On Saturday, October 19, 2024 the annual John Murtha Dinner was held by the Cambria County Democratic Party. The dinner was to honor the late congressman, John Murtha. Speakers included PA Attorney General candidate Eugene De Pasquale, Auditor General candidate Malcolm Kenyatta, Congressional Candidate Beth Farnham and keynote speaker Olivia Troye. The video above shows an award presentation to Diane Wakmunski for service to the party followed by speeches by Farnham and DePasquale.
The video above shows PA Auditor General Candidate Malcolm Kenyatta. He gave a fiery speech with the usual Democratic talking points. I don’t know why but YouTube and other platforms are only letting me upload 7 minutes of his 25-minute speech.
The keynote speaker was Olivia Troye. She is a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence who broke with the Trump administration over January 6. YouTube and other platforms would only upload 15 minutes of her 31-minute speech.
Not mentioned by any of the speakers was the war in Gaza and Lebanon. According to the Real Clear Politics (RCP), Harris has a 1.1% lead in their poll averages in a two-way race. There have been as many public polls including the 3rd party candidates Jill Stein (G), Cornel West (I), and Chase Oliver (L). The RCP average with 3rd party candidates included gives Harris a 1.0% advantage. Polls at this point gave Biden an 8% advantage (he won by 4.5%) in 2020 and gave Clinton a 5.9% advantage (she “won” by 2.1%) in 2016.
Looking at Pennsylvania the RCP average, Trump has a 0.8% advantage in a 2-way race. At this point, Biden had a 5.1% advantage (he won by 1.2%) in 2020 and Clinton had a 2.1% advantage (she lost by 0.7%) in 2016. There have been even fewer state polls including 3rd party candidates. The last public poll published with 3rd party candidates for Pennsylvania was completed a week ago on October 17. The RCP average gives Harris a 0.3% average.
The speakers at the 2024 John Murtha Dinner hope to reverse these trends. Clearly the Democrats hope to win the White House by reaching out to never Trump Republicans. At the same, time Harris refuses to reach out to Arab Americans and to put distance between herself and Biden on Israel. This could cost her crucial states like Michigan with large Arab populations. Somehow, I doubt Olivia Troye has a problem with what Netanyahu is doing.