“Here’s the good news: In one month, we have the chance—not the certainty, but the chance—to restore some semblance of sanity to our politics. Because there is only one real check on bad policy and abuses of power. And that’s you—you and your vote.”
“What’s gonna fix our democracy is you … The threat to our democracy doesn’t just come from Donald Trump … the biggest threat to our democracy is indifference … ”
BARACK OBAMA
September 7, 2018
See the press release below for County level winners.
Congratulations also to statewide winners:
Governor Tom Wolf and new Lt. Gov. John Fetterman
US Senator Bob Casey
Press release from CCDC:
CHRISSY HOULAHAN MAKES HISTORY AS FIRST DEMOCRAT AND WOMAN TO WIN 6th CONGRESSIONAL SEAT
Two State Senators, Six PA Representatives Including First African American Democrat Plus Special Election of Old 7th Congressional District Confirms Blue Sweep
West Chester, PA (November 7, 2018) – Chester County is known for its rich history and news of a blue wave of historic proportions is being felt this morning. Air Force veteran, systems engineer and businesswoman Chrissy Houlahan spearheaded a Democratic wave that included the entire Democratic ticket from Governor and U.S. Senator to two PA State Senators and six PA State Representatives. The county elected its first Democratic African American State Representative, Dan Williams. The 2018 Midterms brought another stunning first – Democrats now hold the majority of the Chester County delegation in Harrisburg!
“We wake up today to multiple historic accomplishments,” declared Dick Bingham, Chester County Democratic Committee Chair. “With a gap of 11,500 fewer registered Democrats than Republicans, the wins across the county were astounding. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of thousands of volunteers and a dozen strong candidates, we turned the county blue despite the heavy Republican advantage. We went from one to six State House Representatives. We moved from one to three State Senators. And we celebrate our first Democratic Congresswoman, ever, heading off to Washington.”
CONGRESSWOMAN HOULAHAN
Speaking to a standing-room-only audience at Phoenixville’s Franklin Commons late last night, Houlahan began her remarks by thanking her opponent, Greg McCauley for answering the call to run. She then noted the “new and improved” 6th Congressional District where her “people-driven campaign” covered all of Chester County and parts of Berks County.
“This victory is not mine but it is yours, it is ours,” she told the cheering crowd. “Our politics and our government have been turned upside down. Now we can turn it right side up.”
She then touted the five top causes she campaigned on over an almost two-year run including: quality and affordable and accessible healthcare for all; a living wage; a great education that everyone is owed and due; a safe planet, safe community and safe schools; and finally decency, respect and the knowledge that truth matters.
SPECIAL 7th ELECTION
For a few weeks, Chester County will have a Congresswoman in 2018 representing the state’s old 7th District. Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon won the election in Pennsylvania’s 5th congressional district and the special election. The latter district, which includes parts of Berks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster and Montgomery counties, was restructured to the new 5th District. Scanlon won the open congressional seat in the 5th district, which had been under Republican control for eight years but was redrawn by the state Supreme Court.
WAITING SINCE 1855
According to the county’s newspaper, Daily Local News, Democrats would have to go back 163 years to recall a winning election night for a national office.
“A former county district attorney, Hickman, a Quaker, ran on the party ticket in 1855 and was elected to three more terms, first as a Democrat, then as a so-called Anti-Lecompton Democrat opposed to slavery, and finally as a Republican in 1861 when that party led the charge against slavery and elected Abraham Lincoln president. Hickman did not seek a new term in 1863, and the GOP has been winning elections for Congress in the county since, even as it has been split into halves and sometimes thirds because of redistricting.”
HARRISBURG-BOUND
Voters elected the following Democrats to the PA State Senate and House seats:
Tim Kearney – PA Senate District 26
Katie Muth – PA Senate District 44
Dan Williams – PA House District 74
Danielle Friel Otten – PA House District 155
Carolyn Comitta – PA House District 156
Melissa Shusterman – PA House District 157
Christina Sappey – PA House District 158
Kristine Howard – PA House District 167
CONTACT: Bill Phifer, CCDC Communications Committee, PressRelations@chescodems.org, 484-639-2345
Bob Casey was raised to believe that “all public service is a trust, given in faith and accepted in honor,” and he has brought that to every office he has held, including Pennsylvania Auditor General, State Treasurer, and U.S. Senator.
