Democrats Dissect; Donald Trump’s Presidential Win

 Several Pennsylvania political strategists dissected why Donald Trump won the presidential election in Pennsylvania.

“I think it’s a good time to be reflective, but I want to urge against panic,” Brittany Crampsie said, a Democrat campaign manager, during a prior interview.

Crampsie said the party leaned heavily on pro-democracy talking points. That issue was popular with registered Democrats but only of medium importance for other voters.

“As ever, it's going to come back to the economy. So if we're looking at spend per message, those are some things that we may have to tweak,” Crampsie said. "But our platform, I still feel, works best for working families and the average voter.”

Presenting those policies in more compelling ways is also key. Crampsie said the Harris campaign knocked on 2 million doors in the last week before the election.

“But they weren't necessarily persuasive. Because if you knocked 2 million doors, you should have a lot of people getting their butts to the polls to vote for your candidates,” Crampsie said.

For Republicans, national victory did not lead to changes in the status quo for state House and Senate races.

“The state had a very hard fought senate race and a hard fought presidential race. I think that sucked up a lot more of the political oxygen, so to speak, in the state,” Christopher Nicholas said, a Republican campaign strategist. “So it was harder for people in those legislative races perhaps to get some attention from the press and from voters.”

Trump’s win also matches a global trend of voters in democratic nations rejecting the incumbent party, whether they are liberal or conservative.

“I don't think it's a surprise that the United States would experience the same kind of things that other countries experienced,” Berwood Yost said, director for the Franklin & Marshall Poll. “Just because COVID and the inflation that arose as a result of COVID were so damaging to the incumbent parties everywhere.”

Both parties are already thinking ahead to 2026 (and beyond) for what top issues and candidates will be on the ticket.