Incumbents score down ballot wins

Posted by Rich Schwartzman on November 9, 2016

Voters stand in line at Birmingham Friends Meeting waiting to cast their ballots in Tuesday's general election.

While the presidential election drove voter turnout and resulted in what many are saying is a major upset, incumbents won local seats in yesterday’s election.

Republican Donald Trump scored a big win over Democrat Hillary Clinton in a race that most pollsters and pundits predicted would be close. Trump, who had never run for elective office before, won 289 electoral votes, 19 more than the 270 electoral votes needed for a win.

Voter turnout was strong throughout the region. Between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m., eight polling places in Chadds Ford, Concord, Birmingham and Pennsbury townships were reporting voter turnout to be 65 percent or better. Voters were already waiting in long lines before the polls opened at 7 a.m.

For U.S. House of Representatives, incumbent Republican Pat Meehan defeated Mary Ellen Balchunis with 60 percent of the votes, taking 158,382 votes to 104,921 for Balchunis.

In the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania, incumbent Republican Pat Toomey beat Democratic challenger Katie McGinty. Toomey garnered 48.96 percent of the vote to McGinty's 47.19 percent.

In the 16th Congressional District, which covers parts of Chester and Lancaster counties, Republican Lloyd Smucker takes over from Joe Pitts who didn’t seek re-election. Smucker defeated Democrat Christina Hartman 157,307 to 108,900.

In a close race, state Sen. Tom Killion squeaked by Democrat challenger Marty Molloy by less than 4,000 votes to retain his 9^th District seat.

Killion received 68,916 to Molloy’s 65,198. However, Molloy won in Delaware County with 42,161 votes to Killion’s 40,648, but Killion took Chester County 28,268 to 23,037.

Killion took office this past spring after defeating Molloy in a special election after former state Sen. Dominic F. Pileggi won a Common Pleas Court judgeship last November.

The closest race of the day, however, was in the state’s 156^th Legislative District, which includes Birmingham Township. Incumbent Republican Dan Truitt narrowly defeated former West Chester Mayor Carolyn Comitta by 78 votes, 18,196 to 18,118

In the 19^th Senate District race, Democrat Andy Dinniman won re-election by defeating Jack London 75,162 to 58,304.

The runaway win went to state Rep. Stephen Barrar, who defeated independent challenger Dave Cleary 21,477 to 4,997, an 81 percent margin of victory.

In the 158^th Legislative District, Republican Eric Roe defeated Susan Rzucidlo in another close race, 17,617 to 15,509. Roe will take over from Chris Ross who, as with Pitts, chose not to seek re-election.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.