{"id":2383,"date":"2026-06-28T12:43:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T12:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383"},"modified":"2026-06-28T12:43:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T12:43:02","slug":"a-key-voting-bloc-in-a-key-swing-district-is-signaling-a-blue-wave-across-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383","title":{"rendered":"A key voting bloc in a key swing district is signaling a Blue Wave across America"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As many of you know by now, I am busy settling into my new desk in my latest home state of North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Read more America\u2019s unmet promise \u2014 and most shameful secret<\/a><\/p>\n

Settling in means changing licenses, license plates, utilities, insurance, and all the punishing bureaucratic stuff designed to make us scream out in pain. Nothing\u2019s as easy as it should be, and I swear to God it is designed that way.<\/p>\n

Leaving Wisconsin after 15 years also meant losing my loyal barber.<\/p>\n

Ka was as good a guy as I have ever known, and did more with less than any barber in the world. How he turned that tangled mess on the top and sides of my head into something almost presentable I\u2019ll never know.<\/p>\n

He was also liberal as hell, which is important to me.<\/p>\n

I am one of those people who simply will not give my money to anybody who supports the fascist regime that is wrecking America right now. I have a talent for sniffing these people out. I quickly work the sorry state of the United States into my initial conversation with a prospective contractor or business owner in the first two sentences of my interaction with them.<\/p>\n

When they ask how I am doing I will tell them something along these lines, \u201cNot good, man. We got a racist traitor in Washington who belongs in jail, and is instead wrecking our White House. So how are you doin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

Then I wait, and if they tiptoe around my rejoinder I point them in the general direction of the door. <\/p>\n

Easy peasy. <\/p>\n

I realize this isn\u2019t a subtle approach, but New Jersey natives generally aren\u2019t subtle people. Subtlety will only get you run over in the Garden State, where you learn at a young age that the shortest distance between two points is straight ahead.<\/p>\n

So after getting scalped by two different wannabe barbers in my new home, I booked an appointment with a woman who came with a strong recommendation from my wife who successfully found a hairstylist who somehow makes her even prettier.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when the sun came out.<\/p>\n

I knew the minute I sat in the barber\u2019s chair Nina was my kind of person. In fact she <\/em>beat me<\/em> to the punch, because when I gave her the Jersey, \u201cHow you doin\u2019?\u201d she answered this way, \u201cI am just waiting to wake up on some beautiful morning and find out he\u2019s gone \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Yowza. (Unfortunately, he\u2019s still here as of this writing.)<\/p>\n

Turns out Nina\u2019s done a lot of traveling like myself and ended up by the sea, because why wouldn\u2019t you? She started her journeys in Northeastern Pennsylvania, though. <\/p>\n

Pennsylvania used to be the Republicans\u2019 great white whale. Every fours years they would get tantalizingly close to harpooning a presidential contest and putting the Keystone State\u2019s generous haul of electoral votes in their column only to be left just short. <\/p>\n

Democrat Ed Rendell, who served two terms as governor of the place between 2003-2011, famously said this about his state: \u201cPennsylvania is Philadelphia to the East, Pittsburgh to the West, and Alabama in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, in 2016, Donald Trump and Alabama won, and Pennsylvania officially became a dreaded swing state. Joe Biden won it in 2020, and Trump won it back in 2024. <\/p>\n

As a New Jersey native this just gave me another reason to curse Pennsylvania. It\u2019s pretty much a border rival thing, but Pennsylvania has turned into Ohio East, which will surprise nobody in New Jersey. (NOTE: Here\u2019s where I am losing Pennsylvania and Ohio readers. But, really: JD Vance, Ohio????)<\/p>\n

Read more NYT bombshell: Trump sons cash in on $1.6 billion federal mining deal<\/a><\/p>\n

Please don\u2019t take it personally, good people. After all, I\u2019m from Jersey, and let\u2019s face it, nobody gets kicked around more than we do. <\/p>\n

Anyway, I have a lot of friends from Pennsylvania, and on Friday I made a new one. <\/p>\n

Nina grew up in Easton, Pa., which is hard on the Delaware River. And because it really is a small world after all, I told her that my ex-wife grew up in Phillipsburg, N.J., on the other side of that river. The two towns are rivals and separated by a bridge. <\/p>\n

The area is also located in the Lehigh Valley, and one of those swingy political areas, where the party faring well among this sample of voters, will most likely be the party faring well in other places like it across the country. <\/p>\n

While Nina was spinning magic on my head, she told a variation of a story I have heard too many times before: many of her family and friends voted for Trump, and that has made their relationship as bitter as an unripened lime.<\/p>\n

