HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Democrats are stepping up their outreach to Polish Americans in this year’s presidential election as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump battle for community support that could play a decisive role in razor-thin state battles.
Harris hopes to capitalize on Polish Americans’ historical animosity toward Russia and Trump’s reluctance to support Ukraine in last week’s debate. The Democratic vice president’s team held a national call Wednesday with Polish American supporters to encourage local networks to host their own events and spread the campaign’s message.
Although Polish Americans are not a particularly large demographic, many of them live in so-called “blue wall” states, which are critical to the victory of either candidate. Michigan has an estimated 784,000, Pennsylvania 758,000 and Wisconsin 481,000, the three places Harris will visit this week.
“We’re talking about an election where a swing of a few thousand voters in any one of those states could make all the difference,” said Tom Malinowski, a Polish-born former Democratic congressman from New Jersey.
Filip Jotevski, a recent hire to network with diaspora and ethnic communities, said Wednesday at a Harris rally that if Trump returns to power, “he’s going to sell out Ukraine” after spending years “comforting Vladimir Putin.” Trump, meanwhile, will visit a Polish American shrine in Pennsylvania on Sunday to unveil a monument to the anti-communist Solidarity movement. The Republican candidate will be there at the same time as Polish President Andrzej Duda.
The Polish-American community was thrust into the spotlight at a Sept. 10 debate in Philadelphia when Trump twice refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war against Russia.
“Negotiate a deal,” Trump said. “Because we have to prevent the destruction of all these lives.”
Harris responded that if Trump had been president when the attack happened, “Putin would be sitting in Kiev looking at the rest of Europe.”
“Why not tell the 800,000 Polish Americans here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up,” he said.
Some were surprised but happy to hear their community mentioned on the forum.
“He knew what he was talking about,” said Tony Pol, a 67-year-old retired fire chief in Erie, Pennsylvania, who spent a quarter-century leading the Polish American fraternal organization. “I think that’s everyone’s concern – if Ukraine falls, Poland will go next, and that’s very worrying.”
Gosia Dodi, a U.S. citizen originally from Poland and now living in West Michigan, said she “totally agrees” with Harris that Russia could target Poland if Ukraine loses. The 61-year-old described Trump’s attachment to Putin as “dangerous for Poland.”
“I want the war to end, but not the way he says,” he said. “He thinks he can fix everything in one day or something, which is ridiculous.”
When Poland was destroyed in World War II, the country spent decades as a satellite state of the Soviet Union. A revolution ended communist rule in 1989, paving the way for the country’s modern multi-party democracy.
Poland became a NATO member in 1999. Pittsburgh resident Timothy L. Kuzma, who heads the Polish Falcons of America, a fraternal organization with 19th-century roots in Chicago’s large Polish immigrant community, said voters in his community want to see a candidate who is committed. to strong transatlantic ties.
“If one of the candidates does not give such guarantees, it will be problematic,” he said. “Candidates, both parties, must pledge their support to Poland, Ukraine, NATO and the common security of Eastern Europe – and that’s all of Eastern Europe – and Europe as well.”
Trump has previously proposed a US withdrawal from NATO, which would destroy the alliance, and he has called on allies to increase defense spending to reduce the burden on Washington. If they don’t, Trump warned, the United States would not honor its treaty obligations and “encourage them” — meaning Russia — “to do whatever the hell they want.”
Pete Alibali, 53, emigrated from Soviet-ruled Poland when he was 16 because his mother, a chemist, wanted to advance her career without joining the Communist Party.
A lifelong Democrat who now lives in Madison, Wisconsin, Alibali considers Putin “a predator and a perpetuator of the Soviet Union.” In addition to his concern for his native Poland, he worries that the small Baltic states may also be threatened if Ukraine is defeated.
Alibali acknowledged that many Polish Americans are conservative, growing up reading Polish newspapers, working in Polish-owned businesses, listening to Polish radio and attending the neighborhood Catholic church. She described her uncle, who lives in Chicago, as “a very rabid Trump supporter.”
“Trump divided my family,” Alibali said.
Polish American voters have swung back and forth between Democrats and Republicans in presidential elections for years. They supported Trump in 2016, but supported President Joe Biden in 2020.
Malinowski said Trump’s visit to the shrine “shows that he’s nervous that he might lose ground with voters that he may have taken for granted.” He also downplayed any suggestion of a friendship between Trump and Duda, the right-wing politician who once proposed renaming his country’s military base Fort Trump.
“I know the Poles are nervous,” he said. “They get the advice: farm Trump just in case. They do it with their fingers crossed.”
Tom Kolano, a 55-year-old Republican who lives in suburban Pittsburgh and whose ancestors were Polish immigrants, said he was encouraged by Trump’s relationship with Duda.
“I’m not worried about President Trump abandoning Ukraine,” Kolano said. “There’s one big reason – I think Poland has a lot to say about that.”
He noted that Duda and his political rival, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, used a visit to Washington in March to pressure a divided Congress to break a deadlock over replenishing funds for Ukraine at a critical time in the war.
John Laka, 66, of Appleton, Wisconsin, believes Trump is generally stronger on foreign policy than Harris.
“I just don’t have a lot of confidence in him as a leader or as a president,” he said. “He’s just really missing.”
Laka’s parents immigrated to the United States from Poland, and she isn’t sure how much the country is really in danger from Russia.
“The threat of Putin going further is always there unless there’s an idea of deterrence, and right now we’re not preventing going anywhere,” he said.
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Megerian reports from Washington. Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
