Taking the pulse of Pennsylvania's Trump country, from Amish region to Gettysburg

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Gettysburg holds a sacred place in the history of American democracy. The nation could have been lost during that bloody three-day battle in 1863, a pivotal point in the Civil War that was anything but civil. As one candidate for president said, “Gettysburg, wow.”

On a recent sunny morning, Paul Faust was at the massive monument to the 34,530 soldiers from Pennsylvania who served during those three days in early July 161 years ago. He had a notebook containing lists of his ancestors who served during the battle and a digital SLR camera to photograph the bronze plaques that circle the 110-foot-tall granite monument, the largest such memorial at the national military park, perched atop Seminary Ridge.

The meaning of the battle wasn’t lost on him.

The country could have died on the grassy hills in Gettysburg.

And this year, a different fight is being waged over a presidential election that candidates on both sides – Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris – have couched as being vital for the preservation of this experiment called America.

Faust, a fit 81-year-old who is retired from “just about everything you can say,” blames Trump for the deep divisions in the country, calling him “a traitor.”

He had much more to say – and we’ll get to that – but in the moment, he was more interested in documenting his ancestors who fought at Gettysburg, a quest that began about 15 years ago while doing some family research on ancestry.com.

Gettysburg, he said, tells the story of a time when the nation, divided over slavery, was at war with itself.

And it confirms the notion that the battle is not over.

This one will be decided not on the rolling hills in south-central Pennsylvania, but at the state’s ballot boxes.

Exploring 'Pennsyltucky'

Whichever candidate wins the Keystone State has a good chance of moving into the White House.

While the election may be decided in the suburbs of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, where the majority of the state’s residents live, central Pennsylvania plays a role. It is traditionally red, with small pockets of blue in the cities, but the votes that come from the small businesspeople and churchgoers of the middle of the state – often referred to derisively as “Pennsyltucky” – could make a difference in a state where the final results could be decided by a few thousand votes.

The York Daily Record, part of the USA TODAY Network, took the pulse of the middle of the state – traveling Route 30, known as the Lincoln Highway, from Coatesville to Chambersburg – to document the feelings of the voters in Pennsylvania’s “flyover country," those who might not be tuned into the political spin that flows from cable news or websites of specious credibility.

'It's been crazy'

Jean Chmiel, who has been working the counter at Stover’s News on Third Street in Columbia, sighed and said, “Oh, boy.”

Chmiel, asked for her thoughts on the 2024 presidential election, wasn’t sure where to begin. “This is Trump territory,” she said of her hometown of 10,000 on the east bank of the Susquehanna River.

It isn’t quite that simple, though. She has worked at the Columbia institution – Stover's dates to 1886 – for 14 years and has gotten to know a good number of the regular customers who stop by every morning for coffee and a newspaper. The whipsaw nature of this year’s race has been kind of stunning, every week seemingly bringing a new twist to a plot that has more turns than some of the country byways around the town where she was born and raised.

“Crazy,” she said.

Yet, in Columbia, she said, Harris supporters are as rare as four-leaf clovers. She said she hadn’t really heard anything about Harris until she took the reins after Biden withdrew from the race. “I just haven’t seen her do anything,” she said. “It’s almost like, all of a sudden, she’s like Oprah.”

Democrats, she said, didn’t get to vote for Harris to be the party’s nominee. “All those people who voted for Biden, they took their votes,” she said. “They’re always talking about democracy. That’s not democracy.”

James Stover, who has close-cropped hair and an energetic personality, is her boss, representing the fifth generation to own the store. He credits the store’s longevity to those who came before him, building the newsstand into a keystone of the town. He gives special credit to his father, also named James, who at 80 still stops by every morning to greet customers.

Pondering the election, Stover said the two biggest issues in Columbia are homelessness and the economy. The Columbia Presbyterian Church at Fourth and Locust streets, he said, does a lot for the homeless, providing meals and shelter, but the problem seems to be getting worse.

“When I was a kid, and excuse how I say this, they called them ‘bums,’” he said. “Now, so many of them are younger people. I think the biggest problem is addiction to drugs. Heroin, probably.”

