{"id":27622,"date":"2025-11-07T11:30:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T11:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/27622\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T11:30:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T11:30:11","slug":"overwhelming-wins-by-democrats-driven-by-anger-over-trump-armchair-lehigh-valley-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/27622\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Overwhelming\u2019 wins by Democrats driven by anger over Trump | Armchair Lehigh Valley analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Armchair Lehigh Valley content is published on lehighvalleylive.com<\/a> as part of a partnership with the website, which aims to give voters nonpartisan factual information. Armchair Lehigh Valley is run by publisher Katherine Reinhard and editor Robert H. Orenstein. For more information, or to subscribe at armchairlehighvalley.substack.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lehigh Valley Democrats, powered by anger over President Donald Trump, sent a warning to Republicans on Tuesday, posting victories with win margins in the 60% range in county races and unseating longtime GOP incumbents in municipal and school board races.<\/p>\n

Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, described the Democratic victories as \u201cabsolutely overwhelming\u201d for an area known for competitive races.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to find any bright spots for the GOP,\u201d he said in an email on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Borick said Democrats in the Lehigh Valley and elsewhere were motivated to turn out. \u201cMuch of that energy was generated by anger and concern regarding the Trump administration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe local results have to be put in conversation with the broader state and national results that showed similar success for the Democrats, but in an area known for its competitive and balanced partisan divide the wide and overwhelming Democratic success is particularly notable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lehigh Valley political strategist Samuel Chen, a Republican, said the election results did not reflect any single issue or certain candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a repudiation of the Republican Party. Democrats won across the board, including in traditionally Republican strongholds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Democrats, from far-left progressives to moderates, won while Republicans, whether MAGA, moderates or non-Trump conservatives, lost, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it appears that [Tuesday] night was a reaction to dissatisfaction with the current Republican Party at the national level, whether that\u2019s President Trump or the GOP-controlled Congress,\u201d Chen said.<\/p>\n

Also contributing to the victories were the three judicial retention questions at the state Supreme Court level, which saw 60% of the voters saying yes to Democratic justices, and an effort to field credentialed candidates against incumbents, party leaders and strategists said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were working this from both angles,\u201d said Aidan Levinson, a member of the Democratic State Committee and party advisor in Lehigh County. \u201cThe Supreme Court helped. We contested each race and had candidates who really took it seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tara Zrinski, who was elected Northampton County executive with 59% of the vote, said the retention vote was one factor that contributed to her victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat issue might have been handed to us by the right because of the fact that they were lobbying so hard for this \u2018no retention\u2019 [campaign] that it drove people out more than a lot of other aspects,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s turnout in Northampton County was 40%, compared to 33.1% and 32.5% in the comparable off-year elections of 2023 and 2021, respectively; in Lehigh County, turnout was 37.8%, up from 33.1% and 30.9% in those years.<\/p>\n

The major factor in her victory, Zrinski said, was her connection with voters over the last eight years, first as an elected county commissioner and now as county controller. That gave her an understanding of what people want from their government.<\/p>\n

Voters also are feeling the effects of President Trump\u2019s policies leading to higher prices. \u201cI think people are finally feeling the squeeze, people who didn\u2019t feel it before are definitely feeling it now because it\u2019s impacting food, it\u2019s impacting housing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Destroying the East Wing of the White House to make way for a $300 million ballroom is also driving voter resentment, Zrinski said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people don\u2019t want to tolerate it anymore,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re wondering where my tax dollars are going, why are my bills going up and services going down, and why is it so much harder to get by?\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrat Josh Siegel, 31, a state lawmaker in the 22nd House District, was elected as Lehigh County executive, defeating Republican Roger MacLean, 73, a former Allentown police chief and city council member, with 60.6% of the vote.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, Siegel said voters responded to his assessment that the political system is dysfunctional as well as his dissatisfaction with his own party\u2019s \u201cineffective and unresponsive leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he wasn\u2019t afraid to voice his opinion about the negative impact that Trump\u2019s policy will have on county residents. \u201c[Voters] are looking for leaders who are unapologetic and courageous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He promised to help the county and residents weather federal funding cuts, laying out detailed plans to address funding, housing, safety, economic growth, open space, public transportation, among other services.<\/p>\n

Big wins<\/p>\n

Borick said it wasn\u2019t surprising to see Siegel and Zrinski win county executive seats that have long been held by Democrats.<\/p>\n

But he said, \u201cThe scope and margins of the Democrats\u2019 success was very striking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides the county executive wins, Democrats swept the Northampton County Council race, rejecting GOP incumbents John Goffredo, the council vice president, and John Brown, a former county executive.<\/p>\n

