OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President-elect Donald Trump made history with his landslide defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris and he is continuing to make history.
For the first time in three decades, he changed one county from blue to red in a stunner in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
The final vote tally showed the president-elect defeated Harris by a razor thin margin in the county, with 198,722 votes (49.39%) juxtaposed to Harris’s 198,431 votes (49.32%).
The last time a Republican took the county was when former President George H.W. Bush in 1988.
“It’s official! The final numbers are in. Donald Trump has won #BucksCounty! This is the first time since 1988 that Bucks County has voted for a Republican for President! We’re immensely proud of our committee members, volunteers, and grassroots groups that all worked together to achieve this historic victory!” the Bucks County Republican Party wrote on X.
It’s official! The final numbers are in. Donald Trump has won #BucksCounty!
This is the first time since 1988 that Bucks County has voted for a Republican for President!
We’re immensely proud of our committee members, volunteers, and grassroots groups that all worked together… pic.twitter.com/TaX6xAtHBf
— Bucks GOP (@BucksGOP) November 22, 2024
Some of the credit belongs to Republican activist Scott Presler who has spent close to the entire election working on the county.
“#BREAKING: FINAL results find Donald J. Trump won Bucks County, Pennsylvania – the first time for a Republican since 1988. Late votes kept bringing Kamala Harris closer to flipping it – but she ultimately did NOT,” Florida Voice News Assistant Director Eric Daugherty said.
“@ScottPresler has basically been living here all year. Trump won the county by 0.07 points, or 291 votes. @BucksGOP confirmed these are the final numbers,” he said.
While some surrogates for Vice President Kamala Harris are blaming her historic loss to President-elect Donald Trump on President Joe Biden’s late exit from the race, a bevy of former campaign staffers say that thinking is “detached from reality.”
Rather, the loss should be blamed on the candidate herself and her inability to appear authentic to and connect with a majority of voters.
“The biggest onus of this loss is on President Biden,” said Andrew Yang, a Harris supporter who sought the 2020 Democratic nomination, according to News Nation. “If he had stepped down in January instead of July, we may be in a very different place.”
Other critics say that Harris bears the blame herself for the decisions she made on the campaign trail.
Philadelphia Democratic Chair and former congressman Bob Brady said many of Harris’s staffers were “just elitist and went out there, did their own thing and didn’t include Democratic city committee or (ward leaders) or committee people. They just didn’t do it.”
Some campaign members believe that the leaders are unaware of what went wrong.
“People are depressed and frustrated about the overconfident leadership of the campaign,” said a staffer, who was not identified by Axios.
During an all-staff call, there was noticeable dissonance, with Harris campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon reportedly in tears and Harris herself reportedly saying: “Yeah, this sucks … There’s also so much good that has come of this.”
“It was detached from the reality of what happened,” a staffer Axios did not name said. “We are told the fate of democracy is at stake, and then the message was, ‘We’ll get them next time.’”
Harris’ campaign leadership also urged staffers not to speak with reporters.
Another Biden staffer pushed back on the accusation that he left the race too late and put the onus back on Harris and her team: “How did you spend $1 billion and not win?” the staffer asked.
“The Harris team benched [Biden], and then they lost, so now the people who represent Biden are saying, ‘Maybe you shouldn’t have benched him,’” a Biden supporter told Axios anonymously.
“Everyone who destroyed Biden and pushed him out got the race they demanded,” a Democratic state committee member in Pennsylvania said, according to Time. “There was a choice: The only person that ever beat Trump or a gigantic unknown.”