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Economic issues, particularly inflation, are not far from his mind. “Not long ago,” he said, “we used to sell candy bars two for a dollar. Now, they’re $1.75 each.” Customers have noticed, he said, but there’s not a lot he can do. His costs keep rising, so he must raise prices. “We’re not making any more profit. It’s just that our costs have gone up so drastically. We see increases in prices every two or three months. I don’t see it stabilizing.”

For that reason, he said, he supports Trump, believing the former president will be better for the nation’s economy – and his economy. He is unconcerned about Trump’s felony convictions, previous civil penalties for sexual abuse and business fraud or his pending charges related to trying to reverse the results of the 2020 election. “Democrats brought all of that against him,” he reasoned.

Not everybody in Columbia, or even in Stover’s, concurs with the boss. Diane Divit, a 70-year-old clerk and Columbia native – being a native gives one credibility in town – said she preferred not to say who she supported, but Stover, overhearing her, piped in, “She’s a Kamala fan.”

Divit stuck to her guns. She did say, “It’s been crazy. So much had happened so fast.”

'The worst I've experienced'

Every Monday morning, Ken Rowe, an 83-year-old retired nursing assistant, meets a couple friends to bowl a few games at Leisure Lanes, a sprawling complex off the Lincoln Highway between Mountville and Lancaster. His average is about 140, he said. He interrupted our conversation to roll a strike.

“All of the years I’ve voted,” he said, “this is the worst I’ve ever experienced. I don’t know if I’ll even vote at all. I’m not ready for a woman president, and the other guy only cares about himself.”

One of his bowling companions, a 91-year-old retired school nurse practitioner, bristled at his comment and shot him a cold look. She then calmly made a split for a spare. Her average, she said, was 129.

Rowe shrugged it off and said, “Why don’t they talk about the job they’re going to do instead of knocking each other down?”

His companion, who declined to give her name, said, “I am a Republican, but there is no way I’ll ever vote for a convicted felon. He’s a convicted felon and nothing else, as far as I’m concerned.”

Fearing 'Trump would bring back the racism thing'

Larry Rowe was sitting on the stoop of his barber shop on West King Street in Lancaster. Business in his shop was slow on a Monday. The shop used to do a gangbuster business, packed with customers. Now, on this morning, the barbers who work in his shop would probably be going home after lunch.

It’s tough.

Inflation has caused life-threatening wounds to small businesses. It used to be, he said, a haircut would run 10 bucks, including tip. Now, the prices are inflated, with some shops – not his – charging upwards of $50 or $60 for a trim, not including tip. It makes it hard to make a living and support a family, he said.

“That’s a big bite for some people,” he said. “It’s really tight. Common folk are struggling day to day.”

He is torn. He’s unsure about Harris and believes Trump would be better for the economy, but he has reservations about the former president.

About Harris, he said: “Common folk have been struggling day to day. Where has she been? Now, being thrown into the position of president, I’m not feeling that. But I remember dealing with the racism.”

The record, as far as he’s concerned, shows that Trump would bring back what he perceived as a recent resurgence of racism, with police harassing minority citizens, a real fear in the community.

“The big fear is that Trump would bring back the racism thing,” said Larry Rowe, 55, sporting a black Los Angeles Dodgers baseball cap. “People aren't generally happy with either one. I feel the same way. From my perspective, is Trump better or is Kamala better? I don’t know.”

He hasn’t decided who he will vote for. He said he does know that the next few weeks will be interesting for Trump.

“I think this is something bad for Trump,” he said. “Dealing with a Black woman – and I don’t mean that in a negative way – dealing with a highly intelligent Black woman, she’s going to go at him hard.”

He wonders whether Trump will be able to survive a debate with Harris “without going crazy.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he failed it,” Larry Rowe said, saying that Trump has a tendency to “go crazy” about things.

Trump, he said, often goes off the rails, spouting conspiracy theories and other nonsense. “We all knew Trump has a nutty-ass history,” he said. “What did you think was going to happen? We bought that.”

In the end, he said, it really doesn’t matter.

