News & Brews November 8, 2024
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McCormick defeats Casey
In what the Associated Press is calling “earth-shaking for Pennsylvania’s Democratic establishment,” Republican Dave McCormick has been declared the winner in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race against longtime Democrat incumbent Sen. Bob Casey. The AP notes, “Until Tuesday, Casey, 64, had won six statewide general elections going back to 1996, but he had never been on the same ballot as Trump.” McCormick’s victory is razor thin, at around 31,000 votes, or 0.5%. The story adds, “Casey did not concede Thursday, and his campaign pointed to a statement from the state’s top election official that at least 100,000 ballots still remained to be counted, including provisional ballots and military and overseas ballots.” Yet, multiple people have countered that even with provisional ballots, they don’t see any path to victory for Casey.
Perry wins re-election
In the much-watched 10th congressional district in south-central Pa., GOP incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Perry has defeated Janelle Stelson. The AP and the New York Times have both called the race for Perry, but as of yesterday, Stelson was not yet conceding. Democrats have been targeting this seat for several election cycles, to no avail. With Perry’s victory, Republicans held onto every incumbent Pa. congressional seat plus flipped two seats from blue to red.
In Philly suburbs, Harris did worse than Biden
For all the talk of “suburban women” and Democrat gains in recent years in Philly’s collar counties, VP Kamala Harris underperformed President Biden’s 2020 victory in Philly’s suburban counties. The Inquirer reports, “The Democratic edge over Republicans in Philadelphia’s suburban counties, which grew by about 105,000 votes from 2016 to 2020, fell by nearly 58,000 votes in 2024.” And although, ”[t]hree out of four of Philly’s collar counties remained solidly blue … Vice President Kamala Harris did not win enough votes in the suburbs to offset losses in the rest of the state.” And in the fourth county – Bucks – “the former and future president held a narrow lead that, if it holds, would make Trump the first Republican presidential candidate to carry the county since 1988.”
And the Dem infighting is on…
Beyond soul-searching over their losses, Democrats are also finger-pointing. The Inquirer reports that “former U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, the [Philadelphia Democrat] party chair since 1988, unleashed a torrent of blame on the Harris campaign.” In response, the Harris campaign “sharply criticized Brady, who has faced his own critics about his ability to turn out Democrats in the city.”
The Dems’ ‘most embarrassing’ loss in Pa.
Amid all the election results came one Republican victory that has Democrats blushing: The loss of incumbent Democrat state Senator Jimmy Dillon’s race in Northeast Philly to Republican Joe Picozzi. The Inquirer reports that Philly Dems “are reeling over the loss … and several operatives said privately that the city and state parties did not appreciate the threat Picozzi posed until he had already gained traction in the district.” And “one elected Democrat, who requested anonymity to speak freely about the dynamic, called Dillon’s loss ‘the most embarrassing part’ of Tuesday’s election results.”