Why Harris is at risk of losing Pennsylvania

Vice President Kamala Harris’s green positions could cost her Pennsylvania in November, now that she is on track to be the Democratic presidential nominee.

During her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris called for a ban on fracking and was one of the original sponsors of the Green New Deal resolution. While she altered her position to match President Joe Biden’s after becoming his running mate, untethering from him could put her at risk of renewed attacks.

“Kamala Harris is even more extreme than Joe Biden – She wants to ban fracking and kill countless jobs in states like PA for American workers,” Donald Trump Jr. said in a post on X, responding to a 2020 primary town hall in which Harris said there was “no question” she was in favor of banning fracking.

“I think that Harris will be more open to attacks on fracking than Biden, given her rhetoric and policy positions before she became vice president,” Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion Director Christopher P. Borick told Axios.

Harris’s 2019 platform was far more ambitious than Biden’s in regard to the environment, aiming to create a clean energy economy by 2045 and requiring all vehicles to be emission-free by 2035.

Such green policies may come back to bite her in November, especially in the decisive swing state of Pennsylvania, which is second to Texas in producing natural gas. Southwestern Pennsylvania, where the industry is concentrated, went decisively to then-President Donald Trump in 2020 — Biden only won the state due to the Democratic strongholds of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

To take the state, Harris will need an equal, if not greater, turnout among the urban bastions.

While Biden was able to insulate himself from Republican attacks against the Green New Deal, Harris’s past sponsorship of the deal will allow the Trump campaign to link her to its more unpopular elements.

“Kamala was a proud supporter of the Green New Scam and has promised to ban fracking and kill good-paying energy jobs in Pennsylvania and across the heartland,” Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios.

After Biden announced he was stepping down as the Democratic nominee on Sunday, Harris has earned enough delegate support to win the nomination at next month’s Democratic National Convention.