2023 in Review: Top stories of the year: No. 1

Jan. 1—Editor's note: A few weeks ago, the Tribune provided readers with what we believe are the most important Crawford County-area stories of the year. We then asked our readers to rank the stories from No. 1 (most important) to No. 12 (least important). Today, we present the top story.

No. 1 — Political divide in city, county

As voters in the city of Meadville doubled down on the jump to the left that they began four years ago, nearby voters outside the city limits took a step to the right.

Selected by readers as the Tribune's top story of the year, the November elections reflected the increasing polarization seen in the nation as a whole viewed through the lens of northwestern Pennsylvania.

And while it's the top story of 2023, it's as much about the near future as it is the recent past: The election is over, but the terms of the winning candidates are just beginning.

Races for Meadville City Council and Crawford Central and PENNCREST school boards featured contrasting candidates and fierce campaigning, with the Democratic incumbents taking the two open City Council seats and more conservative candidates proving successful in the school board races.

In some respects, the story is about geography as much as anything else.

"Rural areas in the county have more conservative values, lower taxes and less government regulation, which is why the Republican vote is dominant," said Mike Forbes, vice chair of the Crawford County Republican Party.

The basic fact of political life facing candidates at the other end of the mainstream political spectrum is stark. "County-wide, conservatives have a 2-1 voter registration advantage," acknowledged Lindsey Scott, chair of the Crawford County Democratic Party. "Very few Democrats run for countywide office, due to their belief that the voter registration gap is insurmountable."

As of Dec. 18, Crawford County is home to 30,480 registered Republicans, 15,528 registered Democrats and 6,454 registered voters belonging to other parties or no party at all, according to Pennsylvania Department of State.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's a situation that Forbes sees as beneficial for voters.

"Less government is better for everyone," he said, "and we hope to keep on our conservative message to change people's minds."

For Scott, it's a situation that could be worse: Yes, there were uncontested races featuring only Republican candidates for the countywide offices of coroner, auditor, district attorney, register and recorder, prothonotary and sheriff. Still, Scott noted, some rural counties swing so solidly red that write-in campaigns in the Democratic primary enable the election of three Republicans to the Board of Commissioners and auditor positions in some Pennsylvania counties. That was not the case in Crawford County, where uncontested races for the Board of Commissioners' three seats and the three auditor positions both included one Democratic candidate.

While it was hard to find a competitive race at the county level, the races in Crawford Central and PENNCREST school districts featured a plethora of candidates — so many that in-person voters had to scroll down on voting machine screens to be able to see them all before making their selections.

The outcome in Crawford Central represented a decided tilt to the right. School board candidates in Pennsylvania are permitted to cross file with both major parties, but only one Crawford Central candidate — Kevin Merritt — succeeded in making it to the general election ballot as both a Democratic and Republican candidate. Five Democrats and five Republicans made up the rest of the field, and all five Republicans won.

Seven seats were up for grabs in PENNCREST School District, with two organized groups promoting slates of opposing candidates via social media, yard signs and various other methods. The winning candidates consisted of the three candidates who cross filed and made the general election as both Democrats and Republicans and four Republican candidates.

The four candidates who appeared on the ballot only as Democrats all finished out of the running. The more-conservative bloc of board members appears to have maintained its majority, though it is down from 6-3 before the election to 5-4, but whether that majority holds with the same consistency as in the past remains to be seen.

Despite the unusually large field and the hard-fought nature of the races, the outcome was easy to understand for Forbes.

"There was a lot of conflict between candidates," he said, "but it boils down to more votes for republicans in the county."

The race was closer in Crawford Central, where a higher percentage of voters are Democrats, Scott noted, than in the more rural PENNCREST. She drew a decidedly different message from the outcome.

"With conservative media dripping with propaganda put out by Moms For Liberty and Back to School PA PAC," she said, "it created the circumstance where the furthest-right anti-public education activists were mobilized to run for office."

In the city of Meadville, geography combined with incumbency, another reliable predictor of election outcomes, to re-elect Larry McKnight and Autumn Vogel to City Council. Describing the city as "majority renter" and thus friendlier to more progressive candidates, Scott said McKnight and Vogel also had a "proven record of smashing success" to run on, citing the city's new ambulance service and the soon-to-be-implemented residential rental licensing program.

In looking to the city, it was Forbes' turn to point to demographics and question the campaign tactics of the victors.

"We had two excellent Republican candidates for city council," he said, referring to Marcy Kantz and Bill Lawrence, "but it's hard to crack the Democrat advantage in the City of Meadville. Sometimes promises are made, that can't be kept, to get votes."

Mike Crowley can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.