After a union rally Friday in South Scranton, Angela Pigga described Vice President Kamala Harris with one word.
“I think she's explosive,” Pigga said.
Like a lot of Democrats, the 48-year-old Scranton School District teacher from Dunmore thinks the vice president’s ascension to the top spot on the Democratic presidential ticket has energized party voters.
Pigga brought two of her five children to the first Harris for President event in Lackawanna County since President Joe Biden stepped out of the race Sunday.
“We're middle-class families,” she said. “I think she'll just help us be able to continue to have a fair lifestyle in America and the American dream.”
About 50 people showed up at the carpenters union hall in South Scranton.
Willie Smith, 64, a personal chauffeur from Scranton, said he didn’t like the public way Democrats pressured Biden out of the race, but said the president did the right thing.
“You know, he looked at his age and ... he wanted to turn it over to the next generation, younger generation,” Smith said. “I think she's going to be a great president. I think I look at her records, and I believe she's the right one at the right time.”
Jacob Vaxmonsky, 27, another Scranton teacher, called Harris “tough” and “sharp” and said her background excites voters.
“I hate to say that you wanted him to quit but you just didn't see this amount of energy with people,” he said. “And for it to be an Asian black woman or a woman who is Asian and black, that’s got a lot of different people excited about it.”
Lackawanna County Republican Party Chairman Dan Naylor said Harris is living through a honeymoon period. Eventually, northeast Pennslyvania voters will realize the Biden-Harris administration produced inflation and open borders and vote for former President Donald Trump, he said.
“When more and more comes out about how liberal she is compared to where Northeast Pennsylvania is, I believe that, you know, there'll be a lot of people that are you going to say, ‘Well, that's not the direction that we want this country to go in,’” Naylor said.
But during the rally, Mount Pocono Councilwoman Claudette Williams said Trump gutted labor law, appointed anti-union judges and anti-labor officials and left the nation's economy in "complete shambles."
"I hope everyone that is within my voice realizes what is at stake and make sure that we are not going to make this happen again," Williams said.
