This Pennsylvania County Built America, and May Decide the Next President

The county is a microcosm of the rest of the Keystone State—the largest of the U.S. battlegrounds.

A view from the now-closed Bethlehem Steel plant in Bethlehem, Pa., on Oct. 25, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

BETHLEHEM, Pa.—Nestled in the heart of eastern Pennsylvania is one of two state counties that have been bellwethers in the past four presidential elections and may decide who controls the White House next year.

Northampton County, home of the former Bethlehem Steel plant—once the world’s largest producer of steel—is one of two once-blue counties in the Keystone State, along with Erie County, that then-candidate Donald Trump flipped in 2016 before they moved back to the Democrats in 2020.