John Fetterman is a progressive voice for working people on issues like inequality, racial justice, and ending the failed war on drugs.
Dan Williams has been the Senior Pastor of New Life in Christ Fellowship Church in Coatesville for 27 years.
Melissa Shusterman is a mom, a wife, a businesswoman, and a Schuylkill Township resident.
SPECIAL ELECTION: If you lived in US Congress District 7, you have a special election for the 7th on November 6th. In addition to voting for Chrissy Houlahan for District 6, you will vote for Mary Gay Scanlon to represent you from November to January in the US Congress.
Chrissy Houlahan is an Air Force veteran, business leader, and educator. She is endorsed by Vice President, Joe Biden.
Tim Kearney is an architect, a teacher, and a small business owner.
Danielle Friel Otten is a mother, a businesswoman, and a community leader.
Chris Sappey worked for PA representatives Barb McIlvaine Smith and Carolyn Comitta and PA Senator Andy Dinniman for a total of 12 years.
Tom Wolf is a York native, father, business owner and baseball fan. Tom is fighting for better schools, jobs, and government.
Katie Muth is a healthcare provider, an adjunct professor, and a working-class candidate for Pennsylvania.
Carolyn Comitta is a two-term Mayor of West Chester, an educator, and the current PA House Representative for District 156. Carolyn is endorsed by President Barack Obama.
Kristine Howard is a mother and Rutgers Law School grad currently working in child protective services. She seeks to improve state programs for education, healthcare and career opportunities for all, including two-income families and single women. She has recently been endorsed by President Barack Obama.
© 2018 Chester County Democratic Committee
By Chris Brennan, Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/21/18
Former President Barack Obama warned Democrats against sitting out the midterm elections during a North Philadelphia rally Friday for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, Gov. Wolf, and the party’s other candidates in Pennsylvania.
He singled out young, African American, and Latino voters amid concern that the traditional drop in turnout from presidential years could harm the Democratic Party’s chances of gaining ground in Congress and statehouses amid low approval ratings for President Trump.
And he chided Trump, without naming him, for bragging about improving economic conditions that started before the Republican moved into the White House last year.
“So when you hear right now, folks, right now, taking credit for this economic miracle, c’mon, they act like it all just started. Please,” Obama told a raucous crowd of about 5,000 at the Dell Music Center….
read more at Philadelphia Inquirer
Email from Chrissy Houlahan, Dem candidate for US House PA-06, 9/5/18
Earlier this week, we observed Labor Day, a time to honor America’s workers and their families who, generation after generation, have carried this nation forward on their shoulders.
Labor Day was started in the 1880s, a time when many Americans worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week just to cover their basic needs. Many states without meaningful child labor laws saw 5 and 6-year-olds working in dangerous conditions in mills, factories, and mines all across the country.
America’s labor movement brought an end to many of these practices, banding together to bargain collectively for the 40-hour work week, safer working conditions, fair pay among other employment protections we take for granted today.
Despite this progress, Labor Day remains as important as ever. Workers and workers’ rights remain the backbone of the middle-class, something I’m committed to protecting in Washington — sign your name if you agree.
I am proud to have the support of the labor community and I am proud of the hundreds of quality jobs I have helped bring to Southeastern Pennsylvania over the course of my career.
I am now running for Congress to fight for middle class families and bring more good paying jobs to our community. Thousands of American workers still die on the job every year. Many workers are forced to put in overtime hours for no additional pay. Female workers and workers of color too often work for less than their counterparts. And if you account for inflation, our middle-income families haven’t gotten a meaningful pay raise in more than 40 years.
We have real work to do to build up the middle class, and I can’t think of a better way to honor the men and women who sparked this movement that made this progress possible than to continue building on their work in Washington.
By Frank Bruni and Liriel Higa
Usually you only get to dream about a candidate like Chrissy Houlahan. People in the Philadelphia suburbs actually get to vote for her.
