After Big Wins, Bucks County Democrats Look Toward Future

As the final vote tallies came in after midnight Wednesday, it became clear that area Democrats were going to walk away with a number of seats previously held by Republicans.

The victory wasn’t ubiquitous throughout Bucks County. Republican District Attorney Matt Weintraub beat out Democrat Rich Scholer, Republican incumbent Bensalem Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo held onto his seat and Republican Ray Chapman was re-elected as tax collector in Middletown, amongst a few other opposed races going to Republicans in the county.

However, the major upheaval was at the county row offices where Democrat Judi Reiss won the Prothonotary seat against Republican Colleen Strunk, Democrat Robin Robinson bested incumbent Republican Recorder of Deeds Joseph Szafran, Democrat Neale Dougherty beat Republican Mike Gallagher for the County Controller position and Democratic lawman Milt Warrell beat 14-year Republican Sheriff Edward “Duke” Donnelly.

Republicans have held control in Bucks County’s row offices for at least 30 years, and that began to change Tuesday.

Numerous Democrats across the county credited their victory to strong candidates, a solid get out the vote effort and an unpopular Republican president.

“We really put together a massive get out the vote sentiment,” explained John Cordisco, the chairperson of the Bucks County Democratic Committee.

Ever since the primary, Bucks County Democrats have been putting in a huge amount of effort to get their peers to the polls on election day.

Part of the strategy put together by Bucks County Democrats was a huge door-knocking campaign. Throughout the summer and early fall, the campaign reached more than 120,000 doors, Cordisco said. He added that many local organizations contributed in the efforts to get the message out.

Cordisco went on to explain that the national political climate surrounding President Donald Trump likely had an impact on local races.

“I do think it is having an effect on voters but you still do need good candidates and people who put in a lot of work,” he said.

The New York Times reported that Democrats had a good election night across the country, including New Jersey where Democrat Phil Murphy was elected governor. Many experts pegged the problem on Trump’s sagging favorability among Americans.

“I’m not sure I could say Trump motivated anyone to go to the polls,” Tom Baldino, political science professor at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, told The Morning Call.

Moving forward, the county Democrats main goal will be to build on the successes of Tuesday’s election.

“This is 16 years in the making,” Cordisco said.

Over the past three years, reaching out to Democrat less likely to vote in down years can turn out to be the key. A big part of Tuesday’s results, if you ask county Democrats, was engaging people who are less likely to vote, as well as convince folks to get out and vote despite the rain.

“I think the results speak for themselves,” Cordisco said.

Locally, the race for Middletown Board of Supervisors was watched closely in the politically moderate township. Democrat Mike Ksiazek beat Republican Kevin Glasson 4,997 to 4,440 votes.

Middletown Republican Committee Chairperson Nancy McCann explained that although the supervisor race in the township did not go as hopped, there are still positive takeaways and cues for future work in Tuesday’s election.

“It was just disappointing that the turnout went the way that it did,” McCann said.

McCann also said that the national poltical climate likely contributed to the election results in some way. By the same token, McCann said that due to the anti-Republican sentiment at a national level many people may have voted without truly investigating local issues.

“People do believe that you need to change your local government before you can change Washington,” McCann said.

“Kevin [Glasson] was an amazing candidate, so it is really disappointing to see that the community did not respond to him,” she said.

As soon as Tuesday’s election night parties wrapped up, both parties had already begun working toward next year’s races.

County Republican officials were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.