On Election Day 2024, Constance Wynn sits in the front parlor of her home built by her great-great-grandfather, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. Her ancestors escaped slavery by fleeing to Pennsylvania, the first state to become a haven for enslaved people after passing the first gradual abolition law.
This image captures an anxious moment on the day of the 2024 US Presidential election. Traditionally, Pennsylvania is a “swing state,” – a state where Republicans and Democrats have similar levels of support – swinging its electoral votes from party to party in different elections. In 2024, Pennsylvania’s prized 19 electoral votes made it one of the most visited states by both candidates, as it held the largest electoral prize of all major swing states. In Luzerne County, Pennsylvania 152,000 votes were cast, but Trump won by a margin of 20 points, a huge increase from the 14 point margin of victory he enjoyed in 2020.
Constance Wynn, after learning the results of the election, has just downloaded Project 2025, a 900-page document released by the conservative Heritage Foundation calling for a sweeping Republican agenda that would transform the US federal government. Critics of the policy blueprint raise concerns about its potential to expand presidential power, weaken government agencies and regulations, roll back civil rights and social policies, target media and dissent, impact democracy and elections, crack down on immigration, promote religious conservatism in government, and erode democratic governance. Many of the policy prescriptions in Project 2025 have been implemented by the current Trump administration.
Philip Montgomery spent weeks before and after the election in Luzerne County, where voting patterns shifted from favoring Democrats to Republicans over the past 12 years. He visited homes, gathering spaces, rallies, businesses, and churches to reveal the complexities of the politically significant swing county where an increasing majority embraced Donald Trump.
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