She’s brainy: a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Stanford, a master’s in technology and policy from M.I.T. She’s bold: service in the U.S. Air Force. She has entrepreneurial bona fides from her years as the chief operating officer of an athletic wear company but also had a top job for a group promoting childhood literacy. She’s a wife and mother, with two grown daughters.
So why, at 51, has she set her sights on the House of Representatives, when she never ran for any office before?
The answer is Nov. 8, 2016. To vote for Hillary Clinton, she put on a pantsuit. Her gay daughter wore all white, honoring suffragists. That night they broke out the Champagne. “I thought that history would be made,” Houlahan recalled.
When it wasn’t, her father, a Holocaust survivor, cried, fearing what Donald Trump’s victory could mean for the vulnerable and the powerless. Her daughter panicked about L.G.B.T. people. “Unnerving,” Houlahan called it, and her response was “to be part of the solution.” She has since raised about $3 million and emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s best bets to turn a red seat blue.
There are many ways to measure the urgency with which Democrats are approaching the 2018 midterms but perhaps none better than the mettle, motivations and number — much larger than in recent congressional elections — of first-time candidates who have jumped into the fray.
They’re creatures of an atypically tense moment with especially high stakes. They’re mirrors of the anxieties that so many Americans feel. They’re emblems of a yearning for new faces and approaches. They’re the year’s biggest stars and stories.
The Chester County (Pennsylvania) Democratic Committee believes in Freedom, Fairness, and Opportunity for all Americans, regardless of what they believe, who they are, and where they came from. Join CCDC in making Chester County a better place for all!
We have a chance to fundamentally shape the future of our country.
But that will only happen if all of us work together — starting right now.
Every four years, the Democratic Party puts together our party platform, the ideas and beliefs that govern our party as a whole.
What follows is our 2016 platform — our most progressive platform in our party’s history and a declaration of how we plan to move America forward. Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.
This party platform was voted on and passed by our membership at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in 2016. The platform will be updated and re-approved at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
Download 2016 Party Platform PDF
To read the entire platform, choose a section to jump ahead or scroll down.
Raise Incomes and Restore Economic Security for the Middle Class
Fight for Economic Fairness and Against Inequality
Bring Americans Together and Remove Barriers to Opportunities
Protect Voting Rights, Fix Our Campaign Finance System, and Restore Our Democracy
Combat Climate Change, Build a Clean Energy Economy, and Secure Environmental Justice
Provide Quality and Affordable Education
The interesting part of primaries is usually the turnout, which measures the enthusiasm and commitment of voters and, through that, also the effectiveness of party activists.
We usually compare unofficial results right after each election to the corresponding election 4 years earlier, but so much has changed so fast that the 4-year comparison isn’t as meaningful any more as comparing to 2017, a breakthrough year in Dem turnout and success.
Dems comprise 53% of all registered voters in the Borough and slip to 49% only in wards 1 and 5. The registration high point is wards 2E with 72%. The County as a whole is only 39% Dem compared to 43% R and 18% I), but the County D to D+R ratio did increase by .4% in the past year. Chesco Dems are probably in a good period for registrations, though not comparable to 2008. The countywide R lead in registrations (now a bit over 15,000) has been declining slowly since the Dem Obama surge in 2008; but fortunately, our candidates clearly received a good number of R and I votes in the 2016 and 2017 general elections.
Overall the Dem share of D+R registrations in West Chester has risen about 1% in the last year. That makes up for lost ground since the Dem share went down 1% in 2013-17. The D % of D+R reg declined only in precincts 2E (probably reflection Union Station’s continued growth) and 4 (due maybe to large number of I’s, the highest of any precinct at 26%).
WC Dem turnout was 1% less than a year ago. That isn’t surprising, because Dems were extra-ready to act in May 2017, the first election after the surprise of Nov. 2016. Also, 2017 had an exciting the 3-way mayoral primary; and WC D turnout already almost doubled from the 2013 to the 2017 primary. 2018 Dem turnout was down from 2017 by 5% in wards 1 and 2E and by 3% in ward 7, but up slightly (though still low) in wards 5 and 6. As usual, wards 7 and 1 led the way in turnout with 31% and 30%. Overall D turnout of 20% in the Borough, though not intrinsically impressive, was way above R turnout of 12%.
