Republicans sweep top offices in Westmoreland County

GREENSBURG, Pa. — A sea of red hit Westmoreland County Tuesday night as Republicans took control of the county’s row offices.

From district attorney to county coroner, longtime incumbents were unseated Tuesday by a wave of Republican newcomers in Westmoreland county.

“Voters are more prone to vote party label, party line. That helped the challengers and the results look a lot like Westmoreland County’s voter registration and voter affiliation trends,” associate professor of political science Dr. Paul Adams said.

Adams teaches at Pitt Greensburg and said this was a trend that’s been a long time coming in Westmoreland County.

“This is the way the county has been trending for two and a half decades. The realignment of Westmoreland County from a dominantly Democratic county to a Republican county, in many ways, we can say, is now complete,” he said.

He said voters have been aligning themselves with political parties more than candidates for decades.

Adams said, “That’s been a big change over the last 30 to 40 years, people used to split ticket vote a lot more frequently and vote across party line, and what we’re seeing, party identification and party affiliation drives voters to the polls and drives who they vote for.”

Outspending on the campaign trail led to giant upsets which ended political dynasties, but Adams said spending is what it takes to sweep and unseat.

“Raising money and spending money isn’t always successful in winning elections, but for a challenger to unseat an incumbent, it’s usually a necessity,” he said.

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