Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
Mikie Sherrill, Jack Ciattarelli, Larry Krasner, and Pat Dugan were among the marquee names on the ballots in New Jersey and Pennsylvania on Tuesday. But on a clear and breezy Election Day, President Donald Trump was very much a factor in state, county, and local races. “All politics is national,” said Lauren Cristella, president and CEO of the political watchdog group Committee of Seventy. She added that early indications appeared to show relatively brisk turnout on both sides of the river, a sentiment echoed by poll workers. More than 300,000 had voted in Philly, according to the “Turnout Tracker” on sixtysixwards.com, a turnout-monitoring service, a big bump over the 2021 election. The voting went smoothly for the most part, said Cristella, save for a snafu that required some Chester County voters to cast provisional ballots, and bomb threats that caused some polling places in central and northern New Jersey to close briefly. Cristella said Philly’s turnout would well exceed that of the primary. In East Mount Airy, more than half the registrants had voted at Grace Epiphany Episcopal Church. In an odd-year election without a mayoral race, that’s “a great turnout for us,” said committee person Nadine Stevenson, 52. Traffic began shortly after sunrise and continued until a spectacular full moon rose into the night sky. Not long after the polls opened, when the sun was so low in the sky that the acorns were casting shadows, Heather Bryceland cast her vote in Woodstown, Salem County, for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Sherrill with comments that foreshadowed what others would express throughout the day. “I must vote against the current regime,” the middle school teacher said. “My rights and my daughter’s rights as women are being threatened.” Bryceland said that her great-grandmother was a Philadelphia suffragette and that she would not “throw away her legacy” by voting for Ciattarelli, Sherrill’s Republican opponent. “He follows the Trump line too much.” Voting in Gloucester Township, Ken Albert said that while he was no fan of Sherrill, he liked Ciattarelli on his own merits, and for what he saw as his Trump-like qualities. “Jack’s like Trump — outcome-based,” Albert said. “He promises something. He works on it. And it gets done. In the end, you see tangible results.” In Doylestown Township, Bucks County, Linda Rutzkowsky was among Democrats who said they had quite enough of Trump and the GOP. “My belief is that the entire party doesn’t think for itself,” she said outside her polling place at the Bucks County Public Safety Training Center. “I don’t always vote single party. Right now, I feel compelled to do so.” Not that the election was all about Washington and Mar-a-Lago. Two political staples also drew significant interest among the voters — crime and taxes. Crime, naturally was an issue in the race for Philadelphia district attorney, which Krasner, the Democratic incumbent, was heavily favored to win. South Philadelphian Sue Henderson, 50, a registered Democrat, cast her vote for Dugan, the Republican candidate and a former Municipal Court judge. “If you know you want change, you have to go in a different direction. He’s had two terms to do it,” she said of Krasner. She said the tragic killing of Kada Scott, a 23-year-old woman who had been kidnapped in October, reinforced her decision to vote for Dugan. The man accused of killing Scott previously had been charged with kidnapping another woman and trying to strangle her. At the Arch Street Presbyterian Church, Maxine Dubin, a registered Democrat, and Don Dubin, her Republican husband, both also voted for Dugan for district attorney. “I could not vote for Larry Krasner. In fact, I pushed the Republican button,” said Maxine Dubin, who considers herself “more liberal” than her husband. “If people don’t get arrested and the DA doesn’t prosecute, what’s the good of them? … No community is safe, basically, with a DA like that.” Gordon Dillard, a resident of Sharswood Towers in North Philadelphia, voted for Krasner, saying the district attorney was “tough on crime, but he’s also fair.” In the Garden State, which has some of the highest property levies in the nation, taxes also mattered to voters. Russell and Theresa Viggiano, both 64, cast their ballots for Ciattarelli. Russell Viggiano said he believed that New Jersey Democrats have run the state for too long with little success and that taxes remain too high, especially for seniors. Bob Damico, a Republican who voted at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Somerville, Somerset County, said he voted for Ciattarelli because he believed rising taxes were threatening the state’s future. “I’m afraid as time goes by, taxes are going to get too high,” he said, “and more companies are going to be leaving the state of New Jersey.” While Delaware County taxes in most communities are not in New Jersey’s league, and the county portion of the real estate levy usually is the smallest, the county increases have become a major issue in this year’s races for the Delco council. Tax increases added $185 to the annual bill for the owner of a home assessed at the county average, but the Democrats who now control the council blame their Republican predecessors for having failed to invest in departments and infrastructure. Voting at Chester High School, Nicole Porter expressed what likely would be a minority opinion. Taxes “should go up,” she said, adding that she expected them to rise along with the cost of living. She said that as long as the additional revenue was invested in places that need it like the bankrupt City of Chester — her hometown — she would support the increases.
