Sen. Amy Klobuchar, local elected officials campaign for Harris-Walz in Lower Bucks

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Small business owners and elected officials joined Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar to campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Bristol, Bucks County, Friday.

Speakers touted Harris’ plans to expand tax relief for new small businesses and boost new small business applications to 25 million during her first term.

“I’m [Democratic U.S. Sen.] Bob Casey’s best friend,” Klobuchar joked as she addressed the crowd at The Business Club on Mill Street, a locally-owned event and co-working space. “We sit together by choice in the U.S. Senate.”

Klobuchar said small businesses play an important role in local, regional and national economies.

“My state is really into small businesses,” she said, adding that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, is part of why small businesses have flourished in the North Star state. “We’ve gotten many of our big businesses started as small businesses, and we want that to keep happening, that we keep regenerating new ideas in our country.”

Before the event, Klobuchar, along with Bucks County Commissioners Bob Harvie and Diane Ellis-Marseglia, state Rep. Tina Davis and congressional candidate Ashley Ehasz, attended a roundtable Friday morning, meeting with Bristol-area small business owners.

Klobuchar said having those one-on-one discussions is important for lawmakers.

“Sometimes you read these big policy statements and things, and it doesn’t really resonate with people unless you really understand what the issues are and how you can make things better,” she said.

Harvie led the roundtable. He said Harris’ economic plan “is really focusing on what small business owners are going through, the problems they face.”

“Vice President Harris is talking about building an opportunity economy,” Harvie said. “This is about opportunity. This is something they’ve wanted to do. They finally had a chance to do it. They’ve started businesses. Some of them are continuing businesses, they’ve been here for decades, family businesses. And they’re facing competition from big corporations and these giant businesses that have a lot more resources, but they just want a fair shot.”

Angelo Quattrocchi, general manager of CBM, a Bristol-based construction building materials company that his grandfather started in 1946, was one of the discussion participants.

Quattrocchi said the roundtable was a good opportunity for small business owners to voice their concerns to elected officials and candidates at the local, state and federal levels.

“Different people had different concerns. Some were more operational, some were more elaborate,” he said. “So it was nice to be able to bounce ideas off people that are in power to maybe make a change in that.”

Kyra Brinson, owner of The Business Club, which hosted the event, said small business owners’ impact goes beyond their economic output.

“It takes a community to push small businesses. And we do care. We live in these communities,” she said. “We watch the kids that are using our services be raised … We’re not hedge fund owners and, you know, big corporations that are just looking at the numbers. We’re looking at the people.”

Both the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns have focused on the key swing state of Pennsylvania.

Harris and former President Donald Trump will be in Philadelphia on Tuesday for their first presidential debate at the National Constitution Center.