Here's your Wednesday morning recap on Tuesday's elections, and what lies ahead.
It's nice to see some things don't change. The Delco GOP continues to rule the Media Courthouse with an iron fist.
Incumbents John McBlain, Colleen Morrone and Michael Culp easily turned aside their Democratic challengers, Christine Reuther, Sharon Booker and Richard Womack.
Republicans, with state Sen. Dominic Pileggi leading the charge, also took three seats on the county Court of Common Pleas.
Contrast that with Montgomery County, another one-time longtime GOP bastion. The Republicans took it on the chin in Montco on Tuesday, as Democrats swept the county races, including county commissioner and all row offices. In a high-profile race for Montco D.A. that was highlighted by punches and counterpunches over the decision not to charge comedian Bill Cosby in a sex assault probe, Democrat Kevin Steele bested Bruce Castor.
The one bright spot for Delco Dems was in the city of Chester, where longtime state Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland kept the mayor's office in Dem hands, albeit not with incumbent John Linder. After defeating Linder in the primary, Kirkland was victorious over former Republican Mayor Wendell Butler Jr., who came out of retirement to seek his old job.
Chester now becomes ground zero for the next huge political battle in Delco. Voters there will be selecting a new state rep to replace Kirkland, who has represented the city in Harrisburg for a couple of decades, along with a new state senator to replace Pileggi in the 9th District, which now stretches all the way to Oxford in southern Chester County.
Expect Republicans to make a huge push to capture Kirkland's seat in the state House, something they've coveted for years. Longtime city Republican figure and fire commissioner Jim Johnson is a likely candidate. Any chance outgoing Mayor Linder could swap seats with Kirkland by seeking the Democratic nomination?
For the Senate seat, we hear both state Reps. Steve Barrar, R-160, and Tom Killion, R-168, are interested in running. That, of course, would create still another vacancy in the House. One thing to keep in mind in the Senate race is an increasingly powerful conservative element in that district from Chester County. The 9th District seat goes back to the legendary Clarence Bell and has always been thought of as Delco turf, but redistricting has put a big chunk of southern Chester County in the district, and those folks might want more say in who gets the Republican nomination.
Across the state, it was a good day for Democrats. In the least surprising result of the day, Jim Kenney swamped Melissa Murray Bailey to succeed Michael Nutter as mayor of Philadelphia.
And Democrats also swept those three open seats on the state Supreme Court. Showing the power of money in politics, Democrats Kevin Dougherty (brother of Philly union boss John Dougherty), David Wecht and Christine Donohue rolled to a trifecta for Dems on the high court.
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