Pennsylvania will likely once again be the most watched state on election night, as the Commonwealth’s 19 electoral votes are poised to influence the election one way or another.

Five of the 67 counties — Bucks, Northampton, Erie, Center and Luzerne — will likely tell the story of whether former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris will win the 2024 presidential election.

BUCKS COUNTY – COUNTY SEAT: DOYLESTOWN

Bucks County made national headlines last week after the RNC and the Trump campaign took legal action against county officials after the rules for “on-demand” voting were shortened before the posted cut-off time.

A judge ultimately gave Bucks voters involved in the lawsuit until Friday to vote early. Bucks is also known as a large county where voters typically split their votes.

A Pennsylvania welcome sign greets US-222 drivers entering Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania from Maryland, 2022. (Charlie Kreitz)

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and his late brother, Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, both Republicans, have had consistent but narrow victories in the county, while national and gubernatorial results are often a mixed bag. Brian was re-elected in 2020, just as Biden won the county.

The county also switched to a Republican voter registration advantage this cycle, with the Philadelphia Inquirer reporting that Republicans have a majority of just under 1,000 registered voters.

While Trump lost all of Philadelphia’s once-Republican counties — Delaware, Chester, Montgomery and Bucks — in 2016, only the latter appears in play this cycle.

NORTHAMPTON COUNTY – COUNTY SEAT: EASTON

Lehigh and Northampton counties, bordering Bucks, unite geopolitically to form the premier, post-industrial Lehigh Valley region. The seat in Congress currently held by Representative Susan Wild, a Democrat, is always a close race.

While Lehigh typically remains in Democratic hands due to Pennsylvania’s third-largest city – Allentown – as an anchor, neighboring Northampton County surprised everyone when Trump took over the city in 2016.

SCOTT PRESLER CRASHES BY PA TO REGISTER VOTERS AND SEEKS TO CLIP KEY COUNTIES RED

The Moravian Star shines on South Mountain above the Ofc. Philip J. Fahy Memorial Bridge in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. (Charles Creitz)

Northampton Republican Party Leader Andrew Azan III said in a recent interview that he is very optimistic again this year, saying there was recently a “waiting list” for Trump yard signs.

ERIE COUNTY – COUNTY SEAT: ERIE

Far to the west, Erie sticks like a thumb into the Great Lakes, and the electorate could put their thumb on the scale for either candidate.

Erie GOP Chairman Tom Eddy recently said that Erie is “unique… in the fact that it can pick the winners.” Trump won Erie County and the election in 2016, and Biden won in 2020.

Eddy called the county “Little Pennsylvania” – because it has a bit of every part of the state within its borders: an urban area, agricultural lands and industry.

LUZERNE COUNTY – COUNTY SEAT: WILKES-BARRE

Meanwhile, in Luzerne County, Republicans, backed by Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton, recently shocked observers in September by becoming a majority there.

The union-heavy county, bordering Biden’s Lackawanna, went for Trump in 2016 and 2020, despite his Democratic leanings at the time.

“We all want to thank Democrats and the Democratic platform because they are the ones who really inspired people to leave the party and become Republicans,” said TJ Fitzgerald, chairman of Luzerne County’s 119th District.

Scott Presler, leader of Early Vote Action, which has been sweeping Pennsylvania to register Republican voters, previously said this was a major achievement ahead of the expected election.

PENNSYLVANIA LEADERS ON BOTH SIDES TALK ‘TENSION’ GROUND GAME, AS GOP Seeks to UNROLLE DEM GAIN

A Harris-Walz supporter arrives in Wilkes-Barre in a police vehicle with a campaign logo. (Charlie Kreitz)

When Fox News Digital covered a weekend of Presler’s work in red counties like Lancaster and Dauphin, he also identified Bucks, Luzerne and Center as those most ripe for Republicans.

CENTER COUNTY – PROVINCE SEAT: BELLEFONTE

Center County is the rare blue dot in the middle of the forested expanse of Northwestern Pennsylvania. Much of the county reflects the Republicanism of its neighbors Clinton, Huntingdon and Blair – but the presence of Penn State University in State College makes it Democratic.

Of the approximately 110,000 voters there, 41.2% are Democrats and 40.3% are Republicans. Before the Nittany Lions’ blowout of Kent State in September, however, Presler and volunteers registered tailgaters to vote and encountered students who were fervently pro-Trump.

State Sen. Cris Dush, a Republican who represents Center and six other neighboring counties, said the prospect of flipping the blue enclave is “actually becoming very exciting.”

Dush said one of them — rural Clinton County — was solidly Democratic until the Trump era and had recently gone “more than 3-1 Republican.”

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PSU (Gregory Fisher via Getty Images)

Center may have a shot at the red column this year, in part because Generation Z suddenly faces a tough economy for young workers.

As Pennsylvania’s industry faces regulatory hurdles and more, Dush noted, the most regrettable outsourcing occurred among those young voters.

“The fact that they’re putting such restrictions on business development in northern and western Pennsylvania, there’s not a state in the United States that doesn’t have a Steelers bar, and that’s because working-class kids do. become our best export, I want them back,” he said.