MSNBC “election guru” Steve Kornacki offered Kamala Harris fans a bit of hope on Tuesday night, explaining the vice president has a decent shot against Donald Trump in Pennsylvania based on the results from one county.
Lackawanna County, which has a population of about 216,00o people, is a “key county” to watch, Kornacki said, based on recent electoral trends.
Kornacki pointed out that, with about 80% of the Lackawanna vote in on Tuesday night, that Harris had received 53.3% of votes, compared to 46% of votes going to Trump. The Republican nominee, Kornacki said, had been “chipping away” at Harris’ “gigantic lead” in the county, but if her lead holds, that bodes well for her overall performance in the state.
In 2020, Joe Biden — who was born in Scranton in Lackawanna County — beat Trump by 8.4% in the county, and he ultimately won Pennsylvania following days of ballot counting. In 2016, Trump only lost the county to Hillary Clinton by 3.4%, in a year in which he won Pennsylvania.
Kornacki said if Harris can keep her 7.3% edge on Trump in Lackawanna County, Democrats would be “thrilled” with the result.
You can watch Korancki’s breakdown via MSNBC below:
Pennsylvania is a critical state for both Trump and Harris. Its 19 electoral votes are the sixth most-overall, but the five states ahead of it (California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois) aren’t likely to produce Election Day surprises.
Then again, it may take days to find out who won the state. NBC News on Tuesday evening reported Pennsylvania officials expect most ballots to be counted by Wednesday night, or potentially Thursday morning. Biden, in 2020, didn’t declare victory until the Saturday after Election Day, due to votes still being counted in Pennsylvania.
Obviously, both Trump and Harris would love to win the state. At the time this story was published, the AP had allocated 210 electoral college votes to Trump, and 113 to Harris.