The midterm elections netted significant gains for Democrats across Bucks County, as a blue wave swept its way across the country.
In Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District, Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie unseated five-term Republican incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick. The race was one of at least 26 seats flipped in Congress by 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, helping to turn control of the House over to Democrats.
Gov. Josh Shapiro retained his seat after pulling off what appeared to be an easy win against Republican Stacy Garrity, the state treasurer.
In the Pennsylvania State Senate races in Bucks County, incumbent Frank Farry lost his seat to Democrat Eileen Hartnett Albillar in District 6, incumbent Steve Santarsiero, the Democratic Party chair in Bucks, retained his seat in District 10.
Democrats were successful in the Pennsylvania State House as well, which included wins for Bryan Allen who bested three-term incumbent K.C. Tomlinson in District 18, Kristin Egan who ousted two-term incumbent Joe Hogan in District 142, incumbent Tim Brennan who defeated Sean Duffy in District 29, longtime incumbent Tina Davis who beat Ken Velez in District 141, and incumbent Jim Prokopiak who won with a strong lead against Michael Gettis in District 140. Democrat incumbent Brian Monroe retained his seat against Mike Murphy, and Perry Warren ran unopposed in District 31.
PA Rep. Craig Staats defeated Independent Rebecca Prendergast to keep his House seat for another two years, and Republican Kristin Marcell appears to have held off Democrat Monica Weninger to keep her state House seat another two years.
As of 1 a.m. Wednesday, state Senate’s 16th District race between Democrat Mark Pinsley and Republican Jarrett Coleman, as well as the 143rd District state House race between Democrat Tim Hayes and Republican Shelby Labs were too close to call.
“TRIFECTA DELIVERED,” Shapiro wrote on social media. “Pennsylvanians just came together to flip the State Senate for the first time in over THREE DECADES — delivering a Democratic trifecta that’s ready to raise the minimum wage, codify reproductive freedom, invest in mass transit, and so much more.”
The blue wave was carried by voters who turned out at the polls and with their mail-in ballots in Bucks and elsewhere. Voter turnout in Bucks was about 62.7 percent with over 305,000 votes counted from the county’s some 487,000 registered voters.
Bucks County was just one of several battlegrounds where Democrats found their foothold. Thanks to sweeping victories and upsets across the country, the party ended Election night with enough wins to gain control of both the House and Senate.
Democrats swept races in Texas, Iowa, Ohio, South Carolina and Kansas.
In Maine, Democratic challenger Troy Jackson defeated five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins. And Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton in the closely watched Texas Senate election, while Annie Andrews defeated incumbent GOP Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina. Democrats Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Adam Hamilton in Kansas and Josh Turek in Iowa also won their races.
The blue wave has also included gubernatorial races, which saw Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms win in Georgia and Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeat Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas.
By 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, Democrats had flipped 26 seats in the House.
MORE: Democrats win control of House, Senate
