Despite Trump win, Pa. Dems claim state row offices

Republicans won the presidential vote in Pennsylvania for the first time since 1992, but on an Election Day when conventional political logic was soundly defeated, Democrats swept state row offices.

The far-lower profile Democratic nominees for attorney general, auditor general, and treasurer earned more votes than the party's standard-bearer, Hillary Clinton, according to unofficial results.

"The down-ballot Democrats did get rewarded while the top of the ticket didn't," said Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College. "I think you had the power of Trump's appeal in certain demographics bring in some working-class Democrats that didn't necessarily feel allegiance to down-ballot Republicans."

Democrat Josh Shapiro, who won the race for attorney general Tuesday over Republican John Rafferty, did so by earning 144,000 more votes than Clinton, or about 5 percent better. His fellow Democrats, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and Treasurer-elect Joseph Torsella, also earned more votes than Clinton in races where the candidates were hardly household names. Shapiro and Torsella earned even more votes than Trump.

Political analysts said Wednesday that the results appear to indicate that some typically Democratic voters supported Trump or third-party candidates for president while voting Democratic for state row offices.

"My expectation . . . is that people would revert to their baseline partisanship when it comes to these down-ballot races that they're not familiar with," said Dan Hopkins, an associate professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Shapiro was not the first attorney general candidate to earn more votes than a presidential candidate. In 2012, Kathleen G. Kane earned more votes than President Obama. But Kane's win came as Democrats swept the ticket statewide; Shapiro, Torsella, and DePasquale triumphed while both Clinton and Katie McGinty, the Democratic candidate for Senate, came up short.

Mike Barley, campaign manager for Shapiro's opponent, said Shapiro simply raised and spent more money than Rafferty. Republicans can't win in Pennsylvania without building "a coalition of Republicans, Democrats, and independents," he said.

Marcel Groen, chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, credited the resumés and campaigns of the Democratic candidates for the row office wins.

"Notwithstanding what happened at the top," he said, "there were more people who were inclined to be Democratic than Republican."

By the time Rafferty conceded and Shapiro took the stage Tuesday night at the Sheraton Valley Forge Hotel, neither the presidential nor the Senate races had been called in Pennsylvania. The results led to a mixed mood among Democrats at his watch party.

Shapiro said he foresaw "a late night" ahead, but as he appeared to be leading, cheers rang out and spirits appeared high for his victory. But the presidential returns stifled the celebration. The CNN broadcast of the results was turned off and the party quickly emptied.

"People used to look to Pennsylvania as a ticket-splitting kind of place," said Randall Miller, a professor of history and American studies at St. Joseph's University. "We might be coming back to that."

But, Miller said, it's too soon to determine whether ticket-splitting will continue in Pennsylvania.

"The peculiarity of this presidential election . . . the low levels of trustworthiness and respect for the top of the ticket," he said, could have led voters to "assess the candidates separately instead of blending them together."

lmccrystal@phillynews.com

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