Centralia, Pennsylvania was turned into a ghost town after an accidental fire in the underground coal mine just below made life there impossible. It was in 1962, and the mine still continues to burn slowly, even today, sometimes letting thin columns of smoke escape on the surface.
The slow combustion that has eaten away at Centralia for 60 years has made the place, located in the heart of Columbia County mining rurality, a dark attraction. But in a country crossed by intense political tensions, two days before the mid-term elections, it could also now be seen as a metaphor: that of a country struggling with a latent fire, fueled by an ever radicalizing anger. more against the Democrats and which, on Tuesday, could well tip the country into a new era.
“That’s what we want,” drops Martha Klischer, an entrepreneur in the small village of Aristes, just next to Centralia, while proudly announcing that she will support “all Republican candidates registered on the bulletin”. “The Democrats are cheats, fraudsters. They do not represent America’s values. And we will tell them on Tuesday our way of thinking, ”she adds.
The birthplace of American democracy, Pennsylvania, which opened the door to the White House to Joe Biden in 2020, is once again catching the eye on its electoral battleground that could decide the balance of power in the Senate in Washington this week . The Democrats hope to make a net gain there by allowing their candidate, John Fetterman, current lieutenant governor of the state, to get his hands on the seat vacated by Republican Pat Toomey.
However, the race is tight for Fetterman who must face the Dr Mehmet Oz, cardiologist and emblematic figure of the small screen in the United States, chosen by Donald Trump, in a state whose penchant for the Republican Party has only increased in recent years. The far-right conservatism of the party of the former president is fueled above all by the vote in rural areas.
Last week, a poll conducted by Emerson College gave for the first time since the start of the campaign a two-point lead to the Republican candidate, who spoke of resentments and invented “alternative” realities. by the former US president. Facing him, his Democratic opponent, struck by a stroke five months ago, was forced to campaign while coping with his convalescence. And this has fed an uncertainty of the results which has become a source of mobilization of the Democratic vote here as the election approaches.
fear of tyranny
“I’m worried about the future of American democracy,” said Malik Staten, labor leader at the Laborers’ District Council of Philadelphia, who came to a political workers’ rally on Saturday. If the Republicans win this race in Pennsylvania, life will become increasingly difficult: they will continue to attack fundamental rights, the rights of women, the right to organize, the freedom of the press and the right to word. They don’t want democracy anymore, they want a tyranny in which one man makes all the decisions.”
In front of his house, in an adjacent downtown district, Lawrence Thompson, retired from the Philadelphia transit company, planted a sign calling on his neighbors as well as passers-by in the street to vote en masse. For Democrats, he says. “This is an election that will certainly mark history, drops the African-American met when he went out for his morning walk. What’s at stake? They are much more than candidates, it is choosing whether we will be able to continue to vote in a free and transparent way, because the Republicans seek to take away this right from us. »
Defending Americans’ rights is what also drives the campaign of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, currently in the race to become the state’s next governor. “My opponent [Doug Mastriano] has been working for years to undermine our democracy,” he said in an interview on Saturday. To have to. The young politician, carried by a solid wave of sympathy for several months, is currently leading by 9 points in the polls against Mastriano, a Trumpist candidate who denies the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s election and poses as a strict opponent of the right to abortion in his State, including in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of a mother. The Republican was among active protesters seeking to storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“Americans, Pennsylvanians should be concerned about the current attacks on our basic freedoms and democracy, but so should the rest of the world,” said Josh Shapiro when asked if neighboring Canada should worry about current political developments in the United States. “The country is a beacon on the international stage, and that’s because of the strength of its democracy, a democracy that can no longer be taken for granted. »
A referendum vote
Saturday evening in Philadelphia, in a final attempt to mobilize the Democratic vote a few days before the ballot, Joe Biden recalled that Tuesday’s vote is now “a referendum between two visions of America”, he said before a packed house, with partisan fervor galvanized by the presence alongside the president of ex-president Barack Obama. “Tuesday’s results will shape the country for decades to come. »
“Each voice will count,” added Barack Obama, who also came to support the candidacies of John Fetterman and Josh Shapiro in a state where electoral results historically tend to be the barometer of the political trend that affects the whole country. Midterm elections are tough for Democrats and anyone in the White House, perhaps because voters don’t think Congress matters. But he is. If, in 2014, we had retained the majority in Congress [alors qu’il était président], today we would have another Supreme Court that makes important decisions about our fundamental rights”. And he added: “This year, fundamental rights, truth, facts, logic, reason and decency are on the ballot. Democracy is also on the ballot. »
Courtney Gilmour, 41, had traveled from Mount Bethel, in the remote suburb of Philadelphia, with her young daughter, Trinity, to attend the political rally which she described as “motivational” to finish her last days of door-to-door before the vote. “I have always voted Democrat, but this year I decided to get involved directly in the campaign, because of the seriousness of this election, she said. If Pennsylvania falls to the Republicans, it’s the future of our elections that will go with it. »
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund.The duty.