BRIDESBURG — In Bridesburg, the community is tight knit—many neighbors know each other well and their children play in the streets, throwing footballs and playing tag with one another. There’s a uniquely quiet calm in the late afternoon when the sun scrapes over the rows of two-story houses, flooding the streets and Halloween-decorated front porches with precious late October light. At night, lights from the AdvanSix chemical processing plant at the neighborhood’s northern edge sprinkle over the neighborhood like stars over the Delaware River.
This year, however, Bridesburg’s porches look different. Walking down Richmond Street with days until the election, the neighborhood looks like it’s all in on electing Donald Trump to a second term.
Bridesburg looks like many counties across Pennsylvania outside of major cities: white, working class, and Republican-leaning. The 90% white and heavy Polish American demographic makes Bridesburg an important neighborhood in this election, as both parties believe the Polish American vote is essential to winning Pennsylvania. The way Bridesburg votes will likely align with how most of Pennsylvania votes as well.
Historically, the party that Bridesburg voters elect isn’t a clear answer. In 2008, Barack Obama and John McCain split the six divisions that make up the neighborhood—and in 2012, Obama won all six divisions. However, in 2016, Donald Trump won every division, and it only got more red in 2020.
Taking into consideration the likelihood that Pennsylvania may decide the election, the big question is: who will Bridesburg vote for?
Meet some Bridesburg voters.
FRANK — DONALD TRUMP
“I’m voting for Trump for one reason. I want my Social Security. Biden has already canceled it. Harris is going to cancel it even more.* And we don’t need any more homeless people here. That’s the bottom line to that one. And our veterans need help. I believe Trump might help them. I’m an ex-veteran. My dad was too. My grandson’s in the Marines right now and where are they going to send him? Overseas? Not necessary. Keep them here.”
*President Biden has not canceled Social Security. Read more here.
RICK — DONALD TRUMP
“We’ve took it so far left and so far right that it’s gone to the point of insanity. I’m looking for somebody that can fill that middle ground. Is Trump that guy? I think he’s certainly the best alternative. With the debt this country is in, I don’t know what he can do, but he’s certainly a better businessman than she is. You know, I have faith that the business decisions that he makes will be better for middle income people than the decisions she makes.”
BRANDON — UNDECIDED
“I don’t know who I’m voting for yet. It’s between Harris and a third-party candidate, because I’m a registered independent. The first election I was able to vote in was 2020, and I was like ‘this is the worst introduction into politics that somebody could have.’ And so as it stands now, I’m between Harris and Jill Stein.”
“Why not Harris?”
“It’s less of an issue with the particular candidate, more so just the general scope of US politics at the moment. With the way that I think about things, it’s more so just general—this disillusionment with the current political landscape, for me, I hope at some point in our lifetime it’ll be more than just going for either Republican or Democrat and getting out of that cycle instead. So that’s where I stand, and for me to vote for Kamala, I feel like it would just be more of the definition of insanity. It’s just doing the same thing over and over again and just hoping for a different result. And then on top of that, I just think Trump is a raving lunatic, so there would be no way on Earth, gun to my head, that I would vote for that man in a million years. But then the alternative for me is just upholding the same thing that we’ve been falling for time again as the American people.”
SANDRA — DONALD TRUMP
“Donald Trump. I like his policies, we made money when he was in office. Border was closed. No immigrant crime*. I’m hoping that with the crime in Philadelphia, he comes in and he gets the National Guard** to clean it up. I don’t care about the mayor. I don’t care about anybody in City Council here. He needs to bring his people in and clean it up. We’re voting for him because it’s working-class people that live here, care about their neighbors, care about their neighborhood— most of them, anyway.”
*This is an unsubstantiated claim. Read more here.
**The National Guard has been deployed in Philadelphia before. Read more here.
JOE — DONALD TRUMP
“I never voted before, but I’m voting for Trump this election. I know he doesn’t like unions—I’m a union carpenter, but there’s pros and cons. Trump is the masculine one. He supports the second amendment. I go hunting and all, so I like that … I’m not against Kamala one hundred percent, you know. I think she’s going to win, honestly. But I feel like we’re going to get more money if Trump is elected. I’m worried about the money. If I’m gonna get paid, I’ll take whoever’s going into office.”
LISA — KAMALA HARRIS
“Harris. Why? Because Trump makes fun of mentally challenged people and he made fun of a reporter. I don’t think he’s a joke. I think he’s a jerk for making fun of others. A lot of the people in the intellectual disability community are not voting for Trump, they hate him … To tell you the truth, I voted for him once in 2016—but when I seen some of his policies, they’re nuts. He’s a nasty, nasty man, and I regret voting for him. His January 6th attack on the Capitol was a disgrace, trying to have his vice president killed. That’s sick.”
JULIE (not pictured, although this is her house) — DONALD TRUMP
“I came to the US in 2008 and married my husband. I’m originally from Sydney, Australia … Illegal immigration is a huge problem for me. It cost me thousands to get my citizenship, and I had to do it the proper way. I want my money back because there are illegals pouring over the border—literally, pouring over the border—and I know for fact because I’ve seen the amounts of money that they are getting in gift cards and NGO gifts and contribution options*. It’s disgusting. Then we have to pay for their accommodation, their healthcare, their schooling. Why are we allowing our country to be overrun? You wanna come here? By all means. Just do it legally. Any of the Trumpers or the Republicans that I know of, they’ll tell you the exact same thing.”
*Migrants crossing the US-Mexico border do not receive gift cards from the government. However, New York City has given migrants prepaid debit cards. Read more here and here.
JOHN — DONALD TRUMP
“We got all these immigrants here now and they’re bad people. They’re not all bad people, of course, but there’s murderers and rapists*. What’s happening with Hamas and Israel is going to happen here pretty soon if we don’t tie it down. We can’t have that. So I think Trump is the only way out. He has a record. He was president before and he did great—I think he’ll do it again.”
*This is an unsubstantiated claim. Read more here.
JULIA (not pictured) — NOT VOTING
“I’ve never voted a day in my life for any politics because I feel like whatever they do isn’t going to affect me. Until it directly affects my life in the terms of where I need help, where I feel like voting would actually make a difference, I’m not voting. And the main reason for that is politician’s propaganda and lies—all the he-said-she-said—you never really know the truth. There’s just too many levels of communication to take politicians at face value.”
Tomorrow, we will find out for sure if Bridesburg will continue their trend of voting for Donald Trump as they have in the past two elections. Until then, the sun will keep rising and setting over Halloween-decorated rowhomes and kids will continue to play ball in the neighborhood’s late autumnal streets on the banks of the Delaware River.
Great photos and captions.