Major win for Democrats as they maintain control of Philadelphia’s collar counties

Democrats maintained control of all of Philadelphia’s collar counties Tuesday, winning the commissioners boards in Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware Counties.

The closely watched race in Bucks County was a litmus test for Democrats in some of Pennsylvania’s most important bellwether suburbs, as the state is expected to be a key battleground in the 2024 presidential election.

Democrats will keep control of Bucks County’s government after two of its incumbent leaders, Bob Harvie and Diane Ellis-Marseglia, won reelection to the commissioners board Tuesday.

Their campaign attracted national attention, as political observers eyed whether voters in Bucks — one of Pennsylvania’s most politically divided counties — would return Democrats to Doylestown after winning big across Philadelphia’s suburbs in 2019.

Harvie, who won his seat after that election’s “blue wave,” will again serve alongside Ellis-Marseglia, a commissioner since 2007.

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“I’m stunned and I’m honored and wow,” Ellis-Marseglia said as she learned of her victory at Democratic headquarters in Buckingham Township. Harvie stood on a chair and grabbed the microphone. ”We did this together,” he said, “and we’re going to continue to work together.”

Republicans in Doylestown urged partygoers Tuesday night to wait until all votes were counted. ”They don’t look great, but they’re not definitive,” said Republican Committee chair Patricia Poprik. “We’re not prepared to say anything one way or the other until we have definitive information.”

With one seat on the commissioners board guaranteed for the minority party, either Gene DiGirolamo or Pamela Van Blunk was set to advance. As of Wednesday afternoon, DiGirolamo led Van Blunk by more than 4,000 votes with all of the county’s precincts reported.

After Poprik’s remarks — and a victory speech from District Attorney Matt Weintraub, who will leave his job as top prosecutor for a county judge position — the mood at GOP headquarters was sedate.

In Langhorne as voters cast their ballots Tuesday evening, the connection to larger political forces was palpable.

“I’m a little tired of Republicans — they scare me,” said Drexel Harris, 78, of Bensalem, who had voted earlier in the day. “The national is pushing everybody.”

James Hansen of Levittown agreed — so much that he changed how he voted this year.

Hansen, 70, said he was supporting Democrats down the ticket, a marked change from the last commissioners race, when he voted for Republicans.

“I’m really upset about the fake election and the insurrection stuff,” Hansen said after casting his vote at an elementary school. “I’m not supporting any Republicans until they get it together.”

Harvie and Ellis-Marseglia, the Democratic candidates in Bucks, had campaigned on hot-button issues more commonly seen in a national election.

In the months leading up to Election Day, the Democrats told voters that election integrity and abortion were on the ballot, citing legal challenges filed in Bucks to dispute voting methods used in the 2020 election, as well as their efforts to protect access to mifepristone, an abortion medication.

Further animating the race were the contentious partisan divides within Bucks’ largest school boards over book bans, bullying, and LGBT representation in the classroom.

While commissioners hold little sway over school board issues, the Democratic candidates had spoken out in support of protecting vulnerable youth. Republican candidates, meanwhile, had avoided getting involved, though Van Blunk said she did not support banning books.

Similarly to Bucks, Chester County’s electorate splits sharply along party — with Democrats having a registration advantage of about 8,000 voters. Up until the two-week manhunt for convicted murderer Danilo Cavalcante, Chester County’s commissioners race had been free of much of the public drama that marked the Bucks contest.

Democrats Josh Maxwell and Marian Moskowitz both won reelection Tuesday evening, again shoring up the majority their party won for the first time in county history in 2019.

“It feels wonderful,” said Charlotte Valyo, chair of the Chester County Democratic Committee. “I’m very proud of our candidates.”

Maxwell and Moskowitz had promised that, should their party hold the board, they would continue to expand county services for mental health and addiction treatment, while prioritizing affordable housing and the preservation of the affluent county’s ample green spaces.

Michelle Kichline, who, as a Republican, holds the minority seat on the county commissioners board, did not seek reelection this year, leaving the race open to challengers Eric Roe, a former state representative who ran on an “anti-mudslinging” platform, and David Sommers, a Catholic school educator and self-described political outsider.

Roe declared victory Wednesday morning after getting about 6,500 more votes than Sommers.

“I am so grateful for the trust bestowed upon me by the voters of this great county,” Roe said. “I will honor that trust by fighting for fiscal responsibility, safer communities, and access to hospitals and health care in Chester County.”

Republicans campaigned to reel in government spending while also balancing the county’s influx of new residents with efforts to conserve farmland. And after Cavalcante’s capture, their party released a scathing letter condemning Democrats — who also serve on the prison board — for their alleged mismanagement of the jail, which faced staffing shortages and was reeling from a previous escape when Cavalcante scaled the walls of its exercise yard in August.

Democrats, in turn, defended their hiring practices despite facing pandemic-era staffing shortages, and touted a multimillion-dollar prison security plan passed under their leadership.

In Montgomery and Delaware Counties, Democrats surprised few by retaining control of county government.

Three seats were open on Delaware County Council, which governs similarly to a commissioners board. However, the five-member body does not require a minority seat.

Incumbent Democratic Councilmembers Monica Taylor, Elaine Paul Schaefer, and Christine Reuther won reelection Tuesday.

The GOP offered challengers in Bill Dennon, Jeffrey Jones, and Joy Schwartz. But Tuesday’s losses showed that the party’s power in the Philadelphia suburbs remains greatly diminished. The GOP lost control of Delaware County in 2019 for the first time since the Civil War.

In Montgomery County — the region’s bluest and one of Pennsylvania’s largest counties — Democrats will again control the three-member commissioners board. Notably, multiple departures from office this year meant that voters were electing fresh faces to county leadership in Norristown.

Neil Makhija and Jamila Winder will represent the Democrats’ majority on the board.

Makhija, a law professor, will be one of Montgomery County’s youngest ever commissioners at 37. And he’ll notably be Pennsylvania’s first commissioner of Indian descent, he said Tuesday evening, calling it a win for a “historic ticket.”

Alongside Winder, who is Black, Makhija said “together, we represent two groups and communities who haven’t held these roles of leadership before.” He said he would emphasize voting rights as the board oversees the county’s elections.

Makhija was thrilled that Dan McCaffery won a Democratic seat on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, saying that ”the actions I want to take as a commissioner will be upheld by a court that’s protecting voting rights.”

Republican Thomas DiBello appeared to win the remaining seat on Montgomery County’s board, beating out Liz Ferry.