In the Democratic campaign office in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, a group of volunteers with Polish and Ukrainian backgrounds are eating pizza and getting ready to go door-to-door. Some of them are wearing embroidered Ukrainian shirts and carrying signs with the text "Ukrainian Americans for Harris and Waltz".
In the TV debate against Donald Trump in September, Kamala Harris directly addressed the "800,000 Polish-Americans here in Pennsylvania". She warned that Trump would sell out Ukraine to Vladimir Putin, and that Moscow's next target would be Poland.
It was like a light bulb went off above my head, says actress Christine Baranski, one of the most well-known Polish-Americans, who has appeared in the ABBA musical film "Mamma Mia" and TV series like "The Gilded Age". She has traveled here from New York.
I didn't know there were so many Polish-Americans in Pennsylvania. I decided to contact Kamala Harris' campaign to try to help convince them.
A large group in key states
In a very tight election, both Harris and Trump are betting on reaching out to voters with roots in Eastern Europe – a large group in the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
The gravel crunches under Christine Baranski's Chanel shoes. Few are at home in the simple neighborhoods in Wilkes-Barre where she is going door-to-door. Several houses are abandoned, with plywood boards covering the windows.
This reminds me a lot of the Polish neighborhoods in Buffalo where I grew up, says Christine Baranski.
The Polish immigration took off in the 19th century, and many got jobs in Pennsylvania's coal mines. Today, around 15 percent of the inhabitants in Wilkes-Barre have Polish roots.
The message to Polish-American voters is that a lot is at stake in this election: Trump is comfortable with Putin, and his way of achieving peace in Ukraine is to hand over the country to Russia, says Christine Baranski.
A half-hour drive north of Wilkes-Barre, in President Joe Biden's hometown of Scranton, the war is being remembered. A rumbling sound can be heard from the city's ammunition factory, which is pumping out artillery shells to the Ukrainian army. Production has more than doubled since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, creating new jobs in Scranton.
Proud of Ukraine support
I'm proud that we're playing a role in supporting Ukraine, says Scranton native Alex Groysman, who came to the USA from Kyiv in the early 1990s.
In late September, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the factory.
We stood outside with Ukrainian flags and tried to catch a glimpse of him, says Alex Groysman. He voted for Trump in 2016, but this year it will be Harris.
Trump is too friendly towards Putin, and will cut off support to Ukraine if he wins.
But talking about a war 8,000 miles away is not a guaranteed winning recipe for Harris. Many Polish-American voters have conservative values and do not necessarily vote based on their Polish identity.
I'm Catholic and against abortion, and that doesn't go with voting for the Democrats, says Ron Ryczak, a retired engineer from Mayfield just north of Scranton.
Trump has been cautious about criticizing Putin, but I don't see anything wrong with him having some kind of relationship with him. "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer", as they say. The Democrats think Putin controls Trump, but he's a lot smarter than many think, says Ron Ryczak.
Even for his wife Catherine, who also has Polish roots, the abortion issue is highly prioritized in the election – but she is for the right to free abortion and will vote for Harris.
"Never agree on anything"
We never agree on anything, says Christine Ryczak in the couple's Halloween-decorated kitchen.
In the Ukrainian-American family Groysman in Scranton, there is also division about the election. Alex Groysman's brother will vote for Trump.
I've tried to discuss the issue with him, but it never ends well, says Alex Groysman.
We're staying away from each other until the election.
Swing states in the election like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin have large groups of inhabitants with roots in Poland, Ukraine, and other countries in Eastern Europe.
Nearly nine million Americans identify themselves as Polish-Americans. About 780,000 of them live in Pennsylvania.
Kamala Harris launched an effort to reach out to voters with roots in Eastern Europe during the Democratic convention in Chicago in August, where several speakers focused on Russia's war against Ukraine.
Kamala Harris and the organizations supporting her are trying to reach out to these voters, among other things, through door-to-door canvassing.
America's Future Majority Fund, a fund supporting Harris, has invested the equivalent of 12 million kronor in campaign films and digital ads targeting Polish and Ukrainian voters in Pennsylvania.
Even Donald Trump is targeting Polish-American voters. He was supposed to appear together with Poland's President Andrzej Duda at a Catholic shrine in Philadelphia, but cancelled for unknown reasons. Earlier in October, Trump participated in an interview with a Polish TV channel.
