PA Election Fun Facts

In case you missed our Election Night Live Blog last night, here are some highlights and fun facts.

• While Pat Toomey won the election for US Senate, he trailed in early returns much of the night. Many of our comments were from worried Toomey supporters, and much of the chat was on where returns were coming in from.
• Our readers overwhelming voted for Tom Corbett for Governor (according to the quick poll), much higher than his actual vote percentage, but he did win both.
• The Pennsylvania Senate remains exactly the same: Republicans control 30-20. No incumbents lost, and Democrats retained control of all three open seats (held by retiring Democrats).
• Republicans have take control of the Pennsylvania House, with at least 110 seats (Democrats have 90 seats, with 3 races within the margin for an automatic recount). Eric had too many “locks” in his initial roundup, as we found out throughout the night. There were 13 GOP pick-ups of Democrat seats, vs. 2 seats switching from Republican to Democrat. The three undecided races are all currently held by Democrats.
• Fun Fact: The last time either party held 110 seats in the PA House, Matt Brouillette and I were the only ones alive on our full-time staff.
• I wrote at 5:40 pm, “In my experience, the media always reports ‘turnout is good.’ Final count usually is not much different.” Brilliant prediction; the final vote totals were about the same as 2006.
• PA House Majority Leader Todd Eachus (D) fell, so did former Speaker of the House John Perzel (R). Indicted lawmakers, Rep. Bill DeWeese (D) and Sen. Jane Orie (R) both won.
• Fun Fact: Lawmakers born in the 1980s (e.g., Jim Christiana and Matt Gabler, both in races that were expected to be close) did very well. Lawmakers elected in the 1970s (Perzel and DeWeese), had a tougher go of it.
• In ballot measures across the US: Health Care Freedom amendments passed in Oklahoma and Arizona, but failed in Colorado (previously won in Missouri). A proposal to privatize liquor stores in Washington state failed narrowly (proponents had cited CF research in support of the referendum)
• Fun Fact: When I first came to PA five years ago, the biggest political figures were Rendell, Specter, Santorum, Fumo, Perzel, Jubelirer, Deweese, and Murtha. A bit of change since then.

There are a slew of Pennsylvania election stories up now over at PA Indy.

Finally, here are two questions I posed last night: PA just elected a Republican Governor, a Republican US Senator, a Republican-controlled Senate, a Republican-controlled House, and a 12-7 Republican edge in Congress. Two questions:

1) Is PA still a “blue” state?
2) How will Republicans govern this time?

Let us know your answers on our Facebook Page.