Illegal immigration, crime top of mind for voters as Walz visits crucial swing state

LANCASTER, Pa. — Gov. Tim Walz arrived in bucolic Lancaster on Wednesday morning to mixed reviews from locals in the 10th-most populous city of the critical swing state.

Though the county has voted red since 2012, Walz’s arrival was met with great enthusiasm — both for and against the ticket he represents.

Retired Lebanon Valley College sociology professor Carolyn Hanes, for one, gushed over Walz’s arrival, and the prospect of voting for the Democratic ticket.

“I’m so excited about Harris and Walz. I think they’re great,” 76-year-old Hanes said. “I can’t wait to be saying ‘Madam President.’ Both of them, I think, are wonderful candidates.”

Asked about specific Harris policies that stood out, she replied, “The new opportunity. The economic agenda that she has, where she’s concerned about everyone. Of course, reproductive rights is high up there, too. I think she’s a strong leader. I do think she believes in upholding the laws for everyone.”

In the face of rising immigrant populations, though, not everyone in Lancaster County is bullish on Harris, or the policies of the administration in which she currently serves.

John F. McCarthy IV is a driver for the Amish, and a self-described “volunteer counter-propagandist” who stood outside the venue receiving Walz wearing a red, MAGA-style “Defend the Border” cap.

McCarthy laughed off the idea that Walz’s rural Minnesota roots made him “relatable” to Lancaster County voters.

“I don’t buy that and pretty much all of the Amish people I speak to who tell me they’re voting are gonna be voting for Trump,” he told The Post.

“I’ve primarily been dealing with the Old Order Amish,” he continued. “Traditionally, they have not voted in elections, but they are so concerned with what’s going on in this country. The crime has spread from Lancaster City into the rural areas.”

But retired pipeliner Douglas Wickenheiser, 67, struck a different tone on Walz’s backstory.

“I didn’t know much about him until about a month ago, but he seems like a decent person, a caring person, and he looks toward the future,” he told The Post. “He helped kids with the school programs, lunch and breakfast. He’s a people- and middle-class person, plus he supports the unions. And we need the unions to gain strength again.”

Thomas G. O’Brien, Lancaster County Democratic Party chairman, attended the event with Walz on Wednesday morning. Although he had been hoping for Harris to tap Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for the number two spot on the ticket, he’s coming around to Walz.

“My first reaction was, I was disappointed, because I thought Shapiro would make it a little easier for us,” he said, referring to winning his home state and its crucial 19 electoral votes for the Democrats.

Now, the party leader told The Post, since seeing Walz on the campaign trail and at the Democratic National Convention, “he’s the right guy for [Harris] right now.”

“He’s the kind of guy you can go out and have a beer with. He’s a family guy,” O’Brien continued.

Joan Wirth, an 83-year-old retired office manager, said she’d been present at Lancaster campaign stops by Presidents John F. Kennedy and George H.W. Bush decades ago, and came to check out Harris’ running mate.

Wirth plans to vote for the Democratic ticket because “they’re standing up for our democracy” and likes that they are “fair to people, all people.”

Her fellow Lancaster senior, James McTague, 75, offered a historical perspective, calling Walz’s visit “the biggest excitement in Lancaster since James Buchanan,” referring to the town’s local 19th-century congressman who preceded Abraham Lincoln as president.

In all of American history, Buchanan was the only native Pennsylvanian elected to the top job — that is, until 2021, when Scranton Joe took office.