Harris hopes to turn the Ukraine war into a winning battle with Trump for the votes of Polish-Americans

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania. – Democrats are stepping up their appeal to Polish Americans in this year's presidential election, as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump vie for the support of a community that could play a decisive role in the razor-thin contests in the swing states.

Harris hopes to capitalize on Polish-Americans' historic hostility toward Russia and Trump's hesitation to support Ukraine during last week's debate. The Democratic vice president's team organized a nationwide call for Polish-Americans to support their supporters on Wednesday, encouraging local networks to hold their own events and spread the campaign's message.

Although Polish Americans do not represent a particularly large population, many of them live in the so-called “blue wall” states that are crucial to the victory of both candidates. An estimated 784,000 live in Michigan, 758,000 in Pennsylvania and 481,000 in Wisconsin, three places Harris is visiting this week.

“We're talking about an election where a swing of a few thousand voters in any one of these states could make all the difference,” said Tom Malinowski, a Polish-born former Democratic congressman from New Jersey.

Filip Jotevski, the newly hired point man for outreach to diaspora and ethnic communities, said at Harris's organizational meeting on Wednesday that if Trump returns to power, he will “betray Ukraine” after spending years “rubbing shoulders with Vladimir Putin.” Trump, for his part, is scheduled to visit a Polish-American shrine in Pennsylvania on Sunday to unveil a monument to the anti-communist Solidarity movement. The Republican nominee will be there at the same time as Polish President Andrzej Duda.

The Polish-American community came into the spotlight during the debate in Philadelphia on September 10, when Trump twice refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war against Russia.

“Negotiate a deal,” Trump said. “Because we have to stop all these lives from being destroyed.”

Harris countered that if Trump had been president at the time of the invasion, “Putin would be sitting in Kiev with his eyes on the rest of Europe.”

“Why don’t you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up,” she said.

Some were surprised and pleased when their community was mentioned on the debate stage.

“She knew what she was talking about,” said Tony Pol, a 67-year-old retired fire chief from Erie, Pennsylvania, who led a Polish-American fraternity for a quarter century. “I think that's everyone's concern — if Ukraine goes down, Poland will go down next, and that's very disturbing.”

Gosia Dodi, originally from Poland and now an American citizen in western Michigan, said she “absolutely agrees” with Harris that Russia could target Poland if Ukraine loses. The 61-year-old called Trump's affection for Putin “dangerous for Poland.”

“I want the war to be over, but not in the way he says,” she said. “He thinks he can fix everything in a day or so, which is ridiculous.”

After Poland's destruction in World War II, the country was a satellite state of the Soviet Union for decades. In 1989, a revolution ended communist rule and paved the way for the country's modern multi-party democracy.

Poland joined NATO in 1999. Timothy L. Kuzma, a Pittsburgh resident and chairman of the Polish Falcons of America, a fraternal organization with 19th-century roots in Chicago's large Polish immigrant community, said voters in his community want to see a candidate committed to strong transatlantic ties.

“If one of the candidates does not give such assurances, that is problematic,” he said. “The candidates, both parties, must pledge their support to Poland, Ukraine, NATO and the general security of Eastern Europe – and therefore all of Eastern Europe – and also Europe.”

Trump has previously proposed withdrawing the US from NATO, which would destroy the alliance, and he has demanded that allies increase their defense spending to ease the burden on Washington. Otherwise, Trump warned, the US would fail to meet its treaty obligations and “encourage them” – meaning Russia – “to do whatever they want.”

Pete Alibali, 53, immigrated from Soviet-occupied Poland at the age of 16 because his mother, a chemist, wanted to advance her career without becoming a member of the Communist Party.

Alibali has always been a Democrat and now lives in Madison, Wisconsin. He sees Putin as a “predator and a continuation of the Soviets.” In addition to his concerns for his home country Poland, he fears that the small Baltic states could also be threatened by a defeat of Ukraine.

Alibali acknowledged that many Polish Americans are conservative, grew up reading Polish newspapers, worked in Polish companies, listened to Polish radio and went to the Catholic church in their neighborhood. He described his uncle, who lives in Chicago, as a “very fanatical Trump supporter.”

“Trump has divided my family,” Alibali said.

Polish Americans have swung between Democrats and Republicans in presidential elections over the years, supporting Trump in 2016 but backing President Joe Biden in 2020.

Malinowski said Trump's visit to the shrine “shows he is nervous that he might lose ground with a constituency he has taken for granted.” He also downplayed any suggestion of a friendship between Trump and Duda, a right-wing politician who once proposed renaming a military base in his country Fort Trump.

“I know the Poles are nervous,” he said. “The advice they are getting is to cultivate Trump, just in case. They are doing this with their fingers crossed.”

Tom Kolano, a 55-year-old Republican from suburban Pittsburgh whose ancestors were Polish immigrants, said he was encouraged by Trump's relationship with Duda.

“I'm not worried that President Trump will abandon Ukraine,” Kolano said. “Here's an important reason – I think Poland will have a lot to say about this.”

He noted that Duda and his political rival, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, used a visit to Washington in March to urge a divided Congress to overcome the deadlock on increasing funding for Ukraine at a critical moment in the war.

John Laka, 66, of Appleton, Wisconsin, believes Trump will play a stronger role in foreign policy overall than Harris.

“I just don't have a lot of confidence in her as a leader or president,” he said. “She just doesn't have the skills to do it.”

Laka's parents immigrated to the United States from Poland, and he is unsure of the true threat posed to the country by Russia.

“The danger that Putin will go further will always remain unless there is the concept of deterrence, and at the moment we are not deterring anywhere,” he said.

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Megerian reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Mich., Scott Bauer in Madison, Wis., and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.