Democrats reelected Zachary Cole-Borghi in Lehigh County\u2019s District 3 despite the drug charges he is facing \u2013 charges he strongly denies. He garnered 69.33% of the votes over Republican Jacqueline Rivera, one of the biggest margin wins in the Valley.<\/p>\n

Among the biggest upsets was the race for a new seat on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas. Democrat Mark Stanziola, a family law attorney, won with 59% of the vote, defeating Republican Patricia Fuentes Mulqueen.<\/p>\n

Stanziola won despite running a low-profile and small-funded campaign that was eclipsed by Mulqueen\u2019s name recognition as a prosecutor and the injection of $121,000 in loans from herself and her husband Matthew Mulqueen into her election bid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had my doubts,\u201d Stanziola said in an email Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Another big upset took place in the magisterial judicial race in District 31-2-02 where Democrat Derek Kirsopp defeated incumbent Republican Jake Hammond, who has been in the post that covers North Whitehall and South Whitehall for 18 years.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Democrats defeated at least seven incumbent Republican school board members. Among them were Christopher P. Wayock and board President Stephen R. Maund in Southern Lehigh.<\/p>\n

To be sure, Democratic challengers posted losses to Republicans as well. They include Democrat Mike Falcaro\u2019s defeat (563 votes) to Republican Susan LaBrie (723 votes) for an open supervisor seat in Lower Milford Township and Democrat Margaret Kane Fogosh\u2019s loss (2,443 votes) to Republican Richard Semmel (2,715 votes) for an open supervisor seat in North Whitehall.<\/p>\n

At least one incumbent Democrat lost a seat. Republican Jamie Shankweiler defeated incumbent Democrat Parker Flamisch in Region III in the Northampton Area School Board race.<\/p>\n

Party chairs weigh in<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to know I\u2019m on cloud nine,\u201d Lori McFarland, chair of the Lehigh County Democratic Committee, said on Wednesday when asked about the results.<\/p>\n

McFarland said Lehigh Democrats had an organized ground game that dovetailed with voter anger over Trump\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about the government shutdown,\u201d she said. \u201cOur medical costs are going up because of the GOP. It\u2019s about masked ICE agents going into communities. Trump is paying the price for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

McFarland said the wins bode well for the midterms next year where five Democrats are running in the spring primary election for a chance to defeat incumbent Republican Ryan Mackenzie in the 7th Congressional District race.<\/p>\n

Joe Vichot, chair of the Lehigh County Republican Committee, said the Democratic wins came down to turnout and voters choosing party over candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201c… it is very odd that the majority of the electorate would vote against the most qualified, respected and well-known candidate for [Lehigh] Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. It is also very odd that a far-left candidate for county executive could receive 20,000 more votes than his predecessor, a well-respected moderate,\u201d he said in an email.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe common thread seems to be that all the county-wide races to include the two statewide judge races were all approximately 60-40 split, identical to the days of straight party voting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vichot also said the retention questions for three Democratic members of the state Supreme Court drove downballot turnout.<\/p>\n

Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht each captured 61% of the vote to serve another 10-year term, according to unofficial results from Tuesday\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

The three justices were at the center of a fierce and expensive battle over whether they should continue serving on the court, with both political parties waging campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears, once again, just like in the 2023 state Supreme Court fight, the Democrat state money and outside progressive groups were able to generate an unprecedented number of Democrats to come out and vote for the retention judges to protect their liberal agenda,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Matt Munsey, Northampton County Democratic Party chair, said people were motivated to vote because they are fed up by four months without a new state budget, the federal government shutdown, rising prices for food and increases in Obamacare health insurance when subsidies expire in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey went and checked what their health insurance is going to cost next year,\u201d he said. \u201cThey realize it\u2019s not a made-up thing. It\u2019s not just a talking point. It\u2019s real [and is] something that Congress needed to address and still needs to address.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the future holds<\/p>\n

Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research and the director of the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at Franklin & Marshall College, said most political observers believed Democrats would have the advantage going into Tuesday\u2019s election given Trump\u2019s rising disapproval ratings.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut few people anticipated the size of the Democratic wave,\u201d he said. \u201cWhether any of this means anything next year is uncertain.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted Democrat Daniel McCaffery\u2019s 2023 state Supreme Court win didn\u2019t help Democrats in 2024 when Trump won his second term and Republicans notched huge victories.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans have plenty of time to calibrate their policies and messaging and win back some of the voters they failed to persuade this time around,\u201d he said. \u201cBut at the moment Democrats are feeling much better about their brand than they were before the election and it seems they found messaging that was persuasive.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Armchair Lehigh Valley content is published on lehighvalleylive.com as part of a partnership with the website, which aims…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":{"0":"post-27622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}