Pennsylvania Democrats Are Voting for Trump Because Party Too ‘Far Left’: Official

President Donald Trump acknowledges supporters after holding a campaign rally in Newtown, Pa., on Oct. 31, 2020. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

A Republican councilman in Allegheny County in Pennsylvania that the “shy” Trump vote is a real phenomenon and could be key in his state, according to a local council member.

Sam DeMarco, chairman of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County and a local councilman, told the Washington Examiner that the shy vote for President Donald Trump “most definitely exist[s]” in his county, which includes Pittsburgh. He said some are in the middle and upper-middle-class suburbs of the city where neighbors don’t want to deal with political blowback from neighbors or coworkers.

“I’m an elected official,” DeMarco said. “I have had at least a dozen Democratic elected officials tell me that they are voting for Trump. They say they don’t like where their party has gone, so far to the left, but as Democratic elected officials they can’t come out and say it.”

“Look at the unions,” he continued. “When they endorse, they apply a lot of pressure on their guys to fall in line and support the candidate. That’s not happening now.” He noted there was a large oil and gas industry conference that included union leaders.

“They said they’ve given up on trying to get their guys to vote Biden,” DeMarco said. “I can’t guess at the number, but if it’s in law enforcement, the building and trade unions, and oil and gas, these folks are voting Trump.”

President Donald Trump (L) delivers remarks during a campaign rally at Fayetteville Regional Airport in Fayetteville, N.C., on Nov. 2, 2020. (Brian Blanco/Getty Images); Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (R)points to the crowd as he leaves a get-out-the-vote drive-in rally at Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio, on Nov. 2, 2020. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

During the final debate between Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden, the former vice president raised eyebrows when he said he would “transition from oil.” His campaign later scrambled to qualify his remarks, saying he would end subsidies to oil companies.

Biden had repeatedly made statements during the Democratic primary debates that he would end fracking, a major industry and source of energy in Pennsylvania. Trump’s campaign has sought to claim that a Biden administration would be disastrous for the U.S. economy and energy industry. Biden said in the debate that he would not end fracking.

One union official told the Washington Post that members in Pennsylvania are flocking to Trump. Unions have been a significant portion of the Democratic Party’s base for decades.

“I would say it’s a 50-50 split in membership of who’s supporting who,” Keith Thurner, business manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 95 in Pennsylvania, told the Washington Post. “Even though International has endorsed Joe Biden, we have stepped back from that. We let the membership know what the International does. But there’s so many undecideds or folks on either side.”