Voter turnout dismal, but Democrats manage to pick Tom Wolf to take on Corbett
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
What if the city threw a primary election and nearly nobody came? Because that's basically what happened.
ELECTION DAY: Voters cast ballots at a polling station at 25th and Lombard streets.
Mark Stehle
Mark Stehle
What if the city threw a mid-term primary election and nearly nobody came? Voter turnout on Tuesday — estimated by Democratic City Commissioner Stephanie Singer to be roughly 19 percent — was typically abysmal for Philadelphia.
But Tom Wolf, a York businessman who spent millions of his own wealth on television advertisements, met widespread expectations and crushed Rep. Allyson Schwartz, Treasurer Rob McCord and former Secretary of Environmental Protection Katie McGinty to win the Democratic gubernatorial primary. In November, Wolf will face Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, whose deep cuts to public education have angered many Philadelphians. Corbett ran unopposed in the Republican primary.
In Northeast Philly and Montgomery County, state Rep. Brendan Boyle defeated three competitors — state Sen. Daylin Leach, anesthesiologist Valerie Arkoosh and former Congresswoman and Clinton in-law Marjorie Margolies — to take the 13th Congressional District seat vacated by Schwartz. Republican State Rep. John Taylor says that Boyle’s open state House seat in Northeast Philly could present an opportunity for the GOP. The party long controlled the seat prior to Boyle’s 2008 victory.
State Sen. Christina Tartaglione held off a challenge for her seat, and a Latino Empowerment Alliance of Delaware Valley insurgent slate captured captured just one seat out of four, with Jason Dawkins taking the 179th state representative district.
Philly’s voter turnout began to fall precipitously in the 1970s and remained low this week. But Democrats hope the prospect of defeating Corbett will draw voters to the polls in November.
State Rep. Dwight Evans, one of many black Philly politicians who lunched with Wolf on Election Day at Relish in West Oak Lane, says that Philly voters won’t stay home for one simple reason: “Three-and-a-half years of Corbett.”
But state Sen. Vincent Hughes said that beating the unpopular governor will require more than expensive advertisements.
“November is going to be very hard,” he says. “There is going to be money spent from all over the country in Pennsylvania.” But “the average voter in Philadelphia is waiting to get a political piece of Tom Corbett.”
Wolf says that “the contrast between the Democratic ideas and his administration are pretty clear. This is going to be a real election.”
BIG VICTORY: York businessman Tom Wolf handily defeated three opponents to win the Democratic nomination for governor.
