JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
NPR teams have been crossing the state of Pennsylvania for the last few days. They are getting a picture of the crucial swing state. And tonight, our colleagues Michel Martin and Steve Inskeep are hosting an event at member station WHYY in Philadelphia, and they are on the line now. Hi, you two.
STEVE INSKEEP, BYLINE: Hi there.
MICHEL MARTIN, BYLINE: Hey there.
SUMMERS: All right, y'all, I've got to confess - I'm a little jealous. You're out there talking to voters. I am here in the studio.
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
SUMMERS: So Steve, to you first - tell me what you're hearing.
INSKEEP: Well, I'm hearing a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. In fact, we're at this place at WHYY that's got a sold-out crowd tonight. Voters we've talked to across the state seem dug in on both sides. The race is very close. A lot of the discussion is national and familiar to you. But some of it is local, grounded in people's experiences, including those of Jessica Krayer, who we met in Pittsburgh on the other side of this state. She's a nurse.
JESSICA KRAYER: You're with somebody on either the best day of their life or the worst day of their life.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
KRAYER: And having...
INSKEEP: Or the last day of their life.
KRAYER: Or the last day of their life. Or the first day of their life.
(LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: That's true.
That experience makes her appreciate people's struggles and also some painful decisions about abortion - all of which fits with her plan to vote for Kamala Harris.
SUMMERS: Right. I'm curious about former President Trump. Do people cite personal experiences when it comes to voting for him?
INSKEEP: You know, some do. Honestly, as you know from your experience, a lot of votes are simply for or against Trump himself, his personality. But Brian Hodges sees one of Trump's signature issues in his own life. We found him in Gettysburg, the scene of the famous Civil War battle, where he runs a bed-and-breakfast with his wife.
BRIAN HODGES: Our biggest issue has been inflation. Obviously, I got to cook for everybody like a restaurant. So everything I buy in a store is 20, 30% higher, plus our gas bill, plus our water bill, plus our electric bill. So costs have gone up tremendously. That's our biggest issue with our business. So what do you have to do? You have to raise prices.
INSKEEP: Inflation, of course, is moderated, but prices are higher than they were. I guess I should say Hodges is basically conservative. So he minimizes events like the January 6 attack on the Capitol. It just doesn't matter that much to him.
SUMMERS: Michel, over to you - what's it been like? What are you hearing and seeing?
MARTIN: Well, one of the things that really struck me is that this is really about managing change and how much change people have to manage in their own lives - and big things like where they're going to live, but also big things like where are they going to work. That's one reason we went to Bethlehem, which is famous, you know, for the steel plant there. They've made steel there since the Civil War until 1995. Look, it's hard to describe if you've never been to a steel plant, just how big it is or was. We're talking about several acres dominated by what looks like huge chimneys. Those are the blast furnaces. Thousands of people used to work there.
But the story doesn't end there, Juana. It's the focus of a real shoulder-to-the-wheel redevelopment effort. There's a park there. There's a multimillion-dollar performing art center and an ice rink. It's basically an entertainment area now. That's where we met one of the people who played an outsized role in that. That's Don Cunningham. He's the president and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Development Corporation, and he became mayor - just 31-years-old then - just after the Bethlehem plant stopped making steel.
People say - used to say all politics is local, remember that? People used to say all...
DON CUNNINGHAM: It's all national now. Unfortunately, like, the work that we've done here to revitalize this area...
MARTIN: Yeah.
CUNNINGHAM: ...Quite honestly, didn't involve presidents. It was us. You know, it went on for 20-plus years. Democrats, Republicans came and went from the White House, and we kept our head down and did what we needed to do.
MARTIN: Do you think you could get elected today?
CUNNINGHAM: I don't think so.
MARTIN: How come?
CUNNINGHAM: I'm not ideological enough for today. I probably couldn't get through a primary.
MARTIN: OK, so to prove his point, just a few minutes later, we had a conversation with a small group of voters. You could call them super voters. They make sure to vote, both Democrats and Republicans. It got real hot, real fast.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Stronger presence in foreign affairs.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: That's all nonsense. That's all bogus...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: No, it's not. You get...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: ...Fox...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: It's my opinion.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: ...Right-wing...
MARTIN: OK. That's his opinion.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I just...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: [Expletive].
MARTIN: Got you. That's his...
SUMMERS: Michel, you were not kidding. Things did get hot, and I know you guys are preparing for a public event tonight. Think things will get hot tonight?
MARTIN: Well, hopefully not. We do have surrogates from both the Trump and Harris campaigns, and hopefully everybody will be on their best behavior.
SUMMERS: NPR's Michel Martin...
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
SUMMERS: ...And Steve Inskeep, hosts of Morning Edition, joining us from WHYY in Philadelphia. Thanks to both of you.
INSKEEP: Glad to do it.
MARTIN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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