(WHTM) \u2014 As the dust settles on Tuesday\u2019s primary election, it\u2019s clear that turnout was dismal.<\/p>\n
Low participation usually favors incumbents, but that wasn\u2019t the case for everyone this cycle. Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) won\u2019t get an 18th term in the Pennsylvania State House after he was primaried.<\/p>\n
Close<\/a><\/p>\n Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n Watch for us in your inbox.<\/p>\n Subscribe Now<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of thought I would win because I\u2019ve done the same things I\u2019ve always done and have won, but the old magic just wasn\u2019t working this time,\u201d Vitali said.<\/p>\n He was just one of four House incumbents to lose. Another was Rep. Ana Tiburcio (D-Lehigh), who\u2019s held her seat for less than a year and lost the primary to Ce-Ce Gerlach, who won with less than 1,700 votes total.<\/p>\n \u201cMy small-D democrat hat is I wish more people voted in every election,\u201d said Eugene DePasquale, the statewide chair of the Democratic Party. His big-D Democrat hat notes Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) got more than a million votes to Republican challenger Treasurer Stacy Garrity\u2019s 639,000.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a clear enthusiasm by Democrats to go vote because of Donald Trump, the rising prices and the chaos out of Washington,\u201d DePasquale said.<\/p>\n Statewide Republican Party Chair and State Rep. Greg Rothman said Democrats don\u2019t have an enthusiasm advantage but a 3-1 mail-in ballot advantage. Republicans need to embrace early voting and voting by mail, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, it was 95 degrees at some point during the day. I\u2019m sure there are people who said, \u2018I don\u2019t want to go out, and Stacy\u2019s going to win. Jason is going to win. You know, my candidates are going to win anyway. They\u2019re unopposed,’\u201d Rothman said. \u201cBut we need to be voting for 30 days, not just one day.\u201d<\/p>\n Garrity is running for governor, but Democrats will insist it\u2019s actually Trump on the ballot.<\/p>\n \u201cStacy made the choice to be his chief cheerleader. That\u2019s the choice she made. She didn\u2019t have to go down that path, but she did. So she\u2019s got to own the policies that she was cheerleading for that have led to these higher prices, people losing health insurance and paying more for them,\u201d DePasquale said.<\/p>\n Rothman said he doesn\u2019t mind the comparison.<\/p>\n