Democratic Bucks County Commissioners Bob Harvie and Diane Marseglia were both reelected in one of the most closely watched races in the Philadelphia suburbs on Tuesday.
Harvie and Marseglia will hold two of the three seats on the Bucks County Board of Commissioners. As of Wednesday afternoon, incumbent Republican Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo held a lead over running mate Pamela Van Blunk, Bucks County Controller, for the third spot on the board.
“Thank you Bucks County. Together we made history. We will always fight for you and put you first,” Harvie and Marseglia wrote on social media late Tuesday night.
Marseglia was first elected to the Bucks County Board of Commissioners in 2007, while Harvie was first elected in 2019, making it the first time since 1983 that Democrats held a majority on the board.
Harvie and Marseglia received endorsements from Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania PAC and the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5. DiGirolamo and Van Blunk touted endorsements from the Fraternal Order of Police Bucks County Lodge 53 and Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran.
Internal polling in the late summer indicated that Bucks County, the lone swing county left in the Philadelphia region, would be a “challenging environment” for the Democrats running for Commissioner, which helped garner additional attention on the race.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, a former Montgomery County Commissioner, stumped for Harvie and Marseglia on Election Day in Newtown, and earlier in the cycle, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman also visited the county to boost Harvie and Marseglia.
Bucks County has a history of ticket splitting.
President Joe Biden bested then-President Donald Trump in 2020 by just under 4 points. However, U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-1st District) won that same year by 13 points in the district that includes all of Bucks County and small parts of Montgomery County.
Shapiro won Bucks County over GOP candidate state Sen. Doug Mastriano by nearly 20 points, while Fetterman bested Republican Mehmet Oz by just over 7 points there. Fitzpatrick also secured another term in Congress that same cycle, with many voters splitting their ballots in the suburban district.
While Bucks County maintains its swing county reputation, Democratic statewide judicial candidates had a strong showing there.
Judge Dan McCaffery, a Democrat, bested Judge Carolyn Carluccio, a Republican, by 10 points in the county, outpacing his statewide margin of victory in the race for Supreme Court.
Democrats Jill Beck and Timika Lane were the top vote-getters in the county for the race for Superior Court over Republicans Maria Battista and Harry Smail.
In the race for Commonwealth Court, Democrat Matthew Wolf also defeated Republican Megan Martin in Bucks County.
Originally published at www.penncapital-star.com,by John Cole
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