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Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris held dueling rallies in Pittsburgh on Election Day eve, and first-time and younger voters say they’re especially concerned about the outcome as they work to graduate and establish careers.
JJ Glaneman, 19, co-president of Duquesne University College Republicans, was among those who gathered outside PPG Paints Arena hours before Trump was set to speak.
He pointed to inflation and the cost of living as issues among the most important to young voters.
“This is the toughest moment for young people to buy a house,” Glaneman said. “It's expensive to buy groceries, and costs just keep going up.”
Just 18 miles away in Rankin, Polina Rosas, 23, stood at the barricade waiting to get into the Harris rally reading “The Handmaid’s Tale.” This futuristic novel by Margaret Atwood depicts a dystopian state in which women are powerless at the hands of a patriarchal society.
Rosas is concerned about maintaining abortion rights, adding she was “more nervous than excited” about the election.
“Whoever gets electied, there will be a backlash,” said Rosas, a member of the Army National Guard who was called upon to help during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
She was among the thousands who gathered in the shadow of Carrie Blast Furnaces – a vestige of the region’s status as a leader in the steel industry. The structure was part of U.S. Steel Homestead Steel Works but today is a National Historic Landmark.
Trump and Harris have been campaigning hard for the battleground state’s 19 electoral votes. This election, 40.8 million voters ages 18 to 27 will be eligible to vote, with 8.3 million being newly eligible since the 2022 midterm election.
Thousands of people waited for a lineup for Harris that included Katy Perry and DJ D-Nice – part political rally, part show. Anna Hazo, 23, felt compelled to show up in person.
“She’s just a lot more hopeful than Trump is. He’s got a lot more hate speech,” Hazo said. “I love that she stands up for our rights as women, the working class and that she just cares about people.”
Sebastien Slatniske 18, will vote for the first time this year.
“She just seems like a very happy, joyful human being,” Slatniske said.
Duquesne University student India Shollenberger-Moss, 18, arrived two hours before the doors opened. She’s supporting Harris, because, among other reasons, because she is “repulsed” by Trump’s rhetoric, and Harris has experience working in government that Trump lacks.
“When I was younger, I never thought I would be able to vote for a woman,” she said.
Back at PPG Arena, co-presidents of the Duquesne University College Republicans Ava Hickman and Glaneman, said that the rallies serve as an opportunity to bring members somewhere they can get engaged in politics.
“It's great to get people energized and get people excited,” Hickman said. "I know a lot of people, like, protest and things like that, which is absolutely fine, it has its place, but it's kind of nice to be somewhere where the energy is positive.”
It’s Hickman’s third Trump rally, but she wasn’t always a supporter. She used to think he was “rude, obnoxious, [and] kind of entitled.”
“But then my opinion really started to change whenever I started to look at his policies,” said Hickman, a political science major. “I started studying policy more deeply, and I started to become appreciative of President Trump's rawness and truthfulness, because I feel like there's just a lot of lack of transparency in government."
Glaneman said he has been a Trump supporter since his first term as president. Both he and Hickman voted by mail so they would be able to canvass outside the polls on Election Day on behalf of state Sen. Devlin Robinson (R-37th).
This was Hickman’s first time casting a ballot.
“I know a lot of people feel as if they're kind of voting against someone rather than for someone, and so I feel grateful that I'm voting for someone that I like,” she said.
But not every attendee felt as passionately about voting for Trump. Jack Norris, 19, from Beaver County, said he will be casting his first ballot for Trump on Election Day, but describes himself as “not the most political guy.”
“Whoever wins, I hope they do good, but I prefer Trump based on what he’s done,” he said.
Norris plans to vote for Trump for economic reasons.
“I'm going to have to get out in the world later on. I don't want to worry about prices,” he said. “I want to be able to support myself because if I can't support myself, I can't support anyone else if I start a family.”
With Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes, Norris said he knows that his vote matters more than ever.
“I've lived in Pennsylvania all my life, and the fact that my vote could matter this much, that it could change history forever, that's pretty miraculous,” he said.
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