Jamie Walker: Republicans lost a special election, but can gain perspective
Winning is a great feeling; losing not so much. If you follow politics, you’ll experience both.
Even if you live somewhere your party enjoys a registration advantage.
Everyone knows you vote every four years for the president. Fortunately, Republicans had an amazing turnout last year in Bucks County, and we had a prominent role in electing Donald Trump the 47th president of the United States of America. Bucks County voted for a Republican president for the first time since 1988! According to recent data, over the past two years many hard-working Republicans in Bucks managed to register 10,000 more voters than Democrats did.
But can the GOP translate that into local victory in this “off year?”
Consider what they did right last time: Bucks County Republicans embraced mail-in voting. Voters went to the Board of Elections in Doylestown, signed up for mail-in ballots, filled out their ballot at the election office, and handed it back to a county staffer. Some may not have realized they could have requested a mail-in ballot and filled out at home, but either way, they followed through. They did it because Trump encouraged it. Local GOP candidates are hoping these recent voter trends help elect row officers, judges, school directors, and town officials all over the county in November.
Still, politics is strange: Having more registered Republicans in an election district often doesn’t correlate with Republican candidates winning. Nothing proves this point better than March’s special state Senate election in Lancaster County. It happened in a locale that Trump won in November by fifteen points and that Republicans have historically won easily. This time, Republican Senate candidate Josh Parsons unfortunately did not, severely embarrassing the Pennsylvania Republican Party.
Did the GOP take the seat for granted? Were they caught off guard and ill-prepared for the election? Did they learn nothing from the 2024 election and fail to prioritize remote voting? Is it that Democrats are now better organized, with superior direct-mail and digital campaigns, more disciplined door-to-door efforts, and a well-funded mail-in voting push? Parsons’s loss to Democrat James Malone suggests a mixture of all these reasons.
Over here in Bucks, Republicans shouldn’t lose heart. Last November we had some huge wins! Many GOP voters tried voting by mail the first time, which is wonderful. But going back through the results of past county and municipal elections, I noticed a recurring, sobering trend.
When Republicans are down too many votes in the primary, it’s hard for them to win the general election. Democrats have too many people signed up to receive a ballot in the mail. When someone signs up for annual mail-in voting, they will automatically receive ballots for the primary and the general. Democrats go into every election in Bucks County with significantly more votes. It’s a trend the GOP cannot overcome without strenuous effort.
After seeing the disappointing results of the special Senate election, and the fact the Democratic candidate went into Election Day with 8,797 banked mail-in votes while Republicans only had 3,520 banked votes, I am hoping our capable Republican leaders and candidates in Bucks County observe our opponents’ successful tactics.
Instead of resting on the laurels of our wins in November 2024, the GOP can learn from our rivals and can apply their winning methods from March to our own campaigns this autumn. Last year, we picked up real momentum. Let’s not lose it.
Jamie Walker is a former teacher and a Central Bucks School District mom of three.
