Fox News predicts Trump's victory over Harris in Pennsylvania

Fox News Decision Desk expects former President Donald Trump won the critical swing state of Pennsylvania over Vice President Kamala Harris.

Polls showed there was a tight race for Pennsylvania's 19 electoral votes throughout the campaign.

Pennsylvania was once described by then-Bill Clinton campaign strategist James Carville as “Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between.”

PENNSYLVANIA'S AMISH ARE AN IMPORTANT BUT RETAKING Voting Bloc

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump (left) uses a deep fryer as an employee looks on during a visit to a McDonald's in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

The two cities were again strongholds for Harris and Democrats, while Republicans are expected to do well in the midstate, particularly in the districts of Reps. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) and John Joyce (R-Pa.).

Both candidates also visited the Commonwealth several times.

Trump notably held a rally in Allentown, the third-largest city, in a key congressional district rated “STRAIGHT” by the Cook Political Report.

Meanwhile, Harris appeared to be focusing her campaign on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area — where President Biden is from — as well as Pittsburgh.

Biden also visited the Scranton area during the campaign and spoke with union workers in Northeast Philadelphia, the reddest part of the deep blue city.

crisscrossing Pennsylvania to register voters, Presler sees counties turning red

Trump notably broke the proverbial blue wall by winning Pennsylvania in 2016, while Biden recaptured it for the Democrats in 2020.

During the campaign, Republican activist Scott Presler was a ubiquitous sight across the state, registering voters at flea markets, community fairs and Penn State football games.

A “Team Trump” bus tour with surrogates from Pennsylvania and around the country wound its way through the Keystone State, making notable stops in Duncansville, Chambersburg and Newport.

The traditionally “purple” Rust Belt polity has returned to talk of “political battlegrounds” in recent years after Trump upset Hillary Clinton there in 2016.

While the governor's office has changed every few terms and the legislature typically has a Republican majority – although not quite recently – Democrats are doing significantly better than Republicans at the presidential level.

Trump narrowly defeated Clinton by almost the same margin that Biden defeated the then-incumbent in 2020.

Since then, Democrats have made gains there at the House and Senate levels, with Pat Toomey's formerly red seat going to then-Lt. Governor John Fetterman in 2022.

With the resignation of anti-Trump Republican Rep. Charles W. Dent in Allentown in 2018, Democrats also flipped a key district, and the Cumberland Valley seat of Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., faces a close contest.

One senior state official who was optimistic about Trump's chances was state Sen. Cris Dush, R-Brookville, whose district covers more than 10% of the state in its forested northwestern stretch.

Dush's district includes all or portions of Jefferson, Elk, Cameron, Center, Clinton, McKean and Potter counties. Center — home to Penn State University — was a rare blue district in the midstate that was targeted by Republicans like activist Scott Presler during his statewide GOP voter registration campaign.

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Trump, Harris (Getty Images)

Dush noted that neighboring Clinton County, home to Lock Haven, was solidly Democratic until the Trump era. “They just defeated the Republicans 3 to 1.”

“This is a huge change that's coming to rural Pennsylvania … and part of it is that my working-class, middle-aged and older constituents are seeing what's happening to their jobs and to inflation and this madness,” he said.

“The fact that a man can now be called a woman: things like that too. They’ve just finally had enough.”

Pennsylvania was one of the seven swing states, along with Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan and Wisconsin, that were considered crucial for the election victory.

This cycle also hosts several key congressional elections in Pennsylvania, as Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., seeks to fend off a challenge from Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Macungie. Rep. Matthew Cartwright faces businessman Rob Bresnahan Jr. and Rep. Chris Deluzio faces off in a key matchup with state Rep. Rob Mercuri, R-Pine.

Together, the seven states award 93 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidential election.

Get the latest updates on the 2024 election, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital Election Center.