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PregnantSuperman t1_ivrfb89 wrote

Honestly the worst candidate I've ever seen, period. This guy makes Scott Wagner (who ran against Wolf for gov in 2018) look like Einstein.

This is now the third consecutive PA Governor race where the Democrat thumped the Republican by double digits.

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Varolyn t1_ivs5i3x wrote

He also makes Tom Corbett look like FDR by comparison.

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ginbear t1_ivst5wa wrote

PA broke the two terms and switch pattern with the governor’s office by ousting Corbett by one term and has followed it up with 3 straight dem wins, which hadn’t happened since the 1840s.

Pa demographic changes are slow but interesting. Population wise SE PA has been growing slowly, Pittsburgh is flat, and rural, small town PA is shrinking. Politically, That’s offset by small town PAs long shift from union backing blue dogs to the hard right. That shift is not going to change most likely but it will max out at some point. And if SE pa continues to slowly grow...is it crazy to suggest the state might be slightly trending blue?

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thenewtbaron t1_ivttu8o wrote

Well, at the statewide level, we have been blue for a LONG time. we dabble with red at those levels but usually only very popular candidates. Our national senate tends to be rather purple.

Even our national representatives are purple-ish, when they are not gerrymandered. Our state congress is pretty red.

Small towns have also shifted because every generation for atleast the last 40+ years have ran from them and have generally decided not to go back. You go off for college or technical training, why go back there, you can make so much more money elsewhere. You aren't religious, are gay, or have odd interests for a small town... why the hell would you stay there, there is NOTHING to do there.

Even if you do regular trades work, why go to a place that only has 40k people in 400 square miles who are generally poorer, when you can have a million+ in the same sized space only an hour away, who tend to have more money.

Those places aren't bringing in new people, there aren't a lot of businesses, aren't a lot of well paying jobs, they shoot themselves in the foot every step of the way

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rovinchick t1_ivt0ich wrote

It was by design, as the Democrats had an active strategy of boosting the worst Republican candidates in the primaries, so the general election would be easier to win. It worked across several races nationwide.

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PregnantSuperman t1_ivt1can wrote

True, but I think it's a stretch to say that these candidates won because of a few ads that Democrats ran.

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rovinchick t1_ivt1nav wrote

I agree...you still have the far right wing nuts that voted him in during the primary. I just hate the 2 party system overall and how divided it is. It's clear that bipartisan efforts and compromises are a thing of the past, which is a shame, because most Americans are more moderate than the media would have you believe.

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thenewtbaron t1_ivtvczi wrote

Well, I doubt that Shapiro's ad boosted Mastriano. If it did, Shapiro needs to be a campaign manager for republicans. He spent less than a million dollars and Mastriano won the primary by 20+%. if it was only a couple of points, maybe but to swing 300k voters(more than the next primary hopeful got) to Mastriano is a bit of a pipe dream.

The ad was also not saying "Mastriano is a great guy", it was "Mastriano is a cool with hateful mobs" and the like. It was to turn off moderate republicans that had enough of Trump and violence. It was aimed at like the 60% of the republicans that didn't vote for Mastriano in the primary.

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powersurge t1_ivt5th3 wrote

The 'terrible candidate' is another lie they are pushing. Don't fall for it.

The terrible people of there party got together to promote Mastriano and the members of the party elected him in their primary election. Our Republican neighbors voted for him, many of them twice now.

It's the Republican Party that is terrible and Mastriano was their chosen statewide leader.

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Griswa t1_ivt7nqr wrote

This is the hard part about this. I’ve seen the signs, heard the conversations from neighbors and friends. It’s hard to go back to “hey, let’s drink some beer on the patio” when I know you not only voted but actually “believe” the things he says.

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powersurge t1_ivt82t9 wrote

I am hoping to find all my neighbors that supported the Republicans this year and buy them a beer to discuss. It's a good topic to engage on. Otherwise they will only hear from their friends on Facebook.

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TacoNomad t1_ivt9y55 wrote

But you can't have a discussion with people that refuse to hear anything but what they've already been told by the overlords. Good luck, but it's going to be exhausting

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Griswa t1_ivtcovf wrote

Yeah. Like taco said below, you can’t change the minds of people, that don’t want to listen. It is weird anymore. You can’t have discussion. It turns into anger. In order to not lose friends, or make for unneighborly relations, we just ignore it. That has been the biggest takeaway of the trump elections. People are emboldened into thinking his views, and by extension their views, are the only views. The hard part for me is the the far right is/was seriously trying to limit things like birth control. Birth control. I mean holy fuck, what century are we living in. Any time I would bring it up, my righties would say shit like “small price to pay for freedom”. Like that is the OPPOSITE of freedom. Then they would bring up gas prices, and I would just quit. Short story, save your beer bro.

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