Vote Totals in 2016
|
Total
|
|||||
Office
|
GOP
|
Dem
|
Green
|
Libertarian
|
Other
|
|
Total State House
|
2,670,014
|
2,445,871
|
5,729
|
8,333
|
22,657
|
5,152,604
|
Total US House
|
3,096,576
|
2,625,156
|
0
|
22,245
|
0
|
5,743,977
|
President
|
2,970,764
|
2,926,457
|
49,947
|
146,709
|
21,569
|
6,115,446
|
US Senate
|
2,951,771
|
2,865,009
|
235,161
|
6,051,941
|
||
State Atty G
|
2,891,320
|
3,057,002
|
5,948,322
|
|||
Auditor General
|
2,667,315
|
2,958,811
|
158,943
|
131,851
|
5,916,920
|
|
Treasurer
|
2,610,807
|
2,991,395
|
170,275
|
135,132
|
5,907,609
|
|
Last week I looked at which state house races were unopposed for Democrats compared to Republicans in Pennsylvania state house races and found that Democrats were twice as likely to be unopposed. I also found that 962,842 fewer people voted in state house races compared to the presidential race in PA. This week I look at the US House races in PA.
Pennsylvania has 18 Congressional Districts that are heavily gerrymandered. 13 of the districts are represented by Republicans five by Democrats. There was no change in the representation in this election. Three of the 18 races were unopposed: two with a Republican winner and one with a Democrat. Only two races had third party challengers, both with Libertarians running.
I totaled up the votes across the US House Races in PA and added them to the table from the last post. 371,469 fewer people voted in those races as voted in the Presidential race. That is still 591,373 more than the number who voted in state house races. The total votes in the House races for the GOP candidates was higher than those for any of the statewide candidates including 125,812 more than Donald Trump received. The turnout for Democratic US House candidates was lower than that for those who voted for Hillary Clinton by 301,301 but 179,285 higher than those who voted for State House Candidates.
These differences in voting totals matter little to those who win these races but the decisions that they make matter as much as the races at the top of the ticket. The voting numbers should concern those who care about our democracy and who runs it. John Oliver explains this well on his show Last Week Tonight.
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