Kimberly Guilfoyle, adviser to former President and GOP candidate Donald Trump, speaks before a crowd in Newport, Perry County as part of a Trump campaign bus tour of Pennsylvania. (Photo by Ben Wasserstein for the Capital-Star)
Bethany Burger, a former government contractor from Newport, said she moved back to Pennsylvania because of how expensive it was getting in Washington, D.C.
“I know the inflation numbers, they like to say they look good, but that’s not what everybody’s seeing on their first receipts,” she said.
Burger said the economy was her main concern this cycle.
She was one of the voters who turned out in deep red Perry County to show support for Donald Trump. In 2020, the county voted for Trump over Joe Biden by 50 points.
Pennsylvania is considered a “must-win” state with 19 electoral votes. The margins of victory for the past two elections were slim with Biden winning the state by around 80,000 votes and Trump by nearly 40,000.
Some voters expressed concern over immigration policies and the border.
Border crossings have gone up since Biden took office reaching a peak of nearly 250,000 migrant encounters at the border in December 2023. That number has fallen to nearly 60,000 in August 2024, according to Pew Research Center.
Former acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf claimed the Biden administration didn’t want to fix the border.
“They’ve gone to work every day to make the border into the chaos that they have it today,” he said.
In 2024, Republicans and Democrats wrote bipartisan legislation aimed at fixing the border crisis. The bill died in the U.S. Senate amid reports that Trump did not want it to pass.
This week, Trump’s former Chief of Staff John Kelly came out against his former boss saying the former president harbored fascist beliefs and wanted generals similar to those of Nazi Germany.
Multiple members from Trump’s administration have said he is unfit for office including Attorney General Bill Barr, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Vice President Mike Pence.
Trump adviser Kimberly Guilfoyle dismissed those comments.
“I think it’s people who didn’t perform,” she said. “Sour grapes trying to take shots at the president. It’s desperate for relevance”
She added that Trump will add the “best and brightest” to his new administration should he win, a promise he also made ahead of his 2016 win.
Herman Fischer signs the outside of a Trump campaign bus in Perry County Oct. 25, 2024. (Photo by Ben Wasserstein for the Capital-Star)
Guilfoyle criticized the Biden administration claiming it disrespected law enforcement and the military.
“If [the Biden administration] have the audacity to think that they can control you and tell you what to think, how to vote, what to do, take your money, disrespect your family, indoctrinate your children, disrespect the military, disrespect law enforcement, veterans, all of the above,” she said. “How dare they?”
Trump reportedly called veterans killed in action “losers and suckers.” Biden railed against that statement, which Trump has denied saying, during his speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
In August, Trump’s campaign had an altercation at Arlington National Cemetery. Under federal law, Arlington cannot be used for campaign events. Trump’s campaign said he was invited by families of fallen soldiers, though on Oct. 22 a federal judge ordered the details of his visit be released, which was done the following day.
Guilfoyle and Democratic candidate for President Kamala Harris worked together in the San Francisco District Attorney’s office in the early 2000s.
Guilfoyle said her history with Harris is part of why she doesn’t support her.
“I’ll say this to you as someone who knows President Trump for two decades, and someone who knows [sic] Kamala Harris for two decades, there is no choice but President Trump, one is a complete disgrace and has no idea what she’s doing,” she said. “She doesn’t have the capability.”
When asked if she would accept the results of the upcoming election, Guilfoyle said their team always does.
On Jan. 6, 2021, she spoke before a crowd of Trump supporters, stating that they would not let Democrats steal the election.
Soon after, members of the crowd stormed the U.S. Capitol.
There remains no evidence the election was stolen.
Voting registration for the upcoming election is closed, but voters can still request a mail ballot by Oct. 29. Ballots must be received by local elections offices by 8 p.m. Nov. 5.