Abortion Rights, Economy & Ukraine on Minds of Voters in Closely Watched Pennsylvania Vote
Stickers for voters in the midterm elections are set out at a polling place located at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. 
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (Sputnik) – Abortion rights, the economy and Ukraine are among the issues on the minds of voters in Pennsylvania who are deciding one of the midterm election’s most closely watched and fiercely contested US Senate races.No Senate race in the country has received more attention or money than the contest between Republican Mehmet Oz and Democrat John Fetterman, with $373.6 million spent on advertising in the current election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.But despite record election advertising spending, several voters casting ballots at polling stations in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, said they voted a straight ticket based entirely on party lines.”I almost always vote Democrat, they almost always represent me,” Paul Kisner, 81, told Sputnik.Others mentioned abortion rights as a key issue that drove them to the polls.”For me, the biggest issue in the election was abortion rights, the rights of women to have an abortion if they deem it necessary without interference from the politicians,” said Dan Davis, 71, as he exited a polling station with his wife at a local fire hall.His wife, Kathy Davis, said, “it should be a woman’s choice, period.”“No man has the right to tell me what I’ll do with my body, not even a husband if that’s a problem, because it could be. If you’re in abusive situation and you don’t want it, you shouldn’t have to do it,” Kathy Davis said.Several voters said their top concern in this election cycle was the economy and record-high inflation, though most appeared divided over who to blame.Kurt Meckes, 66, a Republican committee member who was greeting voters at the polls, placed the blame for Pennsylvania’s economic woes firmly on the Democratic Party, saying their economic and Covid-19 response polices had strangled local businesses and the state’s hydraulic fracking industry.”I’m not at all happy with the energy production, the whole thing about businesses being shut down, I’m thinking that the whole Covid response has been very brutal for our society,” Meckes told Sputnik.But Stefen Klosowski, 72, blamed mostly external factors for the country’s current economic woes.”I can’t blame anyone for the economy considering the war in Ukraine and considering what we went through with the pandemic,” Klosowski said.Even the US response to the Ukraine conflict itself appears to be a divisive issue for Pennsylvanians, with some praising the Biden administration’s support for the country and others expressing worry about excessive spending or the potential of provoking conflict with Russia.”I think they’re handling it fairly well,” Klosowski said when asked about elected officials’ response to the conflict. “We have given a lot of support to the Ukrainian people, in spirit, in a monetary way, and any kind of support. I think we’re doing a great job for Ukraine.”But Meckes expressed skepticism about US involvement in a conflict that he believes Russia rightfully entered to defend itself.
"I think things were provoked by NATO against Russia, and I think Russia has done some things that they've had to do," Meckes said, citing the Azov regiment's persecution of Russian-speaking Ukrainians and US-funded biolabs as existential threats that prompted the Russian special operation in Ukraine. "I just don't trust these biolabs and the purposes for them, I think there's clandestine purposes, and I think therefore Russia needed to protect its interests."
Voters in Harrisburg are also casting ballots for the US House seat in Pennsylvania’s 10th district, a race that pits incumbent Republican Scott Perry against Democrat challenger Shamaine Daniels.Perry, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, has reportedly questioned whether the Biden administration is “blundering us or intentionally marching us to war with Russia,” and called for preserving evidence of White House involvement in the conflict, according to text messages published by Axios.Daniels, for her part, has criticized Perry for voting in the House “against punishing Russia for invading Crimea, Ukraine and to affirm US support for NATO,” according to her campaign website.