Enough talk, it’s time to vote
One more day. Delaware County will go to the polls tomorrow. Or at least all the courthouse workers who have the day off to work the polls will. I am guessing a lot of other people stay away.
After all, this isn’t Donald vs. Hillary. It’s Dave vs. the Democrats.
It’s a non-presidential voting year. Hell, we don’t even have a senator or congressman on the ballot. State reps, maybe? Nope. No state senators either.
This is what they call a municipal election.
Or, here in Delaware County, the battle of the Delaware County Courthouse.
Up for grabs are two seats on County Council, a seat on the county Court of Common Pleas, and three row offices, controller, sheriff and register of wills.
There are five members on County Council, the county’s ruling body. They are all Republicans, and they have been since the county adopted the Home Rule Charter back in the mid’70’s. In fact, since the change that did away with mandated minority representation, no Democrat has been elected to County Council. As in not ever. This despite the fact that the county continues to vote Democratic in many statewide and national races. The county went for Hillary Clinton last November, even while Pennsylvania was lining up behind Donald Trump.
Democrats were successful in wresting the 7th District Congressional seat from the grip of 10-term incumbent Republican Curt Weldon. They elected Joe Sestak, only to see the retired admiral see his ship sunk in his bid to snag a seat in the U.S. Senate.
The county has sent Democrats to Harrisburg, including Rep. Margo Davidson, who won local the 164th District Upper Darby seat held for decades by Mario Civera, who left the Legislature to run for County Council. Yep, he won. Twice. Greg Vitali is a perennial winner, and Leanne Krueger-Braneky captured the 161st seat.
But for all the gains Democrats have made in the county, they have been unable to dent the Republican fortress in the county, the home of their power. They have been unable to win a single seat on County Council, or much of anything in the courthouse.
The math tells you this should not be that difficult. Reversing years when the Delco GOP enjoyed nearly a three-to-one edge in voter registration, for the past few years Republicans have found themselves in a very unusual spot. Looking up. There are currently 393,028 registered voters in Delaware County. Of those 180,004 are registered Democrats and 163,482 registered Republicans. That sound you hear is John McClure rolling over in his grave. Throw in a few Independents, some Libertarians and those who refer to themselves as having “no affiliation,” and you have a 16,000-vote edge for the Dems.
So why can’t they break the GOP grip on the courthouse? Well, voter registration is one thing. Actually voting is another. Delco Republicans excel at the grunt work of election day, making sure they get their voters to the polls. Plus, there is the idea that not all registered Democrats necessarily vote Democratic.
As you might expect, the biggest challenge for both parties tomorrow will be turnout. Without the sizzle of the presidential contest, voters likely will stay away in droves. Maybe as many as three or four out of every five voters won’t bother.
Democrats have tried to pour a little gasoline on the election fire by rolling out a no-holdsbarred attack on Republican incumbent councilman Dave White. They’ve tried to paint White, a successful businessman who owns DWD, a heating and air-conditioning firm that has done business in the past with the county as well as a host of municipalities, as part of some kind of pay-to-play way of doing business in the county.
Except for one problem. White’s firm has not done any business with the county since he took office in 2012.
His supporters have not been especially thrilled at our coverage of the Democrats’ claims. They seem to think, as they almost always do, that we are taking sides. And that, as always, we are throwing our weight behind the Dems’ uphill battle.
Actually, we’re not. We reported the claims made by Democrats. And we then went to White and the Republicans for their response. Didn’t matter. The GOP loyalists wanted my head on a platter. They demanded a retraction and apology. When we actually corrected an item that we botched from the Dems’ press release, they mocked us and said it should have been on the front page.
Funny, none of them called or demanded an apology when we reported the Republicans’ claims that their Democratic challengers were little more than outsiders and “vulture venture capitalists” who don’t really know the issues here in Delco.
I know I’m never going to win this battle. It’s ingrained in the county. Republicans will go to
Up for grabs are two seats on County Council, a seat on the county Court of Common Pleas, and three row offices, controller, sheriff and register of wills.
their graves insisting we want nothing more than to knock them off their perch. Democrats will remain convinced we are in the pocket of the GOP.
We no longer make endorsements in political races. The truth is we just don’t have the manpower to do it anymore.
We won’t tell you who to vote for, other than to say this: Make sure you vote. If you’re adamant that Delaware County government needs to be more representative of its population, this is your chance. Likewise, if you believe that the current all-Republican leadership in the county delivers the kind of services you want, this is your chance to make sure it stays that way.
As we said on last Monday’s front page: Dems the Numbers. Will Democrats finally break through and capture a prized seat on County Council? I’ll believe it when I see it. Or as our friends down at Harrah’s are fond of saying: Don’t bet on it.