Specific numbers are hard to determine but even a slight increase in the Amish vote would have made a difference.
As they have done for multiple elections now, Republican operatives and candidates made the Amish vote a priority in the 2024 election. Republicans have long sought the Amish vote in PA as they believe their limited government and religious liberty views align with the Republican Party.
As of 2023 estimates, Pennsylvania has the largest Amish population in the world. The Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College estimates the Pennsylvania Amish population at just short of 90,000. In a state that was decided by 80,555 votes in 2020 and under 150,000 votes in 2024, that population could make a difference.
Republican Congressman Lloyd Smucker, whose district includes the center of Amish Country, Lancaster County, and whose family background has strong ties to the Amish community, was bullish on Amish turnout and their view on Republican candidates.
“They just want government to stay not only out of their businesses but out of their religion,” said Smucker, in an interview with the Associated Press, before predicting a huge increase in Amish turnout, “basing that on the enthusiasm we see.”
Steven Nolt, director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, was much more tepid on Amish turnout in 2024.
“For most of Amish history and in most Amish communities today, Amish people don’t vote,” he said. “They haven’t voted, they’re not voting, and I think it’s safe to say in the near future we wouldn’t expect them to.”
However, in the lead-up to the election, multiple videos posted to social media showed traditional Amish horse-and-buggies navigating Pennsylvania roads decorated with political and American flags. A rare sight for the usually politically subdued religious community.
This anecdotal evidence seems to correlate with an anonymous Pennsylvania source who told the New York Post that the Pennsylvania Amish registered to vote in ‘unprecedented numbers’ in 2024. The source continued that this voter registration push was motivated by a state raid on an Amish Farm in Lancaster County.
On January 4th, 2024, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture raided Miller’s farm in Upper Leacock Township and seized his stock of milk and dairy products. The government claimed the raw milk Miller sold via a private buying club was linked to illnesses in New York and Michigan.
