In Johnstown, Pa., Harris pledges support for small businesses

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Johnstown Friday, visiting a small business in the downtown area as she continued her barnstorming of the Keystone State.

Harris, talked with the owners of Classic Elements, a cafe and bookstore, about their business for several minutes, according to pool reports. She was joined by U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, and his wife, Giselle Fetterman.

“There are so many forces telling people that they are alone,” Harris said to the owners as she stressed the importance of community gathering spots. She told the owners they were “civic leaders,” according to pool reports.

Earlier this month, Harris unveiled a plan to invest in small businesses and entrepreneurs and create a record 25 million new business applications, according to the Harris campaign.

Harris then entered the cafe section of the store, where about two dozen patrons were gathered, and she made similar remarks.

“You’ve created a space that is a safe space, where people are welcome and know that they’re encouraged to be with each other and feel a sense of belonging,” she said, according to pool reports. “And in the midst of so many forces that are trying to make people feel alone or divide us, I think it’s really important that we are intentional about creating a safe place.”

Michele Adams, the store’s co-owner said she and her other employees try to be as nonpartisan as possible. But having the vice president there for the store’s five-year anniversary was “bigger than anything” they could have planned.

The campaign reached out first on Monday about logistics, she told reporters after Harris had left. Adams declined to say who she was voting for, but said the vice president talked about how to make it easier for small businesses. There is a need to cut red tape and make processing like permitting easier, she said.

“We all know that small business is the cornerstone of any community, and I think a lot of people don’t quite understand that, that spending money in your community with small businesses supports the area and not big people, not the big business,” Adams said.

The vice president did take one question from the pool about how she felt about Pennsylvania, which has the richest load of electoral votes among the battleground states, with 19.

She said she was “feeling very good about Pennsylvania because there are a lot of people in Pennsylvania who deserve to be seen and heard. That’s why I’m here in Johnstown.”

Harris heard from some of those people as she arrived at the bookstore.

On a sidewalk across the street, several dozen people were waiting for her, some holding Trump signs and chanting “Trump” while Harris’ supporters shouted “We’re not going back.”

When Harris was talking inside her business, supporters of her opponent, former President Donald Trump, argued with each other, chanting negatives: “Lock him up!” against Trump, and “Commie Kamala” against Harris.

In preparation for the back-and-forth, police set up chain link fences on either side of the street and stood in front of the establishment. A smaller group of Harris supporters showed up in ones and twos on the other side of the street, occasionally shouting back at the Trump adherents.

Harris’ fleet of unmarked white vans parked alongside the fence as they arrived, further blocking protesters. A young boy climbed up a pole and looked over the improvised barrier, craning to get a glimpse of Harris as she spoke with supporters inside.

As Fetterman, in his recognizable hoodie and shorts, rounded the corner toward the cafe, the politically-split crowd greeted him with a mixture of cheers and jeers.

“I will be continuing to travel around the state to make sure that I’m listening as much as we are talking,” Harris said, according to the pool report. “And ultimately I feel very strongly that you’ve got to earn every vote and that means spending time with folks in the communities where they live. And so that’s why I’m here and we’re going to be spending a lot more time in Pennsylvania.”

She is scheduled to visit Wilkes-Barre early Friday evening.

Harris was greeted by a crowd of 400 people when she landed at 1:50 p.m. at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria Airport, according to pool reports.

The crowd was waiting for Harris in an airport hanger chanting “Ka-ma-la,” according to pool reports. Parked nearby was a Harris-Walz campaign bus with the logo “A New Way Forward” in large white letters.

Harris stopped in the hangar to shake hands, take photos and talk with members of the crowd for about 15 minutes. The crowd chanted “we’re not going back” at one point.

Harris has been in Pennsylvania much of the last seven days — she spent multiple days in Pittsburgh preparing for a debate with Trump, in Philadelphia on Tuesday. She also was at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County with President Joe Biden and Gov. Josh Shapiro on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Johnstown’s aptly-named Airport Road was lined with campaign signs — nearly all of them for Trump — as it wound toward the airport. The only house on the street with Harris signs sported nearly a dozen, as if to cancel out the rest of the neighborhood by itself.

Security had closed off every entrance to the airport but one in the hours before Harris’ arrival. A man wearing a neon shirt was busy turning away members of the public as he informed them that the airport was closed.

Earlier in the day in downtown, Secret Service agents and local police spent the morning hours sweeping Classic Elements. A sign on the corner of Main and Market streets described the business as “Johnstown’s Living Room.”

Much like in living rooms all across the commonwealth, there were opinions on who deserved to be elected the 47th president of the United States.

Senda Harvey, a 64-year-old employee of Laurel Highlands Health who moved to Johnstown two years ago, took in the competing groups from in front of city hall. Harvey, an army veteran, said that she was excited that Harris chose to stop by but her “peace of mind was more important” than trying to argue with the protesters across the street.

“I believe in serving my country and serving my community, no matter how crazy those people get,” she said.

Judy Cramer, 63, of Johnstown, is a nurse and also owns the Dairy Queen in Parkhill, north of town. She is a supporter of Trump and wondered why the vice president was even showing up to places like her hometown.

“She’s hitting all the small towns to get the votes here, but she’s stupid ... Trump’s going to win Cambria County,” Cramer said.

Even though things were tense at times Friday, “USA!” chants from both sides would occasionally erupt during the vice president’s visit.

For Adams, that’s a sign of democracy.

“We live in America, right?” she said. “This is why we live here. This is what everybody fights for. Everybody can have their own opinions, and people duke it out on Election Day.”

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