This article explains the struggle for the GOP to maintain it’s traditional dominance of the Philadelphia suburbs. No single political party has clearly wielded total power in the state over any length of time. I think this has been healthy for our politics in general.
The consequences of this are enormous for the balance of power in state politics. For decades, support from these suburban Philadelphia counties has been crucial for GOP success statewide. To control the state, Republicans needed the suburbs. But beginning in the 1990s, the suburbs began to tilt toward the Democrats in some very important elections.
This erosion in GOP support can be traced across presidential, statewide, and congressional elections.
I worry very much about Pennsylvania turning into a single party run state like New Jersey, New York, or Massachusetts. I am not pleased with the political climate in any of those states, and corruption is a more serious problem when a single party has total control over political institutions.
This, quite honestly, is the fault of the Republicans themselves. Pennsylvania suburbanites voted Republican because of fiscal issues. We’re not a markedly socially conservative area.  With the GOP having all but abandoned any sense of fiscal discipline or smaller government, it’s leaving GOP supporters in the area hard pressed to find reasons to keep affiliating.  I myself used to be a Republican until the national party pissed me off with their crap. They have yet to do anything of substance to bring me back into the fold. I have been willing to punish the party for by voting for some Democrats in certain races, and I will continue to do so.
But if the Philadelphia Suburbs start voting in lock step with the city, I’ll move to Texas or Arizona faster than you can blink. I have no desire to leave Pennsylvania, but I won’t live in a state run by Democrats. I’ve seen our neighbors go that route, and it doesn’t end with happy results.
After moving here from Indiana and noting how conservative (much like Indiana) this part of the state is, I did a little research. Counting any community of 100K as a city, only 37% of Indiana’s population is urban. Rural Pennsylvania is far less densely populated than rural Indiana, and fewer votes equals less political influence.