Beaver County now has more registered Republicans than Democrats

BEAVER — County Republicans hit a milestone decades in the making this week.

Beaver County now has more registered Republican voters than Democrats – an inflection point in a county considered a Democratic stronghold for the better part of a century.

Pennsylvania Department of State data shows that among Beaver County’s 111,725 registered voters, 48,170 are registered Republicans and 48,079 are registered Democrats – a difference of 91 registrations. That’s 43.1% Republican voters, 43% Democratic voters and 13.9% third party or unaffiliated voters.

Beaver County has steadily grown more supportive of Republican candidates and conservative principles in recent years.

As a traditionally blue-collar county once grounded in steel and a unionized workforce, Beaver has long had more registered Democrats than Republicans. A portion of those Democrats started voting Republican in the 1980s for former President Ronald Reagan, but kept their Democratic party affiliation. Still, Beaver County voters supported Democratic presidential candidates for much of the 20th century.

That changed in 2008, when Republican John McCain outperformed former President Barack Obama in the county. In 2012, Mitt Romney bested the former president again. Former President Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton 58% to 39% in 2016 and President Joe Biden 57.9% to 40.3% in 2020 – despite Beaver County holding a clear but shrinking Democratic majority among registrations.

The county marked another clear shift in 2016, when Republicans took the Beaver County Board of Commissioners for the first time since 1958.

Beaver County Republican Chairman Roman Kozak said Tuesday the emergent Republican majority is “validation of the hard work of our Republican elected county team.”

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“Ten to 20 years ago, most of us could never imagine this happening,” he said. “From our judiciary to our county commissioners and row offices, and down to our municipal offices and school directors, Republican-led government continues to represent true Beaver County values. The people of Beaver County are telling us they want a government that is responsive to them as well as one that is professionally and responsibly managed.”

Beaver County Democratic Chairwoman Erin Gabriel said the Democratic Party is “always excited to see more folks register to vote, and will continue our efforts to register voters across the county.

“Certainly, there will be ebbs and flows in which party has the majority of registrations in a tightly contested county like Beaver, and the margins really couldn't be tighter in terms of registration,” she said. “I think that's part of what makes us such an interesting county for politicos, but it also presents us with the necessary opportunity for bipartisan discussions.”

Gabriel noted Democrat Nate Bible’s win over two-term Republican incumbent David Lozier in this year’s Beaver County District Attorney race and shared enthusiasm for Gov. Josh Shapiro's automatic voter registration initiative, adding that the party is focused on protecting voters' rights “instead of trying to make it more difficult to vote,” because “this country works best when more people participate.”

The Democratic party will “continue to be a welcoming, safe and supportive space for all of our community members, regardless of the color of your skin, where you came from, how you worship or who you love,” she added. "In too many cases this year, with significant encouragement from the Republican party, we saw the politics of racism, bigotry and hate on full display through divisive rhetoric, race-baiting mailers coming from both the Republican party as well as directly from their candidates for county offices."

Gabriel said the county party will continue to work to elect Democratic candidates at the local, county and statewide levels.

"We're always welcoming new faces to join us in this fight, and perhaps even have a little fun along the way," she said.

Beaver County voters, Kozak said, “are sending a message to the rest of Pennsylvania: Today’s Democrat party is out of touch with voters and their values.”

“We still have much work to do,” he said. “The future direction of our county, region, and country depends on it.”

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Beaver County now has more registered Republicans than Democrats