Trump tide
The Trump tide steamrolled its way across the nation Tuesday, shocking the experts and pundits. Along the way, Trump took Pennsylvania, thanks in large part to some major victories in our area.
As expected Hillary Clinton did very well in Philadelphia, winning by 455,124 votes there and its four surrounding counties by 179,464 votes. But the rest of the state turned out overwhelmingly for Trump as he won by a total 702,490 votes in the remaining 62 counties.
Trump’s win was spectacular in rural Pennsylvania, especially in the southwest. Overall, Trump did very well in the Greater Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area, which includes Allegheny, Fayette, Washington, Westmoreland, Butler, Beaver and Armstrong counties. Back in 2012, the latter six counties went for Obama’s Republican opponent Mitt Romney by 78,958 votes. But thanks to his 88,000 margin in Allegheny County, Obama prevailed in the GPMA by 9,889 votes.
This time around, though, Trump won those counties by 153,225 votes to more than offset his loss by 98,513 votes in Allegheny County. Overall, Trump won the GPMA by 54,712 votes.
You really can’t say enough about Trump’s margins in Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties. Romney did win all four of the counties, but Trump won them all by much greater margins. He also was able to get people out to vote locally who didn’t turn out in 2012 as the overall number of voters was much larger than it was back then.
Here’s a breakdown of how well Trump did in the four local counties.
n Fayette County. Romney won here by a margin of 25,845 to 21,481. Trump won the county, 34,388 to 17,826.
n Greene County. Romney won here 7,985 to 5,564. Trump won 10,394 to 4,157.
n Washington County. Romney won here 50,455 to 38,503. Trump won 58,942 to 34,436.
n Westmoreland County. Romney won here 103,429 to 63,380. Trump won 116,427 to 59,506.
And the Trump tide continued to roll in local state legislative races with GOP candidates taking four of five local races. Those winning were Ryan Warner in the 52nd District, Matt Dowling in the 51st District, Justin Walsh in the 58th District and Bud Cook in the 49th District. The only local Democrat to win was incumbent Pam Snyder in the 50th District. She won all three of the counties in her district, Fayette, Greene and Washington, en route to a solid victory.
So, what’s with all the Republican victories in an area that was traditionally represented by Democrats for as long as anyone can remember? How much of it was Trump? Well, he certainly tapped into the fears and anxiety of local residents just like he did in rural areas across the country. And it had to help others on the ballot although you have to credit them with running good races on their own.
In the end, the victories were probably due to a combination of factors. You have to remember that Democrats in this area have always been socially conservative. They’ve never been confused with their more liberal counterparts in the Philadelphia area. This area has also been trending Republican for a numbers of years, and it’s been ripe for a complete GOP takeover. The question now is how long will this last. Democrats ruled the area for over 80 years from the 1930s until recently. Will Republican rule last that long? Who knows? For now, the Republicans own this neck of the woods, but the pressure will be on them to turn things around locally.