'Every vote counts': 2 Pa. House races still too close to call, affirming importance of voting
HORSHAM, Pa. - After Tuesday's election, two Pennsylvania House races are still too close to call. Voters in parts of Montgomery and Bucks counties are still waiting to learn which candidate will represent them in the state House.
"That’s very scary. I didn’t realize right now, until you said it, that it was that close," Horsham resident Kim Levister said. "Like, right now, my heart is going pitter-patter pitter-patter, so fast, it’s not even funny."
The race is too close to call in the 142nd District in Bucks County. As of Friday afternoon, candidates are separated by just two votes.
And, in the 151st District in Montgomery County, the Republican candidate is leading by a sum of 14 votes.
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"We’re so divisive. It’s always Democrats versus Republicans and it doesn’t have to be that way," Glen Berman, of Bucks County, said.
State Republicans have controlled the House chamber for a dozen years and it may flip to the Democrats. FOX 29 Political Analyst Bruce Gordon says Democrats did well at the top of the ticket.
"They had a big victory in the governor’s race. A narrow, but legitimately margined victory in the Senate race and there’s a tendency, I think, when you went at the top of the ticket, for voters to say, ‘Well, why don’t we just go ahead and make a straight run of this?’" Gordon explained.
The Board of Elections will keep counting the remaining ballots in both Montgomery and Bucks next week before announcing the official results.
The executive director of Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission says this is a critical moment in commonwealth politics and history.
"Which is ushering in the possibilities of State Representative Joanna McClinton becoming the first woman Speaker of the House and also the second African-American Speaker of the House in Pennsylvania history," Executive Director of Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, Chad Dion Lassiter, stated.
Thousands of votes have already been counted and now the two races are evidence of the weight and importance of each ballot.
"Both sides have enough support in some of these races to actually win. The question is who gets their voters out and it’s the oldest cliché in the world, but it still matters. Every vote counts," Gordon added.
He went on to say abortion was a huge issue and voters understood the stakes in Pa. "I don’t think there’s any question that abortion was a big issue and it may have played into these Democrats doing as well as they did in these legislative races."
"To vote, to vote, to vote. I just can’t say it enough. Like, I’m getting tingles all over right now," Levister remarked.