Though votes are still being counted across the Commonwealth, Chester County has finished counting all ballots received by Election Day. Those that remain are provisional ballots, as well as ballots received between 8 PM Election Day and 8 PM November 6, as well as military and overseas ballots.
Though the presidential outcome hasn’t been decided yet, we do know a lot about local races and numbers, and the news is all good. Across Chester County, turnout topped 80%. In Tredyffrin Township, turnout was over 83%, with some precincts voting at rates as high as 88%. Though Donald Trump dominated Election Day vote totals, the mail-in vote was overwhelmingly for the Biden-Harris ticket. Biden-Harris won Tredyffrin with 66% of ballots cast. They dominated across the county as well, at 57% based on current reporting. So far, they have more than doubled Hillary’s Clinton’s 25,000-vote margin of victory in Chester County in 2016. We knew Chester needed to run up that victory margin to offset Trump’s strength elsewhere in the state, and the voters of Chester County delivered.
Locally, Chrissy Houlahan is set to return to Congress, defeating challenger John Emmons by a current margin of 55-44% (63-37% within our township). Melissa Shusterman has been elected to a second term in the PA State House, 63-37% (her margin in our township as well), while Carolyn Comitta will move from the House to the PA Senate. Comitta, who won her House race in 2016 by 25 votes before being handily re-elected in 2018, will take over the Senate seat vacated by retiring Senator Andy Dinniman. Committa’s margin was 57-42 across the county, 61-39 within our township.
Chester and Tredyffrin also delivered healthy vote margins for Josh Shapiro, Nina Ahmad, and Joe Torsella, running for Attorney General, Auditor General, and State Treasurer.
And, as of this writing, Biden-Harris, after trailing in the Pennsylvania count since Election Day, have taken a 16,000-vote lead as the mail-in and absentee votes continue to “break blue.” Lots of counting left to go, but from this vantage, the margins in Chester and Tredyffrin appear to take on national significance.
