Winners and Losers: 2011 General Election Wrap Up

The nation went to the polls on Tuesday. Whereas Philadelphia, with its 8 to 1 Democratic registration advantage, offered little in the way of surprises, the suburbs were a different story. Democrats and Republicans battled it out in several county-level contests, testing their voter-turnout efforts in anticipation of next year’s Presidential election.

Incumbent Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter sailed through to his second term, easily defeating Democrat-turned-Republican Karen Brown by 75% to 22%. With the General Election viewed largely as a formality, voter turnout dipped below 20%.

Philadelphia’s City Council will welcome six new members in January, the largest turnover since 1991. Brian J. O'Neill, the former Speaker of the House, and David Oh, who was plagued during the election by questions about his military service, will replace outgoing at-Large Council Republicans Frank Rizzo and Jack Kelly.

District Council members Frank DiCicco, Joan Krajewski, Donna Reed Miller and Council President Anna C. Verna will all be departing at the end of the year, making way for the remaining four new members. They will be replaced by four new Democrats, Mark Squilla (District 1), Bobby Henon (District 6), Cindy Bass (District 8) and Kenyatta Johnson (District 2). This new crop of City Council persons will be decisive in determining the next Council President and on whether Mayor Nutter’s will be able to move his priorities through Council during his final four years.

In the City Commissioner’s race, Democratic candidates Stephanie Singer and Daryl Clark glided through the general election. Singer ran as a reformer and defeated Marge Tartaglione, the 78-year-old former Chairwoman of the Commission, in the Spring Primary. On the Republican side, Al Schmidt who had run an insurgent campaign against the City’s Republican establishment bested incumbent Joseph Duda, a fixture in Republican city politics for the last 50 years. Schmidt will now be the swing vote in determining whether Singer or Clark will become the next chairperson of the three-person committee.

For the office of Sheriff, State Rep. Jewell Williams won an easy victory over Republican candidate Joshua West and homeless advocate and Green Party candidate Cherry Honkala. While Williams will be happy to do away with the commute to Harrisburg, job security is an open question. Committee of Seventy and civic activists are campaigning to do away with the “row house” offices, claiming that they are wasteful patronage positions. The other row house up this year was that of Register of Wills; incumbent Robert Donatucci easily defeated his Republican challenger, estate-tax specialist Linda Bateman.

The suburban counties surrounding Philadelphia were the subject of much speculation, with observes anticipating that this year’s election could be a bellwether for next year’s Presidential contest. In Montgomery County, State Rep. Josh Shapiro and Whitemarsh Township supervisor Leslie Richards took control of the County Comission, a first for Democrats in the County’s 140-year history.

Elsewhere Republicans remained firmly in control. In Bucks County, Obama Democrats stayed home by and large. Despite both registration and fundraising favoring Democrats, the GOP was able to keep control of the County Commission, and the offices of Sheriff and Register of Wills. Republicans did just as well in Chester County where they swept the row offices and maintained their majority on the board of County Commissioners. Republicans Ryan Costello, Terence Farrell and lone Democrat Kathi Cozzone will all return in January. In Delaware County, Republicans also kept control of all countywide offices, with Thomas McGarrigle, John McBlain, and Colleen P. Morrone sweeping the contests for County Council.

Photo by dwweber.