PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia Republicans were wiped out in Tuesday's election, losing even the minority party City Council seats that they'd held for decades. Now party officials are trying to pick up the pieces.
City GOP chair Vince Fenerty says he really thought the party was making progress — with more party officials on the street, encouraging turnout, and a race for survival on the ballot in the City Council at-large contest.
But even with a registration edge of 116,000 voters, facing a party with just 16 registered voters, Republicans could not close a 5,000-vote gap to take even one at-large seat away from the Working Families Party.
Fenerty blames a lack of interest in local politics among city Republicans, even in a race that represented an existential challenge for the party.
“There are a lot of Republicans that only come out every four years in national elections and they stay home in municipal elections,” he said. “I don’t know why.”
Still, while he's not sure how to increase turnout, Fenerty says he hasn't given up. “I think there's hope. We just started rebuilding last year. We've gotten more committee people,” he said, adding there’s still one Republican City Councilman in Brian O’Neill.
However, the anemic turnout puzzles even Democratic chair Bob Brady. “My concern was the Republican party energizing because they were threatened and coming out, and that maybe hurting our statewide candidates,” he shared, “but that didn't even happen there.”
Brady thinks it bodes well for next year's presidential election.