Democrats strengthen grip on Delaware County<\/p>\n
David Landau, former chair of the Delaware County Democratic Committee<\/a>, recalled a time\u00a0 when the GOP had an absolute lock on political power in the county and wielded it like a cudgel.<\/p>\n \u201cIt used to be when I grew up in Delaware County, your family had to register Republican or you were threatened,\u201d Landau said. \u201cYou were threatened with not having your trash collected or your house would be reassessed and it was made very clear that Democrats weren\u2019t welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n Republicans ran \u201cone of the most powerful and effective political machines in the country,\u201d\u00a0 Landau recalled. It took small wins in isolated pockets of the county, like Radnor and Chester, over the course of decades to slowly erode that machine.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we tried to do over a period of years was raise money, organize, bring in more committee people, and a lot of hard work, change registrations, and gradually things began to change,\u201d Landau said.<\/p>\n Eventually, the Republicans lost their power. In 2017, Democrats Kevin Madden and Brian Zidek scored their first two seats<\/a> on Delaware County Council.<\/p>\n \u201cPrior to 2017, the Democratic Party in Delaware County was one that had never really won anything and therefore was lacking in resources, manpower, financial manpower, and maybe just as importantly as that, hope,\u201d Madden said. \u201cTo think that we could now have at both at federal, state, and county level, 100% representation by Democrats, if you said that to someone in 2017, they\u2019d think you were nuts.\u201d<\/p>\n That narrative has flipped, Madden said. In 2019, three Democratic women \u2014 Monica Taylor, Elaine Paul SchaeferSchafer and Christine Reuther \u2014 handed the party control of council for the first time since the Civil War<\/a>. Landau said it is \u201cunprecedented\u201d to have all Democrats representing Delaware County in Harrisburg.<\/p>\n Taylor said the sustained success at the polls has more to with promises kept than simply winning elections.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got into office and we governed and we worked through a pandemic, civil unrest, all of these items and then we still delivered what we said we were going to do in elections,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n