PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Overall, it was a pretty good election night for Republicans in Pennsylvania. Many races in the Philadelphia suburbs are still too close to call, but Republicans did get back several offices they had lost in Bucks County, as well as statewide court races.
Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub entered the night as the only Republican row officer in the four suburban Philadelphia counties — which used to be Republican strongholds.
According to unofficial results, not only did Weintraub win re-election, but Republicans in Bucks County won back the sheriff’s office, controller, prothonotary, and recorder of deeds — all offices the party had lost in recent years.
Related
Races in Chester County are tight, with about 10,000 mail-in ballots to go, though those are expected to be counted by Wednesday night.
However, some issues with mail-in and paper ballots are slowing the process of counting election returns in Montgomery and Delaware counties.
Some races, like Delaware County Council, are too close to call. As of mid-day Wednesday, Democrats Kevin Madden and Richard Womack had a 0.5- to 1-point lead over Republicans Joe Lombardo and Frank Agovino in the race for the two council seats up for grabs.
There was another issue in Delaware County with mail-in ballots labeled with the wrong name. About 5,500 ballots are affected, and officials have until Friday to return those ballots. There is no way to track how many of those ballots are returned and how many will come back.
Meanwhile, in Montgomery County, some ballots have to be recreated because of a printing error. Others are slow to count because there was an error by the vendor, with only one side that was printed.
County officials said there are about 20,000 ballots still to count, and it will take a day or two to get through them.
GOP suburban stronghold
Democratic strategist Mark Nevins said it’s no surprise that Democratic voters suffered a letdown of sorts.
“After an election like 2020, it’s not uncommon for there to be a falloff in voter enthusiasm,” he said, especially coupled with an increase in enthusiasm from the party that lost power — similar to 2017 and 2018 when Democrats gained momentum.
In addition to the typical pendulum, Nevins said there was another factor at play this year.
“Normally sleepy schoolboard elections were far more intensely watched, and a lot of that was driven by the COVID-19 and pandemic protocols,” he said.
He believes 2021 is predictive, not determinative, for major races in 2022, which, in Pennsylvania, include an open Senate seat and a term-limited governor.
Related
