For a long time it is has been obvious to anyone who pays attention to politics that the future of the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania rests on our ability to control the counties that surround Philadelphia. Here, and elsewhere in the country, suburban counties that have historically voted Republican are rapidly turning Democratic. Whether moved by liberal views on sexual and lifestyle issues or by an aversion to the Republican War Machine or, in some cases, by the liberal economic views of a large contingent of professionals and managers, suburban counties are voting Democratic.
Indeed the position of these suburban counties is similar to that of white Southern counties in the 1970s. White Southern counties were already voting for Republicans in Presidential and Senatorial elections by the mid-seventies. They started voting for Republican Governors and US Representatives soon after. And then finally, they started voting for Republican local officials and state legislator and, in 1994, a large number of Southern state legislatures were taken over by Republican majorities.
In Montgomery County and the other suburban counties, we have gone through the first two stages and are entering the third. Montco is reliably Democratic in Presidential, Gubernatorial and Senatorial elections (when Arlen Specter isn’t on the ballot.) And Democrats are starting to pick up state representatives seats such as those won by Josh Shapiro, Mike Gerber, and Rick Taylor in recent years. But the process is not complete. And it won’t be until Democrats take over county government.
That the counties remain in the hands of Republicans is setting back Democratic success in the State House and Senate and making it harder to win US Representatives seats than it should be. County governments in the suburbs control an enormous patronage and contracting machine—you didn’t think Democrats in Philly were the only ones to do this, did you? That machine keeps the counties in the hands of the Republicans, as does the tendency of liberal Republican voters to stick with their ancestral party in local races where political party doesn’t seem very important. But it is important, in part because the local machinery is crucial in all elections. And it is also important because, as we know in Philadelphia, long time one party rule leads to corruption. Indeed, from what I hear, pay to play is a far bigger problem in Montco than in Philly.
This year Democrats are running two great candidates for County Commissioner, former Congressman, Senate candidate and Montco Commissioner Joe Hoeffel and incumbent commissioner Ruth Damsker. They are running on a progressive platform and are explicitly criticizing the corruption of the long entrenched Montco Republican Party. It is really critical to the future of Democrats in Montco for them to win. And that means it is critical to our control over the State House and Senate and the US Congress for them to win, too. Indeed, if you want to argue that the future of humanity rests on a County Commissioner race in Montco, you won’t hear a peep out of me.