I told her I was sorry as hell about that, and added that I had lost a lot of friends to this cancer myself. I told her that I have cut ties with them, because defending bigotry, misogyny, and the attack on America were deal-breakers. <\/p>\n

I spent several years after the blast in 2016 trying to reason with my friends, but banging my head against the wall hurt a lot less. I left it with them this way: \u201cIf you come around, and realize the damage you have done, I\u2019ll be here waiting and we can talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nobody has come around. <\/p>\n

Nina approached this differently. She says she stays in touch with many of the people who have made their sickness our problem. I told her I saluted her patience, and asked this burning question: \u201cHow do they like what\u2019s going on now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey hate it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when I sat up in my chair at the risk of getting my ear chopped off.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, really,\u201d I said with surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey think he is a lying pedophile, and they feel stupid for voting for him.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cREALLY?????\u201d I shouted, before composing myself. <\/p>\n

\u201cYup. Really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Nina\u2019s a lot younger than I am, because most people are. She represents a generation who have pretty much only known Trump as their president and attacker. Their sample size is limited, and they don\u2019t carry around the baggage from administrations past \u2014 both good and bad.<\/p>\n

The people Nina talks to know things are getting more expensive, that we are engaged in yet more unnecessary wars, and that Epstein\u2019s corporate buddies are still free to rape more kids.<\/p>\n

Things are getting worse, not better.<\/p>\n

So basking in Nina\u2019s heartening report about her friends in NE Pennsylvania, I decided to risk a final question: \u201cOK, it\u2019s great your friends have come around to this evil SOB, but how do you see them voting in November? Will they stay with Republicans or give Democrats a try? Or worse, will they not vote?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, they\u2019ll vote,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re pissed. And it won\u2019t be for any Republicans.\u201d <\/p>\n

I guess I could learn to like Pennsylvania \u2026<\/p>\n

D. Earl Stephens is the author of \u201cToxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump\u2019s Very Important Letters\u201d and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here, and follow him on Bluesky here.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more AOC to Trump: \u2018If you don\u2019t want to be prosecuted for crimes, don\u2019t do crimes\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As many of you know by now, I am busy settling into my new desk in my latest home state of North Carolina.Settling in means changing licenses, license plates, utilities, insurance, and all the punishing bureaucratic stuff designed to make us scream out in pain. Nothing\u2019s as easy as it should be, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nA key voting bloc in a key swing district is signaling a Blue Wave across America - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A key voting bloc in a key swing district is signaling a Blue Wave across America - Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As many of you know by now, I am busy settling into my new desk in my latest home state of North Carolina.Settling in means changing licenses, license plates, utilities, insurance, and all the punishing bureaucratic stuff designed to make us scream out in pain. Nothing\u2019s as easy as it should be, and...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-28T12:43:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=2383#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=2383\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\"},\"headline\":\"A key voting bloc in a key swing district is signaling a Blue Wave across America\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-28T12:43:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=2383\"},\"wordCount\":1256,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=2383#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/09819ff77f6ba1a4f2008e29c309e085.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=2383#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=2383\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=2383\",\"name\":\"A key voting bloc in a key swing district is signaling a Blue Wave across America - Next Address America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=2383#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=2383#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/09819ff77f6ba1a4f2008e29c309e085.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-28T12:43:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=2383#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=2383\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=2383#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/09819ff77f6ba1a4f2008e29c309e085.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/09819ff77f6ba1a4f2008e29c309e085.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=2383#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A key voting bloc in a key swing district is signaling a Blue Wave across America\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Next Address America\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A key voting bloc in a key swing district is signaling a Blue Wave across America - Next Address America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A key voting bloc in a key swing district is signaling a Blue Wave across America - Next Address America","og_description":"As many of you know by now, I am busy settling into my new desk in my latest home state of North Carolina.Settling in means changing licenses, license plates, utilities, insurance, and all the punishing bureaucratic stuff designed to make us scream out in pain. Nothing\u2019s as easy as it should be, and...","og_url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383","og_site_name":"Next Address America","article_published_time":"2026-06-28T12:43:02+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3"},"headline":"A key voting bloc in a key swing district is signaling a Blue Wave across America","datePublished":"2026-06-28T12:43:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383"},"wordCount":1256,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/09819ff77f6ba1a4f2008e29c309e085.webp","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383","url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383","name":"A key voting bloc in a key swing district is signaling a Blue Wave across America - Next Address America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/09819ff77f6ba1a4f2008e29c309e085.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-28T12:43:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/09819ff77f6ba1a4f2008e29c309e085.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/09819ff77f6ba1a4f2008e29c309e085.webp","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2383#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A key voting bloc in a key swing district is signaling a Blue Wave across America"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/","name":"Next Address America","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com"],"url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}