A historic night in Delaware County politics
It was a historic night in Delaware County politics. And a historically bad night for the county GOP.
How’s this for a little irony. Wednesday morning marked the date in 1916 when the first woman was elected to the U.S. Congress. Voters in Montana tapped Jeannette Rankin for the House of Representatives.
It only took Delaware County a century to catch up.
One hundred and two years later, Mary Gay Scanlon became the first woman in Delaware County history to represent the county in Washington. The Democrat rolled over Republican Pearl Kim in the race for the newly constructed 5th District seat.
It was something of a doubledip for Scanlon, who also topped Kim in the special election to fill the vacant old 7th District seat. That seat has been empty – and its constituents without a representative in Congress – since Republican Rep. Pat Meehan resigned the seat in April amid reports he used taxpayer money to settle a harassment suit filed by a former staffer.
It’s likely Scanlon will be sworn in later this week. The special election win is important, in that it will give Scanlon seniority over every other new incoming member of Congress.
When she does return to D.C. in January to represent the new 5th District, Scanlon won’t be alone.
That’s because three other women also made a little history Tuesday night, sweeping congressional races across the Philadelphia suburbs. Chrissy Houlahan easily won the newly shaped 6th District seat that is being vacated by Republican Rep. Ryan Costello, who decided not to seek re-election. She shares something with Scanlon. She also becomes the first woman ever to represent Chester County in Washington.
In Montgomery County, two more Democratic women won their races. Susan Wild will represent the new 7th District, while Madeleine Dean will represent the 4th District.
Before Tuesday, Pennsylvania had zero women in their congressional delegation. In its history, the state has sent just seven women to Washington, none of them to fill a seat in the U.S. Senate. Of those seven, three filled vacancies created by the deaths of their husbands. The state has never elected a female governor.
Tuesday, voters backed four women candidates.
Just call them the Fab Four. It was anything but a fab night for the Delaware County Republican Party.
The GOP suffered historic losses. Pearl Kim, with little or no support from the national party, came up short vs. Scanlon.
Even more shocking were losses in state House and Senate races.
Incumbent Tom McGarrigle,
R-26 of Springfield, lost his battle vs. Democratic mayor of Swarthmore Tim Kearney. It was not a good night for the Springfield GOP. State Rep. Alex Charlton,
R-165, was upended by Democrat challenger Jenn O’Mara.
In Upper Darby, popular incumbent Rep. Jamie Santora,
R-163, was ousted by Democrat Mike Zabel.
In the 162nd, where Democrat labor leader Dave Delloso and former Republican county sheriff Mary Hopper were battling to fill the seat being vacated by Rep. Nick Miccarelli, Delloso came out on top.
You have to go back to the post-Watergate backlash in 1974 to find a similar rebuke for the Delco GOP.
Ironically, incumbent Middletown Rep. Chris Quinn, R-168, who was under intense heat from groups opposed to Sunoco’s Mariner East 2 pipeline plan, appears to have survived, clinging to a narrow lead over Democrat challenger Kristin Seale.
The only GOP holdover to post a convincing win was stalwart Rep. Steve Barrar, R-160, whose district covers parts of both western Delaware County and Chester County. The Delco delegation in Harrisburg has been transformed, now dominated by Democrats where once this was the solid turf of the GOP.
Consider what has happened in just the last few years. Both House seats from Upper Darby, the 163rd and 164th, are now held by Democrats. The two seats were held for the better part of three decades by Republican stalwarts Mario Civera and Nick Micozzie. In Springfield, the 165th seat similarly held for decades by Bill Adolph has now gone Democratic.
The Democratic gains come on the heels of last November’s stunning wins by the party, when they captured both available seats on County Council, ousting a popular incumbent in the process, while also sweeping all three county row offices up for grabs.
It implies the changing demographic of the county, and the Democrats’ increasing voter registration edge.
After decades of enjoying an overwhelming edge in voter registration that they used to keep an ironclad grip on the county courthouse and many towns, the tide is changing.
It has been evident for some time in Upper Darby.
Now it’s being seen in Springfield and the Media Courthouse.
And it was clear in the historic election of four women to in the U.S. House of Representatives, including the first ever from Delaware County.
Scanlon, Houlahan, Dean and Wild.
Just call them the Fab Four. Somewhere, Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky and Allyson Schwartz are smiling.