The Dems swept the statewide races, which isn’t too surprising given they seemed to be the only people spending money. They managed to drive turnout in Philadelphia, while turnout in the “T” part of Pennsylvania was very light. Are they still sore about the whole Penn State thing? Has the Pennsylvania GOP started sucking worse than usual? For whatever the PAGOP is worth (which probably isn’t much), this is a problem they should be very interested in diagnosing, because without very strong turnout from that section of the state, there aren’t enough votes to overcome Philadelphia and Pittsburg, and the unions spent big on this race. It will likely be a good investment for them, because they can now have a very big say in the 2020 redistricting. The Republicans should have spent more in this election, and if they didn’t have the money to spend they should start asking themselves how they can manage to suck so bad that no one wants to give them money. But of course they never ask that. It’s business as usual. Strategy? What’s that?
The only thing you have to hope for is that union backed Dem justices aren’t going to toe the Dem line on gun control, for fear of being eaten alive by their members.
The GOP managed to increase their majority in the Senate by one vote by winning the special election. Generally speaking the GOP did pretty well in the Philadelphia suburbs in County elections.
Given the Penn State fiasco involved college sports and politics, subjects that tap into the deepest levels of tribalism in most humans, I would not at all be surprised that drove a lot of this.
Humans gotta human
Well, I did my part to help solidify the pro-gun majority in the senate. Glad to see Guy pull it off, and polled quite well in Allegheny County in addition to the small part of Washington County in our district.
But seriously, when are the old-school Reagan Democrats here in PA going to realise this isn’t the same Democratic party they’ve been behind for decades? They’re getting thrown right under the bus the second their “sportsman” and “pro-union” sensibilities don’t matter anymore to progressives. Not only do we have Wolf and Kane thanks to the Penn Staters, now the supreme court can redistrict this state and screw us for years to come.
Oh, back on the Penn St conspiracy thing that no one but you two are getting. Turnout was no different than any other off year general election. 3/4 voters didn’t want to be bothered – it’s the same turnout for the last 20 years. Dems in Philly have figured out that turnout wins elections. When you can walk to every polling place, it’s pretty darn easy.
I’m not claiming a “conspiracy”. But look at the results county by county, and don’t tell me there aren’t a lot of rural, socially conservative areas voting Dem because of this outdated “They’re for the working man” mentality. Most counties here in SW PA before McCain hadn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Nixon.
And guess what, a lot of these areas have a lot of older, retired folks, current/former union workers, and yes, some Penn State alumni. No, there wasn’t a “wave” yesterday, and turnout was dismal. But these folks need to understand this isn’t their daddy’s Democratic party.
Another cry to give Philly to NJ.
The establishment GOP is doing its best to discourage conservative Republican voters from finding a reason to vote Republican. They promise to repeal Obamacare, rollback illegal executive actions, defund illegal immigration, and instead spend all their efforts on crony capitalism like the Ex-Im Bank. We no longer doubt that we are being lied to and ignored.
JeB!, their favored candidate wants to win while despising the base. That is why JeB! is polling about 5%, and many are staying home on election day.