The County Dem turnout increase of 4.4% from 2017 to 2018 is very encouraging. As usual (though not the case in 2017) West Chester Dem turnout was somewhat lower than the County’s, by 3.3%, reflecting our younger and more mobile demography.
Our job now is to hold all our primary voters, and to add a lot more votes, of whatever party, for our candidates in November.
Congratulations to all 2018 primary winners! All candidates deserve credit for running strong races and their dedication to advancing Democratic principles. The winners now become the official CCDC candidates for the general election (except that committeepersons now take office). Once again, Chesco is a swing county and Pennsylvania a swing state. So there are 6 more months of hard work ahead: please volunteer to help the candidate of your choice and strengthen our party at the same time!
Winners are in boldface below.
It’s no surprise that Senator Bob Casey, Governor Tom Wolf, and Chrissy Houlahan (US House PA-06, including all of Chesco), all unopposed, won their races. For Lieutenant Governor, from PA Department of State, statewide results were (rearranged from high to low):
FETTERMAN, JOHN K 37.56% 288,116 Votes
AHMAD, NILOFER NINA 23.75%. 182,174 Votes
COZZONE, KATHLEEN M. 18.53%. 142,152 Votes
STACK, MICHAEL J. 16.58%. 127,207 Votes
SOSA, RAYMOND. 3.57%. 27,418 Votes
Map from New York Times (see there also for full PA results for each state district):
So while our own Commissioner Cozzone ran well, Nina Ahmad of Philadelphia probably cut substantially into her vote, and John Fetterman doubtless benefited from his race for the Dem nomination for US Senate 2 years ago and endorsements from Bernie Sanders and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Kathi won Chester County with 61.75%, tribute to her well-received performance as Commissioner, in which office she naturally continues to serve the people of the County.
WEST CHESTER DEMOCRATIC COUNTY COMMITTEE RESULTS
810 WEST CHESTER 1 (Prec-0810)
VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2
JIM SALVAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 38.43%
EMILY PISANO . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 22.69%
KAREN HEINDEL CAVIN . . 163 37.73%
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 . .1.16%
820 WEST CHESTER 2-EAST (Prec-0820)
VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2
JAMES DENNIS . . . . . . . . . 38 76.00
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 12 24.00
825 WEST CHESTER 2-WEST (Prec-0825)
VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2
NICK ALLEN . . . . . . . . . . 65 69.15
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 29 30.85 [write-in winner: McKinley Foster, 25 votes]
835 WEST CHESTER 3 (Prec-0835)
VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2
EDWIN A BROWNLEY JR . . . . . . . 141 52.22
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 129 47.78 [write-in winner: Brian McGinnis, 69 votes]
842 WEST CHESTER 4 (Prec-0842)
VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2
JORDAN NORLEY . . . . . . . . . 59 74.68
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 20 25.32 [write-in winner: Kevin Carson, 18 votes]
846 WEST CHESTER 5 (Prec-0846)
VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2
SHEILA VACCARO. . . . . . . . . 106 53.81
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 91 46.19 [write-in winner: Don Braceland, 83 votes]
850 WEST CHESTER 6 (Prec-0850)
VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2
JANET COLLITON. . . . . . . . . 135 49.63
GEETHA RAMANATHAN. . . . . . . . 133 48.90
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.47
860 WEST CHESTER 7 (Prec-0860)
VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2
STEPHANIE PHILLIPS MARKSTEIN . . . . 227 53.16
KYLE HUDSON. . . . . . . . . . 195 45.67
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.17
for the newly elected PA State Committee representing Chester County, see here
Make voting easier on yourself. Get familiar with this SAMPLE GENERIC BALLOT FOR WEST CHESTER.
The Chester County Democratic Committee (CCDC) endorses the candidates marked with black ovals.
Consult your precinct committeepersons for information about State and WC Democratic Committee candidates.
To answer questions, Democratic committeepersons are working the polls all day; they are there to help you.
Don’t know your Precinct number or polling place?
The PA Department of State does.
2018 Primary Generic Sample Ballot PDF
for West Chester Borough
West Chester Borough Democrats 
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