Red Wall
October 31, 2018
As the 2018 Midterm Elections comes closer, the Republicans in Pennsylvania must prepare and brace for what has been described as a possible Blue Wave.
Perhaps one of the most influential and biggest districts in the upcoming midterms is Legislative District 156. The current incumbent is Democrat Carolyn Comitta. Her Republican challenger this cycle is Nicholas Deminski. There is absolutely no reason the Republicans in the 156th District should have an issue winning this election. The GOP has around 4,000 more registered voters in this district than the Democrats. Yet turnout in the primaries was almost 5% higher for the Democrats. The Dems even had more votes in the primary, yet, only by 3. Nevertheless, the GOP should most certainly have their way in this election. So long as the voters get out to the polls.
In Allegheny County, the 30th Legislative District, there are roughly 600 more registered Democratic voters. However, the incumbent is Harold English, a Republican Candidate. During the primaries, English received 5,256 votes. The Democratic ticket as a whole got just 5,569 votes. Both parties had roughly the same turnout, around 25%.
The 39th Legislative District is home to no running incumbent as Rick Saccone will not test the waters for reelection. This leaves Mike Puskaric, an Elizabethtown business owner, as the GOP’s Candidate. This election should be a tough one for the GOP if there such thing as a Blue Wave. In the primaries the Democratic candidate, Robert Rhoderick received 361 more votes than Michael Puskaric. What is also frightening is that the 39th District has nearly 3,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans. To keep this seat in the PA House red, we MUST get out the vote, we have to bring out our friends, families, and anyone we know that is registered in the 39th District to protect this seat.
David Reed, the Republican incumbent and PA House Majority Leader within the 62nd Legislative District also will not be in a re-election campaign as he ran for Shuster’s vacant seat. This will leave the Republican candidate as former PennDot Community Relations Coordinator, James Struzzi. In the Republican Primary he edged out his opponent with 40% of the vote, and 1,908 total votes cast. Although, we had almost a 10% higher turnout in primaries with the threat of an impending Blue Wave our turnout must still increase. Especially in a county where the Democrats have over 1,000 more registered voters.
Marcia Hahn has been an incumbent in the 138th district for eight years. During primaries though she only received 3,921 total votes. Still more than the Democratic candidate who sat at 3,730 votes. Although it seems well considering the Republicans had more total votes, the voter turnout was lower for Republicans. With a district that is notoriously Republican this decade, we need higher turnout in order to secure this legislative seat.
Pennsylvania, where the State House is currently Majority Republican, there should be no excuses why we lose any races where there is an incumbent or strong Republican candidate. The main issue is our voter turnout. Statewide turnout for the GOP was just over 20%. The Democrats didn’t have 20% turnout yet still managed to get more votes statewide due to having more overall voters. In the State House, Republicans MUST turnout to vote and entice other registered Republicans to do the same. Vote down the ticket Republican in the midterm elections.
Pennsylvania can be the mighty Red Wall where the Blue Wave crashes on November 6th but that is up to YOU, the voters.
