When one of the major points one is trying to make in a political campaign is being pro-law enforcement, it helps you a lot to have the endorsement and support of law enforcement. Donald Trump has always framed himself as a law-and-order candidate, so seeing him picking up the endorsement of 49 of Pennsylvania's 67 county sheriffs is interesting. That's almost three-fourths. On Thursday, Fox News had the exclusive story:
The majority of county sheriffs in battleground state Pennsylvania endorsed former President Trump on Thursday, saying they are "confident in his leadership and ability to safeguard our country."
Fox News Digital obtained a letter signed by 49 of the 67 county sheriffs in the state, who said Trump is the best candidate to support law enforcement and secure the border.
"As elected law enforcement officers in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we consistently hear two messages from our constituents and neighbors: that they want safe communities for their families and children, and that they oppose radical defund-the-police agendas by career politicians," they wrote.
"That is why we are proudly standing with President Donald J. Trump and wholeheartedly endorse his candidacy for President of the United States."
Donald Trump is currently leading Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania in the RealClearPolitics averages by 0.5 points — a narrow margin. However, the trend has been moving towards Trump, and he and his surrogates have been hitting the state hard.
See Related: CLEAN SWEEP: Trump Claims All the Battleground States for the 1st Time in RCP Average
Pennsylvania is a must-have electoral state for Kamala Harris; if current trends hold, she has no way forward if she loses the Keystone State (and never did a state carry a more appropriate moniker than Pennsylvania's this year). Donald Trump can lose Pennsylvania and make up the loss elsewhere, but it's still important to have those 19 electoral votes.
The sheriffs' endorsement also cited Trump's record on the border:
The county sheriffs pointed to the Trump administration, where they said the U.S. had "a secure border and proper enforcement of our immigration laws."
"World leaders respected President Trump, and border crossings fell," they wrote. "Without his strong leadership, our border has been swung open — open to thousands of border crossers each day and unimaginable quantities of lethal drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine that are pouring right into Pennsylvania communities, bringing crime and devastation to countless families."
From the moment he came down that now-famous golden escalator and announced his candidacy, Donald Trump has presented himself as the law-and-order and pro-border enforcement candidate, and I think it's safe to say that his first term bore that out. Granted, sheriffs are elected officials and are not immune to political pressures, and while many of these positions across the fruited plain are technically non-partisan, most of the voters have a pretty fair idea of where candidates for that office stand. What's more to the point is that county sheriffs are the primary law enforcement officers for the county they are elected to serve; they have primary arrest powers and the power to appoint deputies, and those powers and status go back to Middle Ages England.
In case you're curious, here are the specific counties these sheriffs hail from.
The counties represented by the sheriffs endorsing Trump include Adams, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Berks, Blair, Bradford, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Carbon, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Cumberland, Dauphin, Elk, Fayette, Forest, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lycoming, McKean, Mercer, Mifflin, Montour, Northumerland, Perry, Potter, Snyder, Somerset, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union, Venango, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Westmoreland and York.
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