For at least a few years there Pennsylvania sent two women to congress at the same time. We're now back to an 18-1 gender ratio. Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz was re-elected, though by a smaller margin than one might expect [Update: 52% of her district are registered Democrats but she won with 56.4% of the votes.] Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper will be out of office at the end of the year. I don't have the exact figures but looking over the list of names I think women lost ground in the state house, too.
The Philadelphia suburbs saw red, with Mike Fitzpatrick's win over Patrick Murphy in the 8th congressional district and Pat Meehan's win over Bryan Lentz in the 7th.
The statehouse now has a Republican majority, which means the party now holds both the legislative and executive branch (governor, state house, state senate).
But, remember now, there is apparently only a two year window (actually 22 months) to fix things, and only a shorter time to blame the other party. So we'll be expecting great things in short order.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Morning After
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3 comments:
Jane, some thoughts on last night in PA. It was tough to see Pat Murphy lose, but realistically, the other districts have been held by the GOP for many years. Next cycle I see Dems having a chance to re-take the 7th and 8th, depending on the new maps of course.
The governership has changed parties regularly every eight years. No one should be surprised, but in four years, say hello to Gov. Shapiro.
Joe Sestak - wow, so close. (There should be a recount, right?)I was watching the county by county results and he did very well in the traditional GOP strongholds. That's a good sign and credit to the state's voters.
I don't think Arlen Specter would or could have done better. And, even if he won, there was no guarantee he'd stay a Dem for his entire term.
David Argall being thumped by Tim Holden was interesting. As was Critz managing to hold Murtha's seat, not once, but twice, within about 6 months.
Their districts seemed like solid pick up opportunities for the GOP.
What's the breakdown of the state house? It must be closely divided again. It looks like at least a few house seats will go to a recount, including Barbara Mc-Smith, Tina Davis and Gene Stilp (should be entertaining), Casorio, Levdansky and Santarsiero.
Bill DeWeese will return, but no Todd Eachus and no John Perzel, which kind of surprises me given Philly voter's ability to shrug off indictments. Congrats to Brendan Boyle for finally get elected after running and losing a few times before.
It'll be entertaining to see Corbett try and "reform" his fellow Republicans over the next year or so.
As for the national scene, most of the Dem losses were members who wanted to run away from their party. Good riddance as far as I'm concerned. The GOP has allowed their crazy aunts, uncles and cousins out of the upstairs, now we shall see who will control who.
(ps - if this is too long for a comment, feel free to make it it's own entry)
PD, thanks for the insights, thoughtful as always!
I've been kind of lax following state politics so it was fun to get back into the weeds for a couple of days.
I'm sure Gene Stilp will want a recount in his race. I'm hoping he'll find enough votes to squeak in. He and Corbett butting heads would provide two years of non-stop entertainment and column material for John Baer.
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