In the basement of an unassuming building in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania, you’ll find what’s known as “The Underground.”

“This is the Lancaster Democrats’ headquarters. Has been for a number of years,” said Stella Sexton, the group’s vice chair, after unlocking an old wooden door and turning on the overhead lights.

Inside “The Underground”

Inside, you find a concrete room-turned-Democratic dungeon that is filled with yard signs, briefing packets for volunteers, and campaign literature.

Back in March, one month before the state’s presidential primary, this space became the new site of a field office for President Joe Biden’s reelection bid – one of two offices his campaign has opened so far in Pennsylvania counties that Biden lost in 2020.

“We got them keys. We’re using this office jointly,” Sexton told Spectrum News. “I have to say, this is the first time that we’ve had a presidential campaign here in Lancaster before the primary. We’re very excited about that.”

Since Biden and former President Donald Trump have already locked in their party’s nominations, their general election rematch is quickly taking shape in the six or seven battleground states that will decide it. Pennsylvania is the biggest prize of the bunch, with its 19 electoral votes. Both Biden and Trump made campaign stops here in April.

“You cannot win the state of Pennsylvania on Pittsburgh and Philly alone. You really have to hold up your margins everywhere, and that’s what we’re here to do,” Sexton said.

After showing off The Underground, Sexton headed out to knock doors in nearby Manheim Township, a growing suburb in Lancaster County that Democrats are targeting this cycle.

“People who are moving here are from all over the country,” she said while driving past new construction homes. “A lot of them are from New York, New Jersey, Maryland. Areas where they are historically more blue and we see them showing up and voting that way.”

As she’s been knocking doors for the Biden campaign in recent months, Sexton said she’s been funding suburban voters who are motivated by two issues primarily: protecting abortion rights and keeping Trump out of office.

On a Wednesday afternoon, she met Erik Dering, who mentioned those two key issues.

“Having Trump, former President Trump, back as president and having his hands on the buttons of control makes me really nervous,” he said, while also mentioning women’s rights as something he cares about.

Biden campaign invests heavily in ground game

Back in 2020, Biden won Pennsylvania by just 81,000 votes. 

This time around, his campaign is hoping to increase support for him wherever possible – including in places like Lancaster County, where he lost by 16 points. The president’s campaign is not expecting to flip the area blue, but it does hope he can lose by less this time around to help his bottom line.

While the city of Lancaster is a Democratic stronghold, Trump flags are visible throughout the broader county. But even downtown, Spectrum News found locals who are not fans of Biden.

“He’s been a president for what, three years I’m guessing? He hasn’t did anything. I haven’t seen nothing done,” said Nitasha Collins.

Jaime Arroyo, a Democrat on the city council, told Spectrum News it’s a challenge the Biden campaign needs to confront.

“They’ve done a lot in our community and are being humble about it, but this year it’s important to make sure we’re communicating the impact the administration has had locally,” he said.

Team Biden opened 14 offices across Pennsylvania in March alone, including in Lancaster. The campaign said it is working with more than 1,700 volunteers in the Commonwealth.

In mid-April, Biden spent three days criss-crossing the state, from Scranton to Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. It marked the eighth time he or Vice President Kamala Harris have made a trip here since January.

Trump campaign leans on rallies

A few days prior, Trump visited the Keystone State for a fundraiser outside Philadelphia and to hold one of his traditional rallies in Lehigh County, an area Biden won by seven points in 2020.

Joe Vichot, the chair of the Lehigh County GOP, told Spectrum News that Trump’s rallies are the main way his campaign is energizing its base in the state.

“We don’t have an official ground game, as of yet. We have the motivation and the grassroots passion for a ground game,” he said.

Vichot said his team will be targeting Black, Hispanic, and younger voters this cycle. Now that Biden has a record to run against, he’s also hoping to win back some suburbanites who told him in 2020 they were turned off by Trump’s personality.

“It didn’t matter if you listed 10,15 policies that they all like – everything that he was doing as a president. But they weren’t willing to vote for him,” Vichot said. “Well now, they have something to compare it to.”

He said he sees Trump’s legal troubles as political attacks that should be worn as a “badge of honor,” and he’s more concerned about building up a ground game to turn out voters than the fact that Trump is now in court most days for his hush money criminal trial.

“We don’t need him here again for a while, we just need the team in place to start working on that,” Vichot said.

In a statement to Spectrum News, Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “We have paid staffers and volunteer-powered field programs in every battleground state, including Pennsylvania, and they are expanding daily.”

She added, “Our aggressive and experienced operation is focused on turning out votes and highlighting the contrast between Joe Biden’s weakness and failures with President Trump’s record of success.”

Mixed reviews for Biden in Scranton

During Biden’s most recent swing through Pennsylvania, he visited his boyhood home of Scranton.

“Scranton’s a place that climbs into your heart, and it never leaves,” the president said during a speech about tax policy.

Professor Adam Shprintzen, who teaches at Marywood University that sits around the block from Biden’s childhood home, said it made sense politically for Biden to flex his roots.

“People are very interconnected here. People remain here for long stretches of time,” Shprintzen said. “I think creating that sense of a community amongst voters to get them engaged and get them out to the polls is going to be super important.”

While Biden won Lackawanna County – where Scranton is – by nine points in 2020, it was easy to find fans of Trump around who disregarded Biden’s hometown connection.

Outside the county courthouse, Spectrum News ran into local conservative radio host Bob Cordaro.

“Unfortunately he took dramatic, radical left wing steps in almost every realm of his administration and presidency,” Cordaro said of Biden.

A few blocks over, Henry Velasquez felt Biden had not accomplished much.

“He’s been in office 40-something years or more? Nothing has changed. Nothing good has come out of it,” he said.

Unsurprisingly, those who showed up for Biden’s speech felt quite differently.

“I like the idea that he wanted to be bipartisan and has actually passed policies that have been bipartisan,” Walt Rowen said of Biden’s time in office.

As she made her way to the check-in line, Rashida Lovely complimented the president’s reelection campaign.

“I do believe that he’s doing more this time around than last,” she said. “We see a lot more presence here, and that’s really important. And they’re on the ground talking to the people.”

Shprintzen, the professor, said it’s fitting that Pennsylvania is a battleground state, since it represents many of the political divides and splits seen nationally.

“To me, it’s eminently appropriate that Pennsylvania, which was the birthplace of American democracy, that in some ways is going to be answering these questions about where we want our democracy to go moving forward,” he said.