Submitted by Andrew Bowman
On the 2nd of April, the South Central Young Democrats held a virtual event entitled “Who, What, When, Where, and Why: Young Dems” as a way to orient interested members with the current political landscape in South Central Pennsylvania especially as it pertains to the upcoming elections. The event centered around a presentation given by members such as Evan Ashby, Antonio Megna, and Katie J, the contents of which form the basis of this article.
Despite Pennsylvania’s long reputation as a blue state and more recently a swing state, SC PA is a Republican-leaning area. Republicans outnumber Democrats in every county we cover except Dauphin by a factor of around 5:3. This advantage combined with significantly lower turnout rates among Democrats translates into many of the prominent seats held within the area being Republican-held, such as six of the seven State Senate seats in the region. Even among young people, Republicans still hold a small majority, which while not ideal for the Democratic Party, does indicate that the region is gradually shifting away from conservatism.
While these numbers may not inspire hope, they are somewhat misleading in the context of local elections. Turnouts for these elections are very low compared to federal elections, with the disparity only growing as the scope of the seat gets more local, making a disadvantage in overall numbers easier to overcome. This effect is further amplified if there are no state or federal seats on the ballot such as for the upcoming elections. Evan Ashby used his own experience running for school board to highlight this. According to Evan, his campaign for a school board seat as a Democrat was run on very limited resources, mostly constrained to Evan himself. Despite this, the election was close, leading Evan to wonder what the results would be if he had even one person outside himself knocking doors. He is likely not alone in this thinking, given the lower voter turnout in local elections, swings of tens of voters can have significant impact on the overall race. With over 335 candidates on the various ballots (though this number is somewhat inaccurate due to cross-filing) and only so many people willing to dedicate themselves to campaign work, help may be hard to come by for some candidates, and this is where we can make a difference. To see which candidates you can support, consult your county website’s section on their Bureau of Elections.
All of this leads to the question of how to realistically go about achieving this dream of flipping local seats. There were a few ideas brought to the table to address this question, however they all revolved around the thesis that the key to victory is to get Democratic voters more invested in the local fights that are far more in their control and can be used as a stepping stone to fighting greater battles. This is where door-knocking and event-attendance play crucial roles, as they allow getting our message out there, especially when paired with these local issues. The presenters really stressed how impactful event attendance can be, as South Central Young Democrats membership has spiked following our appearance in different locales. This suggests our messaging is strong, and that we can energize our fellow youth. Whether this plays out remains to be seen though, but it is very clear that we must help see it through.