On Sunday, February 24, 2019, the PA DelCo Dems held their Nomination Convention for County Council and Court of Common Pleas. A thousand PA Delaware County Democrats assembled at Harahs in Chester PA, 877 of whom were delegates.
DelCo is in SE PA, west of the City of Philadelphia. It has historically been a working class, yet strongly Republican County in local races for generations. The county has supported President Obama and Candidates Clinton, Kerry and Gore. However the local Republican machine continued unabated until 2017 with the election of two Democrats to Delaware County Council, Kevin M. Madden and Brian P. Zidek.
The County Council has 5 seats. Prior to Madden and Zidek, all 5 seats were Republican held for a generation. Due to DelCo having been a Republican stronghold for years, DelCo Republicans eliminated any minority seating requirement, the only PA county that denies minority party representation on County Council. The arrogance of the Republican Party in DelCo may come to bite them as it is entirely possible for a stunning Democratic sweep of Council. The Convention endorsed Dr. Monica Taylor, Christine Reuther and Elaine Schaefer to take on the Republican incumbents.
In 2018, DelCo overwhelmingly (65%) elected Mary Gay Scanlon as the new PA US House District 5 representative as DelCo voters of all stripes hit the polls in droves to support the Democrat.
Democrat voter registration is far outpacing Republican and closet Democrats (those who feared that registering Democrat could harm them if they needed assistance or services from the Court House) are stepping out into the sunshine.
The Court of Common Pleas, seated in Media PA, has been Republican held for over 100 years without interruption.100 years! the Court consists of 21 Republican jurists of whom 4 are woman, one African American male and 16 old white guys. These are ten (10) year terms. Yesterday, the DelCo Dems endorsed Nusrat J. Rashid, Stephanie Klein, Kelly Eckel and Rick Lowe to make history in DelCo.
The room was filled with Democratic energy that I have not witnessed locally before. The prior off- year nominating convention had fewer than 100 delegates in attendance. The ground continues to shift in the direction of Democrats. It’s the work and enthusiasm at the local level (per Indivisible) that builds a strong and enduring political foundation.
Go DelCo Dems!
