, not just recently,” Blichasz said.

Nationwide, there are roughly 8.2 million people with Polish ancestry, according to census data, and the heritage ranks fifth in Pennsylvania behind German, Irish, Italian, and English. There are about 12,000 Polish immigrants in Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, the Polish American community is largely concentrated in Bridesburg.

Harris’ rhetorical question to Trump emphasized the importance of achieving peace in the Eastern European countries, Blichasz said, calling Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “sinful.” But Blichasz also said he feels that if Trump was in office during the start of the war, some conflicts could have been prevented, a claim that the former president has also repeated.

“He would have got the people together before something happens,” Blichasz said, adding that he believes both Harris and Trump could bring “peace and prosperity” to Eastern Europe.

Ultimately, Polish Americans “are going to vote for the person who presents positive ways to make America the best it can be,” Blichasz said.