Conservative Analysis of the 2019 Pennsylvania General Election

           The 2019 Pennsylvania General Election confirmed recent political trends in the Keystone State. 

In a close statewide election, there was a split between the two major parties for two seats on the state Superior Court.  Democrats continue to dominate elections in urban areas of Pennsylvania and Republicans in rural ones.  Several flips of party control in County leadership contests confirm the trend in the Philadelphia suburbs towards Democrats and in the Pittsburgh suburbs toward Republicans.  Opposition to Donald Trump increased Democratic turnout especially in the Southeast.

There were some notable victories for non-major party candidates.  After Republicans defeated a non-Trumpist incumbent Philadelphia City Councilman and nominated a Trumpist candidate, a leftwing third party candidate won the at-large minority seat.  A Democrat-turned independent was elected Mayor of Scranton, running on an anti-corruption platform.

The 2019 election was the last in Pennsylvania using the straight-party ballot option, as has been prohibited by the new election reform approved by the Republican-led General Assembly and recently signed into law by the Democratic Governor.  The reform authorizes borrowing to help Counties upgrade to new voting machines that are less vulnerable to hacking, as per federal recommendation because of Russian hacking into state and some county election systems in 2016.  Some Counties have upgraded to the machines.  My County, Berks, used them for the first time yesterday.  I shall analyze the reform in more detail in my next post.

The proposed constitutional amendment for victims’ rights was favored by Pennsylvania voters by a million votes, a nearly two-to-one margin, even though a Commonwealth Court judge had issued a ruling prohibiting the certification of the results because of a dispute about the constitutionality of the amendment’s scope and because of the adequacy of the explanation of the amendment on the ballot.  Nonetheless, the vote total indicates strong support for guarantee victims’ rights, which are safeguarded in law, but trumped by constitutional protections for the accused.

Pennsylvania will likely continue to be a competitive state for the two major parties and will be especially contested in the 2020 election for presidential and vice presidential Electors.