PA. House and PA. Senate Became More Republican

[JPZenger]

http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/11/who_holds_the_power_in_the_pa.html#incart_river_news

There had been hopes that anger against Corbett would increase Dem turnout and result in a more Democratic legislature. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

Excerpt:

"The Republicans came away with a 35-vote majority in the House of Representatives and a 10-vote majority in the Senate. Republicans picked up 8 seats in the House and 3 votes in the Senate.

A number of Democratic incumbents lost and several Republicans won open seats, allowing the GOP to gain seats in both chambers.

In the House, Democratic Representatives Rick Marabito, Mike Fleck and Jesse White lost their seats. And in the Senate, Sen. Timothy Solobay lost his seat."

Rep. Fleck (who represents a rural area) had publicly announced he was gay. Rep. White had made many enemies by trying to hold the fracking industry accountable, including for leaking waste ponds. A new Senate Seat was relocated from western PA. to the Poconos, and was won by a well-known Republican House member.

Almost all incumbents won, with the help of gerrymandered district boundaries.
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http://hosted2.ap.org/PAWIL/646b43f5053c4fefa244bb3722ccba43/Article_2014-11-05-PA--Pennsylvania%20Election-Legislature/id-3c45bef2357942f198ec9c5f60c35a07

"Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, who played a key role in the redistricting that took effect this year, said "It's much easier to get 26 votes out of 30 than 26 out of 27."

(In other words, one or two moderate Republican Senators can no longer force conservative Repubs to compromise).

"Democratic Reps. Rick Mirabito, Jesse White and Mark Painter lost, and the party dropped at least four open seats, as vote counting continued late Tuesday. Veteran Rep. Ted Harhai, D-Westmoreland, was holding a slim lead with all precincts counted."

[femmocrat]

1. Another one:

Stefano (R) defeated Rep. Deb Kula for Kasunic's open seat (Fayette-Westmoreland).

Harhai (Westmoreland) seems to have won by about 300 votes:

http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/6920217-74/harhai-logan-district#axzz3ID22X6g9

[Number9Dream]

2. Lehigh Valley Democratic leadership did another lousy job

The Allentown Morning Call reported that "Wolf got 54 percent of the vote and Corbett 46 percent with 83 percent of precincts reporting in Lehigh and Northampton counties."

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/elections/mc-pa-governor-election-wolf-corbett-20141104-story.html#page=1

However, Republicans Mario Scavello (state senate) and Marcia Hahn (state rep) both won by large margins (as did other Lehigh Valley R's). Republican Congressman Chuckie Dent ran unopposed. The Lehigh Valley Democratic leadership did another lousy job.

[PADemD]

4. The Northampton County Democratic Committee is under new leadership.

Since June.

[JPZenger]

3. There was a major division among LV Dems

One group of Lehigh County Dems managed to offend another group of Lehigh Co. Dem activists. As a result, there was very little organized campaigning for the Dem nominee for State Senate, which was supposed to be competitive district.

It was also sad that the Dems couldn't put up even a token candidate for the Lehigh Valley's US House seat. However, Dent has a more gerrymandered district, so many people felt it would be a waste of time to run.

[Number9Dream]

5. Thanks, JPZ and PADemD, for the info... & question

That gerrymandering is a rotten thing. For the first time ever, part of the Lehigh Valley was cut from the 15th district. With repubs controlling Harrisburg, the gerrymandering will only worsen. If the 15th district remains as is, does that mean that no Democrats will run against Dent or whoever the republican candidate is for the foreseeable future? Any thoughts JPZ or PADemD or anybody else?

[PRETZEL]

6. It's not so much that the Dem's won't run

it's going to be more or less of a lost cause. The best hope would be that after the 2020 census the Dem's will hold the majority in the state house. They would be responsible for redrawing the districts in order to satisfy the population to representative ratio.

[JPZenger]

7. Serious US House Challengers will limit themselves to presidential years

When a repub incumbent has a gerrymandered district, a serious Dem contender is likely to wait until a Presidential year to run against him. Their only hope is from the higher Dem turnout levels during a Presidential election. This lesson was clearly shown in Dertinger's and Callahan's runs against Dent. An unknown unfunded candidate got 46% in a Presidential year, and then a well-known, popular and well-funded Dem got the same 46% in a mid-year election. If Callahan had run 2 years earlier, he might have won.

[markpkessinger]

8. There was a lot of anger at Corbett among Republicans . . .

. . . some of it over his role in the Sandusky case, and some of it over his refusal to impose an extraction tax on gas drilling (fracking) companies. Many of these folks undoubtedly voted for Wolfe over Corbett, but this by no means meant that they had any intention of "turning blue." So this outcome really shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody.

[LynneSin]

9. Well this is not unexpected since Gerrymandering plays a big part in those seats

They are designed to keep them safely republican.