Faith & Freedom is active in every battleground state, but its most aggressive efforts are in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and North Carolina. Nationwide, the group says it has surpassed 7 million door knocks, and expects to reach its goal of knocking on 10 million doors, or visiting around 18 million voters, by Nov. 2 — 20% of which will be minority households, accomplished in part by partnering with Hispanic evangelical pastors and churches.

In Pennsylvania, the survey the group conducts is simple, asking three questions: Does the individual plan to vote; what issue is most important to them this election from a list that includes the economy, border security, and pro-life issues; and whether they plan to vote in person, by mail, or by early voting. For the second question, Merola says most people they encounter this cycle name the border or the economy as their top issues.

“I’ve met people who are pro-life, people who are pro-choice or pro-abortion, but it’s not their number one issue,” according to Merola. “It’s the economy or jobs, it’s inflation, it’s the border, it’s immigration. Those are the big ones.”

The leaflet they hand out in Pennsylvania is double-sided, with one side comparing Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and the other comparing Senate candidates Bob Casey Jr. and Dave McCormick on issues like “federal abortion on demand law,” the “southern border wall,” “Medicare For All,” and “boys competing in girls’ sports.”

The canvassing I watched was neighborhood-based and only skipped homes where no one was listed as a registered voter. The area was red, but Merola said they were visiting Democrats, Republicans, independents, and even the occasional Green Party member — whoever they encountered.

One person who answered the door described himself as an independent, repeatedly saying that he wouldn’t reveal who he planned to vote for. Most of his criticism during the conversation, in which he said border security was the top issue, was directed at Harris.

“I will say — I won’t mention party or candidate — I think more people who are on the bubble in the center or who might be center-left are shifting more to the right than the opposite,” Merola said, citing his encounters at doors this cycle. “They believe that there’s a better opportunity to access the American dream. That’s where they’re at.”

Out in Pennsylvania, a state that both parties see as crucial in deciding the election, Faith & Freedom’s 350-plus staffers and volunteers are roughly 50,000 shy of reaching their goal of passing out 550,000 fliers in English, and are hoping to pass out 200,000 bilingual Hispanic versions by election day, according to Merola. In the post-COVID era, one big challenge is that people don’t want to answer their doors as often. (During my time shadowing Merola, one woman briefly spoke to us through her second-floor window. Many other door knocks went unanswered.)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kamala Harris said Sunday that “no one can sit on the sidelines” in this year’s presidential election, capping a day of campaigning across the largest city in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Watch Harris’ remarks in the player above.

“We are focused on the future and we are focused on the needs of the American people,” Harris said, “as opposed to Donald Trump, who spends full time looking in the mirror focused on himself.”

Speaking at a city recreation center, the Democratic vice president singled out young voters, praising them for being “rightly impatient for change,” and told the audience that “there is too much at stake” in the campaign.

“We must not wake up the day after the election and have any regret about what we could have done in these next nine days,” Harris said.

Mark Ruffalo and Don Cheadle, two actors who starred in Marvel’s “Avengers” movies, were at the rally. Harris reminded the crowd that Pennsylvania’s deadline for early voting is Tuesday, telling them to “get it done tomorrow if you can.”

Energizing voters in Philadelphia, a traditional Democratic stronghold, is crucial for Harris’ chances of beating Republican nominee Donald Trump. If turnout falls short here, she’ll struggle to overcome Trump’s advantages in Pennsylvania’s rural areas.

WATCH: On campaign blitz in Philadelphia, Harris says U.S. is ‘determined to turn the page’ on hate and division

“Philadelphia is a very important part of our path to victory,” Harris told reporters. “It’s the reason I have been spending time here. But I’m feeling very optimistic about the enthusiasm.”

Kenny Payne, 62, said Harris is going to win and “it won’t be close.” The Democratic voter said he plays golf with a group of Republicans who say they won’t vote for Trump again.

“I think we’ll all be in bed by midnight,” he said outside the recreation center where Harris spoke.

Patrick Boe, 46, said he was confident about the city’s enthusiasm for Harris, but he acknowledged that his view may be skewed.

“I’m in a bubble here,” Boe said.

Randyll Butler, a youth basketball coach who introduced Harris, said the election was in the “fourth quarter.”

“We cannot get tired,” she said. “We cannot get complacent.”

Harris and Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor who is her running mate, are expected to visit all seven battleground states in the coming days, part of a final blitz before the election.

WATCH: Walz gives remarks on reproductive rights at campaign event in Las Vegas

While Harris was in Philadelphia on Sunday, Walz was campaigning in Las Vegas. On Monday, Walz will visit Manitowoc and Waukesha, Wisconsin, before joining Harris for a rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the singer Maggie Rogers is scheduled to perform.

Harris will be in the nation’s capital on Tuesday to deliver what her campaign calls her “closing argument” in a speech from the Ellipse, a grassy space near the White House. It’s the same place where Trump spoke on Jan. 6, 2021, when the Republican called on his supporters to march on the Capitol.

