Local Democrats rode a blue wave that swept across the nation in Delaware County Tuesday night, propelling their candidates for county council and three row offices to victory. And it didn’t hurt that the party offered its best candidates ever, officials said.
“It’s a good morning to be a Democrat,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said in a post-election conference call Wednesday. “We’re taking our country back from Donald Trump one election at a time. Last night was a referendum on our values and the American people spoke loudly and clearly that their values are Democratic values.”
The historic Delaware County upsets were duplicated elsewhere.
“History was made for Democrats in Southeastern Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman Marcel L. Groen said. “Delaware County Democrats were elected to countywide seats for the first time since Home Rule was enacted. Democrats in Chester County swept all four county row offices – treasurer, controller, clerk of courts and coroner – and all four are women. Democrats in Montgomery County won both judge seats, picked up a number of township, borough and school district offices to continue to solidify the strength of the party in the region. And Democrats made huge gains in Bucks County.”
Delco election results were discussed on national news shows and in the New York Times.
Delaware County Democratic Chairman David Landau it wasn’t one factor that led Democrats Kevin Madden and Brian Zidek to win county council seats over Republicans Dave White and John Perfetti and Libertarian Ed Clifford.
“All elections start with candidates and candidates matter,” he said. “We started out with the strongest level of candidates we ever had. They had a message – it resonated. That fact gets put into the national mix.”
He said the election results clearly cement that candidates matter as does voting.
Landau said voters got “your vote really counts and the most important thing you can do is come out in this election.”
He said another big factor was the county party’s emphasis on building a solid grassroots campaign as opposed to television ads, which he said Republicans greatly outspent Democrats.
Landau said Democrats focused on getting out their voters.
“It’s very heartening that in today’s world that we were able to do that,” he said.
Delaware County Republican Chairman Andrew Reilly said it was critical to remember that this was the fourth election cycle where Democratic registered voters outnumbered Republicans.
Of the 393,028 registered voters in Delaware County for this election, 180,004 were Democratic and 163,482 were Republican.
Reilly said his candidates did pull in significant vote totals.
White, the incumbent, received 58,712 votes and Perfetti received 58,454. Madden received 61,695 and Zidek got 60,657. Clifford received 2,040.
“The Republicans ran well,” Reilly said, adding that they had four years with no tax increases under their county leadership. “But it didn’t matter when the national mood was against Republicans.”
He said it was too early to tell who will fill the District Attorney seat left open by incumbent Jack Whelan’s election to Common Pleas Court judge – or how it would impact the race next year of U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-7 of Chadds Ford.
More imminent would be the integration of these new public servants into the county government.
“We have to meet with the Republicans,” Landau said. “We have to have a smooth transition. Delaware County government has to continue to run.”
Landau said he was hopeful that computers and documents would remain intact.
“We’ll be happy to work with the Republicans to govern effectively,” he said. “Obviously some things need to change.”
Zidek and Madden’s first actions will include gathering information about the county government and looking at what the county has been doing.
“We have to learn about everything,” he said.
Reilly also said that now the two sides must work to chart the path of governing Delaware County going forward.
“They should be welcomed, they should work together,” he said. “I think they are to be congratulated. Our individuals did a great job in this campaign. You move forward and now you work best for the citizens of Delaware County.”
Reilly said county council is accustomed to working with a variety of opinions.
“Just because it was all Republican before, doesn’t mean it was monolithic,” he said. “It was always a diverse group and this will add to this.”
He reiterated that the winners were to be congratulated and then, be ready to come in open-minded and ready to work with their colleagues to represent all the citizens of Delaware County, not just the Democrats.
Landau, who’s spent more than three decades in county politics, was still absorbing the election results on Wednesday.
“It has been for me, it’s a privilege to be the chairman of the party in this moment in history,” he said, adding that it took a team of people present and past to make it happen.”
Now, the focus turns towards governing.
“We’re going to have a bipartisan government on many levels,” Landau said. “We look forward to continue to making Delaware County a great place to live and we’re going to continue to make it better.” From the phenomenon that resulted in Tuesday night, Perez said Democrats took away several things.
“Organizing is incredibly important,” he said. “Leading with our values is incredibly important ... You’ve gotta have good candidates. When we lead with our values, that’s how we succeed.”
Perez also noted the Delaware County race.
“You see races that were run in the suburbs of Pennsylvania that haven’t been won in decades,” Perez said. “Our message is to help people from the school board to the Oval Office and everywhere in between – and we mean it. That’s the new DNC. We need to make sure that we are competing everywhere because Democrats can win.”
