Election Day is less than two weeks away and the political campaign season has hit a fever pitch.
Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania’s largest, has historically swung Democratic and this year most likely will be no exception: 77% of registered voters in Philadelphia registered as Democrats, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.
However, in neighboring Montgomery County that margin is much slimmer, with Democrats comprising 47% of registered voters compared to 38% Republicans. However, the Montgomery County Republican Committee doesn’t believe the numbers tell the whole story.
“If you look just strictly at the numbers it definitely looks like a deficit,” says Josh Arnold, Executive Director at the MCRC. “Our idea of government I think is sort of independent of party lines and I think also the way we’re able to get out the vote is different than the way that Democrats do.”
While the nation remains transfixed by the presidential election, the MCRC spend most of their time fighting for downticket candidates such as Brian Fitzpatrick, running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and Chira Smith who is running for a seat in the Pennsylvania House. While Presidential Candidate Donald Trump remains a controversial figure and trails in the polls, he has a surprising impact on the lower ticket candidates.
“It actually, to be honest with you, is somewhat better,” Josh Arnold says. “A lot of times if you have a super popular person running at the top of the ticket, a lot of these downticket offices think they’ll just coast to a victory and that doesn’t always happen.”
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