More campaign stops are scheduled in Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona.

Megerian reported from Washington.

With the U.S. House narrowly divided, contests for Pennsylvania’s seats will be critical to control of the chamber in this year’s election, even as the state also plays a big role in determining control of the White House and Senate.

The magic number of pickups is four for Democrats to take control of the House, magnifying the stakes of each House race.

In Pennsylvania, the parties began the year viewing five races as competitive, as Democrats defend their 9-8 advantage in the state’s 17-seat delegation.

Adding to the stakes is the fact that Pennsylvania is home to one of the “Biden 16” — the 16 House districts nationally that President Joe Biden won in 2020 but are represented by Republicans.

On the opposite side, Pennsylvania is also home to one of the eight districts that former President Donald Trump won but are represented by Democrats. Five of those Democrats are running for reelection.

Federal Election Commission filings show the candidates and outside groups have poured more than $60 million into the races, with the total expected to climb significantly until polls close on Nov. 5.

For Republicans, there may be room to flip districts: Two incumbent Democrats won by fewer than 2.5 percentage points in 2022.

Here is a look at the five key races.

1st District

Four-term Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in Bucks County, just north of Philadelphia, is a top target again for Democrats: He is one of the Biden 16.

But Fitzpatrick, a mild-mannered former FBI agent who took over the seat from his late brother, has a potent winning formula that includes his family’s name recognition and inroads into traditional Democratic voting districts.

He is endorsed by top-tier labor unions, as well as the AFL-CIO, and is running a digital ad calling himself the “No. 1 most bipartisan congressman.”

His opponent is Ashley Ehasz, a former Army helicopter pilot he beat in 2022 by almost 10 points.

Democrats have attacked Fitzpatrick’s vote for Trump’s tax-cutting legislation, his opposition to Trump’s impeachment and his support for a 20-week abortion ban in 2017.

Fitzpatrick is running an ad saying he backs abortion rights — specifically, Pennsylvania’s law that protects the right to an abortion until 24 weeks of gestation, the Roe v. Wade standard of viability — and cites his votes to protect access to IVF and contraception.

Fitzpatrick has more than doubled Ehasz’s fundraising and her campaign hasn’t attracted any outside groups to spend against Fitzpatrick.

7th and 8th Districts

Three-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild and six-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright are each a perennial Republican target in their eastern Pennsylvania districts and each has consistently fended off challengers, if by slim margins.

Their races are emerging as the most expensive congressional contests in the state.

Cartwright has the distinction of being one of five Democrats nationally running for reelection in a district won by Trump in 2020 — even though his 8th District seat includes Scranton, the city where Biden was born and that played prominently into Biden’s winning presidential campaign.

Wild and Cartwright represent neighboring districts with similar geographies: small cities, suburbs and stretches of rural eastern Pennsylvania that include anthracite coal country. The districts are also similar in the narrow registration that Democrats hold over Republicans.

Challenging Wild in her Allentown-area 7th District seat is state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie. Wild outraised Mackenzie almost 7-to-1 through June 30.

Challenging Cartwright is Rob Bresnahan, a first-time candidate and developer who runs a family construction company.

Cartwright outraised Bresnahan by more than 2-to-1 through June 30, with outside groups pouring more than $11 million into it, according to disclosures to the Federal Election Commission.

The Wild-Mackenzie race isn’t far behind, with outside groups spending more than $10 million on it, according to the disclosures.

10th District

The hard-right politics of six-term Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry have made him a perennial target for Democrats in a Republican-leaning district around the cities of Harrisburg and York, with deep-red exurbs, rolling farm country and fast-growing suburbs.

Perry was chairman of the Freedom Caucus, a hard-line faction of conservatives that exerts outsize influence on the GOP majority, and was the only lawmaker to have his cellphone seized by FBI agents investigating the web of Trump loyalists who were central to the former president’s bid to remain in power after his 2020 reelection loss.

More about Perry’s efforts to help Trump emerged since he was last reelected in 2022. Those details included Perry’s efforts to elevate Jeffrey Clark to Trump’s acting attorney general — designed to reverse the Department of Justice’s stance that it had found no evidence of widespread voting fraud that would change the election result.

Perry has not been charged with a crime.

Perry won reelection in 2022 by almost 8 points against a relatively weak opponent. This time around he’s facing Janelle Stelson, a longtime local TV news anchor who is a household name.

Stelson has her own baggage: She’s a Republican-turned-Democrat who doesn’t live in the district. Still, she has relentlessly attacked Perry over his opposition to abortion rights and his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

17th District

Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio is being challenged in his western Pennsylvania district by state Rep. Rob Mercuri in a race that hasn’t made as much noise as the others.

Deluzio, a freshman, outraised Mercuri by nearly 3-to-1 through June 30 and the race has attracted little interest from outside groups.

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 4-3 ratio in the district, which encompasses Pittsburgh’s western suburbs and one-time steel towns along the Ohio River in Allegheny County up through Beaver County.