As Vice President Pence comes to central Pa. for Women for Trump event, GOP faces a gender gap

‘More jobs than workers’

Trump’s supporters contend the president’s policies are producing real results for women.

Bernadette Comfort, vice chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, cited the strong economy as a selling point for the Keystone State’s women voters.

“You have more jobs than workers available right now,” Comfort said. “Women care about those issues. We care about the same issues as men. We care about the economy, we care about security.”

While conceding a gender gap being shown in polls, Comfort said she sees plenty of enthusiasm among women, who are showing up to volunteer and working to re-elect the president. She said plenty of donations, particularly smaller contributions, are coming from women.

The Women for Trump organization is a key component in effort to galvanize more women, Comfort said. The group’s first public event last year occurred in Pennsylvania, with a kick-off rally at the Valley Forge Casino Resort. Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, appeared at the event in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Now, the group is having an event in the midstate, an area where Trump must do well if he is to win Pennsylvania again. Trump won Cumberland County by 18 percentage points in 2016, but he lost neighboring Dauphin County by 3 points. Overall, Trump won Pennsylvania by less than 1 percentage point four years ago.

State Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, a York County Republican, supports the president. She said she sees plenty of support in her area, particularly due to the strength of the economy.

“In the district I represent, I feel like the support is there and it’s strong,” Phillips-Hill said. “I encounter many women who will lean in and say, ‘I support the president.’ I think there’s a lot of people who may not be loud about it but that support is certainly there.”

Phillips-Hill said the constituents she has spoken with have not talked much about the president’s impeachment. She said she has occasionally heard complaints about Trump’s rhetoric and tone, even from those who support his agenda.

“You have to look at overall what’s being accomplished,” Phillips-Hill said. “Today’s economy is flourishing. The policies are creating new jobs. Women are in the workforce in higher levels.”

Rep. Sue Helm, a Dauphin County Republican, said she was in the rural community of Gratz in northern Dauphin County last week getting signatures to put Trump on the ballot. She said she witnessed plenty of enthusiasm for Trump and most voters are concerned with pocketbook issues.

“People do have more money to spend in their household because of what the president has done on taxes,” Helm said.

Democrats decry ‘branding effort’

Democrats and their supporters say they think women will make the difference both in Pennsylvania and across the nation, and not in the president’s favor.

Emily’s List, a national organization that supports pro-choice female candidates, said the group is working to make sure Pennsylvania women show up to vote for Democrats.

“The Trump campaign can target women voters, but they are doing so with a candidate who has undermined and insulted women and an agenda that would set them back,” Christina Reynolds, vice president of communications for Emily’s List, said in an email. “We believe Pennsylvania women will see through this branding effort and reject Trump’s record.”

Brendan Welch, communications director for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, said he finds the Women for Trump event in central Pennsylvania as “very encouraging.”

“We’ve seen these Women for Trump rallies taking place in areas where they know where they’re weak,” Welch said.

Rogette Harris, the chairwoman of the Dauphin County Democratic Party, said the Pence visit underscores the importance of central Pennsylvania to the Trump campaign. But she said the event geared to women rings hollow.

“Personally, it’s a joke to me,” she said. “A lot of policies the administration has been implementing and promoting, not counting the president’s attitude to women, the name-calling and such, have done nothing to advance women and the issues that concern women.”

Democrats are more motivated this year than they were four years ago, Harris said, because they know Trump has proven he can win in Pennsylvania.

“This time, Democrats are not going to take it for granted,” Harris said. “There was an attitude in 2016 that Trump was a joke and he’s not going to win. We’re not going to take him for granted. We’re going to do all we can to reach voters.”