The Republican Party in Montgomery County is going through tough times. The Times Herald reported last week that the party is struggling to keep its budget in the black. http://www.timesherald.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/Daily?_nfpb=true&_pageL…
On Saturday, the paper reported that for the first time in recent history, Democrats outnumber Republicans in party registration.
Color Montgomery County, and its Republican Party, blue.The Democratic Party for the first time in modern political history is the majority party in Montgomery County.
County Democrats pulled out in front of their GOP counterparts by 179 voters, according to a report prepared by the county voter registration office early Friday evening.
There were 558,224 registered county voters at the time the report was released including 240,232 Democrats and 240,053 Republicans.
AdvertisementWith some 8,000 to 10,000 new registrations and party switches still to be processed, it is likely that Democrats will widen their lead by the time the final count is completed.
“The way that things have been going, I think it is unlikely that the count will flip back in favor of Republicans during this registration cycle,” said county voter services Director Joseph R. Passarella.
“This is absolutely wonderful, historic,” said county Democratic Chairman Marcel L. Groen, who was traveling outside the state when he got the news. “It was a long time in coming but we have arrived and we don’t intend to go away.”
“I’m sure Republicans will have one excuse after another, but we are going to keep this edge and build on it,” said Groen, adding that last November Republicans still enjoyed a 30,714-voter edge in registration. “This is a new day in Montgomery County and it came about because we have had good candidates over the years with good ideas and good workers out there registering voters.”
County GOP Chairman Ken Davis could not be reached for comment. No one from county GOP headquarters returned a phone message asking for comment.
It's about time!
I wrote a paper about Montgomery County in college. Kerry carried it by 12 points in 2004, and Rendell won it overwhelmingly both times. But it used to be heavily Republican, and voter registration still reflected that. I am glad that voter registration in Montgomery County is starting to better reflect current voting patterns. I was up there doing registration for Obama a few weeks ago, and one person told me she should have switched from R to D a long time ago.
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