Camp Hill, and Cumberland County in general, is one of the few parts of Pennsylvania that is growing, according to the latest U.S. Census data. It has also become younger and more diverse. And what was once a reliably Republican area now has a strong Democratic footprint.

“When I moved here, the Camp Hill neighborhood was controlled by Republicans,” said Al Holliday, a Democratic volunteer at the Fredricksen Library polling station who has lived in Camp Hill since 1968. “I belonged to the vast minority.”

He attributed the changes in the city’s political leanings to “mostly new people moving in and old people retiring — going to Florida or wherever.”

And with the changes, Holliday believes Democratic Vice President nominee Kamala Harris has a good chance of winning the vote in Camp Hill. He hopes she will win state too.

“Trump has made too many mistakes,” Holliday said. “He did not receive proper guidance from his parents. No one ever said no to him.”

Like Holliday, other Camp Hill voters went to the polls on Election Day to reflect on the changing politics of their hometown, and the ways in which they do and do not reflect the divisiveness of national politics as a whole.

“Rejecting extremism, I think that’s going to be the story of this election,” said Brianna Labuskes, 37, who volunteered at Holliday.

Like Holliday, she remembers a time when it felt like she was virtually the only Democrat.

“I wrote an op-ed against (former President George W.) Bush in high school,” Labuskes, 37, said. “People would go up to my parents and say, ‘She doesn’t look like a Democrat.'”

But Labuskes left for Washington, D.C., after finishing school, and when she returned to Camp Hill earlier this year, it was a city in transition.

In addition to defeating Trump, she hopes to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-10th District), former leader of the House Freedom Caucus and a prominent denier of the 2020 election.

She sees both Perry and Trump as extremists who demonize their political opponents. It is a style that she does not see much in Camp Hill itself.

“Everyone is your neighbor here… You’ll see a lot less of that tension,” Labuskes said. “I don’t think the leaders of the party represent the people.”

Julie Young, 41, is also tired of what she sees as radical politics. She volunteered at the Republican table, just feet away from the Democrats.

“I think we’ve really gone off the deep end when it comes to radical social issues,” Young said. “Really, the majority of Americans don’t care what you do at home, who you love, what you do.”

Young said both parties have radical views, whether it’s Democrats’ political correctness or Republicans’ abortion policies. And she doesn’t like the way politicians in both parties demonize each other.

But unlike Labuskes, Young said she feels those tensions at home. In 2019, she ran for a seat on the city council and felt hostility from her political party.

“I didn’t make it Republican, Democrat,” Young said. “But I was scrutinized because I was a Republican. I was treated quite badly.”

Young blames people on both sides of the aisle for the current political tensions. She supports Trump because she prefers his policies and thinks that no politician can lower the temperature.

“It’s about the entire party,” Young said of her preference for Trump. “He is a figurehead.”

Young believes tensions have increased, not just in Camp Hill, but across the country. And the changes started before Trump even entered the political arena.

“I don’t put political signs on my lawn because I have a daughter and I don’t want her to be ridiculed,” Young said. “I think we’ve lost that civility on both sides.”

Steve Voyzey, 55, another Republican and Trump supporter, said extremism and social change were not top of mind when he went to the polls. But he has observed the increased hostility between the two parties in Washington DC

“I think they could do better by coming together and doing what’s best for the country instead of what’s best for the party,” he said.

Asked if he thought Trump was capable of reaching across the aisle, he said, “I like him better than what we have now.”

“I’m not really into it,” Voyzey said of politics. “Here’s what it comes down to: if you’re happy with the last four years, you vote one way. If you are not satisfied with the past four years, you vote the other way.”

Miracle Mathis, 25, paid little attention to politics until she was old enough to vote, and she has never voted in an election without Trump as the winner.

“I’m not one to worry about that,” she said of the election outcome. “I will vote and we will see the outcome.”

Mathis votes for Harris, mainly because of her views on women’s rights and abortion. But whatever happens, she said she won’t let it stress her out.

“I’m concerned, but if it happens, it happens,” Mathis said of a Trump victory. ‘I will still be alive.