Westmoreland's support of GOP candidates not enough for Pa. victories

Nov. 10—Although many agree Westmoreland County is a key to victory for state Republican candidates, the margins of victory here this week weren't enough to translate into statewide wins for GOP gubernatorial and senate hopefuls.

"It's our job to run up the score, and it didn't happen enough last night," said Bill Bretz, chairman of Westmoreland County's Republican Committee, on Wednesday. "I don't think the results we had were unsatisfactory, but they were certainly insufficient for us to carry the water for the commonwealth."

The county has more than 122,000 registered Republicans, and the GOP's successes here in the past decade have helped determine the outcome of statewide races.

Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz received 58% of the county's vote, and gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano had 52%. But neither equaled the performance of Donald Trump in the past two presidential elections.

In the 2020 presidential race between Trump and Joe Biden, Trump received more than 130,000 votes — more than 63% the votes cast. Trump won Westmoreland but was defeated statewide. Four years earlier, Trump used a 30-percentage-point win in Westmoreland County as part of his victory in Pennsylvania.

Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, en route to victory in the Senate race, received nearly 66,000 votes — or 39% in the county. Shapiro received almost 77,000 votes and was favored on 46% of all ballots cast.

Bretz said a more apt comparison is the 2018 midterms, when voters elected a governor and U.S. Senator. Westmoreland voters favored the GOP gubernatorial challenger Scott Wagner with 52% of the vote in his bid to unseat Gov. Tom Wolf; and GOP U.S. Senate challenger Lou Barletta received more than 55% of the vote in his failed race against incumbent Sen. Bob Casey.

"We over-performed this year from those results in 2018," Bretz said.

Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, has been an integral figure in county GOP politics for nearly three decades and served as the party chairwoman at the start of its upward trajectory in the mid-1990s. Ward praised Tuesday's county results and, while acknowledging Westmoreland influence in state politics, said there just aren't enough votes here to ensure victory for statewide candidates.

"We just don't have enough population to carry the water for the entire state," Ward said.

She suggested Trump's success and the enthusiasm of a presidential race brought out the vote far beyond what typically is seen in a midterm election, even one that had local turnout reach about 68%.

"We've come a long way, and we still outperformed other counties that are even more red," Ward said.

Sean Kertes, one of two Republicans who make up a majority on Westmoreland's board of commissioners, said this week's vote continues a strong trend of growing conservatism among local voters.

"Here in Westmoreland County, we are doing our jobs," Kertes said.

G. Terry Madonna, a senior fellow in residence for Political Affairs at Millersville University, said Westmoreland is part of a growing Republican base that has taken root in Southwestern Pennsylvania, and its importance is linked to other neighboring counties.

"We have to look at Westmoreland County's impact because of its size, but its demographics are similar to those in adjacent counties. I don't just look at Westmoreland. I look at all of Southwestern Pennsylvania," Madonna said.

For Democrats, Tuesday's results also are encouraging.

Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher, the lone Democratic county official, said the vote totals for Fetterman and Shapiro are an indication of the impact the county's more than 95,000 registered voters can play in state politics.

"Over the past few years, our county has gone red. It's obviously hard for Democrats to win in local county municipal elections. However, I've been stressing over the past couple of years the impact we can still have statewide," Thrasher said.

Michelle McFall, chairwoman of the Westmoreland County Democratic Committee, said Fetterman's and Shapiro's efforts to capture votes in a county that has become increasingly difficult for Democrats to win played a major role in their statewide victories.

"It's our job in this county to close the margin, and we did our part and we did it well," McFall said.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich by email at rcholodofsky@triblive.com or via Twitter .