Carrie Ekas, a 52-year-old from Natrona Heights, dressed as Rosie the Riveter for her 17th Trump rally. As she walked to enter the line, she pointed to other supporters and said, “This is what makes me keep coming back.”
“We can have meaningful conversations,” Ekas said. “We may not always agree on the same things, but people are very respectful, and this is why I keep coming to the rallies, because of all of the beautiful people right here.”
Thousands of Donald Trump supporters stood outside PPG Paints Arena on Monday afternoon to see the former president host his last rally in Pennsylvania before the election.
Salesmen pushed carts and sold hats, shirts and other Trump memorabilia up and down Fifth and Centre avenues, where the lines extended a quarter of a mile from the entrance. Reginald Purnell, a 48-year-old from North Carolina, came to Pittsburgh to sell Trump merchandise. As he folded shirts, Purnell said Trump’s immigration policy is one of the reasons he supports him.
“I’ve been liking President Trump since the ’80s,” Purnell said. “When I was growing up, that’s the first billionaire I ever knew. I’m a ’70-’80s baby and he inspired a lot of people to start their own business and want to become a millionaire.”
Purnell said he has voted for Trump since 2016, but has voted for Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama in the past. He said he believes Trump is “the best man for the job,” regardless of his party.
“I think the Democrat and the Republican just divide the nation,” Purnell said. “If you’ve got the same values, if you’re a Christian, if you want your country to be good, if you love thy neighbor, then you should vote for what you like.”
Ekas, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, said she supports Trump’s economic policy and his support of veterans and police. She believes that Trump “seems to really care about our country.”
“He has been run through — they’ve tried to jail him, they’ve tried to shut him up, his life has been attempted on him twice,” Ekas said. “He doesn’t have to do this. He does it because he loves this country. That’s just why I’m 1,000% behind him.”
Judy Haye, a 79-year-old retired nurse from Whitehall, Pennsylvania, said she plans on voting for Trump and the Republican party on Tuesday because she feels America has “lost regular Christian values.”
“I believe that Donald J. Trump is the best answer at this time in our lives,” Haye said. “Morally, I feel like he’s more Christian — not that everybody has to be Christian — but I like people that have morals and I just don’t feel the Democrats have morals.”
Haye said she has supported Trump since his 2016 run and supports his policies on immigration, trans rights and crime.
“Even when he got shot at, he had his arm up and he said ‘fight,’” Haye said. “I believe that he will do the best for the nation.”
Frances, a first-year student at the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics, came to the rally with Naveh Kelly, a first-year cosmetology student. Frances said she supports Trump’s immigration and economic policies and encouraged people to “vote for policies, not people.”
“Not everyone’s perfect,” Frances said. “Trump has done things that I don’t agree with, but his policies align better with what I want in life and what affects me.”
Kelly agreed with Frances and described the current state of the race as “nerve-wracking.”
“It’s definitely really exciting, too, to be able to put my word in and have the government decided by me and my peers, not just my parents,” Kelly said. “Hopefully it goes our way, but you never know.”
