Polish American business owners discuss issues as Trump, Harris campaigns court their community
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods, and there is no neighborhood with more Polish heritage than Port Richmond.
"It's definitely the Polish section of the city," said Katarzyna Kucharska.
Kucharska and her husband Marek Kucharski have owned Polka Deli Inc. since 1996. They immigrated from Poland to achieve the American dream.
"We definitely came with that idea from Poland," Kucharska said. "Work hard and you can make it; you can have the freedom you didn't have in communist Poland."
Today, they are part of the roughly 800,000 Polish Americans who call Pennsylvania home — and a voting bloc both the Harris and Trump campaigns are focused on this November.
"The Polish American community in Pennsylvania has the opportunity to decide who is gonna be the next president of the United States," said Quinton Fulks, principal deputy campaign manager for Vice President Kamala Harris.
During the presidential debate earlier this month, Harris made her appeal to Polish Americans amid Russia's war in Ukraine, casting Trump as a threat to Poland's national security.
"President Trump has made it very clear that if he were still in the White House, this war in Ukraine would have never started," said Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign. "Our message to Polish Americans in Pennsylvania is that President Trump is going to make this country and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, wealthy, safe and strong again."
Pennsylvania has one of the largest Polish American populations in the country.
"We obviously know that this issue in Ukraine and Russia is an important issue to the Polish America, but when we're out and about we are talking to them about the vice president's future for this country, her vision for this country," Fulks said.
Many Polish Americans have concerns about the war.
"We still have family in Poland, so the whole situation in the region bordering with Ukraine, we want that situation stabilized," Kucharska said.
"Poland, it's a very bad situation now, with Ukraine around the corner and Putin on the border," Kucharski said.
As small business owners, both are concerned with inflation and the prospect of international tariffs as well.
"That would mean higher prices for our customers since our core business is imported items," Kucharska said.
"We also know Polish Americans living in Pennsylvania also care about the economy," Fulks said. "We've been circulating literature in the Polish American community, going to the Polish American community to make sure that we are talking to them so they see themselves represented in this campaign."
The Trump campaign says they are focused on registering voters.
"We are actively engaged in speaking to Polish Americans," Leavitt said. "Directly bringing President Trump's message again of making this country and the commonwealth, safe, wealthy and prosperous again to them and getting them out to the polls Nov. 5."