😢 Good Morning. So much for Red October.

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☀️ Cambridge Springs | Sunny, 57
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PA Sports
⚾ Phillies | NY Mets 1-4
🏒 Penguins (0-1) | NY Rangers 0-6 | Thu vs. Detroit
🏒 Flyers | Fri vs. Vancouver

🗣️ What We’re Hearing. “When you fear God, you have nothing else to fear,” Rep. Scott Perry said in an interview. “I don’t answer to the Republican Party. I answer to the people of this district.”

📊 PoliticsPA Polling Tracker (avg. of last 5 PA polls)
President: Harris +0.8% | Senate: Casey +4.6%

🗞️ Political News From THE Swing State. Where can you find all the latest news on what’s happening in Keystone State politics? Sign up for the PoliticsPA Playbook. We’ll deliver all the latest headlines in an easy-to-read format every weekday at 8 AM. And it’s free. Add your name to the list and subscribe now.

Top Story

1. Trump Lashes Out At Harris and ‘The View’ Co-Hosts, As Hurricane Milton Makes Landfall

“Former President Donald Trump hurled insults at his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, and other women Wednesday — saying he had no interest in stopping his attacks even if they turn off female voters — as Hurricane Milton made landfall, lashing Florida with rain, tornadoes and tropical-storm-force winds.

“I don’t want to be nice,” Trump said at his first of two rallies of the day in the pivotal battleground state of Pennsylvania. “You know, somebody said, ‘You should be nicer. Women won’t like it.’ I said, ‘I don’t care.’”” (AP)

• McCormick, Bresnahan Take Stage at Trump Rally to Make Their Cases For Congressional Seats. (Wilkes-Barre Times Leader)
• Another Poll, Another Tie In Battleground Pennsylvania’s Presidential Race. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• Why Pennsylvania Could Hold the Keys to the White House. (BBC)

Elsewhere

Casey On Why He Deserves Fourth Term In Senate: ‘My Record Is Evident.’ “Incumbent Democrat Bob Casey Jr. is running for a fourth six-year term against Republican hedge fund manager Dave McCormick and three other candidates in a race that could help determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.” (PhillyBurbs.com)

McCormick Has Cash, Connections and a Long CV. Is It Enough For a PA Senate Seat? “U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick fits the mold of a classic Pennsylvania Republican, if you ask Berwood Yost of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster County.” (Erie Times-News)

Democrats in Key Battleground Giving Biden Space on Israel. “Two Democrats from battleground-state Pennsylvania said Wednesday that the US should let Israel make its own military decisions, a sign that President Joe Biden’s party is giving his administration space as fighting escalates in the Middle East.” (Semafor)

Why Pennsylvania Will Decide the Next President. “Pollsters and political analysts say Pennsylvania more than any other state will decide the winner of the 2024 presidential election as a new Decision Desk HQ analysis gives the winner of the Keystone State an 85 percent chance of becoming president.” (The Hill)

State

2. Where PA’s Attorney General Candidates Stand On Abortion Access

“In 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, then-Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro vowed to “fight any attempt to erode women’s rights in our Commonwealth.”

The statement demonstrated both the symbolic and very real power that Pennsylvania’s top law enforcement official has when it comes to abortion access.” (Spotlight PA)

Elsewhere

Blitz of Political Attack Ads In Pennsylvania and Other Swing States May Be Doing Candidates and Voters More Harm Than Good. “For Pennsylvania residents like me, there is no escape from the record-breaking number of political attack ads disrupting our favorite shows and filling our social media feeds.” (The Conversation)

Poll: Susan Wild Leads Ryan Mackenzie in Lehigh Valley Race for Congress. “Wild leads Mackenzie 51% to 45% in the poll of likely voters in the district conducted between Sept. 30 and Oct. 3. That lead is within the poll’s 6% margin of error.” (Allentown Morning Call)

Chris Deluzio, Rob Mercuri Spar For Control of Critical PA-17. “The 17th is viewed as a potential bellwether for the 2024 election. The district is one of just seven in the nation with a score of EVEN in the Cook Political Report’s Partisan Voting Index, meaning that it is projected to vote within half a percentage point of the national average Nov. 5. ” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

PA House Passes Bills That Would Put Obamacare Rules Into State Law. “A series of three bills that would put provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) into state law passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Wednesday with bipartisan support, despite — or in some ways, because of — the ongoing political battle over the law commonly known as Obamacare.” (PennLive)

Around The Commonwealth

3. Perry Faces Big Trouble in the Keystone State

“There are increasingly dire signs that six-term conservative Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) is on the verge of losing his seat, potentially a big pickup for House Democrats.

Recent public polls have shown both Perry and former President Donald Trump down several points in the south-central Pennsylvania district.” (Punchbowl News)

Elsewhere

As He Sues Newspaper For Libel, PA Sen. Laughlin Is Using Campaign Funds to Pay Lawyers. “Opinions vary on what type of legal costs can come out of campaign funds in Pennsylvania, though Laughlin says his defamation case against Erie Reader is linked to his race for reelection on Nov. 5.” (Erie Times-News)

Pennsylvanians Favor Citizenship, Not Deportation, For Unauthorized Immigrants In New Survey. “Even as most polls show Donald Trump is preferred over Vice President Kamala Harris on immigration, his policy prescription is not the one that Pennsylvanians prefer, according to survey results released Thursday.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

What Does An Auditor General Do and Who’s Running For the Office in Pennsylvania? “Along with the race for Pennsylvania attorney general between Democratic candidate Eugene DePasquale and Republican Dave Sunday, the race for auditor general between incumbent Republican Tim DeFoor and Democratic state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta is one of the most important state-level races this year.” (The Keystone)

How One Swing-State County Has Escaped Election Conspiracies. “Mercer County has avoided the rancor and abuse that have plagued other parts of Pennsylvania.” (Stateline)

Editorial

4. What’s On Your Mind

• This Philadelphia-Area Mother Was Shocked to See Herself In a Trump Attack Ad. She’s a Lifelong Democrat Voting For Kamala Harris. (Helen Ubiñas)
• Malcolm Kenyatta For Auditor General. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• The Political System That Gave Us Trump and Harris Works, And That’s the Problem. (David Mills)
• Does Allegheny County Need a 46.5% Tax Increase? (Greensburg Tribune-Review)
• Is Closing The Sale With ‘Inflation’ Voters Enough For Trump? (Jim Lee)
• Will Vibes or Issues Motivate Pennsylvania Voters? (David M. Drucker, Michael Warren, and Charles Hilu)
• Are You Tired of Political Attack Ads Yet? (Heather Lamarre)

1 Thing

5. “I Voted” Sticker: The History Behind the Election Day Staple

“The “I Voted” sticker has been a staple of modern US elections for decades, and its popularity has grown with the rise of social media. Many voters are eager to post on Instagram or TikTok photos of themselves with a sticker after getting it at the polls or peeling it off of a mail-in ballot packet. But the origin story of this now ubiquitous sticker is surprisingly murky. There is a brief reference to it in The Miami Herald in 1950, but the I Voted sticker’s popularity really took off in the 1980s.” (Teen Vogue)

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