Why are you here? Those who wait, share their stories

By Simeranjit Kaur

PHILADELPHIA —Reporters stood in a line that stretched more than two hours before the crowd was allowed into Temple University’s Liacouras Center and talked to many of those waiting in the sun. Here are a few of their stories.

Seth Fisher stood outside holding a sign with a QR code that said, Ban Fascists From Govt. We want Democracy and handed out pamphlets to those waiting. Fisher has been part of social protests and movements for over 15 years, including Occupy Wall Street. But the battle to “fight fascists” began for him when President Donald Trump was elected, he said.

“In 2020, I was protesting every day after the election, that entire week,” Fisher said. “I was inspired by the message of fighting fascists and Trump and Pence needed to be removed because they are fascists.”

Fisher said voters needed to realize what was at stake in a gubernatorial race in which Republican candidate Doug Mastriano is a 2020 election denier. “We are trying to make sure people are aware that Trump or Mastriano, either way, especially if there is no declared winner the day after election day, [are] planning to do the same thing they did in 2020: They are gonna try to stop the count of the mail-in votes and say that they won, that it’s a fraud.”

He added that election-deniers were planning to protest after the election. “So we wanna inform people that we are going to counter-protest for that, and that they should join us,” he said.

“In 2020, I was protesting every day after the election, that entire week,” Fisher said. “I was inspired by the message of fighting fascists and Trump and Pence needed to be removed because they are fascists.”

Fisher said voters needed to realize what was at stake in a gubernatorial race in which Republican candidate Doug Mastriano is a 2020 election denier. “We are trying to make sure people are aware that Trump or Mastriano, either way, especially if there is no declared winner the day after election day, [are] planning to do the same thing they did in 2020: They are gonna try to stop the count of the mail-in votes and say that they won, that it’s a fraud.”

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Katie Schuman, right, from Bloomsburg, a town in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, traveled two hours with her best friend, Henry Bowman, to attend the political rally Saturday.

“I just wanted to see Obama once. I wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t,” she said, echoing many Obama fans in the crowd at Temple University.

Schuman and Bowman are both avid supporters of the Deadheads, a 1960s band that believes in individual liberties. “We’re like hippies, but with electric,” she said. Schuman had a sign with Deadheads for Democrats on one side and abortion rights on the other.

“But I’m mostly here because of this,” she said, pointing toward her sign, “Save Roe.”

“I am sick of it all. It is no one’s business. It’s not OK.”

She said the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion after almost 50 years, was the most galvanizing issue for her.

“This election is the most I’ve ever gotten out and done,” she said.

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Betsy Teutsch, 70, held a sign for Lisa Borowski, whom Teutsch was canvassing for two days before the midterm elections in Teutsch’s race for state representative in this college town just west of Philadelphia.

She’s a graphic designer and a native of Fargo, North Dakota, who canvassed during the 2008 presidential campaign but said she never really had the time to be active at the state level.

“In 2016, I had my own business. It was kind of getting smaller,” she said. “When Trump was elected, I started going to so many rallies and protests and demonstrations that I decided to retire. I subcontracted my business to someone else. That just gave me more time.”

Teutsch joined a group that sent postcards to voters, journalists and groups that could have an impact on certain issues and elections and sent disappointed postcards to President Trump and his cabinet members.

The group is called the Persistent Postcarders, and their work attracted the attention of The Washington  Post.

“The first two years of the Trump administration we were all just so gobsmacked,” she said. “So protesting was everything that we could imagine.”

No specific event motivated Teutsch to canvass this year, but she said she was “just committed to this midterm, flipping the PA legislative blue, and what better way to do in the suburbs?”

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Republican candidate for Senate Mehmet Oz had one final rally in Marlborough Township with Nikki Haley, the night before election day. Around 1500 individuals joined the rally and one of them included Kelly Smith, who was bracing for the cold temperature alone, waiting for her husband and friend to join her.

When I asked her my first question about what brought her to the Oz rally, she immediately began to cry. Through tears, she replied, “I have grandchildren, and this country is nothing like I grew up in. It’s important for me to find out what this is all about. I don’t think my grandchildren should be learning in schools to switch their genders.”

Smith, like many Republicans, is planning to vote in person tomorrow, but wanted to better understand what Oz believed in.

“I’m here to see what Mehmet Oz has got to say. But I am totally going red tomorrow.”

Smith was very worried about the economy as well.

“We need change. Middle-class people are struggling. I am working three jobs.” She paused to wipe away her tears. “It’s not fair. Somebody has to do something.”

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