By Matt Schickling
Wire Staff Writer
While Gov.-elect Tom Wolf celebrated his victory over incumbent Republican Gov. Tom Corbett at the York Fairgrounds, many Democrats in Bucks County were licking their wounds.
Despite Pennsylvania voters electing a Democrat as their next governor, in the House of Representatives, Republicans have extended their 111–92 majority to 119–84, picking up eight seats. Republicans have also gained three seats in the state Senate and will hold a 30–20 advantage.
Locally, Republican Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick steamrolled Democrat Kevin Strouse in the 8th Congressional District with about 62 percent of the vote to Strouse’s 38 percent. From his campaign offices on Mill Street in Bristol, Strouse conceded early, but urged his supporters to stay engaged in Pennsylvania politics.
“This is one fight and there’s a lot more in the future,” Strouse said. “This is too important. There is too much apathy out there and there are too many people who are struggling.”
Strouse reiterated this message in a letter to his supporters the day after the election.
“If good people like you don’t continue fighting, who will?” he wrote.
Fitzpatrick, of Levittown, will be serving his fourth and final term. Fitzpatrick promised that he would seek a total of only four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was first elected to represent the 8th district in 2004. After a 2006 loss to Democrat Patrick Murphy, he was reelected in 2010 and 2012.
His supporters gathered in Doylestown at the Republican committee headquarters as votes were totaled.
“I think it’s a pretty strong message that’s being delivered back to the United States Congress and to Washington and I think they hear Bucks County and the 8th district loud and clear on what needs to happen,” Fitzpatrick said after Strouse conceded. “We think there’s still a lot of work to be done in United States Congress, and I think I still have a lot to add.”
The 8th Congressional District covers all of Bucks County and a small portion of Montgomery County.
State Sen. Chuck McIlhinney held his 10th district seat against Democrat Steve Cickay, a first-time candidate from Newtown. McIlhinney will be serving his third consecutive term after winning his first state Senate election in 2006. Before that, he was a Doylestown Borough councilman and a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1998 to 2006.
“We didn’t win the top of the ticket, but we probably did better than almost every other county,” McIlhinney said of Bucks County Republicans to his supporters. “Thank you once again for helping me get elected back to the 10th Senatorial District.”
Cickay still managed 34,949 votes (about 41 percent) in the traditionally Republican district. He was viewed as an underdog by most political observers, and, after running unopposed in the primary, Cickay stood up to pressure from party leaders to bow out of the race to be replaced by Shaughnessy Naughton. She was defeated by Kevin Strouse in the 8th Congressional District Democratic primary, but was thought to be more electable than Cickay.
Though underfunded and receiving little party support, Cickay continued his campaign, citing the importance of the democratic process. Cickay released a statement to his supporters, thanking them for their efforts in his race again McIlhinney, who had “a far greater war chest at his disposal.”
“I hope my opponent will remember the changes in his positions on the issues when he returns to the Senate and acts on his changed beliefs so Pennsylvania can become a better place for all. I congratulate him and wish him well,” the statement read.
State Sen. Tommy Tomlinson retained his seat in the 6th district over Democratic challenger Kimberly Rose. Tomlinson collected 45,343 and about 62 percent of the votes, while Rose took the other 38 percent with 27,984 votes.
Tomlinson had served 12 years on the Bensalem School Board and four years in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and now is elected to his sixth term in the state Senate, where he is chairman of Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee.
He is a lifelong resident of Bucks County and works as funeral director at Tomlinson Funeral Home on Route 13 in Bensalem. He called his win the “largest victory in the 6th District Senate in recent history,” and thanked voters who “showed their trust and support” in him.
He often criticized Rose for countering his campaign with “only attacks” and said that she “offers no solutions.” Rose was critical of Tomlinson’s support of the transportation bill and stance on state education funding.
Democrats have an advantage in voter registration in the 6th Senatorial District, but that appeared to help Rose little as Tomlinson easily took the majority.
Rose currently serves on the Northampton Board of Supervisors as the lone Democrat. She is a chiropractor and small business owner.
In a statement to supporters, she focused on the positive outcome for Democrats: the election of Tom Wolf as governor.
“This January we have a new resident in the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion,” she wrote. “I wish to express my heartful gratitude to all those who supported me over the last several months. I will never forget all that you did for me.”
