Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
Democrats swept two law enforcement races in Bucks County, ousting two incumbents and signaling the swing county has soured on President Donald Trump just a year after voting for him. Democrat Danny Ceisler, an Army veteran who held a public safety role in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration, led incumbent Republican Sheriff Fred Harran by 10 points with all precincts reported Wednesday morning. The sheriff race centered on Harran’s controversial decision to partner his agency with ICE as Trump ramps up immigration enforcement nationwide. And former Bucks County Solicitor Joe Khan led incumbent Republican District Attorney Jen Schorn by nine points. Democrats believe Khan is the first member of their party to ever be elected to the office. Bucks County Democrats declared victory just after midnight on Wednesday morning — sweeping every countywide race. The victories came in what appeared to be a blue wave election as voters rejected Republican candidates in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia. “What’s going on with our federal government is not normal and voters saw that creeping into local offices and they overwhelmingly rejected it,” Ceisler said Wednesday morning. “Bucks County doesn’t let extremism come inside.” The hotly contested Bucks County races centered around some of the most contentious issues in national politics —Trump, crime and immigration. Democrats sought to paint the incumbents as Trumpian ideologues while Republicans warned voters of an influx of “Philly crime” if Democrats took office, even as the violent crime rate in the city has dropped from its pandemic peak. Voters opted for a change, delivering both offices to Democrats and, as result, spelling the end to a controversial partnership between the sheriff’s office and federal immigration authorities. Bucks was the only county in the Philadelphia area to go for Trump last year and will be a key battleground in 2026 when Shapiro runs for reelection. Tuesday’s wins will give Democrats momentum going into the midterms . Democrats, Khan said, had to work to prove to voters they could be trusted with public safety. They were aided by a favorable dynamic as voters rejected Trumpism. “It was a campaign not about attacking somebody else but really making really clear that we deserve better than what we’ve got,” Khan said. Voters at the polls persistently expressed frustration with Trump, and a sense that anyone from his party shouldn’t be trusted in office. “They’re subject to his control, regardless of how they feel on issues,” said Stephanie Kraft of Doylestown. “And that affects everything, from our local courts, on up to the higher courts in the state.” Democrats control the county’s board of commissioners, but Trump narrowly won Bucks County last year, marking the first time the purple county went for a Republican in the presidential race since the 1980s. There are more registered Republicans than Democrats in Bucks County, but Democrats hoped the president’s low approval ratings, and Harran’s decision to partner with ICE, would drive angry voters to the polls in high numbers. The effort succeeded, indicating that voters in the purple county are already souring on the president they voted for just one year ago. The vote may set off alarm bells among Republicans as they prepare for next year’s election when Republican Treasurer Stacey Garrity seeks to oust Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick stands for reelection. For several voters, Harran’s partnership with ICE was the final straw. Jill Johnson worried it would result in the targeting of Latino citizens, including her half-Mexican son who is away at college. “My biggest fear is that someone in a mask is going to come up and grab him because they think he’s here illegally,” Johnson said. “It’s scary. These are law-abiding people who have done nothing wrong.” Harran, an outspoken Republican who endorsed Trump last year and frequently clashes with the Democratic Board of Commissioners, was first elected sheriff in 2021 after more than a decade leading Bensalem’s police department. The Republican has expanded the role of the sheriff’s department, adding a K-9 unit and partnering with immigration officials, but faced criticism that he was failing to complete the base duties of his job like executing warrants and protecting the courthouse. Ceisler advocated for taking politics out of the office and said he would focus on domestic violence and end the partnership with ICE. He argued his experience in the Army and in a public safety leadership post under Shapiro prepared him for the job – though Harran argued Ceisler wouldn’t be prepared to do the job having never worked in a sheriff’s office or police department. “Being the sheriff isn’t on-the-job training,” Harran said at a Bristol polling place Tuesday. “You need knowledge and experience.” Ceisler said he had spoken to Harran after results came in and the incumbent promised to assist with a smooth transition. Schorn, a veteran Bucks County prosecutor, won her first election to public office, having been appointed district attorney after her predecessor became a judge last year. She had been an assistant district attorney in the county since 1999 prosecuting some of the county’s most high profile cases and, when she became district attorney, Schorn started a task force in the county to investigate internet crimes against children. Khan, a former county solicitor and federal prosecutor, argued Schorn ran the office under “Trump’s blueprint” and criticized her decisions not to recuse herself when a Republican committeeperson was charged with voter fraud and not to prosecute alleged child abuse at Jamison Elementary School. Schorn has said she’s unable to discuss the details of the Jamison Elementary School Case due to rules governing prosecutors but Khan argued her explanations were insufficient as parents sought answers. Meanwhile, Schorn accused her opponent, who had unsuccessfully ran for Philadelphia District Attorney and Pennsylvania Attorney General, of playing politics when he understood the rules prosecutors were bound by. Schorn performed slightly better than her GOP counterparts in Bucks County on Tuesday. But, while many voters said they had no issue with Schorn’s policies, her political party was a turn off. “I just feel the Democrats would be better right now; I’m down on all Republicans,” said Marybeth Vinkler, a Doylestown voter who said she had no problems with how Schorn had run the prosecutors office. “Everything happening in D.C. is trickling down around us.”
