Pennsylvania holds about 320,000 fewer registered Democrats than it did on Election Day in 2020, according to data reported on Tuesday, which shows recent boosts for Republicans have resulted in a party with about the same number of registered voters it had four years ago.
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party lost about 320,000 registered voters over the last few years, Newsweek confirmed on Tuesday. Democratic registration reportedly saw an increase after Vice President Kamala Harris was selected to lead the party, but the outlet reported 21,000 voters registered Republican in July compared to just 5,000 who registered Democrat.
Buoyed by recent boosts to voter registration, Newsweek reported Republicans have largely held their numbers since the 2020 election, with just 1,400 fewer registered voters than the Republican Party had when former President Donald Trump was determined to have narrowly lost the commonwealth to President Joe Biden.
About 356,000 more Pennsylvanians remain registered Democrat than Republican.
Early Vote Action Founder and Republican activist Scott Presler told Jesse Kelly the decrease in registered Democrats is reason for optimism during an appearance on The First.
“We are seeing the rapid decline of registered Democrat voters in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” said Presler, after noting Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016, when Democrats held an advantage of more than 900,000 registered voters.
"Pennsylvania is trending to the right." @ScottPresler of @EarlyVoteAction unpacks promising new voter registration data out of the Keystone State. pic.twitter.com/YEF2fvkZ0M
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) August 14, 2024
The activist pointed to the recent flip of Bucks County, a suburban area to the north of Philadelphia, which has more registered Republicans than Democrats for the first time in more than a decade.
“That county voted for Hillary Clinton, voted for Joe Biden, and four years ago had 15,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans,” said Presler. “Today, right now, there are more than 500 [more] registered Republicans. That’s a shift of 15,500 in just four years in a state that was decided by 80,000 votes in 2020.”
Bucks County Republican Committee Chair Pat Poprick was reportedly ecstatic when the flip happened in June, telling WHYY the party was working to regain an advantage in registered voters “since 2007.”
She explained, “that’s the last time we’ve been in the majority, so this has been something that’s very important to us.”
Poprick more recently told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Republicans previously held the advantage in registered voters, with the outlet reporting “a slight advantage in the late 1990s through the early 2000s.”
She expressed optimism two months after the county flipped Republican in registered voters, telling the outlet from her office, “I should put a video camera here and you should see how many people walk through this door for signs. And what is it, August?”
Poprick told The Post Gazette, “I think this all bodes well, that our county’s in play.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
