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Pennsylvania was of enormous importance on the national stage in 2020, a year unlike any other in political history. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
PENNSYLVANIA 2020 was extraordinary for Pennsylvania for dozens of reasons, but not the least of which was the fact that the state took center stage in national politics for almost the entire calendar year.
From the pandemic, mail-in ballots, a lengthy primary and general election campaign, all the way down to a bitter and seemingly endless fight in the courts, it was a historic time for Pennsylvania politics.
Here s a glance back at the political highlights of an unprecedented year for the Keystone State:
Supporters of President Donald Trump march outside the Supreme Court in Washington on Nov. 14. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
WASHINGTON (CN) Maybe looking for a Christmas miracle, President Donald Trump petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on another of his unsuccessful challenges to his 2020 election loss, this one focused on the law governing mail-in Pennsylvania ballots.
The high court which only agrees to hear about 1% of the 10,000-plus cases it receives annually is unlikely to entertain the petition. Just 10 days ago, the court thumb its noses at a Texas-led challenge that sought the extraordinary relief of throwing out the election outcome in four states Trump lost to President-elect Joe Biden: Pennsylvania as well as Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wave to guests and members of the press as they walk across the South Lawn of the White House Dec. 5, before boarding Marine One to begin their trip to Georgia. (Flickr/White House/Tia Dufour)
Just as he carried the second highest vote total in the history of U.S. presidential elections, Donald Trump lost the 2020 popular vote to Joe Biden s even greater record total but also carried about half of U.S. Catholics (according to the AP VoteCast survey). So as Biden the second Catholic to be elected president in U.S. history prepares to take office on Jan. 20, millions of his coreligionists not only supported his opponent, but many did so doubling down on the choice they made to support Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Dec 15, 2020
A big, big snowstorm is on its way. Accu-Weather s Joe Lundberg gives us a time frame on when we ll see the flakes flying. It s going to start tomorrow afternoon around 3 or 4 o clock and then snow all night and exit early Thursday morning. So we re talking about a 15-to-17 hour storm but in that period it s going to snow very hard, Lundberg says. So hard, we might end up with one-to-two feet of snow by the time things settle down Thursday morning.
PennDOT says it s in a relatively good position to respond to the forecasted winter weather. While PennDOT fell short on its hiring goals for the season, the department has a surplus of salt to help treat the roads thanks to last year s mild winter. As is always the case with major snowstorms, PennDOT plans to prioritize interstates, expressways and high-volume roads first.
GOP Trump electors voted for Trump in PA, GA, NV, and AZ
Republican electors in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona all said they voted for Trump. It comes as their states formally appointed Democratic electors who voted for Democrat Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).
The Pennsylvania GOP said in a news release that electors met in Harrisburg to “cast a conditional vote” for Trump and Pence “at the request of the Trump campaign.”
Their vote comes as Democratic electors voted in the Pennsylvania Electoral College for Biden and Harris (D-Calif.).
The Pennsylvania GOP cited the 1960 presidential election between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, who would become the eventual winner. “We took this procedural vote to preserve any legal claims that may be preserved going forward,” said Pennsylvania Trump campaign chairman Bernie Comfort in a news release.