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Chester County Press

Chester County voters abandon Pitts

11/12/2014 11:26AM ● By J. Chambless

By Uncle Irvin

Longtime Tea Party right-wing Congressman Joe Pitts only won the Chester County part of his gerrymandered district by single digits. And Pitts was running against a very weak democrat, former London Grove supervisor and former one-term state representative, Tom Houghton.

Houghton was only a state representative because of the Obama landslide in 2008. He is a perpetual Democratic candidate for seats that Democrats consider not winnable. Yet Houghton won the small Berks County part of Pitts' district, and lost by single digits in northwestern Chester County, while Pitts piled up huge pluralities in the eastern Lancaster County Bible Belt.

The point here is that Chester County GOP voters are becoming less conservative and more moderate. Republicans now have only a slight edge in voter registration, and Democrats like Governor-elect Tom Wolf won Chester County.

It is time for the Democratic party faithful to make this a two-party county by nominating good, well-financed candidates, and beginning to elect them to legislative and county offices. A strong, two-party system makes democracy work better!