A seismic, historic shift in Delco politics
Nov. 5, 2019.
Mark down the date.
It’s not often you get the chance to witness history.
And without question, Tuesday was a historic night in Delaware County politics.
How historic? Something happened that has never happened before. Ever.
Delaware County is now Democratic turf. And so is the Media Courthouse.
Delaware County Democrats picked up where they left off two years ago, running the table for the second straight time.
The Dems swept all three seats up for grabs on Delaware County Council. Monica Taylor, Elaine Schaefer and Christine Reuther will join incumbent Democrats Kevin Madden and Brian Zidek on the county’s ruling body.
You read that right. Delaware County Council, which for decades routinely spit out 5-0 Republican rulings, has been turned upside down.
Or, as all those campaign signs that littered the county proclaimed, Delco has “flipped.”
Democrats now have turned the tables on their GOP counterparts, and hold a 5-0 ironclad grip on county government.
And they didn’t stop with county council. Incumbent Republican District Attorney Katayoun Copeland, hoping to be elected to a full term after being appointed to fill the opening after former D.A. Jack Whelan won a seat on the county bench, fell to Democratic challenger Jack Stollsteimer.
Democrats also posted victories in four races for seats on the county Court of Common Pleas.
For years, Democrats scrounged for crumbs in county elections. They made inroads here and there, electing a congressman, some state reps or senators. But the Media Courthouse remained for the most part an impenetrable GOP fortress, the base of Republican power in the county.
Not any more.
Forget the Blue Wave. This was more like a Blue Tsunami. For Democrats, it can only be described as “How Sweep It Is.” For the once-vaunted Delco GOP, it was a brutal comeuppance, a realization that it no longer has the comfort of an overwhelming voter edge in voter registration to bank on when it comes to local elections.
In fact, it now trails Democrats in the county by 30,000 voters, and it showed at the polls Tuesday.
Astoundingly, something else showed up Tuesday: Voters. Lots of them. An almost unheard of 40 percent turnout kept poll workers busy all day.
Republicans will lament that they once again were victimized by a backlash against a president, Donald J. Trump, who is proving very unpopular in the suburbs. It cost them dearly in the midterms two years ago, and it was even more pronounced Tuesday.
But this struck us as more than that. This was a citizenry that seemed energized by the last three years of bitter partisan rhetoric. They wanted to send a message. And Tuesday they delivered it loud and clear at polling places from one end of the county to the other.
The Delco GOP has company in licking its wounds this morning. Next door in Chester County, it was much the same story, with Democrats there also taking control of the county commissioners. And voters also backed a Democrat for the D.A.’s post, a first in the county, after incumbent Republican Tom Hogan opted not to seek another term. His top lieutenant, Mike Noone, fell to another former prosecutor in the office, Democrat Deb Ryan. And they did it in a county where, unlike the other Philadelphia suburbs, Republicans still maintain an edge in registered voters.
Democrats in Delaware County have been building toward this for a few years. Tuesday night it crested, boosted by a stunning 40 percent turnout in a non-presidential race. In recent years, turnout in these affairs has struggled to hit 25 percent.
Not this time.
We will now make a call that Democrats should find most familiar. It’s one they made for decades. It is a reminder – just as they pleaded with Republicans all those years – that while they exult in a momentous victory, they are reminded that they now represent all of Delaware County, not just Democrats.
Change undoubtedly will be coming to the Media Courthouse, where Republicans have held sway over contracts and jobs for more than a century.
It was indeed a historic night, a night Democrats have waited a long time to see become reality. Now they must govern. That should not be all that hard to do. After all, there will not be a dissenting voice on council to temper their moves.
For Republicans, they now see the world the way their counterparts did for decades, suddenly on the outside looking in.
After a momentous – indeed historic night – we urge both sides to dial back the rancor of the campaign, the highs and lows of election night, and take up the business of the people of Delaware County.
All of them.