“If you can’t pay your bills,” he said, “who gives a (expletive) about who the president is?”

'A very religious area'

The Route 30 Diner on, of course, Route 30 in Ronks, an unincorporated rural community east of Lancaster, is old school, one of the stainless-steel diners that still dot the historic highway. A burned-out neon sign above the front foyer proclaims that the diner is air-conditioned.

Inside, it is cozy and friendly, the kind of place locals come for breakfast and to chew the fat while having eggs and pancakes at the counter that runs the length of the structure, across from a stretch of booths that overlook the two-lane highway. A shelf that runs along the ceiling holds photos of soldiers, sailors and Marines from the community who have made the ultimate sacrifice during wartime, dating to World War I.

On a recent Monday, as is his habit, Nathan Huyard sat at the counter, sipping coffee and awaiting his breakfast. He has been a regular at the diner since he was a kid. When it was open 24 hours a day, he recalled going to the diner at 2 a.m. with his friends to eat pancakes after a night of carousing.

Huyard voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 and says he will do so again.

“I’m a conservative,” he said. “And this is a very conservative area of Lancaster County.”

He is a born-again Christian, he said, and he believes that Trump reflects his values. “Abortion is an issue,” he said. “We value the sanctity of life.”

The highway is dotted with churches, from Mennonite to a plethora of traditional Methodist or Baptist churches to a good number of independent evangelical churches.

“This is a very religious area,” Huyard said.

Huyard and his family run a bed-and-breakfast on a farm nearby. His wife’s family has run the business for 25 years, renting out the 20 acres of farmland to a neighboring Amish farmer. Many of his clientele are tourists who travel to Lancaster County to see shows at the Sight & Sound Theater, a massive structure that presents Bible stories.

His support of Trump is unwavering. He doesn’t have a problem reconciling that with Trump’s record and purported character flaws.

“As a born-again Christian, I have high moral standards,” Huyard said. “He hasn’t always lined up with my current values. But as a Christian, I believe in forgiveness, grace and mercy. I believe that for Trump as well.”

Politics and business don't mix

Interestingly, people at several bars along Route 30 declined to discuss the election. A bartender at Owen’s Place, west of Coatesville in rural Chester County, said, “We don’t talk about politics in the bar,” she said. “No religion either.”

Other business owners were also wary of sharing their political opinions lest they irritate half of their clientele.

In Abbottstown, billed as “The Gateway to Adams County” on Route 30, Gina Wilson, a slight, shy, 28-year-old woman, just opened up a coffee shop on the roundabout in the town square called Coffee & Crumbs. She let her father, Jerry Parrish, who owns the building on the northeast corner of the square, speak for the business.

The building bore a sign on its front announcing its grand opening. The coffee shop had been open just a week but is already attracting booming business. One day last week, Parrish said, the line for coffee, muffins, doughnuts, bagels and cookies wrapped around the room and went out the door to the parking lot.

“Everybody loves coffee and doughnuts,” Parrish said.

But not everybody appreciates business owners expressing their political views, he said.

Parrish knows. He owns the Lincoln Speedway, a local dirt-track institution at the base of the Pigeon Hills just south of town, acquiring the speedway after selling his business, Premier Auto Works, a body shop on the main drag in town, as a retirement job. His plan is to spend summers at the speedway, during its 30-race season, and winter in Florida. Right now, he said, he prefers the coffee business. “Everybody who comes through the door is happy. They’re getting coffee,” he said. “At the body shop, everybody who comes through the door isn’t happy; their car is wrecked.”

Asked about the presidential campaign, he said, “I don’t know if I want to get into that. I have strong feelings about that, but I want to stay out of it.”

He has a reason. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lincoln Speedway was closed down, as were other businesses. He tried to remain open, closing off every other row in the stands so fans could remain distanced. The state didn’t accept his measures and ordered him to close down. He defied the state and tried to remain open.

Then, he said, Doug Mastriano, the Republican state senator representing Franklin County, showed up. Mastriano, a Trump Republican who was running for governor on a platform of defying state-ordered shutdowns over COVID, held an impromptu campaign event at the speedway. Parrish wasn’t particularly happy about it.

