Kamala Harris was put into the toughest spot in her political career.
She was given one hard decision with everything riding on the line.
And Kamala Harris got asked for one bribe from a Democrat political boss that could change everything.
The Philadelphia Democrat political machine relies on street money from Presidential candidates
Pennsylvania is the most important swing state in the Presidential election with 19 Electoral Votes.
The state is a coin flip right now with former President Donald Trump holding a razor-thin advantage in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Vice President Kamala Harris almost certainly has to win Pennsylvania for her to have a path to victory after she started slipping in the Sun Belt swing states.
Philadelphia is her key to winning the state.
She needs to run up a score in the deep blue city that will overwhelm the votes that Trump gets out of the state’s rural areas and small cities.
Democrats have about a seven-to-one registration advantage over Republicans in Philadelphia.
A margin of over 500,000 votes out of the city would likely be enough for Kamala to win the state.
But turning the low turnout mostly minority Democrat voters in Philadelphia requires a lot of work and money.
Former Representative Bob Brady (D-PA) runs the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee which is the political machine that controls the city.
The longstanding tradition has been for Democrat Presidential candidates to pay “street money” to the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee to hand out in the city to turn out voters in the city’s 66 political wards.
The committee distributes the money to the ward leaders who take their cut and send it down to the 100 or committeemen under them.
Committeemen are the foot soldiers who handle get-out-the-vote activities like handing out sample ballots and literature, campaigning, and dragging voters to the polls.
“The committee people pay workers to check who’s coming in, who didn’t come in yet, and also to canvass,” Brady said.
Two-time failed Democrat Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton refused to pony up street money in Philadelphia in 2016 when she became the first Democrat since 1988 to lose Pennsylvania.
A drop in turnout in Philadelphia was blamed for her loss.
President Joe Biden dropped $400,000 on street money in 2020 and won the state.
Kamala Harris’ campaign balks at paying street money
Kamala’s campaign is in talks with the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee about street money for Election Day but Brady isn’t hopeful that it will come through.
Philadelphia Democrats have been critical of her campaign in the city.
Brady said his organization was working independently of her.
“We don’t care what they’re doing. We’re doing what we’re doing,” Brady said.
He wants $1.2 million from Kamala’s campaign in street money for the Election Day effort in the city.
“We got a proposal, but we’re not going to get that,” Brady said. “Whatever I get, I’m going to put out on the street. We’ll be broke on Wednesday [November 6].”
Kamala’s campaign had paid Brady’s organization $973.10 this year.
Philadelphia Republican City Committee chair Vince Fenerty said that money is the way politics works in the city.
“It’s the way politics is done in Philadelphia: Everyone who can get paid wants to,” Fenerty said. “And if they work hard on the polls, they probably deserve it.”
Stay tuned to Unmuzzled News for any updates to this ongoing story.
