Ever since America’s first oil well was drilled in Titusville in 1859, Pennsylvania has been a pioneer in our nation’s development of energy production.

Today, the industry provides nearly half a million Keystone State jobs, contributing more than $75 billion to the state economy.

With Vice President Kamala Harris’ ascension as the presumptive Democratic nominee, all the progress and hope hang in the balance.

Should Harris become president, her policies and vision could make the first four dismal years of the Biden-Harris energy agenda pale in comparison.

A quick check of the tape reveals a slew of concerns.

Running for president in 2019, Harris declared, “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a proven drilling technology used for extracting oil, natural gas, geothermal energ, or water from deep underground.

It is a cornerstone of Pennsylvania’s economy, especially in the Marcellus Shale region, supporting approximately 123,000 jobs, providing livelihoods for families across the state.

President Biden’s pause on liquified-natural-gas exports this year sent ripples of concern through Pennsylvania’s natural-gas sector.

The White House announcement went out of its way to say this was a Biden-Harris administration decision, not Biden’s alone.

The move not only jeopardized jobs but undermined the economic stability of communities dependent on natural gas in my state and across the country.

Criticism of the decision didn’t come just from opponents of the Biden administration.

Both of Pennsylvania’s Democratic senators, John Fetterman and Bob Casey Jr., voiced their disagreement with the Biden-Harris LNG-export pause.

After Biden’s ill-fated debate with Donald Trump, Fetterman emerged as one of the preident’s staunchest defenders, while Casey votes with Biden 99% of the time.

Even Gov. Josh Shapiro, rumored as a possible Harris running mate, raised concerns about the pause. Their willingness to criticize speaks volumes about the policy’s misguided nature.

A fracking ban would lead to the loss of thousands of jobs, devastating communities that rely on the industry.

The economic impact would be severe, but the repercussions would not stop there.

Energy prices would inevitably rise, placing an additional burden on families already struggling with inflation.

Higher energy costs affect everyone, but they hit low- and middle-income households the hardest, especially when two-thirds of Americans report living paycheck to paycheck, per a MarketWatch analysis.

Harris wouldn’t just stop there.

In 2019, she emerged as a champion of the so-called Green New Deal, an extreme policy that calls for America to become entirely reliant on so-called “green” energy by 2050.

The initiative’s chief supporter, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), has acknowledged the price tag would be as much as $10 trillion, which is ironically the same astronomical number Harris’ 2020 climate plan clocked in at.

The Green New Deal would end production of all traditional forms of energy and the jobs it produces.

For those out of work, Harris has called for “an ability to transition.”

Hardly reassuring.

As national Democrats have drifted further away from commonsense energy policies, they’ve been losing voters.

The advantage of registered Democrats has withered down to just 4% in the state.

Compare this with the 12% advantage as recently as 2008.

The number of registered independents is also growing, another indication Pennsylvanians want leaders with a more moderate stance.

Harris’ policies are not just bad for Pennsylvania energy — they’re a hard sell for Pennsylvania votes. 

That’s why the Harris campaign announced a sudden change of heart, claiming Harris no longer plans to ban fracking.

Such a major policy reversal should come from the candidate herself, and not an anonymous campaign official. It’s safe to say the Harris campaign hopes we Pennsylvanians are gullible.

Pennsylvania’s energy industry is not just about jobs and prices; it’s also about energy independence.

The ability to produce and export natural gas strengthens the United States’ position in global energy markets and reduces dependence on foreign oil.

This independence is crucial for national security and economic stability, both of which are undermined by Biden-Harris policies that target natural-gas production and exportation.

Imagine how much worse it would get under a President Harris.

My family has called Pennsylvania home for more than a century.

I want to see my state prosper and its next generation have the same opportunities I did.

That won’t be possible if the next president interferes with our ability to remain the second-largest energy producer in America.

In November, we need an energy-policy shake-up, not a bolstering of the status quo.

Here’s hoping we get what we deserve.