“Once he got hold of the microphone,” Parrish recalled, “it was a lightning rod. We got slammed for it.”

Another night, he said, one in the crowd put up a Trump banner in front of the suites atop the stands. “Someone snookered up and just tied it up there,” Parrish said. “I didn’t know it was there until somebody called me.”

It upset Parrish. “Nothing’s political for us, either there or here,” he said, referring to the coffee shop. “In business, you have to stay out of that stuff, or you’ll shoot yourself in the foot. I’ve seen what it did to us (at the speedway). I don’t want to alienate anybody. When the election is over, you accept the results and you move on. That’s it.”

'You got to take him as he comes'

Johan Mendez is the proprietor of the Blendz Barber Shop on the east side of Chambersburg, housed in a flatiron-style building at the confluence of the Lincoln Highway and East Queen Street. A monument to the town’s residents who served during World War I stands on a patch of grass in front of the former fire station.

Mendez said he hasn’t really been following the election so far. He doesn’t know a lot of the details of the race, the twists and turns that have, during the past few weeks, created a presidential election unprecedented in American history.

He said he is leaning toward Trump. “It may be cool to have a woman president,” he said, “but we had Trump already and he did good, I think. That’s how I see it.”

While he spoke, he was trimming his own tight haircut with electric clippers while gazing in the mirror. (“It’s hard to do,” he said.)

He may have reservations about Trump, he said. “It’s a balance,” he said. “He’s not entirely good. The bad side of him – he's not necessarily racist, but he’s got his way, I guess – he's Trump. He got his good and his bad to him. But you got to take him as he comes.”

'I would never vote for a coward and a traitor'

Back to Gettysburg: Paul Faust descended from immigrants who arrived on these shores before the United States of America even existed. The first Faust arrived in Philadelphia from Germany in 1733, he said. He has other kin who settled in Jamestown, the nascent village in Virginia, in 1611. He counts among his ancestors Mark Twain and Queen Elizabeth. He has traced ancestors to 800 A.D., a clan called Albrecht – Americanized to Albright. He recalled his parents had a friend named Shorty Albright and now wonders whether he was related.

Like a lot of Americans, he had always been fascinated by Gettysburg. It’s hard to visit the battlefield and imagine that more than 50,000 men were wounded and killed fighting on that patch of ground. He has visited the battlefield countless times since his first visit as a kid. His research has identified 84 of his ancestors who fought at Gettysburg, the youngest being 16 years old and the eldest, in his 60s, being among the oldest soldiers who engaged in the battle.

He reveres the sacrifices made by his ancestors and honors the sacrifices of all soldiers who paid the ultimate price to preserve the nation.

And, partly for that reason, he has strong feelings about the 2024 election, billed as yet another, less bloody, test of America’s fragile democracy.

“For one thing,” he said, “I would never vote for a coward and traitor like Trump. I don’t vote for party. I vote for the person who I think will do the best job. I don’t care who they are. But I have passionate hatred of Donald Trump. He’s a traitor.”

As a person who studies history, he isn’t impressed by the Trump lineage – an example, he believes, of the acorn not falling far from the tree.

He recounted the story of Trump’s grandfather, Friedrich, who emigrated to North America in 1885 to find his fortune in the Klondike gold rush. The elder Trump, he said, citing documentation reported by CNN and other news outlets, didn’t prospect for gold, rather he served prospectors by operating a brothel that catered to those who did, using the proceeds to invest in real estate in New York. In 1905, according to reports, the elder Trump was banned from Germany for failing to report for mandatory military service. “It goes way back,” Faust said.

He said: “He’s a con man, like P.T. Barnum. We know who he is.”

His opinion differs from that of many voters in south-central Pennsylvania, often referred to as Trump Country, but Faust said: “Didn’t he lose the state the last time? So, you’re not in Trump Country.”

Columnist/reporter Mike Argento has been a York Daily Record staffer since 1982. Reach him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Taking the pulse of Pennsylvania Trump country on Lincoln Highway