Former President Stumps for Harris at Renzie

Local electeds, Lt. Gov. Davis join Clinton for blue-top get-out-the-vote rally

By Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim
The Tube City Almanac
October 30, 2024
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News, Politics & Elections

Former President Bill Clinton, who visited McKeesport in 1992 while running for president, helped lead a “get-out-the-vote” rally for local Democrats at Renziehausen Park on Tuesday. (Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim photo for Tube City Almanac)

Former President Bill Clinton came to McKeesport on Tuesday for a Get Out the Vote rally in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for president.

With early voting underway and Election Day less than a week away, Democrats, Republicans, and the Green Party are trying to secure votes with the little time they have left in Pennsylvania, which is considered the key swing state this year.

On the same day that Clinton came to McKeesport, Trump held a rally in Allentown. Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential candidate, will be coming to McKeesport tonight (Wednesday) for an environmental justice forum in Renziehausen Park from 5 to 8 p.m.

McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko. (Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim photo for Tube City Almanac)

Clinton was preceded on the podium by McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko, State Senator Jim Brewster, state Representatives Nick Pisciottano and Matt Gergely, and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, a McKeesport resident.

“We are one week away from what is going to be the most historic election in the history of our country,” Cherepko said, echoing concerns raised by other Democrats, as well as some Republicans, about the threat Trump poses to the United States’ two-party democratic system.

“Trump’s Project 2025 agenda is a direct attack on the working families of the Mon Valley here in Pennsylvania,” said Pisciottano, who is running to replace Brewster in the 45th Senatorial District. Piscottano is facing a tough challenge from Republican Jen Dintini, who has sought to connect the Democrat to controversial national issues such as immigration and transgender rights.

Trump’s agenda “would cut Social Security and Medicare and would allow employers to stop paying workers overtime,” Pisciottano said. “And it would raise costs on Pennsylvania families by nearly $4,000 per year.”

State Rep. Nick Pisciottano, West Mifflin Democrat, is seeking the 45th Senatorial District seat currently held by retiring state Sen. Jim Brewster, Democrat of McKeesport. (Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim photos for Tube City Almanac)

This figure is based on Trump’s proposed sales tax increases on imported goods, particularly Chinese imported goods, and is calculated by the Center for American Progress, a liberal-leaning think tank, based on the “median family of four,” whose household income is approximately $110,000 per year.

According to Brendan Duke, senior director for economic policy at CAP, Trump’s proposed sales tax increase would, “raise taxes by $950 for the typical single-person household, which makes about $40,000 a year.”

Tuesday’s event was intended to galvanize Harris supporters and campaign volunteers during the final stretch of the election cycle, and the audience came prepared to cheer and needed no convincing of her policies.

Organizers played upbeat pop music through the speakers before and after the speeches. Clinton’s bus arrived just before 4 p.m., and 13 minutes later — in the midst of Diana Ross’s “I’m Coming Out,” the former president stepped on stage to the sound of “ABC” by the Jackson 5.

Davis, now a father to a newborn daughter, advocated for Harris as a defender of women’s rights. “I want my daughter to have the same rights and freedoms that her mother enjoyed and that her grandmother fought for,” he said. “To make sure she has the right to make her own reproductive healthcare decisions.”

Democrats have campaigned hard on restoring the nationwide right to an abortion following the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe vs. Wade. The decision came during Biden’s administration but was handed down by a majority of conservative justices, including three appointed by Trump.

Several speakers emphasized how important Allegheny County’s votes would be to the candidate who wins Pennsylvania. “If (the Democrats) win Pennsylvania, we'll probably win the election,” said Clinton.

Pennsylvania went narrowly for Trump, the Republican, in 2016, then switched narrowly to Biden, the Democrat, in 2020.

While Pennsylvania flipping red is considered a major contributor to Trump’s 2016 election as president, the last time Allegheny County voted Republican was in 1972, when Nixon ran against McGovern.

For all the fanfare surrounding Bill Clinton’s appearance at the event, it was Davis who got the bigger reaction from the crowd during his speeches. A big part of that could be attributed to Davis, 35, being the youngest person on stage, but perhaps it was also his home-court advantage, having grown up in the area.

The audience cheered after almost every sentence Davis said, compared to Clinton, who often had the audience confused about when and when not to start applauding.

Yet the audience was clearly excited to meet the former president, who visited McKeesport with then-U.S. Sen. Al Gore in 1992 when Clinton first ran for the White House as governor of Arkansas.

“I want you to know that I'm not here because I have to be,” Clinton said. “I’m not here because I'm an ex-politician. I'm not running for anything, and Donald Trump’s older than I am.” He was then interrupted by an audience member screaming, “We miss you, Bill!”

The sentiment seemed to be echoed by almost everyone else in the room.

The event ended with “Higher Ground” by Stevie Wonder.

State Rep. Matt Gergely, McKeesport Democrat. (Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim photo for Tube City Almanac)

Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim is a freelance writer from Pittsburgh and a recent Penn State University graduate. He won a Golden Quill award for his work at the Penn State Greater Allegheny Gazette.

Originally published October 30, 2024.

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