Joseph Pitts, a Republican, represented Pennsylvania in the US House of Representatives from 1997 to 2017, serving as a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and chairing its Subcommittee on Health. 

WASHINGTON – No doubt, if you are Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump, Pennsylvania is a must-win in 2024. It’s been that way for decades, but while Democrats have won every presidential contest in the state since Bill Clinton in 1992, Trump turned that conventional wisdom on its head in 2016, flipping the state red. 

And while Joe Biden wrestled the state back to blue in 2020, it happened at the same time Republicans made inroads elsewhere, ousting the Democratic treasurer and auditor general. In every case, the Philadelphia region often proves most crucial, with its giant voter base, and so-called “collar counties” with voters who can often be unpredictable come Election Day. 

In a recent segment on “The Final 5,” I talked with NOTUS reporter Evan McMorris-Santoro about how Philadelphia-area Democrats are handling the transition atop the ticket, and how support for President Biden is translating to support for Vice President Kamala Harris. McMorris-Santoro, who has been following the political pulse in Philadelphia, shared insights on how this change is being received, plus how Gov. Josh Shapiro has emerged as a potential running mate.

“It’s very confusing for them right now, because they had a whole plan before before Harris came in right that Scranton Joe goes to those suburban counties when he got on the ticket in 2020 the whole the whole pitch was, ‘Look, I can get Democrats. Also, I can get these, maybe Republican voters. These white suburban voters. They’re going to vote for me because I’m a white guy. There’s one of the things they talked about, and obviously in Pennsylvania. You know him being a native of Scranton,” said McMorris-Santoro.

Philadelphia, a Democratic stronghold, has long been a key area for Joe Biden due to his deep ties with the region’s political machine, led by his close friend and former Congressman Bob Brady. But McMorris-Santoro found that many Democrats, particularly those who had been struggling to rally enthusiasm for Biden among younger and black voters, were invigorated by the shift to Harris. This change was seen as a much-needed boost to the party’s base.

“We have seen such a shift in the way base Democrats talk about the ticket since Harris has sort of become the likely nominee, I mean, even among those those uncommitted voters, those voters who really really were angry about the war in Gaza, and trying to maybe even damage Biden’s candidacy because of it….we’ve seen shifts even among them towards Harris, so that that they feel like there’s something more they can trust with Harris. It’s a confusing situation, because she doesn’t sound that much different than Biden on this issue.”

However, there are concerns about how Harris will perform outside urban centers. Biden’s appeal to suburban voters, especially those in the surrounding counties of Philadelphia, was a significant factor in previous elections. These areas, which have seen Republican gains, are crucial for either party to clinch the Keystone State.

One potential strategy to mitigate this concern is for Harris to choose Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as her vice-presidential nominee. Shapiro, who like Harris, served as state attorney general, won his governorship by a wide margin and could help secure the suburban vote that Biden was able to attract. He also hails from the Democratic stronghold of Montgomery County, just outside of Philadelphia.  

“They say you get that you bring back all the things that Biden had, and you sort of can like sew Pennsylvania up very neatly. But it is a thing where, on the one hand, they’re extremely excited about this base activation, which is obviously a huge problem Democrats had,” says McMorris-Santoro.

Despite the excitement among base Democrats, there are challenges ahead. Some voters, particularly on the left flank of the party, are dissatisfied with how the White House has handled certain issues, including the situation in the Middle East. McMorris-Santoro noted that these voters are showing a shift in attitude towards Harris, who they perceive as a fresh start, despite her policies aligning closely with Biden’s.

Bob Brady, while expressing his disappointment over Biden’s departure, has rallied behind Harris, echoing Biden’s sentiment to “get past it.” This unification suggests a growing Democratic enthusiasm that had been missing earlier in the cycle.

With just under 100 days until election day, the transition from Biden to Harris has injected new energy into the Democratic campaign. As McMorris-Santoro observed, the next few weeks will be critical in determining how, or even if, this momentum translates into votes, especially in pivotal regions like Pennsylvania.

**For more details, check out Evan McMorris-Santoro’s full report on NOTUS.