For the first time since the two-term law was introduced more than 45 years ago, a Pennsylvania governor has failed to be elected to a second term.
Republican Gov. Tom Corbett was ousted in Tuesday’s election, with a decisive win by Democratic challenger and now Gov.-elect Tom Wolf.
Wolf captured about 55 percent of the vote, putting him approximately 332,000 votes ahead of Corbett. He captured about 88 percent of the vote in Philadelphia — which amounted to about 319,000 votes.
The news was welcomed by LGBTs and allies, as Corbett has a poor LGBT record, while Wolf has pledged support on a wealth of LGBT issues.
Liberty PA 2014 executive director Rick Naughton praised the LGBT support Wolf saw throughout his campaign.
“It was a hard-fought election but I’m so very happy this morning,” Naughton said Wednesday. “This was a real community effort. The LGBT community and our friends and allies throughout the state recognized that, on a fundamental level, the governor, our state’s leader, should not just respect, but support, everyone in the commonwealth. This was an election about fairness, and Tom Wolf, from the very beginning of his campaign, said he would not just support and respect, but also fight, for LGBT Pennsylvanians. So it’s really exciting.”
Ted Martin, executive director of Equality Pennsylvania, which endorsed Wolf, said the governor-elect is not only right on the issues, but has a genuine commitment to LGBT equality.
“We really think he’s going to not only be an equality supporter, but a champion for equality,” Martin said. “Not only is he supportive, he’s knowledgeable about the issues.”
Wolf will be joined by Lt. Gov. Mike Stack, also a strong LGBT ally.
However, there were a number of key losses on Tuesday, including the ousting of openly gay state Rep. Mike Fleck.
Fleck, a Republican, lost the primary in his Central Pennsylvania district in the spring — his first election after coming out — but won enough Democratic write-in votes to run on the Democratic ticket this week. Republican Rich Irvin captured about 54 percent of the votes, to Fleck’s 46 percent, a difference of about 1,500 votes.
“Mike’s a good friend and his loss is personally sad for me and it’ll be a big loss to the legislature because he’s a good legislator,” Martin said. “I think he did the right thing by coming out and living authentically. I think there were other issues in the race beyond that that contributed [to the loss], but it’s disappointing regardless to lose him. But I don’t think his career is over, and we’re looking forward to continuing to work with him.”
On the national front, Republicans won enough Senate seats to take control of the chamber; the party now has a majority in both houses of Congress. Around the region, LGBT ally U.S. Sen. Cory Booker from New Jersey won re-election to his first full term, as did ally Christopher Coons in Delaware.
Maura Healy became the first openly gay attorney general in the country, with her win in Massachusetts, but Maine gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud lost his bid to become the first out governor in the nation.
In Pennsylvania, there was a mixed bag of Democratic wins and losses.
State Rep. Brendan Boyle, the prime sponsor of the state’s LGBT-inclusive hate-crimes bill, won his race for the open 13th Congressional seat, besting Republican Dee Adcock 67-33 percent. In the open Sixth District Congressional race, Democrat Manan Trivedi was defeated by Republican Ryan Costello 56-44 percent.
Incumbent Republican Congressman Patrick Meehan fended off a challenge by Democrat Mary Ellen Balchunis, 62-34 percent, while incumbent Republican Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick defeated Democratic challenger Kevin Strouse 62-38 percent.