| | '''Pennsylvania''', which means "[[William Penn|Penn]]'s woods" or "Penn's land," was one of the original thirteen colonies in the [[United States]]. Its capital is [[Harrisburg]] and it borders [[Ohio]], [[Maryland]], [[New York]], [[New Jersey]], [[Delaware]], and [[West Virginia]]. For two decades Pennsylvania repeatedly voted for the [[Democrat]] candidate for president, but in 2016 [[Republican]] [[Donald Trump]] carried the state by 44,000 votes with his message of "Make America Great Again" along with his criticism of [[free trade]] and illegal [[immigration]]. In 2020, Trump won by a landslide among in-person voters, but more than 2 million (out of 2.7 million total) mailed-in votes without the statutorily required signature verification were counted in favor of [[Biden]], and he was declared the winner in a disputed outcome.<ref>"The Pennsylvania Secretary of State reported that 2,704,147 mail ballots were cast in the 2020 presidential elections, which was about 39 percent of the total ballots cast statewide." [https://electionlab.mit.edu/articles/how-many-naked-ballots-were-cast-pennsylvanias-2020-general-election MIT election lab citing the PA Secretary of State for the 2.7 million total number of mailed-in ballots] An overwhelming percentage of the counted mailed-in ballots were cast, but someone if not the voter, for [[Biden]].</ref> | | '''Pennsylvania''', which means "[[William Penn|Penn]]'s woods" or "Penn's land," was one of the original thirteen colonies in the [[United States]]. Its capital is [[Harrisburg]] and it borders [[Ohio]], [[Maryland]], [[New York]], [[New Jersey]], [[Delaware]], and [[West Virginia]]. For two decades Pennsylvania repeatedly voted for the [[Democrat]] candidate for president, but in 2016 [[Republican]] [[Donald Trump]] carried the state by 44,000 votes with his message of "Make America Great Again" along with his criticism of [[free trade]] and illegal [[immigration]]. In 2020, Trump won by a landslide among in-person voters, but more than 2 million (out of 2.7 million total) mailed-in votes without the statutorily required signature verification were counted in favor of [[Biden]], and he was declared the winner in a disputed outcome.<ref>"The Pennsylvania Secretary of State reported that 2,704,147 mail ballots were cast in the 2020 presidential elections, which was about 39 percent of the total ballots cast statewide." [https://electionlab.mit.edu/articles/how-many-naked-ballots-were-cast-pennsylvanias-2020-general-election MIT election lab citing the PA Secretary of State for the 2.7 million total number of mailed-in ballots] An overwhelming percentage of the counted mailed-in ballots were cast, but someone if not the voter, for [[Biden]].</ref> |
| − | In 2022, Pennsylvania is a [[battleground state]] for control of the [[U.S. Senate]], as [[Trump]]-endorsed [[Republican]] [[Mehmet Oz|Dr. Oz]] faces off against [[Leftist]] [[Dem]] John Fetterman for the seat held by retiring Republican [[Pat Toomey]]. | + | Roughly 1 in 10 Pennsylvanians are farmers,<ref>https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/pda/about-pda.html#:~:text=Pennsylvania%20agriculture%20contributes%20%24132.5%20billion,in%2010%20jobs%20in%20Pennsylvania.</ref> which is also the national average. Higher education is one of the biggest industries in this state, which makes it more [[liberal]] than its neighbors of [[West Virginia]] and [[Ohio]]. |
| | The state Constitution of Pennsylvania, like all of the other 50 states, acknowledges God or our Creator or the ''Sovereign Ruler of the Universe''. It says: | | The state Constitution of Pennsylvania, like all of the other 50 states, acknowledges God or our Creator or the ''Sovereign Ruler of the Universe''. It says: |