A Final Look at the Pennsylvania Primary

Last Tuesday, Pennsylvania's voters went to the polls and voted for candidates for President, Senator, Attorney General, Congress, and State Legislators. The results were actually not overly shocking, and I think told us once again that Pennsylvania is a mostly "status quo" kind of state. Political revolutions and movement politics have some appeal here, but they will generally lose rather clearly. Here are my takeaways from Tuesday's Primary:

1. Governor Wolf and the Democratic Establishment still rule- Hillary Clinton, Katie McGinty, and Josh Shapiro all won clear, resounding victories, as did State Representatives Dwight Evans and Steve Santarsiero in their Congressional races. All of them had the backing and support of Governor Wolf. All of them but Santarsiero had the backing of Ed Rendell. In the races he endorsed in, all had the backing of Senator Casey. This is who we are in Pennsylvania's Democratic Party.
2. Pennsylvania Republicans are more like their brethren in New York and New Jersey than the Midwest- Donald Trump's resounding victory looked little like John Kasich's Ohio victory, or some of the midwest victories of Ted Cruz, and looked a lot more like New York's primary results. Pennsylvania Republicans view the world very similarly to their friends in New York. I'm guessing New Jersey will be quite similar too.
3. Hillary Clinton remains strong in Pennsylvania- Despite all the talk of her being weaker than in the past, Hillary Clinton cleaned house in Pennsylvania. She won in Philadelphia, and it's suburban counties. She won in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, as well as it's collar counties. She won in the Lehigh Valley, and in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre region. She won in just about every big county except for Cambria, and it's worth noting that President Obama lost their in 2012 and still won the state easy.
4. Republican State Legislators are at least marginally worried- Across the commonwealth, Republican state house members tried to get written-in on the Democratic side. Across the commonwealth, they didn't succeed. It's very hard to get a write-in done on the opposing ballot, sure, but it's impressive that Democrats facing them for the write-in, like David Mattei in Northampton County's 137th District, pulled in over 900 write-ins in easily beating his Republican opponent.
5. Primaries are not resume contests- Joe Sestak was an Admiral, Congressman, and 2010 Senate nominee. John Morganelli and Steve Zappala had almost fifty years of experience as prosecutors. Joe Peters has one of the most impressive law enforcement resumes you'd ever see. All of them lost primaries to people who don't have as impressive of credentials. In case this doesn't drive home the point enough for you, Donald Trump won a primary for President here, without ever holding office.
6. Indictments Matter- A lot of people told me they thought Congressman Chaka Fattah would survive the primary. He didn't. Dwight Evans didn't crush him, but he beat him comfortably on the way to the victory in the 2nd Congressional District. I guess people still want ethical leaders.
7. Geography Matters- John Morganelli was wildly outspent in the Democratic Primary for Attorney General. He won his home county of Northampton County with nearly 3/4 of the vote, he won neighboring Lehigh County with nearly 2/3 of the vote, he won neighboring counties Carbon, Schuylkill, and Monroe, and finished a strong second in several counties near the Lehigh Valley. In other words, geography still matters a lot. 
8. Television Matters- Josh Shapiro and Katie McGinty had the most TV ads in the Attorney General and Senate primaries for the Democrats. Both won clear victories. Sure, TV didn't help Bernie Sanders against Hillary Clinton's quarter-century of good will here, but for the most part, TV works. 
9. The most exciting races were for delegate- I hate to say this, but by about 10:30-11 o'clock, I was watching the races for delegate to the Democratic National Convention closest of all. For a re-cap of how they went, please see #7.
10. The west still votes for the west- John Fetterman and Steve Zappala both didn't win last Tuesday. In fact, both lost by over 10%. Both carried Allegheny County though by over 10%. Both did well in the counties surrounding Pittsburgh as well. In Democratic primaries, Western PA votes for Western PA. It absolutely helped McGinty that she played the margin in Allegheny. You just have to go in knowing that the west will be the west, as frankly will the east.